Last Call for the Blue and Green

Two of the comics on my pull-list had their final issues yesterday.

Blue Beetle #36

Definitely one of my favorite comics series of the last few years, and I’m really sad to see this one end. Jaime Reyes and his impossibly awesome supporting cast have been the focus of some of DC’s best stories and most engaging storytelling. And there’s not much else out there to replace it with.

We pick up where we left off last issue — the remaining alien scarabs of the Reach are fighting Jaime because he refuses to join their crusade against all oppression across the universe. But wait, how can Jaime be fighting the aliens as Blue Beetle at the same time that he’s helping evacuate his classmates from the high school gym in his civilian guise? Turns out he’s got some remote-controlled holographic projectors invented by Ted Kord that let him be in two places at once. But it still doesn’t leave any good options for beating up a bunch of bloodthirsty aliens all by himself. The Scarab says it can force a hard reboot of all the scarabs, including Jaime’s own — but that leaves Jaime with no powers, a mile or two above the Earth, with no chance of the Scarab rebooting for almost a month. Is there anything that can keep Jaime from hitting the ground hard? Nope.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A good, fun story, a bit sadder than I was expecting (I’d mostly discounted the idea that they were going to kill a member of the supporting cast), and quite a bit more exciting than I was expecting, considering some of the less-than-awesome final issues I’ve seen out there. If you still wanna see Jaime, you can find him in “Teen Titans,” but I don’t read that one anymore. He’s also going to be showing up in Cartoon Network’s “The Brave and the Bold” cartoon from time to time.

Seriously, I’m gonna miss this series so much. Awesome writing, awesome characterization, awesome dialogue. If you haven’t read this one previously, go get the trade paperbacks. You’ll love ’em.

She-Hulk #38

Niiiice cover. Hello, Tall, Green and Gorgeous!

The story inside, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with the cover. Shulkie is back on top of the world, but she gets a telepathic message from her Skrull friend Jazinda, who tells her that she’s been captured by the government and she has to absolutely disavow any knowledge that she was a Skrull. She-Hulk reluctantly agrees, but is eventually summoned to a secret base where a bunch of scientists are torturing Jazinda and repeatedly killing her to watch her resurrect herself. Of course, Shulkie can’t stay quiet for long, so she moves in to save Jazinda. But then she gets attacked by the Man-Elephant (snicker), but the cavalry shows up in the form of the Lady Liberators. Is there a way for everyone to get Jazinda free? Is there a way to keep She-Hulk out of prison? Is anyone going to finally break the fourth wall?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Peter David’s run on this book has been sorta off-and-on, but he hits all the right notes in this one. The story’s fun, funny, exciting, clever. They get some nods to previous series, they get a little legal mumbo-jumbo, they get a lot of fisticuffs. I’m gonna miss this series, too — I’ve always thought She-Hulk was a cool character.