DCU Comic Book Reviews

BLUE BEETLE #31

Boundaries, Part Three:  Primum Non Nocere

November 2008

Written by Matthew Sturges

Pencils by Andre Coelho

Inks by Andre Coelho

Cover by Rafael Albuquerque

Synopsis

When four immigrants, who are near death after injecting themselves with medicine that gave them super powers, are taken to the local hospital, Jaime Reyes (aka Blue Beetle) follows.  There, he encounters Dr. Mid-Nite, who heard what happened and wanted to medically investigate the immigrants.  That next day, Blue Beetle is given the key to the city and, unexpectedly, the job to patrol the border for immigrants.  This upsets the locals who thought Blue Beetle was on their side.  Meanwhile, Brenda takes Mariposa shopping.  Mariposa ditches Brenda to go visit La Dama, who is upset that Nichols sent his daughter to meet with her.  Brenda is also upset when she sees Mariposa with her aunt.  At the hospital, men with guns abduct the sick immigrants.  Although they get away, Dr. Mid-Nite is able to place a tracer on them so they can follow.  Meanwhile, Nichols reveals he is in charge.  And he is Doctor Polaris. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I like this story and I like what Sturges is doing with this book.  Sturges has a great handle not only on Jaime, but the rest of the cast.  This is great stuff.  I realize that I go off on a rant in the next paragraph, but I don’t want that rant to get in the way of the fact that I really do like this issue. 

I am unsure about the ending.  The basic set-up of the story is based on real-world events (immigrants) while injecting some of the DC universe trappings (meta-humans).  As seen up to this point, the combination of the two worked well together to create a believable story.  But by adding a costumed villain such as Doctor Polaris, it changes the dynamics of the book and I am not sure it is the right to go.  There are some books that work with over-the-top villains and colorful costumes.  There are some books that work better when grounded (as much as a story can be grounded in reality in the DC universe).  I place Manhunter in the same category as Blue Beetle, two books that seem to work when the heroes are not juxtaposed to costumed villains.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that these are newer heroes.  Maybe it has to do with the plots (which strangely enough are dealing with somewhat similar themes), but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the supporting cast are made up of non-powered individuals.  This is not Green Arrow/Black Canary in which there are multiple sidekicks wearing costumes in which a costumed, colorful villain seems right at home.  Characters such as Brenda or Paco or Jaime’s parents are normal people.  They don’t belong along side someone like Doctor Polaris. 

Having said all that, I like the appearance of Dr. Mid-Nite in this story.  And, yes, he wears a costume and has super powers, but his role in this issue was that of a doctor and a mentor, not a super hero.  I think you could’ve easily put another character into that role and it could’ve worked.  Not as well as Dr. Mid-Nite, who is a recognizable character in the DC universe, but it still would’ve worked.  In contrast, remove the Doctor Polaris reveal at the end and the book becomes different. 

Comic Connection

The original Doctor Polaris (Neal Emerson) was an enemy of Green Lantern (Hal Jordan).  He was last seen in Infinite Crisis, issue #1, when he was killed by the Human Bomb of the Freedom Fighters.  While a Doctor Polaris has been seen around the DC universe since then (including Justice League America, issue #21), it very well could’ve been Nichols rather than Emerson. 

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