A classic super hero tale in a chitinous husk.
Much like some of the other New 52 comics, it’s taken a few issues for Blue Beetle to find its feet, but now that it has, the story has taken off.
Steeped in Latin-American culture, Blue Beetle follows the story of a teenager in Texas, Jaime, who came accidentally into the crossfire between two violent groups, fighting over a priceless artifact, the blue scarab.
In escaping the scene, Jaime becomes accidentally attached to the artifact, which fuses itself to his spine, then activates, causing the boy to become sheathed in blue, insectoid armor. The first few issues focus on Jaime’s struggle to control the armor, which is a sentient creature who considers Jaime its ‘biological host’.
Meanwhile, the two gangs are searching for the kid who stole the artifact, and in orbit above earth, an ancient civilization who use the scarabs as force multipliers for their soldiers have located the newly reactivated artifact, after losing track of it many years ago. With three groups searching for Jaime, he’s got a bit of fighting ahead of him, while simultaneously dealing with the strong personality of the Scarab.
Blue Beetle is one of the few New 52 to have received a complete reboot. The story is entirely new and starts right from the beginning, making it great for new readers.
The cultural presence is interesting, but sometimes feels a bit tacked on. Hopefully, the heavy use of Spanish, and Latin -American culture will become an integral part of the tale, as otherwise it will start to feel gratuitous.
Beyond this, however, it’s got all the right notes, and plays them expertly. It’s really a classic superhero story, and here is the classic origin-story.
It’s fun to have jumped in on the storyt from the very beginning, and it’s easy to not feel like it’s contrived, since the Blue Beetle has not been so popularly adapted as other DC properties.
Blue Beetle #3 is available now wherever you buy comics, including the comiXology store.
