Blue Beetle: Shellshocked
January 29, 2007 | Trades
Blue Beetle: Shellshocked
Keith Giffen, John Rogers, Cully Hamner
DC Comics
$17.50/12.99 US (Paperback)
*** (out of five)
This new Beetle has got me feeling blue.
Perhaps I’m just too rooted in my love of Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis’ late 80s Justice League series, but I was a true fan of the wise-cracking Ted Kord, the last hero to be called Blue Beetle. He, of course, was on the receiving end of a point-blank shot to the head in the now-classic Countdown To Infinite Crisis.
So when Jaime Reyes, a whiny teenage kid from New Mexico is introduced as the new Beetle last year, maybe I just wasn’t ready. I read the first issue and then kind of forgot about him.
After taking more time to mourn and then pouring over this first collection of the new series, I can’t say my opinion has changed too greatly. Oh sure, writers John Rogers and Giffen do a good job of portraying Jaime’s confusion and angst and having the mantle of the Beetle thrust upon him. There’s even a nice twist about where his powers really come from. Cully Hamner’s art is equally well done.
But another series featuring a whiny, angst-filled teen?
I’ll be re-reading my back issues of Justice League International instead.
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