Blue Beetle #36

Waaaahhhhh! It's over, and I don't want it to be over! Unlike Birds of Prey however, at least Blue Beetle went out with a bang.

As you all recall, we left Jaime, Brenda and Paco, at the school dance, when they are suddenly confronted by various aliens who had answered the call of Kahji Da. They want to help out Jaime by destroying the Earth, which is not exactly the kind of help that he was going for. So, of course, a big fight ensues. What is really interesting, is that Jaime is standing there in his civilian guise, while the Blue Beetle is fighting! How on earth can he do that?

With a little help from Ted Kord, and his remote-controlled holographic projectors and directional speakers...and stuff. So, it's not really Jaime standing there, he's actually busy fighting the aliens. But still...it's pretty cool.

Poor Nadia however, is finding that being a hero is definitely NOT cool, or at least a lot harder than it looks. She's managed to find her way to the High School, in order to find Jaime and warn him about the Scarab guys. Jaime is trying to draw them away from the area, to cut down on the collateral damage, so it's hard for him to be listening to what Nadia is trying to say to him. What she's trying to get across, is that while the aliens might not listen to Jaime, they may listen to Blue Beetle.

Hector in the meantime is desperately searching for Nadia as well, in the middle of the melee. He does eventually spot her, just in time for...




Oh crap. That's not good. Jaime's holographic image is just standing there, which enrages Hector, as he doesn't KNOW that at the moment Jaime is just a hologram.

The real Jaime has drawn the assorted aliens up into the atmosphere, when it dawns on him what Nadia was trying to say about communicating with them as Blue Beetle. