2000 Klems On Supergirl

Brave and the Bold #4
Written by Mark Waid
Art by George Pérez

Brave and the Bold just keeps getting better. Does anyone else think Supergirl should keep that s her costume? I guess it is a little too nineties but anything is better than her current one. Lobo and Supergirl was surprisingly fun to watch interact. I love Lobo’s use of the word, Frak and Supergirl’s constant insulting of him…saying she needed microscopic vision to see his package was brilliant! I am not sure exactly what is going on, for example why the Legion have apparently come back in time to visit with Batman, who is now combined with a robot. Really! Anything can happen in this book! It’s great. Perez’s art evokes a simpler time in the DC Universe and I like that. The only complaint I have is that those Legion villain’s costumes are really dated. Let’s update them people.

STAR Labs: Your Friendly Neighborhood Research Facility

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #15
Written by J. Torres
Art by Freddie Williams II

This was a great little fill-in issue of Blue Beetle where Jaime visits Star Labs in Austin and runs into Superman and Livewire. It was a really nice meeting between the Blue Beetle and Superman. I liked that Torres avoided the standard two heroes meet and fight thing by having Blue Beetle fight Livewire instead. The art was beautiful and I wish Williams was the regular on this title because it is better than the other guy. Torres is a good writer and I look forward to his upcoming Wonder Girl Mini-Series. What those kids in the Beetle cave said was right, Star Labs really is the best place for a Metahuman to go to figure him or herself out. I mean now that I think of it they have never been portrayed in a negative light, not even once that I can think of. They are aways helpful.

…And Start Thinkin’ Like The Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #14
Written by John Rogers
Art by Rafael Albuquerque

This was one of the best and most hear-warming issues of Blue Beetle yet. Guy Gardner returns but this time not to fight the Blue Beetle but to befriend him. There were so many great moments here. We learn more about the Reach and their relationship with the Green Lanterns. But the best part of it all was when Guy showed how much he repsected Ted Kord, the last Blue Beetle. It almost brought a tear to my eye when Guy told Jaime to start thinking like the Blue Beetle. Rogers shows he doesn’t need Giffen to make this series a success. I still am not a big fan of this book’s art though. It is too cartoony for me although it seems that I am the minority in that opinion. I also liked how the events of last issue were recapped at the beginning. I think that is pretty important for a comic to do and it’s sad not as many series do it.

The Bat and The Beetle

Brave and the Bold #3
Written by Mark Waid
Art by George Pérez and Bob Wiacek

Waid and Perez pound out another fantastic issue this time around. Suprisingly, I have found that the Batman and Blue Beetle team-up has been favorite yet. These two characters (outside of Infinite Crisis) have not really gotten the chance to team-up before and that is what makes it all the more interesting. Watching Blue Beetle, a fairly new supehero, admiring the accomplished veteran hero that is Batman was really fun. Waid makes nice use of Blue Beetle’s powers, I think even better than John Rogers has done over in Jaime’s own series. The part with Supergirl and Lobo was also really fun and I can’t wait to see what goes on with them next month. I am not familiar with the fatal five, Waid probably could have done a better job explaining them (Although I guess that is what Wikipedia is for now-and-days.). This was a lot of fun.

Blue Beetle 12 and 13

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #12
Written by John Rogers
Art and Cover by Rafael Albuquerque

It still feels that the unraveling of the mystery of the Blue Beetle scarab is taking way too long. I mean it has been a year already and we still know barely more than we did at issue 1. Luckily, this issue we learn a bit more. It’s a small step and hopefully next issue we can learn even more. There wasn’t anything too exciting in this issue, but at least we now know the scarab is activated and a takes a host when a planet has entered a certain level of technology and/or civilization.

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #13
Written by John Rogers
Art and Cover by Rafael Albuquerque

Ah I was right in guessing more would be revealed in this issue. So the Reach are an evil alien race that uses the scarab to enslave planets, but like the aliens from Mars Attacks, they pretend to be nice first. I love how they are so shocked that Jaime doesn’t use the scarab to kill and it was great to see them so shocked that there were multiple Green Lanterns on this planet. Now that I think about it, I really enjoyed this issue. It was exciting and answered a lot of questions. My favorite line must be when Jaime said, “Bring it, Ese.” That was great stuff.

Brave and the Bold 1 and 2

Brave and the Bold #1
Written by Mark Waid
Art by George Pérez and Bob Wiacek

This is the first issue of DC’s new team-up book (inspired by the old Brave and the Bold book from the sixties, seventies, and eighties) and Mark Waid proves right off the bat that this is going to be the most fun and most exciting book that DC puts out each month. He really hit it out of the park. Batman and Green Lantern may not have been my pick for the book’s first team-up but I would be wrong, because Waid shows how great these two work together. The fight in the batcave was sensational, seeing that big penny finally being used almost brought tears to my eyes….well, I wouldn’t go that far but it was cool. The idea of the book of destiny getting into the wrong hands is cool and I am shocked nobody has thought of this before. Great start for a great series.

