DCU Comic Book Reviews

BLUE BEETLE #6

Secrets, Part 2

October 2006

Written by Keith Giffen & John Rogers

Pencils by Cynthia Martin & Kevin West

Inks by Phil Moy & Jack Purcell

Cover by Duncan Rouleau

Synopsis

On a private road in the desert, a dude on the motorcycle finds a trail leading to La Dama’s compound.  That trail was left by Jaime Reyes (aka Blue Beetle) and the Posse.  They are about to break into the compound to rescue Probe.  Inside they come across resistance.  First, Spinner uses her power tow switch the powers of Pinata and Thumper.  As they try to control of each other, one of the camp leaders attacks Jaime, who grabs the man and flies up over the compound.  Away from the compound’s shields, the Phantom Stranger detects the magic.  When they come back down, La Dama has entered the compound.  Blue Beetle recognizes her as Tia Amparo, Brenda’s aunt.  The Phantom Stranger chastises La Dama for hiding magic users and forces her to open the doors to anyone who might leave.  The Posse offers protection to anyone who does so.  However, Probe decides she wants to stay.  Meanwhile, Jamie and La Dama come to agreement to keep each other’s secret for the time being.  Jaime, however, wants to know more about the scarab.  At that moment the dude from the motorcycle appears and tells Jaime the scarab is not magic, but is alien technology. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was the usual good stuff I come to expect from this title.  Moreover, the guest artists for this issue were much better in retaining Cully Hamner’s distinctive look that the previous issue, so it felt like a Blue Beetle issue.  There was less comedy than usual, but given the amount of action and the intensity of the final scenes, I am not surprised.  Still, La Dama’s phone conversation was priceless.  On the other hand, I though the fight scene was pointless and a little aggravating in that rational beings should not prone to sudden outbursts of violence like that.  But, then, I suppose that’s just me, you know.  There has got to be a better way to get the magical compound exposed for the Phantom Stranger than to resort to fisticuffs. 

I feel like I missed an entire issue.  There were two important developments from the last issue that seemed to have been completely ignored.  One is the television helicopters filming the Blue Beetle in action.  This doesn’t seem like that much of a big deal, except it was the cliffhanger.  The cliffhanger?  You would think at the very least we would get a television report showing Beetle and perhaps a few reactions, especially from Beetles suddenly nowhere-to-be-seen family.  Second, what happened to the baby?  One of the last things Jaime did was to hand over the baby to the motorcycle dude.  In this issue the motorcycle dude shows up and takes the baby and drives away.  Okay, so what happened?  I am guessing the dude took the baby back to its mother, Bonita.  Yet there is absolutely no mention of this, anywhere, in this issue. 

As for the ending, I care little one way or another.  I am curious to know why they pushed the magic angle since the first issue and then go in another direction.  Seems strange.  Was this the plan from the get-go or a recent decision?  If this was the plan from the beginning, I would hope the magic/Posse angle will be remembered after we finish the flashback to Infinite Crisis. 

Does the motorcycle dude have a name?

   

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