Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes Book One (2022) Comic Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Wednesday. I'm back with another comic book review, and my first review of a trade paperback edition in a really long time. This week I'm taking a look at Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes Book One, published by DC Comics in 2022. Because the comics collected in this trade are nearly 20 years old at this point, there will be some spoilers, but not too many, so let's get into it.

Collecting the first twelve issues of the original Blue Beetle series featuring Jaime Reyes, the most recent/current Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes Book One is a good introduction to the character without having to track down his debut in the 2005-2006 crossover event, Infinite Crisis. There are flashbacks to Jaime's involvement in Infinite Crisis, so we get the story that way. So I never felt like I was missing anything while reading this book.

I'm beginning to see a bit of a trend with comics starring teenagers that came out in the late '90s and into the 2000s. Because teen dramas like Smallville, One Tree Hill, and The O.C. were hugely popular around this time, with the second wave ones like Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries just around the corner, the comics themselves feel like they were written as if each issue was an episode of one of those shows. For example, in this volume, around issues 3 and 4, Jaime discovers that the major crime boss in El Paso is also his best friend, Brenda's aunt, which, just like any good WB/CW lead character would, he decides to not tell Brenda that her aunt is the mysterious crime boss, La Dama. Because THAT won't blow up in his face, but, y'know, that's how these things work. 

Jaime is very much like Peter Parker, except all of his friends and family know that he's the new Blue Beetle, so he doesn't have very many secrets to keep from them, except for the whole Brenda's aunt being a crime boss thing. In a way Jaime's version of the Blue Beetle is the template that DC used for the teenage superhero, Sideways back in 2018 following the Dark Nights: Metal crossover in the way they get their powers and how neither of them have any idea why they have their powers to begin with, at first. 

Jaime's supporting cast, consisting of his best friends, Paco and Brenda, his family, Alberto, Bianca, and Milagro, Peacemaker (Mitchell Black, not Christopher Smith), and tech support, Hector and Nadia are pretty good. They all share a decent amount of page time, though I think I like Paco and Brenda the best. Mainly because their dynamic with each other is that which I have with my friends, and had with them when I was in high school, while everyone else, with the exception of Jaime's family, are related to the superhero stuff. 

Personally, I think I like the Mitchell Black version of Peacemaker than I do the Christopher Smith version, but that's only because I don't like Peacemaker as a concept for a character. But, Black is better than Smith, so I'm good with the character in this book, even if he has to actively keep himself from attacking Jaime because of the Scarab, which gives him the Blue Beetle armor. In his defense though, half the people Jaime encounters in this volume have to actively keep themselves from attacking him because of the Scarab, so Peacemaker isn't the only one. 

Reading this volume isn't my first encounter with the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle. I originally saw him in Young Justice: Invasion (season 2 of Young Justice), and I also saw him in the first episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Which is actually why I wanted to read this series, knowing that it was Jaime's first run in the DC Universe, and, if you've followed my blogs for a while, you know I can't stay away from comics published by DC in the 2000s, particularly the mid to late 2000s, which is when I got back into buying comics on a regular basis. They just seemed to take alot more risks with their books in the 1990s and the 2000s that they just are too afraid to do today. 

The trade itself is pretty good. The only bonus material is concept art for the main characters and the then new Blue Beetle suit since both Ted Kord, and the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, had different suits compared to what Jaime has. The one downside of this trade is that, while it does have chapter stops, they only use the cover art, not full replicas of the original single issue covers. And, because there are twelve issues in this book, it's easy to lose track of how many issues you've read when it doesn't give any indication as to what issue you're on, the way that Teen Titans By Geoff Johns Book One, Stargirl By Geoff Johns and the vast majority of trade paperback editions collecting Batman story arcs from the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, do. These issues were originally collected in the 2000s, in the first two volumes of the original trade paperback collected edition volumes, Shellshocked, and Road Trip. But, those volumes are long out of print, so, unless you can get them cheap at a comic book convention, comic book sale, or geek sale, your best bet is to pick up this volume if you're interested in reading this series, whether you wanna read the source material before watching the movie, or if you've seen the movie and want to try the source material.

That's it for me for today. I'll be back on Friday for another post. I just got the complete series DVD set for Sabrina the Teenage Witch, so I think I'll cover that show on my TV Shows on Home Video post series this week. So until then, have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.