Blue Beetle #14

If you can fart, surviving The Reach is a piece of cake.

Blue Beetle only has a few more issues left so I'd better praise it while I still have a chance. Tony Bedard and Ig Guara have done a fantastic job on this comic, maintaining wonderful art and engaging characters across its fifteen issue run. I've always been a big fan of Ted Kord's Blue Beetle and I wasn't reading comics when Ted got the shaft. This is series is my first introduction to Jamie Reyes and I like him. At first I thought he was just another high school kid too cool for everything and full of bravado. But he actually comes across a lot more like Peter Parker. He's quite a bit over his head with his new life but he's still trying to be responsible and keep what he can under control. And his little girlfriend Brenda is sexy and rich!

So it's too bad it's being cancelled. I also have it ranked 32nd out of 52 comics which really doesn't do it justice. My ranking system is severely flawed, especially if two adjacent comics both go up one rank each month and they're bracketed by comics that don't move, the two comics can just spend six months in the same position as they leap frog each other and never move. Sometimes I try to correct this and since Blue Beetle is ending soon, I'll be sure to bump it up to about where I think it should be when DC finally shitcans retires it.

Anyway, I'll let Jaime catch everyone up on what was going on last issue.

I know I'm currently in a good mood because the B Minus in Spanish line made me laugh.

Blue Beetle and his new buddy, Khaji-Kai, killer of worlds, are about ready to land on Scarabworld where The Reach enslave the native Scarabs and force them to become living armor for The Reach's warriors. Following close behind them in another ship is Sky Witness, Khaji-Da's original human receptacle. Khaji-Da is Jaime Reyes' Scarab for those not following along very closely. He's also a dessicated corpse with some inherent Blue Beetle powers left over from his long contact with Khaji-Da. My supposition from my last commentary is that Jaime will never even notice that Sky Witness is after him. He'll just keep barely missing his chance to get Jaime before Jaime finally returns to Earth. Sky Witness will then have to spend many years traveling to Earth to try again. Good thing he'll have time while Blue Beetle waits for a new series.

Jaime and Khaji-Kai discuss the Bugsuit's ability to translate other languages for the wearer.

The mice and the dolphins, of course!

And then I learn my earlier supposition was wrong as Sky Witness crashes his ship into Khaji-Kai, crushing him against the surface of Scarabworld. Oh, I'm sure he's okay. But he's probably out of commission so that Jaime will have to face Sky Witness alone.

This isn't revenge. It's a romantic rendezvous.

Khaji-Kai breaks up the reunion since Blue Beetle is powerless to hurt Sky Witness. His armor simply refuses to attack the creature because it recognizes it's own energy signature inside of him. Khaji-Kai chases Sky Witness away but in doing so alerts all of the other Reach guards of their location.

Spoiler: One of them doesn't die like a warrior.

Blue Beetle and Khaji-Kai manage to evade the guards and set the reactor to blow. This will take out the entire planet so Jaime quickly finds a way off of this doomed world. He shoves his way into an escaping ship manned by an alien making a delivery while Khaji-Kai gets trapped outside the ship. The planet blows, Blue Beetle escapes, and Khaji-Kai dies like a warrior. Unless a warrior wouldn't have been trying to flee the planet in the hopes of surviving. Then he just dies. And Jaime now has a ship and a pilot to help him get back to Earth.

Looks like Jaime's going to have to petition for a Galactic Restraining Order against Khaji-Da's ex.

Blue Beetle #14 Rating: +3 Ranking. The story feels like it's being rushed or cut short but that's probably due to the series having a definite end date now. But it did make me laugh a few times and this comic is much better than the 32 Ranking it currently has, so I'll give it a bit of a goodbye boost.