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nathaniel_1206's review
3.0
This 2 stars rounded up. Listen Keith Giffen has been (and will continue to be) an outstanding writer for DC. He's even been an outstanding writer of this character, which helped me to look forward to this, but this is a horrible introduction to this character. There is two or three pages of nonsense, that if its supposed introduction to supporting characters is terrible. If it supposed to charming or funny its not. Frankly its the one of the dumber meaningless banter/argument committed to comics this year. The second half of the book is much much better, and Giffen finds his pace, and does outstanding work. But the first half could have used a serious rewrite.
old_tim's review against another edition
4.0
This is a reboot of sorts of a character with a small(ish) but vocal following. This is much more of a multicultural YA vibe than I am used to in DC Comics. There's a great creative team, and it is very much work checking out if that's your bag.
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/10/waiter-theres-bug-in-my-comic.html
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/10/waiter-theres-bug-in-my-comic.html
ktothelau's review against another edition
2.0
[Read in single issues]
Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle has interested me and been on my reading list for a while. When I first discovered the character watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold, seeing Jaime as a relatable teen arguing with the sentient suit that gives him his powers, his New 52 line had already been cancelled. Then Geoff Johns wrote Rebirth and added a little scene with Jaime Reyes that I thought was very interesting.
In short, Keith Giffen doesn't deliver in this volume until issue #6, where he kind of gives a small splice of what the series could be.
Getting the obvious out of the way, the dialogue here is absolutely horrible. I tell myself it feels like a first draft, but then there are moments of repetition and sentences upon sentences of nothing going on. By then, it feels more like a very bloated outline with the characters speaking mostly hot air. The dialogue here isn't flat, it's completely empty. This, in turn, makes all the characters just a bunch of background noise, not even close to cementing themselves as prominent characters.
I know previous iterations of Blue Beetle gives Jaime Reyes internal monologues, sometimes even arguing with the scarab on his back. None of this is seen here until issue #6 for 2 panels, and it's just Jaime reminding us why he's in the spot he's currently at.
So yeah, fair warning: There's a whole lot of nothing going on in this volume. The plot is spread so thin it's hard to keep track of. If it wasn't for the last issue of this volume actually starting a plot and the art itself being serviceable, I would have given this 1 star.
I'm still reading this in issue form and am about to start #8. Hopefully this series gets better. I'd hate to see Jaime Reyes get cancelled a second time.
UPDATE: Though Keith Giffen still plots the story, issues #8 and #9 (all that are released as of writing this) have a different author that makes the story readable. It's still not great yet, but it has certainly bumped up to a 3-star read.
Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle has interested me and been on my reading list for a while. When I first discovered the character watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold, seeing Jaime as a relatable teen arguing with the sentient suit that gives him his powers, his New 52 line had already been cancelled. Then Geoff Johns wrote Rebirth and added a little scene with Jaime Reyes that I thought was very interesting.
In short, Keith Giffen doesn't deliver in this volume until issue #6, where he kind of gives a small splice of what the series could be.
Getting the obvious out of the way, the dialogue here is absolutely horrible. I tell myself it feels like a first draft, but then there are moments of repetition and sentences upon sentences of nothing going on. By then, it feels more like a very bloated outline with the characters speaking mostly hot air. The dialogue here isn't flat, it's completely empty. This, in turn, makes all the characters just a bunch of background noise, not even close to cementing themselves as prominent characters.
I know previous iterations of Blue Beetle gives Jaime Reyes internal monologues, sometimes even arguing with the scarab on his back. None of this is seen here until issue #6 for 2 panels, and it's just Jaime reminding us why he's in the spot he's currently at.
So yeah, fair warning: There's a whole lot of nothing going on in this volume. The plot is spread so thin it's hard to keep track of. If it wasn't for the last issue of this volume actually starting a plot and the art itself being serviceable, I would have given this 1 star.
