Blue Beetle #2
By Kurt Wagner
November 13, 2016 - 10:11
DC Comics
Writer(s): Keith Giffen, Scott Kolins
Penciller(s): Scott Kolins
Inker(s): Scott Kolins
Colourist(s): Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer(s): Josh Reed
Cover Artist(s): Scott Kolins; Cully Hamner
$2.99
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Maybe you pick up a series because you have nostalgia for a character but discover the character you loved is no longer the title character, just a supporting one, and the new title character (with the same name as the prior one—or even prior two) is different. Again. And, yes, you want to get into the series, you want to follow along and give the writers the benefit of the doubt … but at the same time you know they’re going to get rid of this character within a year or two for either a new one, or revert to the old, depending on whatever they’ve surveyed will be more marketable.
You ever read a comic book and it feels like you’re simply reading the paystubs of the creative team?
It’s not like Blue Beetle has ever been an A-List character, so maybe we should give this newer incarnation another try. But it’s hard, DC. It’s hard. I liked the Blue Beetle. Hell, I even really like Keith Giffen (co-writer and scripter), but when you’re revamping a character—again—for no other reason than to revamp him, with what seems like no bigger plan, no hint or promise of a payoff, then it’s hard. Two-page references to Doctor Fate don’t cut it any more. They don’t even make up for the forced and stilted dialogue throughout.
The art, I should note, is passing. It works awkwardly with multiple-character dialogue sometimes, but it’s hard to know if that’s the letterer or the artist’s fault.
The saving grace of this, issue two, is the final exchange on the closing pages between Jaime Reyes (our now-titular character, if you’ve not been keeping up), and his mom. This tiny bit of humanity is the only redemptive feature of this otherwise standard fare that—with quick character replacement—could be any generic superhero book from the big-two over the past thirty years.
You read that right: if this is the direction this comic is going, then to hell with the Blue Beetle; I want to see more of the Blue Beetle’s mom.
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