DCU Comic Book Reviews

BLUE BEETLE #32

Boundaries, Part Four:  Backstory

December 2008

Written by Matthew Sturges

Pencils by Andre Coelho

Inks by Sal Cipriano

Cover by Rafael Albuquerque

Synopsis

In Mexico, John Nichol (aka Doctor Polaris) recites his life story to two of his flunkies to prove to Intergang and Bruno Mannheim that he is not afraid of them.  In El Paso, ‘Berto Reyes tries to explain to his son Jaime why Blue Beetle should not agree to patrol the border.  In order to show him the reason why, ‘Berto decides to join is son in search of four criminals who fled to Mexico.  South of Border, Jaime finds a ghost town.  When he wonders what his girlfriend Traci thinks of the town, she suddenly appears.  Traci then joins Blue Beetle to find the criminals, but they walk right into the middle of a trap.  In El Paso, Paco and Brenda track down Mariposa, who thinks Paco is Blue Beetle.  Meanwhile, Traci uses magic to help them escape from the trap.  When they return to town, they find protestors angry at the border patrol.  Peacemaker tells them this is just the warm-up, the real action starts tomorrow.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This issue can be divided into two parts:  the excellent sections with Blue Beetle and his father and Traci and the necessary but extremely uninteresting section featuring the origin of Doctor Polaris.  Putting the two together, the good definitely outweigh the bad, so, yes, this was a typically good issue.  Sturges mixes the humor of Traci and the carrots with the seriousness of the immigrant issue and what Jaime’s father is trying to tell them.  Also, Sturges makes sure to include the other subplots, with Paco and Peacemaker making appearances.  It is a lot for the issue, but it works.  It is a deft balancing act that Sturges handles well.  The key, I think, is that Polaris doesn’t take center stage.  This issue could easily fall prey to the writer wanting to tell more about Polaris’ origin (and some writers get enamored with their creations to the detriment of the book), but I think Sturges recognizes that while the villain is important to the story, but should not overshadow the hero.  And Blue Beetle and his cast definitely shine through.  Good stuff. 

As for the Polaris origin, I am torn with the story that Sturges provided.  I like the idea that he just didn’t get the powers, but had to remake himself in some way to become who he became.  And I like the idea of putting a super villain into a corporate setting and making that the springboard to even greater villainy.  However, I am uncertain about the timing.  It seems like Nichol gets and learns his power in too short of a time period.  I suppose might be purposeful (since how can one appreciate their power if it comes too easily) but it comes across as being an expedient decision for the sake of the story rather than a natural extension of the character.