Blue Beetle #20 - DC

I gotta say, I kinda feel sorry for Christopher Smith in this book. He's the Peacemaker. From what I understand . . . I guess I missed the specifics somewhere . . . the Reach have taken Chris and implanted a Scarab on his spine. They're about to let him go to interface with it, when one of the Sinestro rings comes flying down from the atmosphere, to find a new host. It picks Chris, but for some reason it can't separate his genetic code from that of the Scarab. So basically he's got 3 things fighting for control of his mind. First himself, then the Scarab, and then the Sinestro ring. And all 3 of them are in conflict with their basic wants and desires. The Sinestro ring wants order and fear. The Reach wants Earth, any way it can get it. And Chris, like he's done his whole life, is fighting for Peace. Even if he has to kill for it. Lantern Brick comes down, it seems to aide Jamie. But really she's just trying to stop the ring from taking over anybody else. The Scarabs are part of Reach technology. And the Lanterns consider the Reach alien scum. So Jamie has to do an awful lot of convincing to get Brik to help him. But all he really needs is for her to distract him for 10 seconds so that he can interface with the Scarab on Chris' back. Basically he has to do a type of mind meld thing where he goes in to Chris' consciousness and convinces him to fight harder. Eventually the ring gives up, and goes to look for another host, because Chris wants peace, not fear or order. And with that conflict taken out, he's finally strong enough to exert his own willpower over the Scarab. When he finally does suppress the tech, he rips the Scarab out of his own back. I have to admit that this was a pretty good story. I'm still not thrilled about the art in this book. But I do think that the stories are getting better. But unfortunately, I really don't think the book has much more than a year left in it. Jamie will still be around. He's becoming more and more associated with the Titans. But the book . . . I think . . . is going to go away.