Blue Beetle #22 - DC

Things are really starting to heat up with this whole Scarab / Breach war thing that's going on. The Reach have recently come to Earth. They've represented themselves as altruistic. Actually . . they're here to take over. We find out this issue that they've had a long elaborate plan going for quite a while now. Jamie and Danni have found something under a volcano. It turns out to be, what looks like a Breach city. Ok . . I'll try to explain this, without taking up to much space. The Breach has been flooding our world with a drug that, over time, will make us susceptible to their suggestions. And by over time, I mean about 100 years. That's the only way they could do it in such small amounts as to be undetectable by anyone. Well . . . except for Blue Beetle that is. Anyways, they find this city that is filled with people in suspended animation. The only living being is it's guardian, Tovar the Lava King. So he says over the last 1000 years he's been building these cities around the globe to house all his species inhabitants, who were put into coma's by Atlantean magic. They're trying to gather their own power until they have enough to break the spell. He's estimating it should take about a 100 years. Kind of coincidental? Well it turns out that Tovar is another Reach construct. He's not real. His memories, his life, his family . . . none of it real. What was supposed to happen is that in a 1oo years, when they lifeless husks had gained their energy, the cities would explode and destroy the surface world. That's when the Reach would swoop in, offer to save the peoples of the planet, and suggest that they all come with them. With the aid of the drug . . they will. The Reach would then rape our planet of it's natural resources, and the people would become their slaves in space. But Jamie has exposed their plan, and with Tovar's help, has already destroyed one of their "cities". As Jamie and Danni escape, in Ted Kord's Beetle-ship, he, and the Scarab, send a message to the Reach . . . "We're Coming!" I can't believe how good this issue was, especially considering how I felt about the series when it first started. It's got the same creative team, John Rogers and Rafael Albuquerque . . . but . . . they seem to be doing a better job. I'm glad to see it. And I've really come to like this Jamie Reyes character. Who knew?