Review: Blue Beetle #24

Omigodthiswassogood.

Also this week I got Justice Society of America #13, which was rather enjoyable. I particularly like the penciller on this book. Rock on, Fernando Pasarin. Your expressions make me a happy HAC.

Also got the Blue Beetle Reach for the Stars TPB. It was fun. And went from issue 13-19, which is bigger than I thought it would be, but also means that the unexpected guest issue isn't going to mess with the next trade, so I'm OK with that.

I did not get Teen Titans #56 and, in fact, did not even bother to flip through it in the shop, and I don't particularly feel like regretting it, either.

So, how about that Blue Beetle #24, eh?

Cover: Ohmigod, that speech bubble they added to the cover. I screamed silently in my comic shop when I saw it. The last time I did that was-- OK, the last time I did that was when they added a speech bubble to Booster Gold #6. BUT STILL.

Pg. 1: Yay, survival for the Reyeses and company!

Pg. 2: Yay, Traci 13! Yay, cookies!

Pg. 3: Hehehe, Beetle-mobile.

And lookit how miffed Brenda is on this page. So very miffed.

Pg. 5: Unpunchableium. Kehehehe.

Pg. 6: Jaime speaking Scarab Speak! It's like a full circle of awesome from the Scarab speaking English last issue!

Oh, and the translation: "Code A1Beta." and then "Stun."

Don't need no stinking powers indeed. <3 Ted would be so very damn proud, Jaime.

Pg. 7: Pants, then spaceship. Good prioritizing, Jaime.

Scarab Speak translation: "thanks."

Pg. 8: I <3 this outfit.

Pg. 9: OK, so Brenda's obviously calling La Dama here, but who's Paco on the phone with? The Posse, maybe? but that seems awfully quick.... Although I suppose they'd mobilize more quickly than La Dama's forces, anyway....



A coincidence? I think not.

Pg. 10: Peacemaker's on his feet again! \o/ And he's got the Posse with him! \o/

Pg. 11: Scarab Speak translation: "You have no idea what I can do." Negotiator's D:/o_o face after that is awesome.

Pg. 14: La Dama! The Diviner! Mr. Reyes! *General flailing of love and awesome*

Pg. 17: The code just seems to be gibberish to me.

Pg. 18: Jaime's gleeful "I knew they were alive!" makes me happy. Mortal danger? Guards with guns that want to kill him? Bah! His family's still breathing!

Pg. 19: Mrs. Reyes and Brenda <3

Pg. 20: Oh noes!

Also, please note Mrs. Reyes with a gun there. So awesome.

But also oh noes!

Pg. 21: I'm interested in knowing what the code is for. And it interests me that Jaime's surprised the ship can't crack it.

I love the defiance here. Ted would be so very damn proud and then some. <3

Pg. 22: Khaji Da! That's the phrase Dan used to activate the Scarab, of course. I have no goddamn idea what it's giong to do in this context. I can't wait to find out. Way cruel cliffhanger.

Also, next issue features a JLI reunion, too! Booster appearing in Blue Beetle yesplz.

So, stuff rocks right now.

Booster Gold #0 is swiftly approaching. JSA #12 was pretty damn nifty, as was Teen Titans Year 1 #2. I read and enjoyed the first trade of Iron Fist, but really need to get around to reading up on Iron Fist's history to achieve the deeper appreciation for things that I like to have. Editor Jann Jones is a crocheter. And check out what's #1 on Bully's top 50 end of the year countdown!

Review: JSA # 10

I didn't buy much today, just my weekly issue of Booster Gold and JSA #10. So here's me talking about JSA #10. Exciting, right?

Hey, lookit, it's an Alex Ross cover with more than one character on it! ZOMG! Next step: have them do something other than stand around please?

I don't usually comment on ads, but, and I don't know about your copy, but the one inside my front cover is for "Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane". Think up your own Snakes on a Plane joke; I'm too lazy to.

Anyway, I'd just like to say that I rather like Eaglesham's artses. I mean, look at Maxine on that first page there. She's adorable.

"I watched all of you die." Superman-22: Not exactly the World's Greatest Conversationalist.

Wrong Crisis, Jay. Superman-2 died in IC, not CoIE.

The thing about Starman is that you can never entirely tell if what he's saying has significance or not. Like, there was a bit in the 2nd issue where he's pretty clearly referring to when Maxine got kidnapped by T. O. Morrow, but sometimes I'm pretty sure it's just nonsense. All out of yellow, I'm thinking is nonsense. Or it could somehow reference the Sinestro Corps War. Although it seems by the solicits that there will still be a Sinestro Corps of some sort post-war, so maybe not. Hrm.

I skipped the Lightning Saga. Who was supposed to be going back instead of Starman? Or is that the basis of the Karate Kid storyline in Countdown? 'Cuz I'm not paying attention to that, either.

It takes Alan an entire page to do the mental math for 52-30. Then again, I imagine that Starman speaks very rapidly, so I suppose it probably would take that long to parse what he was getting at there.

