DCU Comic Book Reviews

BLUE BEETLE #15

Someone To Watch Over Me

July 2007

Written by J. Torres

Pencils by Freddie Williams II

Inks by Freddie Williams II

Cover by Cully Hamner

Synopsis

After having a nightmare about the scarab and the suit, Jaime Reyes (aka Blue Beetle) decides her better learn more about the armor and the Reach.  Nadia and Hector suggest he should go to STAR Labs.  When Jaime arrives at the laboratory in Austin, the armor detects the presence of Livewire, who has the ability to conduct electricity.  Livewire also sense the scarab and begins to drain it of its power.  Jaime fights back and regains his power.  Just then Superman arrives to stop the fight.  Later, Jaime tells Superman everything he knows about the scarab and the Reach and worries that bad things will happen because of the scarab's roots.  After hearing the story, Superman tells Jaime it is not where the scarab comes from, but what you do with it. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

John Rogers is sorely missed.  Torres has a written story and even though it is filler, it fits well within the current storyline of the book and is a good look at the scarab and its ability.  But Rogers is sorely missed.  He has two strengths:  his humor and his supporting characters.  Luckily Torres stayed away from the supporting characters and mostly told the story with characters not usually in the book.  But there is no way around the humor aspect and it was sorely missed. 

The biggest problem with the issue is the ending.  I am unsure exactly what Jaime told Superman since we don’t read the actual conversation; we can only infer based on the narrative box.  But I’ve got the think that if Jaime told Superman that the Reach are not who they say they are, you’d think he would inclined to do more than just race Jaime until the doctors were finished with Livewire. 

I love the cover.  The image comes from the song “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” written and performed by Jim Croce in the early 1970s.  Here is the chorus: 

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape

You don’t spit into the wind

You don’t pull the mask off the ‘ol Lone Ranger

And you don’t mess around with Jim

Interesting to note the cover solicited by DC Comics originally had Superman smiling, but the cover released has him frowning.  I think the frown works better because really, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape. 

Comic Connection

Livewire first appeared in Action Comics, issue #835. 

 

ïPREVIOUS	Main		Page	NEXTð

Home ●  Blog ● Who Are We? ● Site News
Alive and Well since April 16, 2006

 DC Universe Reviews.  All Rights Reserved
  Characters, trademarks, brands are property of DC Comics

For problems or questions regarding this website, please contact our kindly webmaster.
Last updated: 08/06/11.