Escarabajo Azul!!!
A New Blue Beetle book is finally upon us and I couldnt be happier!
The Good
Unfortunately I was a latecomer to the last volume of Blue Beetle and didn't read it until long after it was canceled. That book really was amazing and created an awesome character in Jaime Reyes. Seeing a new ongoing is seriously awesome. The book starts off with a very handy prologue that will help the uninitiated to understand the basic back story of the Scarab and the Reach. This was a great move and it was handled really well. While the art wont knock your socks off it is still good and certainly works well in the context of the story. It is great to see so many diverse surroundings and people in comics especially when we are used to places like New York, and Metropolis, and lets just say El Paso looks nothing like either of them. I also really liked the mixture of the Spanish language into the text and it really helped sell the environment. Oh and having a hero from Texas is really awesome! The south gets no love in comics. TEXAN PRIDE!
The Bad
With all that being said this was by no means a perfect issue. Living in Texas I have been surrounded by the Spanish language my entire life, so it didnt really bother me, but it may seriously bother some. Also while I did like the Spanglish it almost felt like too much. Almost a little gimmicky. While people certainly do talk like that in Texas they don't mix it in with every other sentence. Also this is a personal thing but we are treading the same waters the last volume of Blue Beetle did so well, so I really hope that we dont see to much of the same stuff. I realize it was necessary to reboot Jaime's origin a bit since it was so involved in Infinite Crisis, but still its something i have to note.
Recommended?
Of course. How could I not. ESPECIALLY to fans of the old Beetle series. I will say this even if you already read the last volume and were maybe a little scared off by my warning that it treads much of the same waters I STRONGLY suggest you pick this up. We dont want low sales killing another Beetle