Brave and the Bold #2
Written by Mark Waid
Art by George Pérez and Bob Wiace

Okay when I saw that Green Lantern and Supergirl this issue I was thinking okay well Supergirl is a little overexposed. But Waid pulls it off perfectly, I mean he writes her great over in Legion and here he writes her perfectly as well. She is an intelligent yet a little nutty girl. I loved the moment where she dresses up in a little girl costume to fool the spectators. And did I mention that a Las Vegas-like gambling planet is one of the coolest ideas ever. I am just ga-ga over the series. I love it!

Blue Beetle 10 and 11

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #10
Written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers
Art and Cover by Cully Hamner

Well, Blue Beetle and Brenda have been sucked away to the worlds of the new gods. I think they are on New Genesis and not Apokalips, which is cool we do not get to see New Genesis as often. This issue was still not as exiting as I thought it would be and I think it is because I am not a fan of Hamner’s art at all. I don’t know.

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #11
Written by John Rogers
Art by Rafael Albuquerque

Alright! This was a much better issue than the last. The art is so much better and I am glad that this Rafael is the new regular artist! We still do not know about the scarab despite Blue Beetle trying to get that information out of Metron. Metron is a character that I am really interested in now. I love how he just flies around in a chair. Very cool. There were a lot of funny moments this issue. Especially this one comment Jaime makes about Lonar’s sentence structure. I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. Reccomended.

Scarabs= Extra Terrestrial Technology

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #9
Written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers
Art and Cover by Duncan Rouleau

This was another fun issue of Blue Beetle and the art wasn’t too bad. I guess I am not one for cartoony art and usually this book has way too much cartoony art, but Duncan does a decent job here. This series never lets me down, it always has at least one fun part to it and this issue was all fun. The virtual “Beetle Cave” is a really fun and cool idea. Although, it does seem like a heck of a lot of people know that Jaime Reyes is the Blue Beetle. I guess it isn’t too bad though, I mean most people who know his ID seem trustworth. Brenda and Paco are great characters and I am surprised how fast the writers of this series have managed to develop a solid family of supporting characters around Blue Beetle. The idea of the scarab being alien in origin didn’t surprised me because it has been rumored for so long, but it still doesn’t quite explain why the Jaime Blue Beetle looks so different from the Dan Garret Bluee Beetle. I am itching to know the answer to that question. I look forward to the next storyline where Brenda and the Blue Beetle go to the worlds of the New Gods.

Learning about the Legacy

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #8
Written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers
Art by Cully Hamner
Cover by Duncan Rouleau

The new Blue Beetle goes on a roadtrip with Brenda and Mr. Black to meet the granddaughter of Dan Garret, the first Blue Beetle. I enjoyed this issue because any use of history or continuity just gets my blood flowing. We are still not any closer to understanding why the scarab is so different from when Dan Garret had it. The scarab never spoke to Dan or created crazy ass armor but it is not. This is certainly a mystery and one I hope gets solved soon. I don’t want them to drag it out too long. Now that we have seen Dan Garret’s relatives, I think it is time to see the Kords. Ted needs to get some commemoration. I wonder who Mr. Black is and who the reach is? Even more mysteries. This book is certainly full of lots of questions. I think that is why I like it so much. Good Issue.

Blue Beetle 5 - 7

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #5
Written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers
Art by Ducan Rouleau

Now here is a series I just want to love. I really want to truly enjoy this, but because of the art I just can not. The art is terrible usually and then with this guest artist it even worse. It makes the story so confusing. Besides the art, the cover of this issue is misleading. The phantom stranger is in this for like two pages. Although, I do like the idea of metahuman gangsters, this issue just did not do it for me.

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #6
Written by Keith Giffen and John Rogers
Art by Cynthia Martin and Kevin West

This issue is certainly a lot better than the last, we are getting a lot closer to finding out the mystery behind the scarab. The cover is gross but still cool. The art is a lot better this time around as well, although still not my cup of tea when it comes to art. This issue certainly makes you want to read the next issue.

Blue Beetle (Volume 6) #7
Written by John Rogers
Art by Cully Hamner

Well, this is more like it! Finally we get answers. Jaime flashbacks to what he went through with brother eye a year ago and now we understand why he was missing for a year. Apparently, the scarab was created by some alien race that feared the Green Lanterns. But then, of course, this opens up more questions. Why when Dan Garret found the scarab was it in ancient egypt? Why was it magical then? I can not wait for next issue when Jaime goes looking for those answers and some DCU history is explored. If you skip the last two issue, that would be fine, but definitely pick up this issue.