Superhero Blues

Blue Beetle #23

Jaime figures the best way to combat the evil alien threat of the Reach is to confront them directly, and the faster the better — they’re schedule-obsessed control-freaks, and throwing a monkey wrench into their schedules gets them good and looned-out.

After using his Scarab armor to pull some nifty time-travel tricks to get the aliens to give up the location of their mothership, Beetle kicks a little alien butt until the Reach distract him by threatening his family and friends back in El Paso. And once he’s distracted, the Reach know how to shut his powers down. Uh-oh…

Verdict: Thumbs up. Well, we know nothing really bad’s gonna happen, ’cause there’s more Blue Beetle comics on the way, but I’m dying to find out how Jaime gets outta this one. Also, we get some great moments with his family and friends, and that’s always been one of this book’s strongest points. You’re reading this one, right? If not, get to it.