The Blue Beetle Debate Part 1

About a month ago, there was a debate on our Facebook fan page for Coast City about the new Blue Beetle character. Things became pretty heated, some things were said that can't be taken back, and one marriage ended because of it. I'm kidding about the marriage, but it was pretty heated. I asked my good friend, Chris Morey, to write up an anti new Blue Beetle article. I would post it on the blog, and then I would respond with a pro Blue Beetle argument. It sounded like a good time to me, so hopefully you guys will feel the same.

Without further ado, here is Chris Morey's anti new Blue Beetle article.

So a few weeks ago i posted a comment in response to Chad's opinion of the new blue beetle always getting the shaft. Either he or Gerald had an idea that Chad and I do a sort of point/counterpoint deal with how we feel about the new Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes.
I feel this character has had more chances than most in the DCU. He started out as a break out character in DC's big event of the year, infinite crisis. Right off the bat, he's got a lot of attention. Next, he's right into his own series with one of DC better writers,Keith Giffen, and yet he really didn't draw much interest. Onto a new writer and a new story arch, and his title is still having trouble finding readers. Even after attention from a much publicized special Spanish language issue and even after hitching it to a popular title like teen titans still the readers aren't coming.

The title was around for basically three years, with low readership, most characters do not get that long. Then when his title was finally canceled, really due to a lack of interest, the new blue beetle is shoehorned into another title as a back up story. Meanwhile other characters introduced at the same time as the new blue beetle don't receive the same chance. Characters, like the new Question or the new Atom, are pretty much reduced to guest shots in other titles.

Finally the event that pretty much triggered this commentary happened, DC dropped the Blue Beetle back story from Booster Gold. Is this the last we'll see of little Jaime? Probably not. There's already rumors floating around about him appearing in the new series Justice League: Generation Lost. This is another chance for this character, that no one really seems to want around. This is the same character that they killed off the last Blue Beetle, a character that people are still asking for to return, to create. Is this the best they can do?

The last three years of this Blue Beetle have been almost like a giant junk shot to fans of the old bwah-ha-ha era of the justice league. Now if they had done the series right, and given us a decent successor, it wouldn't be such a big deal. Instead what we get is three years of floundering, a character with no clear focus, and not really in the spirit of the character who's legacy he supposed to be carrying on. I feel that Jaime Reyes,the new Blue Beetle, has had his chance(s) and it's time for dc to move on/back to what most readers want: Ted Kord,(who if you ask me, is the one who got the shaft.)

I'll post my response to Mr. Morey tomorrow.

-Action Chad
chad@coastcitycomics.net