The New 52 Review: BLUE BEETLE #1

BLUE BEETLE #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Tony Bedard
PENCILS: Ig Guara
INKS: Ruy Jose
COLORS: Pete Pantazis
LETTERS: Rob Leigh
COVER: Tyler Kirkham and Sal Regla with Nate Eyring
32pp, Color, $2.99

The superhero Blue Beetle first appeared in Mystery Men Comics #1 (cover-dated August 1939) from the publisher, Fox Comics. The original Blue Beetle was Dan Garret, a rookie police officer who used special equipment, a bulletproof costume, and a super-strength formula to fight crime. In Captain Atom #83 (cover-dated November 1966), Charlton Comics introduced the best known Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Kord was a student of Dan Garret’s and also an inventor who used special gadgets to fight crime.

After DC Comics bought the rights to the Charlton characters, the Ted Kord Blue Beetle starred in several series for the next two decades. The most recent Blue Beetle, Jamie Reyes, debuted in 2006 and is a Latino teenager who uses alien technology. “The New 52,” DC Comics’ re-launch of its superhero line, gives Jaime Reyes a new comic book series. Blue Beetle #1 (“Metamorphosis, Part One”) opens a long time ago, as The Reach destroys a world in Space Sector 2. Readers will recognize that the soldiers of The Reach look like Blue Beetle. They are soldiers created by blue Scarabs.

Present day, the most important thing on Jaime Reyes’ mind is Brenda Del Vecchio’s party. However, the festivities are at Brenda’s aunt’s house, and Jaime’s parents don’t want their son in the home of Doña Cardenas. But a teen will do what a teen has to do, and Jaime is racing to the party with his pal, Paco. However, this car ride is heading to a date with super-villains and a certain scarab.

Simply put, Blue Beetle #1 is a top-notch superhero comic book and a great read. Writer Tony Bedard squeezes quite a bit of narrative into 22-pages, from the origins of the scarab that gives Blue Beetle his powers and uniform to the environment in which series star Jaime Reyes lives. Plus, Bedard includes two good battle scenes.

Bedard’s script allows penciller Ig Guara to show off his broad compositional and design skills in creating diverse settings: alien worlds, outer space battles, teen melodrama, and super-powered fights. These are four essential set pieces from the superhero comic book catalog, which Guara draws with a deft touch and captures with sharply defined emotion and explosive action. Blue Beetle should be a hit.

A-

September 21st
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SUPERGIRL #1
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WONDER WOMAN #1
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