What I bought (technically, what my sister bought for me, on account of my getting mugged):
Blue Beetle #20
Teen Titans #52
So now it's time for a play-by-play summary of my thoughts on Blue Beetle #20. I'll do TT #52 tomorrow. Here be Spoilers, folks.
For starters, the cover. Me being me, I chuckled at the pun. And, of course, Sinestro does not appear in person in the entire issue. Which kind of makes sense, honestly, since this is peripheral to the War at best. And the solicit kind of made it sound like Jaime or his Scarab would be getting the yellow ring, but apparently this is also not the case.
So we open up with a splash featuring a fight over Mt. Rushmore that really makes me wish I wasn't tradewaiting this war, with a box of narration from our buddy Peacemaker. I went through the first two trades again last night (I was trying to see if any mention had been made of Brenda's last name or Paco's family period, but apparently not, interestingly enough.), and the box does, in fact, match up perfectly to the last time Peacemaker provided some narration. (His explanation of how he got the Scarab's programming in his head during WWIII, for the record.)
The Reach are from Sector 2. Not being a Green Lantern reader myself (umm, yet?), this doesn't really mean anything to me. Is there anything special of note in Sector 2, or is it just a random number?
Scarab Speak Translation: "Did you feel that?"
Scarab Speak Translation: "Christopher Smith". Am I reading this right and Peacemaker's Scarab has the same name as him? Interesting.
So, the Reach are a bunch of slimy jackasses, Y/Y? Gotta love the random terrified dude in the background of the top panel of page 5. A 99% chance of destruction of the GL Corps, you say? Mr. Reach "Negotiator" (does this guy have a name of his own? Usually I'd check my floppies instead of asking, but circumstances beyond my control make it a bit difficult to access said floppies at the moment.), I think you are either drastically overestimating Sinestro and his guys or drastically underestimating the GLs. Or both.
"Kid Devil and his sidekicks, the Teen Titans" amuses me, perhaps, a bit more than it should. In between this and the interaction between Jaime and Kid Devil over in TT #52, I gotta say that I'm feeling something good happening there, though I've kind of got no reason for said feeling, and the "interaction" between Jaime and Red Devil in TT gives off the opposite feeling. Sad.
Scarab Speak Translation: "Uh-oh." As Jaime helpfully translates, as well.
The way the Army guy speaks to Jaime makes me wonder whether or not the public at large has any idea that the guy in the bug suit is just a teenage kid. That said, it's nice to see an authority figure of some fashion being helpful to their local hero.
Scarab Speak Translation: "Reach-Tech."
The Infiltrator is very spiky. *Nods like this is insightful input*
Scarab Speak Translation: "Identity True" and "Sinestro Corps"
Can't fault Nadia for not having any strategic input of worth, really.
Dawur calls Jaime "the false Beetle" which suggests to me that if Jaime's Scarab was working like it should, then the Blue Beetle name would still be used. Not entirely sure if that's really significant in any way, but I find it interesting.
Earth and Earth alone seems kind of like a low goal to aim for, in perspective, (and not a wish that seems likely to be granted, given the hate-on certain members of the Sinestro Corps seem to have for the ol' Blue Planet,) but I wouldn't put planning for future back-stabbery past the Reach.
The "Peace" bit is, of course, important on account of the whole Peacemaker being in there thing. You don't need me to tell you that, I hope.
Scarab Speak Translation: "Order! Fear!"
It gives me a fun sort of glee to see that Guy gets so much respect in the Corps these days that Brik actually tells Jaime that he's not even worthy enough to say his name. Alright, Guy! \o/
Tangentially, I rather like it that Brik is entirely covered, save some of her face. Always nice to see a female character (even if it is an alien) as such.
I wonder if the Scarab actually did call Brik a bitch or if Jaime's just making that up for the sake of symmetry.
The Infiltrator is certainly a good sort for the Sinestro Corps, considering that, from my impression of Sinestro (again, not a Green Lantern reader yet), that's pretty much his way of thought right there in that one panel of dialogue.
Scarab Speak Translation: "Peace."
Shouldn't we be aiming for Deduction instead of Induction here, Jaime? Or am I confusing my terms here?
Scarab Speak Translation: "Messy."
"Blue Beetle! Surrender and I will kill you somewhat less slowly!" makes me chuckle lots. :D Great incentive there, Infiltrator!
Scarab Speak Translation: "Messy" again.
Page 17, last panel: *Cue wibble wibble wibble sound effect*
Scarab Speak Translation: "Scarab Speak." x2 I figure this is a mistake on what I suppose is the Letterer's side. Which is a crying shame.
Jaime is right: Peacemaker needs therapy (then again, what character in comics doesn't, am I right?), as the next page or so handily demonstrates as well.
"There's no frikkin' spoon or whatever!!" Hee! :D
The Scarab as Faceless!Beetle is interesting.
Scarab Speak Translation: "Scarab Speak." again.
Nice to see the Scarab demonstrating free will of its own. Eat that, the Reach! :D
Interesting how Peacemaker's corporeal body shows the same damage his mental one did. I'd figured it was just symbolic or whatever. Guess not!
Peacemaker cutting the Infiltrator Scarab out of his own spine: Bad. Ass. Also, probably physically impossible. But awesome!
This is just woobieful, y'know. The whole "I was the monster I was afraid you would be" just kind of gets me, y'know? Maybe it's part of the going through the first two trades again last night that makes even more heavy-hitting, but ouch. It hurts 'cuz it's true, y'know?
There seems to be some debate over whether or not Peacemaker's a goner now. The Reach did, after all, say that they couldn't remove the Scarab from Jaime without killing him, and Peacemaker was not exactly delicate about carving the thing out of him (so badass!), but Peacemaker is considerably more hardcore than li'l Jaime. Then again, that is a lot of blood he's lying in in that last panel there. Personally, I'd figured he's good as dead, but I guess he could survive, if Rogers wanted him to. If he is dead, I gotta say, this is a helluva way to go. He'll be missed, of course, but that's the point. There is no shame or anger in a death like that.
In short, good show, Rogers! Though that is pretty standard fare for this book, granted.
5 comments:
Gosh, it was a good issue, wasn't it? I agree about the ambiguity of Peacemaker's ultimate fate, but since I rather like him, I hope he's not dead. If he IS dead, then as you say, a heck of a way to go.
The reason that the Sinestro Corps is all concerned with Earth, is because our Earth is the Nexus of the Multiverse, which is what the Anti-Monitor wants to destroy. Cool, eh?
If you care to be spoiled, John Rogers has given a definite answer to the dead/not dead question here.
Right, so the chances of the Reach getting stewardship of it, even if their plan had succeeded would be pretty lousy, right?
Why I don't mind being spoiled at all! Thank You!
When it comes to ruling Earth, the Reach are going to have to stand in a very long line. But I figure that they are the "nothing ventured, nothing gained" sort of people.
"The Reach are from Sector 2. Not being a Green Lantern reader myself (umm, yet?), this doesn't really mean anything to me. Is there anything special of note in Sector 2, or is it just a random number?"
It's a random number, to the best of my knowledge...but what's more, it's an unusually LOW random number. Our sector is...what? 2814? Yeah. 3600 total. To have such a lower number is just...unusual.
Shane-- Actually, now that I think about it, if we assume Oa is in Sector 1 (it would make sense, which means this is probably not the case. :D), and that there is something approaching logic in the naming of sectors (maybe it goes in a spiral or something?), then, presumably, the Reach being from Sector 2 would mean that the Reach are from a Sector adjacent to Oa's. Which I guess would make sense, what with them having a war way back when 'n' all.
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