Dr. K's Waiting Room

The Background:
I wouldn’t begrudge modern readers of DC Comics if they didn’t know who Dan Garret was. The creation of Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski, the very first Blue Beetle featured prominently in Charlton Comics and is pretty much all but forgotten in the legacy of the character. Hell, I wouldn’t be too surprised it Garret’s successor, genius inventor Theodore “Ted” Kord, didn’t ring a bell; in 1966, Steve Ditko reimagined the Blue Beetle but, despite his tenure on Justice League International and making waves through his friendship with Michael Carter/Booster Gold, Ted never really rose beyond the ranks of a D-list hero and is generally remembered for being shockingly and graphically executed on-panel in the build-up to the universe-shaking Infinite Crisis (Johns, et al, 2005 to 2006). Indeed, even a big Ted Kord fan like myself has to acknowledge the mainstream impact of his successor, Jaime Reyes, easily the most recognisable incarnation of the Blue Beetle to date; Jamie has appeared in videogames, cartoons, and in live-action, both on television and even his own feature film. A noted Latino superhero, Jaime was created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hamner and debuted in the pages of Infinite Crisis before appearing in his own self-titled comic book two months later. Jaime separated himself from his predecessors not just in his more diverse background and his youth, but also by actually deriving superhuman powers and abilities from a techno-symbiotic alien scarab infused to his spine, making him theoretically the more competent of the three Blue Beetles, though this was counterbalanced by his lack of experience and control with the scarab. Jaime has been a part of DC’s premier superhero team, the Justice League, as well as the Teen Titans, fought extraterresital threats and struggled to figure out his powers, and is generally regarded as one of DC’s best legacy characters in recent years.

The Review:
As mentioned above, Jaime made his first appearances in the epic, universe-shattering Infinite Crisis. Specifically, Jaime made a very brief cameo in Infinite Crisis #3 (Johns, et al, 2006) where, in the midst of the mainstream DC universe being rocked by incursions from disgruntled heroes from previous, destroyed worlds, young Jaime just happened to stumble across the glowing, mysterious scarab just sitting out in the open. Jaime returned in Infinite Crisis #4 (ibid), where he was stunned to find Booster Gold and Skeets searching his bedroom for the scarab, which would allow him to reveal the forces of Bruce Wayne/Batman’s renegade artificial intelligence, Brother Eye; although initially amazed to find such a prominent, corporate sponsored hero in his bedroom, Jaime was soon aghast to find that the scarab had fused itself to his spine. When Booster Gold brought him to the Batcave in Infinite Crisis #5 (ibid), Jaime’s life changed forever as the scarab, sensing danger, encompassed his body in a sleek, form-fitting armoured suit unlike any sported by his predecessors. Although very much out of his depth, Jaime found himself in space alongside some of Earth’s greatest heroes in Infinite Crisis #6; his suit unsettled Green Lantern John Stewart’s semi-sentient power ring and he was so overwhelmed by the confusion and stakes of their mission that he had to receive a pep talk from Batman, of all people. Although he couldn’t begin to understand the nature of the scarab, Jaime found the suit had a mind of its own; as soon as the heroes got close enough to Brother Eye’s cloaked satellite, the suit sparked to life and exposed it, leading to a massive battle to decide the fate of all universe, a fight that Jaime was spared since the suit promptly teleported him out of there, against his will, to get away from the Green Lanterns present.