I'm still reading this in issue form and am about to start #8. Hopefully this series gets better. I'd hate to see Jaime Reyes get cancelled a second time.
UPDATE: Though Keith Giffen still plots the story, issues #8 and #9 (all that are released as of writing this) have a different author that makes the story readable. It's still not great yet, but it has certainly bumped up to a 3-star read.
nathanaeljs's review against another edition
1.0
Setting aside the abysmal plotting and some of the worst dialogue I've read in comics in years, I don't see how this fits at all into pre-existing continuity. Is DC just arbitrarily declaring certain books from the New 52 didn't happen, as they seem to be indicating with this title's retconning away the New 52 Blue Beetle? They did the same thing with Wonder Woman and the Birds of Prey and it's starting to make their universe increasingly incoherent. Plus they've completely retconned every scrap of backstory on the Beetles and that goes back pre-Flashpoint. Very disappointing.
lukeisthename34's review against another edition
1.0
I am, bewildered. Did I miss a bunch of stuff that helps translate this? Character don't interact like humans, conversations seem to be missing large portions of text that make them make sense. Just an overall confusing tome.
shlowee's review against another edition
1.0
I desperately wanted to love this because Jaime Reyes is one of my absolute favourite characters. I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of fun lovable Young Justice Jaime with the biggest heart and the most wholesome personality. Instead, I got a very confusing story with dialogue panels that were hard to follow. I have no idea how people unfamiliar with the blue beetle dynamic managed to follow any of it, because it was a mess.
bookmarked642's review against another edition
3.0
I really didn't know much about this comic before. All I knew about Blue Beetle is that my boyfriend pointed out how he, in Injustice 2, has a face like Groot. I just can't unsee it now.
Another teen hero - but one that was not raised into the role. Jaime Reyes has a strange beetle attached to his back, found by him and his friends. With the "help" of Ted Kord, Jaime goes into some pretty interesting scenarios, playing hero. And then Doctor Fate makes an appearance, warning them about the scarab being "unreliable". Extensive tests on Jaime bring to light what is happening to him.
He runs into The Posse, a gang who are well-acquainted with Jaime's mother. And then Mordecai shows up, threatening Mrs Reyes's life. But it's not her he's after.
I won't lie, I kind of had no idea what exactly was happening half the time. I liked the banter and humour in this - especially with Ted Kord - but I couldn't really keep up with the main plot. Maybe if I read more, I'll understand what's going on. I'm not sure. 3 stars for this.
Another teen hero - but one that was not raised into the role. Jaime Reyes has a strange beetle attached to his back, found by him and his friends. With the "help" of Ted Kord, Jaime goes into some pretty interesting scenarios, playing hero. And then Doctor Fate makes an appearance, warning them about the scarab being "unreliable". Extensive tests on Jaime bring to light what is happening to him.
He runs into The Posse, a gang who are well-acquainted with Jaime's mother. And then Mordecai shows up, threatening Mrs Reyes's life. But it's not her he's after.
I won't lie, I kind of had no idea what exactly was happening half the time. I liked the banter and humour in this - especially with Ted Kord - but I couldn't really keep up with the main plot. Maybe if I read more, I'll understand what's going on. I'm not sure. 3 stars for this.
birdmanseven's review against another edition
2.0
Jaime Reyes is a good character, but this book sure was bad. I'm not sure why they keep giving the title back to the same author. Clearly things aren't working. This reimagines the scarab as magic and also Ted Kord is around and also I don't care.
We talked about this over on Comic Book Coffee Break:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyRJasw_iWk&t=6s
We talked about this over on Comic Book Coffee Break:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyRJasw_iWk&t=6s
literati42's review against another edition
2.0
The concept was so much better than the execution. The art was gorgeous though and I️ like the idea. I May dip in and see if it gets better
librarimans's review against another edition
2.0
I normally really like Scott Kolins art, but it really came across rushed here most of the time.