Wednesday Special: Buy this Now #1
I try not to buy crap when I buy comics. Comics are too expensive to throw money at bad books and one of the only ways to get rid of bad books or bad teams on book is to vote with one's pocketbook. Also, I don't want my children to laugh at me when they look though my long boxes in the future.
-Hang on. You own Liefeld comics?
-Well, technically...
-Liefeld?
-I thought the story would make up for the art.
-Look at the pouches! And can spines do that?
-I...
-Are we even related?
-Of course, sweetheart. Were do you think you get your great ability to be an asshole?
I try to pick up books that engage me in some way--make me laugh, make me tear up, make me say "that was awesooome"--and I'm generally successful. Every once in awhile I find one that is so great in one aspect or another or all, that I feel I owe it to people to point them towards it. So without further ado I give you Blue Beetle #22 (spoilers).
The issue begins with Jaime Reyes, the teenaged superhero Blue Beetle, saving a group of scientists from a lava flow and being a bit crabby about it ("It's lava! it moves like three miles an hour!"). He feels a bit bad and apologizes.
Danni has some ADHD/high functioning Asperger's-like mental disorder. She knows a lot, but getting the right bit of information out of her can be a challenge. She's a great character in a book full of them, like Jaime's mother, a nurse, and his mentor, the former hero called Peacemaker. Peacemaker was recently injured badly fighting the Reach and was in a coma at Mrs. Reyes' hospital. He woke up disorientated and ready to attack anything that moved. Mrs. Reyes tries to calm him by telling him how badly he was hurt.
The man on the right is Mr. Reyes. The woman in purple is Amparo, the aunt of one of Jaime's best friends, Brenda. Amparo was raising Brenda up until she discovered that Amparo is also the notorious crime boss La Dama who had her father killed. In La Dama's defense, Brenda's father used to abuse Brenda and she's not that bad of a crime boss, not since she started raising Brenda anyway.
Mr. Reyes manages to diffuse the situation by getting Amparo to realize that storming the house with armed men isn't the best way to win back Brenda's love. He's completely non-judgmental and gets Amparo to back down by relating to her parent to parent. In other words, the Reyeses are badass.
Meanwhile, deep in the volcano, the scarab, the alien being which has embedded itself inside of Jaime, begins to exhibit a sense of humor.
The weird blue symbols represent the scarab speaking to Jaime in its language. It's a cipher substitution language, which means that the words are in English, but the letters are replaced by non-English characters. The scarab's characters and their English equilivant can be found here. The scarab language adds something to the book and help make the scarab its' own character. Thoughout the entire run of the comic, the scarab has been evolving. Initially, it would only give assessments of situations and suggestions to disable enemies (usually though killing them) kinda like a Green Lantern's ring. This is the first time the scarab piped into a conversation just to talk. Character development!
Jaime and Danni find an ancient temple at the bottom of the volcano. Danni is excited, but Jaime and the scarab--the only sentinents in the world who can see though the dimension-shifting technology the Reach use--realize that something is off.
The scarab is saying there "Something is wrong" followed by "Enemy approaching." And who is the enemy?
Tovar thinks that Jaime and Danni are Atlanteans who have come to stop him from bringing his civilation back to life. Jaime realizes that the only way to get to Tovar is to make him see the truth, so he manages to break though the Reach's dimension tech, bringing the "city" into visible dimensions. This makes the Reach, who are watching from space, very upset.
Dun-dun-dun.
Back on Earth, Jaime puts all the pieces together and explains what's happening to Danni and Tovar. The Reach have put small amounts mind-control chemicals into the Earth's atmosphere which are completely undetectable, but bond with the genes of Earthlings. This chemical will build up in the systems of people over generations until the Reach activated it, using their dimension tech. Tovar is also being used by the Reach. He was an engineered by the aliens and his entire life and memories are just implants. With these false memories of Atlantean oppression fueling him, Tovar would set off a chain reaction explosion to destroy the surface world and bring back his people.
Tovar is crushed. Danni reacts the same way I did when the pieces came together.
The best part about all this, besides the plan being subtle and actually having a chance to work? The hints of it were being dropped as early as issue #14. Planning!
The Reach, realizing that the jig is up, send in machines to destroy the evidence of the plan. Tovar wants to stay and fight, but Jaime knows that even their combined strength isn't enough to stop the Reach probes.
Tovar insists, "The 'Reach' did this to me--and now they threaten your people. I must stop them! It is who I am." He pauses. "It is who I am--yes?"
Jaime realizes then that he can either drag Tovar into the Bug and completely take away his pride and reason for being or he can let Tovar die a hero's death believing the lies the Reach implanted in his head. Jaime thinks about how he would feel if he had to live a life knowing that his family and friends never existed and opts for the second.
"Yes. It's who you are. You are Tovar."
Back on the Bug, Danni tries to comfort Jaime.
