Blue Beetle #31

Gosh, I do love this book. Matt Sturges seems to be finding his balance, and Andre Coelho is pretty good on the art, looking a lot like Rafel Albuquerque.

When last issue, we left our doughty hero, he had defeated those guys with the amped up powers...WITH SCIENCE! Too bad they're all dying. Jaime of course feels horrible about this, as he really wasn't trying to kill them. They've all been rushed to the hospital where Mrs. Reyes works when who should show up, but Doctor Mid-nite! Woohoo! I LOVE Pieter! He's a superhero who's also a Doctor! The thugs are in safe hands. There is also a charming little scene when Blue Beetle shows up, and Mama Reyes just can't resist calling him "sweetie", as Jaime rolls his eyes. I know that I would do the exact same thing, if that were my son.

Jaime and Doctor Mid-nite have a nice little heart-to-heart talk about tiny magnets, moving the plot, and the responsibility of being a hero. You can tell that the good Doctor is a member of the Justice Society...he's just so good at mentoring.

The next day, Blue Beetle flies off to Pecos Bill Park, and is presented with the keys to the city, which is a very nice thing for El Paso to do, for their resident hero. You don't see this sort of thing happen to Spider-Man, that's for sure! Too bad that Bill Chacon, the sleezy District Attorney shows up and manages to manipulate poor Jaime rather neatly into being his muscle for the Border Patrol. You can imagine how THAT goes over.



Oh Jaime. If only ALL of your problems could turn into giant robots. The boys then get interrupted by a phone call from Mrs. Reyes, telling Jaime to get to the Hospital...RIGHT NOW!

Meanwhile, Brenda is taking Mariposa shopping, despite her inner reservations. Mariposa dumps her, and runs off to find La Dama, desperately trying to convince her that she may only be seventeen, but SHE'S BAD TO THE BONE!! You can just SEE La Dama rolling her eyes.

Back at the Hospital more thugs have shown up, kidnapping back the original thugs. One of them has the poor judgement to slap Mama Reyes around! That turns out to be a poor choice on his part, as Doctor Mid-nite and Blue Beetle bust through the doors and start punching. They have to use punching because they don't want innocent bystanders to be hurt. The Thugs know this, and oops...innocent bystander IS hurt. Doc Mid-nite has to let one thug go, and rescue her, but that's ok, because Jaime's Mom shows her stuff, and uses an MRI machine to zap the aforesaid thug. Jaime obviously gets his heroishness from BOTH of his parents. Heck, even Doctor Mid-nite is impressed.

The bad guys still end up getting away, but Doctor Mid-nite tells Jaime that sometimes, that's just the way it goes, and it is more important to help people. Besides, he placed a "subdermal infrared homing beacon" on each of the sick guys, so Jaime can trace them.

Back at the villain's lair, Nichol is less than pleased with the performance of the Intergang thugs. He also manages to make his displeasure known by summarily executing one of them, and scaring the crap out of the rest of them.

Because...



Holy Crapafazoola!