Y HELO THAR, Alex Ross interiors! I do recognize a good bunch of these characters from KC, yeah, though there are some I definitely don't. Not even I can memorize everything instantly. But I'd just like to say that Captain Atom's spine hurts me. D:

So, is this before or after the Sinestro Corps War? 'Cuz I kinda figured the Sinestro Corps War would clue everybody into the "new Multiverse" thing, since that's one of the reasons that the Corps was after Earth, mmyes? Hmmm.

If the GL in KC was Alan, then why did he end up representing "New Oa" at the UN at the end? Mystifying.

Am I misremembering KC, or didn't Magog kill Joker in court?

I rather like the border of the 2nd panel and how it leads into KC Supes's ear in the 4th. S'nifty.

What we don't see: The rest of the JSA going "O SHI-" after ol' Ted points out that the Brownstone is not exactly sound-proof.

Yes, that's right, the JSA is solely responsible for the lack of Kingdom Come-itude going on. Nothing else could influence it. Nothing.

A hole blown through his torso like has been happening to the New Gods? Oh, don't tell me that that's getting mixed up in here. I like living in my world of denial where nothing bad is happening to them. :/

One wonders what's up with Dr. Mid-Nite 'n' that "GO".

So, am I interpreting this right, and this Supes got dragged out of KC right after the bomb was dropped?

OK, Ma Hunkel had the shirt, but where did the rest of the costume come from?

Dogpile on the Kryptonian! And they knocked Jay's hat off! For shame.

Hunh, KC Supes doesn't have a cape, does he?

Don'tcha think Supes could've at least tried to mention that he was going to stop a suicide?

Cosmic Treadmill = Auto lawls.

"I've never been comfortable with time travel." I so very much want to blame Booster for this. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.

Again, I hope this isn't tying into Death of the New Gods.

And Superman meets Superman should be interesting. Lookin' forward to it. If only it weren't so far away. :(

I Promise to Get Off Your Lawn Posthaste, Sir, but Could I Please Have Your Autograph First?

Got my new debit card yesterday, so I went comics shopping today. Bought my weekly issue of Booster Gold, Flash #233, and that Green Lantern shirt I told myself I wouldn't buy last week. (I realized that I owned black pants and could therefore use it as an excellent basis for a Halloween "costume." I also live in southern California. So if I die of heatstroke, it was totally my fault.) I also Byrne-stole the Superboyman Special. ...Mostly to see if Booster did anything particularly noteworthy in the background. (He caught Miss Martian, for the record. Totally important.) Additionally, my copy of JLQ #1 arrived in the mail today, so it's a pretty good comics day for me. :3 Expect a rant about JLQ #1 at some point, because that's pretty much everything great about Booster concentrated. But I'mma talk about Flash right now. Or, more accurately, a tangent off of Flash.

There was a back-up by John Rogers (writer of Blue Beetle), you see, which is, incidentally, why I bought the issue. It featured Jay Garrick. Which is where I go off on my tangent.

So, I'm a big fan of the Badass Old Dude type. Honestly, I'm probably reading JSA more for Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, and Ted Grant than I am for any of the younger characters. I harbor a great deal of <3 for Peacemaker over in Blue Beetle. There's something really charming about that, y'know? These guys could retire. I mean, they're old; it's not like anybody would really hold it against them, right? They've fought the good fight since WWII or thereabouts, you can't say that they haven't done enough. But they keep fighting anyway, because they're just that great.

Like the Flash back-up with Jay. Technically, of course, Jay is still rather young at this point. Still courting his lady love, even, but you can still see a lot of the foundation that makes him a Badass Old Dude. The guy's just been teleported from his lady love's front porch, mid-conversation, by an alien dogosaurus, and while he's trying to get an explanation, these crazy aliens break in screaming about murder and rape and the like, and what is Jay's response? "I know bad guys when I see them." And even "Where I come from, you knock before barging in!" It's kinda hokey and cheesy, but that's kind of the point. Even Gorflack (the aforementioned alien dogosaurus) narrates that "Yes, he really said that." Jay is old-fashioned. That's his charm. He's all about the "yes, sir" and "no, ma'am" and church on Sunday and Ma's apple pie, straight from the oven. In JSA #1, Wildcat says that "polite" describes Jay in one word, and this is very much the case.

Jay so very much encapsulates what it is to really be a hero that he manages to inspire an entire planet, whose society was on the very brink of destruction, to fight back and repel their invaders. Freedom, justice, and family. That's the JSA, right there. It's just plain pure heroism. I love it.

And, y'know, Jay's the heart of it. That's what makes this story specifically a Jay story. It's all about the heart. Of the JSA's Big Three, Alan's the brains, Ted's the brawn, and Jay's the heart. So, when these guys finally retire or die or whatever it is DC decides to do with them when having folks who fought in WWII still be active just isn't feasible anymore, I really do hope that the three of them get to go together. I'm not sure it'd feel right to have it any other way.