Blue Beetle - #25 Review (the real one this time, I promise xD)

Blue Beetle - #25



Synopsis: Blue Beetle says Dan Garrett's magic word and the Scarab wakes up and flies towards him and he becomes Blue Beetle again!

On Earth, Guy Gardner, Ice and Fire show up to help the Beetle Allies in their fight agains the Reach ground troops! YAY ^___^

Back on the ship, Blue Beetle explains to the Negotiator that the algorithm he put in the Reach Ship just consisted of random numbers to distract the Reach while the Scarab that was hooked up to the main computer downloaded their plans and transmitted them to Oracle and Batman to send to the world! He explains that the reason the Reach (who have been monitoring every electronic transmission Jaime has been making) didn't realize that Jaime had been in contact with Batman was b/c Jaime sent an old fashioned pen and pepper letter to Batman! :DDDDDDdd

The negotiator, in anger orders that the Reach world rippers prepare to destroy Earth! D:

On the surface again, Brenda wakes up and she and Paco kiss. Paco is attacked by Dawur and Brenda attacks him back and together they defeat him! :O

Jaime uses his own body to interrupt the Reach ship energies causing it to self destruct and prevent it from destroying Earth :o B/c he has to stay on the ship until the last minute for it to work, he and the Scarab accept that they have to die. Suddenly Booster Gold appears in a time rift, grabs Jaime (who tries to save the Negotiator too) and they escape. :DDD

A BBQ is held in the Reyes home (that was rebuilt by WayneTech of course) and a good time is had by all (tho Brenda and Paco pretend nothing happened on the battlefield :( ). :D


Review: Yay! :D This is pretty much as perfect an ending to this arc, and Beetle's growth into a full blown hero, as you could get! :D

I liked everything about this! Well almost everything xD I thought the Brenda/Paco stuff was a little too cliched.. just with the "oh we're gonna drag this out". Considering BB has been all about avoiding this type of plot stuff like Jaime NOT hiding it from his family and friends, Jaime not being obsessively sekritive about his identity, Jaime NOT have a problem asking for help, his family NOT freaking out or nething, it just kinda stood out to me. xD I know it kinda makes sense but it would have been rly cool if they just admitted things and went out :D So far BB has never been about beating around the bush or arbitrary drama and I've rly liked that :D Like Jaime and Traci just going out once they hit it off and no weird love triangles or nething! :)

But I also understand why there would be this twist b/c Rogers is leaving and Pfieffer needs SOMETHING to work with. xD Hopefully it doesn't turn into overdone dramuh :(

I rly like how everybody jumped in to save Jaime tho :) I rly like the old JLI showing up. :D THIS is how to handle a legacy character, you show him having his own cast and still be faithful TO the legacy. Ted's friends showing up, Dan's daughter and magic word, etc... Jaime is his own person and hero but he's also tied to his legacy too, they BOTH are part of him :D

Oh and it rly shows how much respect he's earned that all these ppl will show up to help him not cuz he's Ted but b/c he embodies the best traits of Ted, his heroism, his ingenuity, his determination and his intelligence :) And also b/c they respect and like Ted, it's about both of them not just 1 :) And ultimately, Jaime EARNED this. Which is the bottomline message that I luff SO MUCH about this conclusion. The previous 24 issues have been setting this up, that when it's on the line, Jaime has earned all this respect from everybody that he can confidently enact plans that involve others, and that others will show up without him asking to help :D

He even earned Batman's respect on the several times he's worked with him and Robin. :) And sending the letter to him was BRILLIANT :D Also him using Oracle even tho they had a bit of a crappy beginning when Oracle freaked him out. :)

I KNEW that the magic words was calling to the Scarab to reactivate it (as I stated in the previous review) but I didn't know it was it's name! :O That's cool! :D I like how we can understand the Scarab now, tho I think it's great writing that even BEFORE we kinda knew what it was talking about too :D And that thruout Rogers' run the Scarab's speech has become slowly more like English. :O

Everything Jaime did on the mothership was awesome tho :D How he had it all planned out, how including the previous issues leading up to this, his entire attack on the Reach has been one big well thought out plan that was both simple AND hard for the Reach to predict b/c he got to know how they think :D It's like that old "know your enemy and know yourself" thing :D The algorithm being a random bunch of numbers to distract them while the Scarab did stuff was great too :D

