Blue Beetle #4

Between the end of last issue and the cover of this one, he's upgraded his weapon's technology!

I guess the Gatling Gun was discarded for three higher tech guns that probably start shooting as soon as you pull the trigger and the ammo feed doesn't get tangled up and jammed quite as easily. And since I'm discussing covers, what was up with the cover of Issue #3? Blue Beetle never fought The Brotherhood of Evil! That cover could have been used for Issue #1 although he barely fought them there. And it could probably be used for this issue too. But last issue, the Brotherhood was in Paris and Blue Beetle was in El Paso! Stupid lying covers.

The Brotherhood of Evil track down Paco because they kept his lowrider after their encounter in Issue #2. Paco belongs to a gang called Chuco-Thirteen and Silverback and the Brotherhood crash their pool party. Literally?

Worst pool game ever.

This issue is called Gorilla Warfare. I wonder how many DC comics have used that title when Gorilla Grodd or some other Ape Villain made an appearance. I'm going to say about six. Looking to the internet, I see that in 1999, DC had an Annual Crossover event called Gorilla Warfare. In 1992, Green Lantern and Flash had a crossover 4-part story arc called Gorilla Warfare. The Super Friends #30, 1976: "Gorilla Warfare Against the Humans". Power Girl #3, 2009: "Gorilla Warfare". That's all the DC Comics I discovered although there were some Marvel and Independent titles that used the name for storylines as well. It's just too easy! Come on, Tony Bedard, let's up our writing game a little!

And he's back to the Gatling Gun!

Paco runs away because he was almost killed by these guys before and now they've got a Robot Ape as well! But the rest of his gang act tough and, for some silly reason, believe they're going to defeat these Super Villains. They just end up shooting each other and their leader is tortured by Plasmus until he answers Silverback's questions about where to find Paco. The scene ends before I find out if he tattles but I'm willing to bet he tells them Paco hangs out with Jaime.

Back at school, Jaime is arguing with the Scarab. The Scarab removed the armor from Jaime but remained visible along his spine. Which his parents saw and believed was a tattoo. Probably a gang tattoo too! When Jaime tried to explain, the Scarab made him nearly vomit so he couldn't continue. So at school, he's trying to find out from the Scarab why nobody can know who he is. The Scarab says nobody can know and then Jaime is accosted by that blonde jock jerk.

That's going to expose your secret!

So the bug tries to transform in front of witnesses. I guess it doesn't matter to the Scarab since it probably means to kill these jocks. But it should still be more careful! How many comic books am I going to read where they express the utmost need for secrecy and then everyone starts blabbing?

Jaime is rescued from killing Joey the Jerko Jock by Rebecca. She also tells him that Paco visited her early in the morning with a strange tale about a backpack and some people looking for the backpack that had found Paco again. So Jaime rushes out of the bathroom and into the sky to search for Paco and protect him against The Brotherhood of Evil.

Meanwhile, Paco was sold out by his gangbanger friend and The Brotherhood of Evil is just outside his motel door! Luckily Blue Beetle is learning how to work with Alien Scarab and they also track Paco down just in time!

"The one with the Tinkerbell wings!"

Speaking of Tinkerbell wings (if you'll allow me to reference the picture captions), Silverback has done what I was asking someone to do: rethunk the fairy wings!

Seriously. Why do the wings need to look like Beetle's wings? Make them all armored like the rest of the costume!

That's about as good as The Brotherhood of Evil gets! Ripping one wing off of Blue Beetle. Because on the next page, Blue Beetle arms his neural scramblers (which, Magic Scarab states, could be lethal!) and zaps the bejeezus out of Silverback and Plasmus!

Several things I like about this page: the noise Silverback makes, Warp saying Mon Dieu to show that he's French before retreating, and the fact that the real Brotherhood of Evil leaves Silverback behind when fleeing. Okay, I didn't scan that last panel. But it happens!

After defeating these guys, Jaime forces Magic Scarab to remove the Blue Beetle mask so he can get some air. Paco sees that it's Jaime inside the suit and runs out to greet him. Which probably wasn't the best thing to do when there's a paranoid Magic Scarab running the show.

Whoops!

Four issues in and Blue Beetle has won me over. Unlike some of the other comics, it's continuing to build on the plot points of earlier issues. In other words, it's telling a coherent story over time instead of just changing things around to fit the moment. I'm interested to see where this comic goes. Just like I'm interested in Hawk and Dove except this book is better executed than that one. So Blue Beetle can gain another rank.