DCU Comic Book Reviews

BLUE BEETLE #2

Can't Go Home Again

June 2006

Written by Keith Giffen & John Rogers

Pencils by Cully Hamner

Inks by Cully Hamner

Cover by Cully Hamner

Synopsis

Jaime Reyes (aka Blue Beetle) has returned to Earth.  He is now naked and forced to walk home to El Paso.  Earlier, Jamie was eating lunch with his friends when he sees Damper and Probe, members of a group called the Posse.  They want to know more of Jaime and the Blue Scarab, but he wants nothing to do with them.  Suddenly, Probe falls down hurt.  She claims Jaime is doing it, but he says he is not.  Later, Jaime is talking to his dad when he sees the entire Posse.  Jaime runs but eventually they catch up to him.  They want to know what he did; Jaime says he has done nothing.  When they try to get more information, Jaime turns into the Blue Beetle and physically takes them down before flying away.  Back in the present day, Jaime has taken some clothes from good will and with the help of a friendly mechanic, gets a ride to El Paso.  When he gets home, he finds his sister Milagro has taken his room.  He also learns he has been gone for an entire year!

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Not bad enough I got a voice in my head--it has to sound like my mother.”

I really like what is going on so far.  This was an enjoyable issue with one small caveat.  The entire sequence with the Posse bothered me in the sense that if Damper actually listened to Jaime and tried to talk to him, then the entire confrontation in the alleyway could have been avoided.  This is a complaint I have often; if people listened and talked and explained what is going on, than a lot of confrontations can be avoided.  However, I was not annoyed with this since at least the injury to Probe would make Damper more confrontational than usual.

Another aspect that I like is the flashbacks to Jaime’s events before Booster Gold appeared in his bedroom during the Infinite Crisis.  Eventually the past and present will need to collide, but for the moment I really like how everything is coming together.

The humor (especially the exchange between Paco and Brenda) is very well done and fits with the story and the characters.  I like the focus of Jaime on his family and friends.  I hope that continues as he learns more about the scarab and what it can do.  As the book progresses we will learn more about the scarab and probably see Jaime evolve into a hero, but I really hope that as we see this, the family and friends do not get pushed into the background.

I was wrong with one thing.  For the previous issue I thought the events occurred immediately after the events in the Infinite Crisis, but (obviously) the events are part of the One Year Later even though the nifty logo is missing from the cover.

 

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