Blue Beetle
17 years ago - Jamie Reyes is born in El Paso, Texas
2 years ago - 15-year-old Jamie finds the Blue Beetle scarab, which bonds with his spine. He becomes the new Blue Beetle and works with his family and friends 15-year-old Brenda Del Vechio & 15-year-old Paco Testas to protect El Paso. He meets Violet, his scarab reacting to the Auraklean energy of their aura.
1 year ago - 16-year-old Jamie is captured by the Reach, the alien race that built the scarab as an invasion tool, along with 16-year-old Brenda Del Vechio & 16-year-old Paco Testas. His scarab's AI chooses him, & together they free fellow captive Violet and defeat the Reach. Jamie joins the Justice Society.
now - 17-year-old Jaime works with Paco Testas's gang to protect El Paso. He is introduced to Traci Thirteen by his new teammate Natasha Irons.
As soon as Ted Kord was killed in the climax of the one-off issue Countdown to Infinite Crisis in 2005, it was a foregone conclusion that a new Blue Beetle would be right around the corner, but there's no way we could have known the character we would get would be such an absolute slam dunk. Jaime Reyes's Blue Beetle had the benefit of an amazing concept, stellar design, and perhaps most importantly, absolutely pitch perfect characterization and worldbuilding. Sometimes a comic comes along that proves just how much fun comics can be, and this is one of the best.
Blue Beetle's Comic HistoryJaime Reyes appears on-panel for the first time in issue #3 of Infinite Crisis in 2005, picking up the Beetle Scarab, but his powers and armor manifested for the first time in issue #5, playing a large role in the rest of the series. In the aftermath of the crossover, he began to appear in his own solo series, written by Keith Giffen & John Rogers at first, although Giffen left after the first few issues. Despite having to deal with DC's post crossover company-wide one-year time jump, the book managed to carve itself into one of the best series of the 2000's. Jamie was a fantastic series lead; he was a legitimately good person trying his best, and his love for his friends and family was palpable. His supporting cast was truly one of the best you've ever read in any comic. Here's just one of my favorite exchanges between Jaime and his parents.
The series introduced the Reach, the alien species responsible for building the Scarab, and their insidious plan for world domination. Jamie fought them through the series, in a story that rose to one of the best story climaxes I've ever read in a mainstream superhero comic. The book went on to tell several smaller stories, before ultimately ending in 2009. A new Blue Beetle series tried to reboot the whole story in 2011, but just like most of the new 52, it didn't really find its feet. |
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Our Blue Beetle StoryJaime is one of those characters where we can do very little to improve him. In fact, in this case we actually have precedent for that, because DC has actually tried multiple times to update or retell this story, and it's never been as good. So if we're going to change anything, it needs to be very minimal and for a good reason.
One element of Jaime's original story that could be updated is the fact that his powers first manifested in the middle of a major crossover, and then had to deal with the one year later time skip. We're not using either idea, Jaime will just find his Scarab, and begin having to interpret his powers and his connection to the weird alien computer communicating with him. Jaime is regularly shown as a member of the Teen Titans in other media, and in fact his only in-continuity time with the Titans was during his original series. Unfortunately, this was during a pretty rough time in the Titans history. His actual book only made passing reference to him being a Titan, even having Jamie tell his friends Paco and Brenda that he liked them better... so we're just going to leave that out completely. |
Blue Beetle's CostumeOn the surface, there's really not a ton to say about Blue Beetle's costume, because he hasn't been around long enough for it to vary TOO much, and the costume he has is pretty solid. He's obviously a legacy character, and his design does a great job of updating the look of his predecessors. It's a LITTLE busy, but that isn't always a bad thing, and in this case the business really serves the character's story. It also gives him a very unique silhouette, which is a hugely important part of designing a superhero.
The reason I wanted to include a bit about his costume is because of one element that changed in his recent DC Rebirth series. It's conceptually clever, more bug-like in it's design, most notably in his mask... Something about it was rubbing me the wrong way, but I just couldn't figure out what it was. The design art included here has a note about his original mask that, I think, shows just what is missing; it's meant to evoke a luchador mask. The book always did a great job of making Jaime's heritage one of his strengths, and this small element just seems so incredibly obvious now that it's been pointed out to me. |
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Blue Beetle's FutureThe world of Blue Beetle's El Paso was full of all sorts of strange magically empowered characters, making it seem like a more fantastical place. Our version is going to have some elements of that, possibly a result of the scarab landing there in the first place, but once Jaime defeats the Reach all bets are off. The weaponry and technology left behind by the invading aliens are going to be scattered all over his home city, giving him all sorts of new threats to deal with.
Also, once he's dealt with a massive invading force, he's going to be very much on the radar of the rest of the superhero community... which will lead to him being invited to join the Justice Society. While the comics had him join the Titans, we all agreed that he actually feels much more at home with the Society, particularly with its focus on helping legacy heroes. And of course... he's going to meet and start dating Traci Thirteen. Their relationship was just as likable as everything else in his book, and we are totally including it. |
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