Blue Beetle #6

What font did they use for the word 'foe'? Turd?

Last issue of Blue Beetle ended in a pretty chaotic mess. Paco transformed into the Red Beetle which wants to kill Blue Beetle. And Red Beetle's Emergency Medical Scarab doesn't seem to be brain damaged like Blue Beetle's scarab is. So Paco escaped the hospital and is seeking Blue Beetle to terminate him. Meanwhile, Brenda's aunt tried to fuck kill Jaime because she knows he has the Scarab. But that went all kablooie and Brenda's aunt and her entire mansion disappeared in a mystical vortex. Jamie must have shit himself because when this issue begins, he's at home changing his clothes.

Have I mentioned how much I like the art in this comic? The style matches the mood of Bedard's writing.

While Brenda and Jaime are trying to figure out a course of action, the door bell rings. Jaime answers and surprise! It's Paco! He's doing pretty well for a guy who was just stabbed through the heart by his best friend! Pretty well if you ignore that the Red Scarab is doing all the talking for him. And it decides to transform Paco into Red Beetle because it thinks Jaime needs killing.

That Brenda is a cutey!

Blue Beetle takes the fight outside so that Brenda isn't harmed in the chaos. He then questions the Magic Scarab as to why this is happening. And the answer is fairly simple.

I have some other questions! Since everything the Magic Scarab creates stems from just the Magic Scarab (that's all that arrived on Earth), can it make multiple TAU healing roaches? Or is this the only one available to it and it was merely activated because it sensed the Magic Scarab was damaged? If the Magic Scarab can create a suit and guns and wings (see? Jaime's wing is fixed!), what more can it create? Is there a limit to how much stuff it can make?

Jaime and the Red Beetle have a little discussion as they beat the crap out of each other. The Red Beetle is winning because it has some magic goop that crystallizes and covers Blue Beetle's weaponry. It has these highly effective Blue Beetle Counter Measures to ensure that a defective Scarab is taken out of circulation. But it accidentally lets Jaime know that its organic host, Paco, thinks Jaime is pathetic. This doesn't go over so well.

Hey now, Jaime! Let's not be so judgmental about high school drop-outs! High school isn't for everybody and it's way over-rated anyway!

It's at this point when Jaime gets an idea. If he can convince the Red Beetle that he's submitted to the Magic Scarab, then everything will be okay and the Red Beetle will stop being such a dick. To convince the Red Beetle, Jaime himself needs to act like a total asshole.

He's just saying this so his mom will let go of Brenda and he can take Brenda away and beat her in front of the Red Beetle.

Once she's given the ultimatum, Jaime lets go of that whore's hand without thinking twice. Jaime tells the Magic Scarab to make him sound like he's possessed by the Magic Scarab. That means Jaime has to say things like "My Organic Host" and "Shut up you stupid latina bitch!" and "Destroying the Earth is fun!" He's a real downer when he's acting like the true Blue Beetle. You know, Ted Kord really got the Blue Beetle persona wrong! Seriously! He couldn't have been any wronger! What with all the joking with Booster Gold and the Bwa ha haing and the getting fat and out of shape. That's why he got himself shot in the head! The real Blue Beetle would have went along with Maxwell Lord's world domination plan! Stupid Theodore.

Blue Beetle beats and threatens Brenda in front of the Red Beetle to convince him that he's back to his old evil Magic Scarab self. The Red Beetle has enough of Paco in him to revert to Paco's form when Blue Beetle threatens to kill Brenda. But Jaime can't reveal who he is to Brenda. Especially after what he just did to her and his mom. He can't reveal who he is to anyone without them despising him and feeling hurt and betrayed by him. What the hell can a Blue Beetle do now?

New York City? Somebody get a rope!

Blue Beetle Issue #6 Rating: +1 Ranking. Nobody's more surprised than me how enjoyable this comic is. The art and the writing mesh well. And even though the Blue Beetle Scarab coming to Earth to destroy the world and taking over a teenager as its slave seems like it should be pretty heavy material, it's not. This comic has the exact tone I like in my comic books. It's jokey and fun but can be serious when it needs to be. More of the New 52 need the Blue Beetle attitude.