This is my first time reading any Blue Beetle material. The Posse is definitely necessary evil. This being my first time reading anything Blue Beetle I can’t compare Jamie to the others but I thought his character was nicely written. My favorite moment was him returning home to realize what felt like he had been gone for a few days was actually a year. I really enjoyed each issue. I initially had no desire to read any Blue Beetle material now I’m all in and will be checking for more. Any other BB recommendations? How was the Rebirth run?
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- Is this your first time reading Blue Beetle (2006) Issues 1-6?
Yes this is the first time reading these issues
- Do you consider the “Posse” a necessary evil?
Yes and no. Yes because you have to have Blue Beetle face an enemy that can challenge his growth as a hero and no because they never seemed that like they posed a serious or long term threat. However I wish they would of flushed out la Dama more and made her a more serious threat.
- What do you think of Jamie Reyes?
I enjoyed him a lot. I first got an introduction of him in the through animated series like Young Justice and animated movies like Teen Titans vs the Justice League. I enjoy his humor and youthfulness that we don’t get to see in other superhero series. I hope to see him in more series to see how his character develops.
4.What was your favorite moment?
My favorite moments were seeing Jaime revealing his superhero identity to his family, his fight with Guy Gardner, seeing him out smart Oracle, and him not being impressed with hardly any of the Birds of Prey having actually bird names.
Overall I enjoyed reading about Blue Beetle and hope to find out what happened in the one year time skip. Thanks for recommending this interesting series to us.
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Finished these this morning. Onto the DQ’s:
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I read this Blue Beetle series as it came out from start (2006) to finish (2009). It was one of my favorite teen books through its run.
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Yes and no, and for the exact reasons @Lecouch84 stated.
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Jamie Reyes kicks ass. It’s too bad his New 52 and Rebirth books didn’t have the longevity that the post-Infinite Crisis volume did. His appearances in Threshold (the series he appeared in after his New 52 book ended) were quite fun, as was that series.
I like Jamie’s animated appearances (in particular on Batman: The Brave and The Bold, where Will “Terry McGinnis” Friedle voiced him) and I strongly feel that a Jamie starring BB movie has the potential to be a box-office champion.
Warner Brothers Pictures should have John Rogers write the flick, as he has experience with DC screenwriting (see my Fun Fact below).
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Favorite moment, well there are two:
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Jamie’s back and forth with Oracle.
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“You were adopted!” “You were hatched!” That exchange made me chuckle.
Fun Fact: John Rogers, the writer/co-writer of a good portion of this series, was also a credited screenwriter for the Catwoman movie.
As he said when the movie came out and has many times since then “That’s not the Catwoman movie I wrote. My draft was vastly different.”. If his Catwoman script was anywhere as good as his Blue Beetle, we would have likely had a pretty damn good Catwoman flick.
Great pick Matt! It was fun revisiting the initial issues of this series.
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I like how quickly people figure out The Blue Beetle Thing in this. It makes it feel more authentic, imo.
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Thank you for pointing out Jamie’s insistence on working in his dad’s shop. It really goes to show how good of a person he is. I don’t know any other teenager irl that would be that selfless. Glad you liked it!
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@lecouch
That Green Lantern fight had me in hysterics. “This is the crazy one!” 
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I read the first issue of this on first release in 2006, but didn’t remember it very well. I’ve liked the designs of all the blue beetles, the basic color scheme, and this newest one has a design that’s intriguing - he doesn’t have contraptions & vehicles, it’s just a suit.
As for the posse, they didn’t seem like an evil to me. Maybe at the time of the comic release they were a potentially dangerous and scary gang, but 14 years later, it’s all a bit desensitized. Gangs are pretty typical, and maybe,yes, necessary to protect themselves from people who want them dead or incarcerated or who don’t want to give them opportunity to thrive. Superpowers would be scary if in the real world, and their powers are real in their world. Therefore they prob would need to protect themselves from ppl who fear them. What they really need is education, which might sound like a worn out drum beat, but no less a necessity. LA Dama might be doing that for them, except her motivations are reportedly evil rather than good.