The ending was PERFECT. Jaime rdy to sacrifice himself and asking the Scarab if it would too and the Scarab ttlly agreeing! :D Yay heroic Scarab! I like how the Scarab is good and heroic too! I like how despite all his doubts and insecurities, when the time comes, Jaime ACTS without hestitation, without thinking about himself, he just does what he has to to save ppl and I rly rly like that about him :D And of course Booster's last minute deus ex machina rescue which WORKED SO WELL b/c a) it rly was unexpected b) it made SENSE b/c Booster's a time travelling hero now and it's not like this is out of his character :D Too bad Jaime doesn't remember his time with Booster in the Booster Gold series tho :(

And Jaime wanting to save Neggy at the end was so touching D: Poor Neggy! I felt so bad for him as he realized that this wasn't a fluke, it wasn't bad luck. Jaime had qualities the Reach didn't pay attention to, and that even HE didn't realize: his heroism, his compassion, his leadership, the way ppl respect and like him and will go out of their way to help him when he needs it :) And his intelligence, determination, perserverance and inner strength :D Neggy is right the Reach never had a chance :(

The ending was a rly nice end to this run tho. It was a nice wrap up with everybody having fun at the BBQ at Jaime's house. Of COURSE Batman had Wayne Enterprises rebuild his house XD Batman is behind EVERYTHING since he's so f-ing rich! xD He's always rebuilding ppl's houses or giving ppl jobs and stuff :O But it was a nice touch b/c it's perfectly Batman. He wun show up to the party but he'll send a gift :) Just cuz you're anti-social doesn't mean you're not a nice guy! xD

I think the only big problem I had is that La Dama VANISHED! She wasn't at the party at the end, and we didn't get the closure of her and Brenda's storyline :( Did they make up? Is Brenda moving back? Is she giving up crime for good now? Brenda became all about the Paco thing and La Dama kinda just never showed up again :( That's the only thing that rly bothered me :( She's a HUGE part of the Beetleverse, both as Brenda's aunt and as Jaime's supposed arch villain (even tho rly they're not xD) XD And.. just.. she should have been there and her relationship with Brenda should have gotten a little play :( That makes me sad D:

The 4 JLI heroes making excuses as to why they're there is weird. Jaime implies there's more. Is it that they wun admit that Ted's memory ties them together stronger than they would admit? :D It's very very sweet :)

And Jaime is comfortable with being a superhero now :) I like that b/c it makes SENSE! Over 25 issues, he's been slowly growing, learning things about himself, becoming a hero, both when he has power and when he doesn't, and also in many ways he's always BEEN a hero. :) He's always had the strength and compassion and determination inside him, he just had to find it :)

THAT'S how a teenage superhero who needs to grow into the role and find not just their inner hero but their inner strength and maturity should be written! Supergirl is at TWENTY EIGHT ISSUES and she's only now sorta getting some personality and figuring out how to be a hero! That's what I was complaining about before, and ppl kept saying "oh no it's just teenagers are selfish and stuff and she needs time to grow.. etc etc"

But the problem was she WASN'T GROWING. Jaime grew :) From issue to issue he learned stuff and became a better person. SLOWLY yes, but the movement was there. It wasn't for Kara :( Also teenagers AREN'T selfish and mean and materialistic. That's a stereotype. Teenagers are young, inexperienced, sometimes immature, but those things change as they gain experiences, as they mature, as they grow and find out who they are, it's not some immutable part of who they are. :) Kara never got to grow, they just played her as a stereotype :( She has more issues than Jaime and less characterization :\ It says a lot for Rogers and his writing (and a lot about Kelly too >.>) :D

I esp like how Jaime WANTS to be with the Scarab now! Remember how at the beginning he kept trying to find a way to take it out? Now they're FRIENDS and PARTNERS and he's glad to be reunited with the Scarab and they have conversations and stuff! :D

Oh! And the Scarab having a talk with his fellow Scarabs (presumably about being good, heroic, having free will, etc) is awesome too :D Maybe they'll make friends with the ppl they bond with too and then the Blue Beetles will be like another GL corps! xDDDD

Maybe not >.>

But it was another nice touch to wrap things up :)

Neways the entire issue was just so great and so wonderful and so.. BLUE BEETLE :D I'm gonna miss Rogers now :( I dunno if Pfieffer can take over adequately but no matter what this 25 issue run (tho I know there's been a couple fillers that Rogers wasn't on) is something special and to me, the definitive Blue Beetle story arc :D They should collect them all into one big TPB :D It's rly like "Season 1" of Blue Beetle :D I just hope the next "season" will be an adequate follow up :D

Angelwings Rating: 5 happy Scarabs out of 5 happy Jaimes :D
Recommendation: DEFINITELY BUY IT!!!! >:D