Jaime’s solo comic bounces between the present, where he returns to Earth, and the past, which focuses on providing Jaime with more backstory than “confused young kid suddenly gifted superpowers”. He’s a talented high schooler from El Paso, Texas whose free time is spent mediating the constant bickering between his friends, workshy Paco Testas and fastidious aikido student Brenda Del Vecchio. This provides a little more context behind Jaime’s random discovery of the scarab, which he stumbled upon while his friends were squabbling and took home without thinking much about it. At home, Jaime’s mother, nurse Bianca, despairs of his constant quarrelling with his annoying little sister, Milagro and has him take lunch to his father, Alberto, who owns a garage in town. Although Jaime wishes to help his hard-working father, Alberto encourages him to both study and enjoy being a kid while he has the time. That evening, after accidentally stepping on the scarab, Jaime awakens to find himself talking a strange alien language and a similar text glowing on his palm, which he chalks up to being a dream, an explanation Brenda and Paco encourage, but he’s spooked when he crosses path with a strange girl without any eyes who speaks to him in riddles. Jaime’s friends were less than helpful with his predicament; Paco is convinced that Jaime’s seeing ghosts and Bianca’s suggestion that he take the scarab to someone to analyse is no help since it’s vanished. They’re left dumbfounded when he spots the goth chick, Probe, and her tattooed associate, Damper, hanging around the school and he promptly vanishes from sight when he gets close to them thanks to Damper’s ability to cloak their presence with his “mojo”. Jaime’s confused by them; it doesn’t help that they talk in riddles and he has no idea what’s going on, but their curiosity turns to anger when Probe’s attempt to mentally.. well, probe…Jaime sees her being first blocked and then suffer a painful seizure.

After trying, and failing, one more time to convince Alberto to let him help out, Jaime found himself set upon by Damper and three of his cohorts – the bloated Scour, diminutive Thump, and alluring Bonita – a group of street-level metahumans calling themselves the “Posse”. While the others want to take a more direct approach at making Jaime pay for hurting Probe, and Damper even subtly threatens Jaime’s family, Bonita attempts to subdue him using a combination of pheromones and feminine wiles. Luckily for the captivated Jaime, the scarab’s instincts kick in and he finds himself shielded by his alien armour, which gives him the means to fight back against them, though entirely beyond Jaime’s control, and the scarab can even detect that Bonita is pregnant. As mentioned, these three issues also chart what happened after Jaime dramatically crashes back to Earth. He was immediately attacked by hot-headed Green Lantern Guy Gardner and, since Jaime had no idea how his suit works or what it’s capable of, he was entirely at the scarab’s mercy as it instinctively formed shields, energy-based weapons, and even wings to fend off Guy’s relentless assault, all while Jaime expressed terror and confusion at the entire situation. Jaime’s inexperience allowed Guy to pound him into the dirt and drove him to beg for mercy, and Guy was horrified to find that his ring drove him to attack and almost kill a kid. This showed that scarab is perceived as such a threat by the ring that it drove Guy into a temporary bloodlust, almost driving him to the point of murder, which he claims is something he’s not known for (which is odd as I could’ve sworn Guy’s more volatile nature had seen him kill before…). After Guy left, Jaime was wracked with pain as the suit retracted into the scarab, which has painfully bound itself to his spine, and was left naked in the desert trying to figure out how to tell his mother what happened.

Although he was helped by a kindly gas station attendant with some clothes, food, and a ride, Jaime was constantly bothered by the scarab’s alien voice in his head (which, amusingly, sounds like his mother); however, his troubles were only compounded when he got home to find out that he’d been gone for an entire year! This means that Jaime has no choice but to come clean to his family about where he was and his new abilities; however, his suit terrifies Milagro and Bianca was so convinced that he was dead that she refuses to believe that Jaime and the Blue Beetle are one and the same. Alberto, who now requires a cane to walk, is somewhat more understanding and sympathetic, explaining the grief they all went through thinking he was dead, but promises to talk to her on his behalf. Overwhelmed by it all, Jaime flies off and tries to get a grip on his powers but is amazed by the sensory overload and destructive abilities of his alien armour. While he doesn’t understand it and is still acting on instinct, the scarab is able to bring up a holographic compass that leads him to Paco at the Mexican border and allied with Damper. The Blue Beetle arrives in time to shield them from agents of “La Dama” and, during the fight, Jaime constantly berates his armour for being too violent but manages to fly Paco out of there. While Jaime doesn’t approve of Paco’s association with the Posse, he’s even more shocked to learn that Brenda almost died after her abusive father beat her and that she’s moved in with her wealthy aunt after he died in a car accident. Although Jaime earns a good punch to the gut for causing her to worry about his safety, the three friends are happy to be reunited, though they’re left blissfully unaware that Brenda’s aunt is the mysterious La Dama who’s been targeting the Posse…

