Blue Beetle: Boundaries


By Matthew Sturges, Rafael Albuquerque & Andre Coelho (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2162-1

At the height of DC’s Infinite Crisis teenager Jaime Reyes found a strange blue bug-shaped jewel. That night it attached itself to his spine transforming him into a bizarre beetle-like warrior. He was promptly swept up in the chaos, aiding Batman and other heroes in a space battle. He was gone for a year…

Inexplicably returned home, Jaime revealed his secret to his family and tried to do some good in his hometown of El Paso but had to rapidly adjust to some big changes. His best bud Paco had joined a gang of super-powered freaks, the local crime mastermind was the foster-mom of his other best bud Brenda and a really scary military dude named Peacemaker started hanging around claiming the thing in Jaime’s back was malfunctioning alien tech, not life-affirming Egyptian magic…

This final volume (collecting issues #29-34 of the fun-filled monthly comic) opens this closing epic with ‘Boundaries part 1: Crossing the Line’ as rightwing hero Peacemaker starts to regret assisting vigilante citizens groups in policing the border against illegal immigrants whilst the Beetle encounters a rather peculiar feral metahuman. Soon he’s dragged into a crazy tussle between villains battling over the rights to a code-name…

Meanwhile, a band of Mexican illegals captured by Peacemaker suddenly become a far bigger problem by using a drug they were smuggling for a criminal mastermind on themselves. Now super-powered and on the run it’s only a matter of time before they hit El Paso and the Beetle gets involved…

‘Exposed Wires’ sees Jaime strike up an uneasy alliance with local crime lord La Dama (and Brenda’s parental guardian) as the anonymous smuggling mastermind moves to recover his power-drug and the fugitives begin to suffer some very dangerous side-effects. ‘Primum Non Nocere’ ( I don’t need to tell you that means “First Do No Harm”, do I?) sees superhero medic Doctor Mid-Nite step in to treat the migrant Metas as racial tensions soar and Hispanic Blue Beetle is suckered into becoming a deputy of the US Border Patrol against his own sentiments and best judgement…

The hidden mastermind is revealed in ‘Backstory’ as events kick into explosive high gear and Jaime’s family come to the rescue, fighting a valiant holding action until the Teen Titans and Peacemaker join the fray in ‘Polarity’ and everything is neatly wrapped up – including the truly captivating human sidebar plot-threads that have made this series so very special – in the perfectly wonderful conclusion ‘Monopoly’.

Sassy, savvy, thrilling, brilliantly inventive and unrelentingly fun, Blue Beetle ends a too-brief run on a classy high note that will satisfy and delight. There are precious few comic-books that combine action and adventure with cleverness and wit, but author Matthew Sturges and artists Rafael Albuquerque & Andre Coelho make this look easy and although long-gone as a monthly series the latest incarnation of the Blue Beetle still survives in trade paperback collections where you can – and should – experience the buzz yourself.

The most recent incarnation of the venerable Blue Beetle pluckily battles on as a back-up feature in Booster Gold and as a member of the perennial Teen Titans, so at least with these fine graphic novels around there’s still a chance for this wonderfully exuberant hero to find the audience he deserves: hopefully to rise like the immortal scarab it references…

Moreover with a TV series apparently completed and only awaiting scheduling, a new comicbook series can’t be too far away, so what better time can there be to finally tune in and catch up with all of these addictive super-teen triumphs?

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