The Stranger’s arrival is probably the most interesting - since it’s when we begin getting a clearer view of what is the scarab. Personally, I never thought it was magic, but the series has a few magic users whose plot obfuscate the tech.
Just to clarify, his name is Jaime Reyes - not “Jamie Rays.” It’s “High-may Ray-ez,” savvy? Not “Jay-me.”
1.) Is this your first time reading Blue Beetle (2006) Issues 1-6?
Yes and No? I had read issues 1 and 2 previously based on a friend’s recommendation and read further into the series somewhere when they made that recommendation. This is also the first time I kept notes on a memo pad so I could remember each issue. I really loved this series. I don’t think I revealed too much, but beware potential SPOILERS ahead. 
2.) Do you consider the “Posse” a necessary evil?
I believe that the “Posse” was placed into the story to have a catalyst for the La Dama character, but that didn’t feel like their original intention. They didn’t feel like a necessary evil or a necessary part of the story. In my notes, I actually talk about the fact that it is when they return in issues 5 & 6 that I felt the story started to go slightly downhill in quality. The joy of the other issues had been Brenda, Paco, and Jaime’s friendship together, but that seems to be taken away heavily in those last two issues. With Brenda becoming almost entirely a character playing off her aunt instead of Jaime.
3.) What do you think of Jamie Reyes?
These issues showcase why Jaime Reyes has stuck around long after some other characters that were replacement characters have disappeared. During Rebirth, we did not see a return to any of the previous versions due to this one having staying power. He brings diversity into the DCU without feeling like he is taking too much away from the previous incarnations. During these issues he seems very incompetent as a superhero, but that is truly part of his charm. He is trying to figure out the scarab and who he is. He is bumbling, but you can see that he is well-loved by his friends. He cares a lot about others, represented by the fact he is willing to jeopardize himself for a child in issue 5. There is so much positive to this singular character and these issues really start to highlight the possibilities of this particular version of the character.
4.) What was your favorite moment?
For me there were a lot of great moments, but there was a moment that touched me deeper than the others. This moment is when the father is explaining the reason his mother is acting the reason she is about the reveal. It touched upon so many truths about the way that grief works. As a social worker that has worked with and read about these various things, I can say it hit a spot of reality that I was not necessarily expecting from a teen superhero book. This book had a lot of surprising moments for me from what I would expect from a book like it. Another example is Brenda’s fathers death and the reveal. It started in issue one as a joke that she makes to Paco, but it is followed up on all the way to issue 6. It was carefully and appropriately mixed into the story. That is a sign of good writing to me.
There were a few moments I did not like. I disliked that in issue 4 you had a character literally order a coffee and state “hold the gay”. Don’t know the last time coffee had a sexual orientation, but okay. When the Posse came back the second time, I felt they greatly shifted the series, which I didn’t personally like that much. I also did not like that they used the baby as a plot point. It took away from the story for me, but it also helped to highlight that the villain was willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to accomplish their objectives.
Some other aspects that I loved about this were the nods to events surrounding Infinite Crisis. We have the obvious mention of “One Year Later” which ties into events immediately following Infinite Crisis and is where the groundbreaking “52” series comes in. Also the guest appearance of Phantom Stranger and him discussing the change of magic is a wonderful nod to the events of Day of Vengeance. I liked that if you knew those events it added a layer, but that this was also readable without knowing that these were events during that time. It could be the reason that this, at least to me, is a classic run of “Blue Beetle”.
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Hey Amethyst. That’s right- it’s pretty great how Reyes rushes into conflict, then says, ‘I don’t know how to fight!’
I also didn’t know the story behind the Phantom Stranger’s visit and had thought like Reyes, where Oracle must have sent him. Thanks for the insight.
@eobardbrass.36251, Jamie has a lot of integrity for sure. I laughed when every time he would freak out while fighting. He obviously doesn’t know how to fight, but he is willing to do so for the greater good.
I can tell from this that Phantom Stranger is very much looking for something connected to the next age of magic. I am sure there is a further reveal based on elements in the story. I am considering sticking with this one until I finish it based on these first 6 issues.
Thanks for jumping in everyone! Can’t wait to see what @JLWWSM has cooked up for us tomorrow!
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