The Summary:
Make no mistake about it, Jaime Reyes is a very different Blue Beetle compared to his predecessors. I admittedly haven’t read too much of any of the Blue Beetles but my understanding has always been that Dan Garret and Ted Kord were completely normal human beings who took the iconography of the scarab and themed their crimefighting careers after it. Until Jaime’s introduction, I had no idea that the scarab was alien in origin, alive (in at least a techno-organic sense of the word), or capable of being such a versatile and visually interesting piece of symbiotic armour. Indeed, Jaime’s tenure represented a massive paradigm shift for the concept of the Blue Beetle; not only was he now a teenage kid with teenage dramas, he was in possession of a volatile alien weapon whose origins and capabilities were a complete mystery since they’d never been seen or associated with the character before, essentially meaning the Blue Beetle concept was reconfiguring into something entirely new, not unlike how the Green Lantern concept was significantly altered between Alan Scott and Hal Jordan.

What works for me in these three issues is the dynamic between Jaime and his supporting cast; he’s a smart kid, capable of speaking multiple languages and applying himself at school, and also a good kid, volunteering time and again to help his father out and pulling his weight at home. However, he also has some snark, particularly with his bratty little sister, and he describes himself as Brenda and Paco’s “babysitter” since he’s often forced to be the voice of reason when they get into it. I really enjoyed the banter between the three of them; it’s a friendship dynamic that really grounds the character to contrast his relatively normal and mundane lifestyle with the chaos of his newfound superhero life. I also enjoyed the relationship between Jaime and Alberto; a physically tough but empathetic father, Alberto works hard to provide for his family but still encourages Jaime to live his life, so it’s all the more jarring when Jaime returns home to find his father a shell of his former self and his family still grieving from his presumed death. While there are a few fights in these issues and they’re exhilarating enough thanks to the colourful and kinetic art style, the main conflict here is between Jaime and the scarab, which latches itself to him and almost immediately turns his life upside down, sweeping him away on an outer space adventure and unwittingly stealing a year of his life, as well as constantly bombarding him with alien language symbols, and bizarre weaponry.

Obviously, these are just the first three issues of an ongoing story; the exact nature of the Posse, their issues with La Dama, and the changes faced by Jaime’s supporting cast are no doubt developed over the course of subsequent issues, but there was enough here to have me invested in Jaime and his world. I really like the mystery of the volatile relationship between the scarab and the Green Lantern Corps; we saw glimpses of this in Infinite Crisis and it would become a whole cosmic drama later on, but it really helps to flesh out that there’s always been more to the Blue Beetle than we could ever has suspected. Jaime is admittedly no fighter; he panics in battle and generally tries to talk his way out of situations rather than engage since he’s not acquitted for the superhero life, but the scarab is more than capable of compensating for that. Not only does it cover him in a sick looking beetle-themed armour, but it sprouts wings, enhances his senses, shoots lightning-like energy, augments his strength, and forms shields and all sorts to protect him…and fight back. Jaime is constantly overwhelmed by the armour and its insistence on violence, elements that again I’ve never associated with the Blue Beetle before. Jaime is a reluctant superhero, overwhelmed by what’s happening to him, and a potentially dangerous individual as he cannot control his abilities. In many ways, the scarab’s attachment to him is framed as a metaphor for puberty as his body undergoes strange and often violent changes. I guess hardcore fans of the Blue Beetle might have been turned off by how wildly different the character and concept are with Jaime at the helm, but I think they’re changes for the better. They result in a visually interesting character, one with an appealing personality and strong supporting cast, and increase the Blue Beetle’s appeal by adding all this mystery, lore, and potential to the concept. I really enjoyed this three-issue arc and would absolutely like to read on a bit more and find out more about what happened during his one year absence, what the story of the Posse is, and how it all ties in with La Dama, and to witness Jaime’s growth into his newfound role and abilities.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Are you a fan of Jaime Reyes? What did you think to his introduction and springboard to prominence in Infinite Crisis? Did you enjoy these first three issues and the changes to the Blue Beetle concept? What did you think to the scarab’s new abilities and its relationship with the Green Lantern Corps? Were you intrigued by the Posse and the one year gap introduced here? What did you think to Jaime’s supporting cast? Which incarnation of the Blue Beetle is your favourite and what are some of your favourite Jamie Reyes stories and moments? Whatever you think, drop a comment below or on my social media and be sure to check out my other Blue Beetle content.