DCU Comic Book Reviews

BLUE BEETLE #35

Only Change Endures, Part 1 of 2

March 2009

Written by Matthew Sturges

Pencils by Carlos Barberi

Inks by Jacob Eguren

Cover by Rafael Albuquerque

Synopsis

In El Paso, Jaime Reyes (aka Blue Beetle) is suddenly attacked by number of Ted Kord’s old villains.  With the help of Hector and Nadia, Blue Beetle is able to deal with the situation.  Later, Jaime and Traci join Paco and Brenda at a high school dance.  The dance is interrupted by the Khaji-Da Revolutionary Army.  They approach Jaime, who tries to hide his secret identity to little success.  When he returns as Blue Beetle everyone thinks it is Jaime.  The Khaji-Da have been freeing planets from the control of the Reach.  Now they have dedicated their lives to dismantling oppressive control structures.  They want Blue Beetle to lead them.  They want to begin with Earth.  Blue Beetle tells them they can’t do that and he will stop them.  The Khaji-Da attack Blue Beetle. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Now we dedicate ourselves to the dismantling of oppressive control structures to bring freedom to all!”

This was a wonderful issue; it is such a shame that this series is ending.  After a slow start, I really think that Sturges is hitting his stride.  There is a lot of witty dialogue, great plot developments, moments of Jaime trying to act like a normal teenager, moments where he needs to act as a hero and interspersed between those moments are great scenes with the supporting cast.  Sturges even manages to flesh out Nadia and Hector a little bit more while touching on the relationship between Paco and Brenda.  All of these points are the hallmark of this series and Sturges pulls it off with great flair.  This is good stuff. 

I have to commend Sturges for the brilliant idea of bringing back the Reach to the book.  The Reach were such an integral part of the book that it just seems right to have them come back.  But Sturges just doesn’t bring them back, but instead finds a logical plot development that builds organically from the Reach’s last appearance.  It works beautifully and I can’t wait to see what happens next. 

I am guessing that Nadia in some way was able to impersonate Jaime?  She leaves Hector to go to the dance and after she is there someone arrives to be Jaime.  Yes, I realize she makes an appearance as herself when the Khaji-Da army confronts her, but she does disappear right after that.  She has enough time to make the change.  Plus, Jaime talks about Ted and his secret identity, so I can see how he would concoct such a plot if the situation demanded.  Besides, why else would Nadia run away from Hector.  Unless it is Hector that is impersonating Jaime.  Okay, maybe I am over-analyzing, but it makes sense to me.

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