Blue Beetle #36 - DC

Unfortunately . . this is the last issue of Blue Beetle. I doubt this will be the last we see of Jaime Reyes. He's been pretty active in the Teen Titans book of late. Well . . maybe active isn't the right word. He's been hanging around a lot. I think the new comedy duo is going to be him and Eddie . . Kid Devil. Those 2 go together like oil and water. Anyways, this issue Jaime has to deal with all of the 'rogue' Beetles that are out there. Somehow they're related, kind of . . it you can call it that . . to the Scarab on Jamie's back. They want him to join them, but since he refused . . they're ready to kill him. Isn't that the way it always is with family? And basically, they have all the powers and same skill set as Jaime. So, the only way to get rid of them is for the Scarab to shut them all done. Which it does, but the problem is . . it also shuts Jamie's Scarab down and it take 27 1/2 days for it to reboot. It seems like an arbitrary number to me, but . . whatever. So he has to go for a month without being the Beetle. I think it made him realize how much he's become accustomed to the suit, and responsibility. I think he actually misses it. Oh, and during the whole skirmish Jamie's kind-of side-kick Nadia ends up getting killed by some of the aliens. It wasn't really that impactful because . . well, we hardly knew her. It's still sad that someone lost their life. I think it served to show Jaime that there are responsibilities and repercussions from his actions. Although, he's a pretty good kid so I think he knew that. I was never overly impressed with this series, but . . over the last year or so I have come to like this character more. I think we'll see more growth from him due to his interactions with the Teen Titans. However, for now . . it won't be in his own series. I definitely think that Matthew Sturges added something to this book. I also enjoyed Carlo Barberi's pencils on the last few issues. But for now . . the curtain is draw. "Blue Beetle . . . has left the building."