Blue Beetle: Road Trip


By John Rogers, Keith Giffen, Cully Hamner, Rafael Albuquerque & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1361-9

As the most recent incarnation of the venerable Blue Beetle brand settles into comic-book limbo, at least with trade paperback editions around there’s still a chance that this wonderfully exuberant version can find the audience it deserves: hopefully to rise like the immortal scarab it references…

At the height of the Infinite Crisis (ISBN: 978-1-4012-0959-9) El Paso 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 lost for a year…

Returned home, he revealed his secret to his family and tried to do some good in 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…

The second volume (collecting issues #7-12 of the fun-filled monthly comic) begins with ‘Brother’s Keeper’, a guest-star filled recap of his career to date before ‘Road Trip’ itself in which Jaime, Brenda and Peacemaker go looking for answers by consulting young Dan Garrett, cyber-geek and self-proclaimed expert on the previous Blue Beetles. As the first hero’s granddaughter she also has a fair claim to being the rightful owner of the gem, but a potential squabble and their research is interrupted by the return of a monstrous hunchbacked maniac determined to destroy the “demonic” new hero.

Following is ‘Inside Man’, the true story behind Peacemaker’s unwilling involvement in Jaime’s life and then Brenda finds herself in a world of trouble… She lives with her aunt who is secretly La Dama, crime boss of El Paso, and a felonious clearing house for stolen super-technology and magical artifacts, so it was only a matter of time before Brenda stumbled upon something really dangerous. Whisked to an far-distant world in ‘Should’ve Taken that Left Turn at Albuquerque…’ and ‘The Guns of Forever’ Beetle and La Dama come to an uneasy truce so that the Jaime can rescue Brenda, consequently encountering a selection of New Gods and hungry aliens.

The book ends on a thematic cliffhanger with ‘Meet the New Boss’ as Beetle and peacemaker investigate cattle mutilations, battle a giant bug monster and are introduced to its owner – an extraterrestrial envoy from The Reach who claims to be the creator of the scarab…

There are precious few comic-books that combine action and adventure with fun and wit, but authors John Rogers and Keith Giffen make this look easy in an innovative and wryly engaging saga impossible to resist, especially with the artistic endeavours of Cully Hamner, Rafael Albuquerque, Duncan Rouleau and Casey Jones making each page a visual treat.

So the latest Blue Beetle is still a fresh and delightful joy to me – and as I’m eager to pass on that feeling to all the other fuddy-duddies who are alive enough to locate an internet connection… Go Read This!

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