I apologize if that was TLDR. I was stuck between my scans_daily style of posting where the scans do the talking with the occasional explanation or wisecrack, writing a summary of the comic, or writing a review. I wound up doing a some of all three and the result was a bit lengthy.
-Hang on. You own Liefeld comics?
-Well, technically...
-Liefeld?
-I thought the story would make up for the art.
-Look at the pouches! And can spines do that?
-I...
-Are we even related?
-Of course, sweetheart. Were do you think you get your great ability to be an asshole?
I try to pick up books that engage me in some way--make me laugh, make me tear up, make me say "that was awesooome"--and I'm generally successful. Every once in awhile I find one that is so great in one aspect or another or all, that I feel I owe it to people to point them towards it. So without further ado I give you Blue Beetle #22 (spoilers).
The issue begins with Jaime Reyes, the teenaged superhero Blue Beetle, saving a group of scientists from a lava flow and being a bit crabby about it ("It's lava! it moves like three miles an hour!"). He feels a bit bad and apologizes.
Danni has some ADHD/high functioning Asperger's-like mental disorder. She knows a lot, but getting the right bit of information out of her can be a challenge. She's a great character in a book full of them, like Jaime's mother, a nurse, and his mentor, the former hero called Peacemaker. Peacemaker was recently injured badly fighting the Reach and was in a coma at Mrs. Reyes' hospital. He woke up disorientated and ready to attack anything that moved. Mrs. Reyes tries to calm him by telling him how badly he was hurt.
The man on the right is Mr. Reyes. The woman in purple is Amparo, the aunt of one of Jaime's best friends, Brenda. Amparo was raising Brenda up until she discovered that Amparo is also the notorious crime boss La Dama who had her father killed. In La Dama's defense, Brenda's father used to abuse Brenda and she's not that bad of a crime boss, not since she started raising Brenda anyway.
Mr. Reyes manages to diffuse the situation by getting Amparo to realize that storming the house with armed men isn't the best way to win back Brenda's love. He's completely non-judgmental and gets Amparo to back down by relating to her parent to parent. In other words, the Reyeses are badass.
Meanwhile, deep in the volcano, the scarab, the alien being which has embedded itself inside of Jaime, begins to exhibit a sense of humor.
The weird blue symbols represent the scarab speaking to Jaime in its language. It's a cipher substitution language, which means that the words are in English, but the letters are replaced by non-English characters. The scarab's characters and their English equilivant can be found here. The scarab language adds something to the book and help make the scarab its' own character. Thoughout the entire run of the comic, the scarab has been evolving. Initially, it would only give assessments of situations and suggestions to disable enemies (usually though killing them) kinda like a Green Lantern's ring. This is the first time the scarab piped into a conversation just to talk. Character development!
Jaime and Danni find an ancient temple at the bottom of the volcano. Danni is excited, but Jaime and the scarab--the only sentinents in the world who can see though the dimension-shifting technology the Reach use--realize that something is off.
The scarab is saying there "Something is wrong" followed by "Enemy approaching." And who is the enemy?
Tovar thinks that Jaime and Danni are Atlanteans who have come to stop him from bringing his civilation back to life. Jaime realizes that the only way to get to Tovar is to make him see the truth, so he manages to break though the Reach's dimension tech, bringing the "city" into visible dimensions. This makes the Reach, who are watching from space, very upset.
Dun-dun-dun.
Back on Earth, Jaime puts all the pieces together and explains what's happening to Danni and Tovar. The Reach have put small amounts mind-control chemicals into the Earth's atmosphere which are completely undetectable, but bond with the genes of Earthlings. This chemical will build up in the systems of people over generations until the Reach activated it, using their dimension tech. Tovar is also being used by the Reach. He was an engineered by the aliens and his entire life and memories are just implants. With these false memories of Atlantean oppression fueling him, Tovar would set off a chain reaction explosion to destroy the surface world and bring back his people.
Tovar is crushed. Danni reacts the same way I did when the pieces came together.
The best part about all this, besides the plan being subtle and actually having a chance to work? The hints of it were being dropped as early as issue #14. Planning!
The Reach, realizing that the jig is up, send in machines to destroy the evidence of the plan. Tovar wants to stay and fight, but Jaime knows that even their combined strength isn't enough to stop the Reach probes.
Tovar insists, "The 'Reach' did this to me--and now they threaten your people. I must stop them! It is who I am." He pauses. "It is who I am--yes?"
Jaime realizes then that he can either drag Tovar into the Bug and completely take away his pride and reason for being or he can let Tovar die a hero's death believing the lies the Reach implanted in his head. Jaime thinks about how he would feel if he had to live a life knowing that his family and friends never existed and opts for the second.
"Yes. It's who you are. You are Tovar."
Back on the Bug, Danni tries to comfort Jaime.
I apologize if that was TLDR. I was stuck between my scans_daily style of posting where the scans do the talking with the occasional explanation or wisecrack, writing a summary of the comic, or writing a review. I wound up doing a some of all three and the result was a bit lengthy.