Take a photo of a barcode or cover
mysteriousmre 's review for:
Blue Beetle, Vol. 1: Metamorphosis
by Sal Regla, Tyler Kirkham, Tony Bedard
The persona of Blue Beetle has a TON of history and world building behind it and the book does a good job of exploring that history, but not so much the history and world of Jaime Reyes.
A lot of people describe Jaime as DC’s answer to Marvel’s Spider-Man, and that’s not a bad description. The characters are both young teenagers who’ve stumbled into the role of superhero in a way that immediately impacts their lives and those around them. The difference is that Spider-Man stories explore what Peter’s life was like before becoming a superhero and in this particular story, Blue Beetle does not.
We are quickly introduced to some characters in Jaime’s life but before we get to see him interact with them in any meaningful way we are swept away into battles with super villains which, apart from La Dama herself, are very simple and uninteresting. That’s not a bad thing, Spider-Man stories usually have underwhelming antagonists as well. But Spider-Man stories have more interesting characters and relationships to fall back on, but because this story skipped out on establishing those characters and their dynamics with Jaime, Blue Beetle ends up feeling like diet Spider-Man with a fresh coat of paint. And that’s a real shame because the supporting cast they introduce for Jaime are all very different and have potential to be very interesting. Jaime has both of his parents alive (and a younger sister to boot)! His best friend Paco is his age, but a high school dropout. There’s a lot of wasted potential here because they focused on the wrong things right out the gate.
On the bright side, they nailed the voice of Jaime Reyes and the Scarab attached to his body. Jaime is the warm sweetheart and Scarab is the cold pragmatist and seeing the two of them clash for control is fantastic. This clash also also creates a great reason for why Jaime’s secret identity remains a secret as the Scarab uses every bit of the power it has over Jaime’s body to keep itself safe and under the radar.
It’s my understanding this book was cancelled shortly after the second volume, but there are plenty of Blue Beetle stories written before this reboot so while I found this volume disappointing, if nothing else it’s encouraged me to give prior Blue Beetle stories a shot.
A lot of people describe Jaime as DC’s answer to Marvel’s Spider-Man, and that’s not a bad description. The characters are both young teenagers who’ve stumbled into the role of superhero in a way that immediately impacts their lives and those around them. The difference is that Spider-Man stories explore what Peter’s life was like before becoming a superhero and in this particular story, Blue Beetle does not.
We are quickly introduced to some characters in Jaime’s life but before we get to see him interact with them in any meaningful way we are swept away into battles with super villains which, apart from La Dama herself, are very simple and uninteresting. That’s not a bad thing, Spider-Man stories usually have underwhelming antagonists as well. But Spider-Man stories have more interesting characters and relationships to fall back on, but because this story skipped out on establishing those characters and their dynamics with Jaime, Blue Beetle ends up feeling like diet Spider-Man with a fresh coat of paint. And that’s a real shame because the supporting cast they introduce for Jaime are all very different and have potential to be very interesting. Jaime has both of his parents alive (and a younger sister to boot)! His best friend Paco is his age, but a high school dropout. There’s a lot of wasted potential here because they focused on the wrong things right out the gate.
On the bright side, they nailed the voice of Jaime Reyes and the Scarab attached to his body. Jaime is the warm sweetheart and Scarab is the cold pragmatist and seeing the two of them clash for control is fantastic. This clash also also creates a great reason for why Jaime’s secret identity remains a secret as the Scarab uses every bit of the power it has over Jaime’s body to keep itself safe and under the radar.
It’s my understanding this book was cancelled shortly after the second volume, but there are plenty of Blue Beetle stories written before this reboot so while I found this volume disappointing, if nothing else it’s encouraged me to give prior Blue Beetle stories a shot.