Oh, by the way, Blue Beetle #28 was Good

It may take me a while, and the replacement of my keyboard, (which no longer typed the letter "C", which makes it rather difficult to blog about COMICS), but I do eventually get around with gracing all of you with my opinion of the latest Blue Beetle issue. I have heard a rumor that this will be Will Pfeifer's last issue, which I find rather surprising, as I thought he was supposed to be taking over for more than just a few books, but what do I know?

Anyway, to cut to the chase, this was a nice little issue. While it didn't have some of the jaw-droppingly funny moments that John Roger's version had, it was still a nice done-in-one episode, that stayed true to the characters, and had a nice little twist at the end. I find that rather refreshing with all of massive cross-overs that are currently infecting the comicbook scene.

We open with a nice little flashback to Dan Garrett as the Blue Beetle, and the menace at a local bank. We then cut to one of Jaime's buddies grousing about a fried computer, who coincidentally gets chased by none other than the menace from the flashback! Or...is he?

Jaime gets to fly around El Paso looking for clues, and trying to calm down the irate citizens. For a monster, there doesn't seem to be too much damage actually, and what damage there is...is rather odd. Tires chewed up in a Tire Store, tripe stolen from a Butcher Shop, and a garden destroyed. Hector, the kid chased by the monster is somewhat on edge still, but Jaime just can't seem to find anything out of the ordinary...just some old guy walking his dog.

Then of course, Peacemaker busts in. Kicking open the door with his foot. Now, I can only assume that this the way that Peacemaker ALWAYS enters a room...kicking open the door with his foot. He knows perfectly well that it's just Jaime and his friends behind that door, but gosh darn it, he LOVES to make an entrance. The blank-eyed stare that he gets from Jaime, Paco and the rest of them is quite amusing. Anyway, Peacemaker has Dani Garrett with him, and they have evidence that The Menace of Doctor Mephistopheles Has Returned! Which cues another flashback of Dan Garrett battling the Menace of Dr. Mephistopheles and his Giant Green Furry Monster! The good Doctor looks properly menacing, rather like a slightly plumper Dr. Sivana, I mean, he has the bald head, big glasses and menacing white smock thing down perfectly.

Peacemaker and Dani seem a whole lot more worked up about the return of Dr. Mephistopheles than anybody else does. Poor Peacemaker can't even get anyone to take him seriously until he mentions the monster, which at least makes Hector's ears perk up. So, Jaime suits up and goes out searching again.

After QUITE a while, he actually does come across the monster, and rather to his surprise, it is suitably menacing. It even throws a car at him. While he's not completely thrilled to have a car thrown at his head, Beetle does realize that something is a little bit...off. The monster seems to be a lot more playful than he had anticipated. While the original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett had destroyed the monster, Jaime is more reluctant to use lethal force, and good for him. He does have to do something to contain the monster however, and he's giving it a good zap, when the old man who was previously seen walking his dog runs into the field of fire. In a rather lovely intertwining of the flashback with the present, we see Dr. Mephistopheles AND the old man pleading.



Well! That was a bit of a twist! It turns out of course, that the old man IS Dr. Mephistopheles, who gave up crime after Dan Garrett killed his first monster, and has been bumming around the country for years with his dog. He settled in El Paso, well...because he's old, and it's warm there. It's also probably a whole lot cheaper than Phoenix. Fortunately, since Jaime pulled his punches, the monster/dog is just fine.

Peacemaker shows up of course, breathing fire and vengeance, but Jaime, bless his heart stands up to him and points out that the old guy has been punishing himself for a heck of a long time, and he's not going to pick on an old guy and his dog. Peacemaker is slightly taken aback, but goes along with it, I am sure, to Jaime's relief.

And that is that. Short, and rather sweet.