Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: blue beetle, dc comics, J.M. DeMatteis, jaime reyes, Justice League 3001, keith giffen, lady styx, Legion Of Doom, legion of superheroes, rebirth, Scott Kolins, teri, The Flash

Blue Beetle #13 Review: Which Future Team Is Canon Now?

Blue Beetle #13 Review

Teri, the Flash of the year 3001, is ready to leave Kord Industries and return to her own time. She intends to rejoin her Justice League and aid in their fight against the galactic conqueror Lady Styx.

She is successful in this, but Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle, is brought with her. Tina is left behind in Jamie's time, and the Flash and Blue Beetle are dropped in the midst of a battle between Justice League 3001 and the Legion of Doom. Blue Beetle needs to survive if he is ever going to see his home again. Worse yet, Lady Styx has a peculiar interest in both Blue Beetle and the Flash.

The result is a pretty sweet fight between the Justice League 3001 and Blue Beetle and the reimagined Legion of Doom who, as it turns out resemble a certain other DC Legion that is worth naming.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting the Legion of Superheroes to randomly pop up in an issue of Blue Beetle. I'm not complaining mind you; it's always nice to see the Legion, especially since DC kicked them to the curb a few years back.

They receive little dialogue, and it's a borderline Easter Egg in that you need to know who the Legion of Superheroes are in order to parcel out that many of the Legion of Doom members are, or will be, members of the other Legion.

It's also worth mentioning that this is the last issue with the team of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Scott Kolins.

That is a bit disappointing, as they brought an energy and passion to the title that I fear whatever creative team picks up from here won't share. Furthermore, the presence and apparent excitement of Giffen, DeMatteis, and Kolins may have been one of the only things keeping this book alive in DC Rebirth. Unfortunately, Blue Beetle may never be a big seller, and DC may decide to let it quietly die soon.

Giffen's weakness for verbosity is on display in this issue once more, as many pages contain entire walls of text that are a bit of a struggle to get through. The dialogue isn't particularly bad, but it could easily be cut down in size.

The artwork of Scott Kolins continues to be a near-perfect fit for the spunk, bile, and vigor of Blue Beetle. It's mixture of cartoonish energy and comic book detail has always been a welcome aspect of the Blue Beetle title.

Romulo Fajardo Jr.'s choice to focus on bright colors has been an aid in keeping the cartoon-comic hybrid style cohesive. It compliments Kolins' style well, and it looks just plain good.

Blue Beetle has been a notably flawed title under this creative team, but it's more often than not made up for these flaws with energy and dedication. I'll miss this book as it is, but I hope the future is bright. This issue is worth picking up to see this creative team off, as it keeps they keep the trademark tenacity of Jaime Reyes alive to the end.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!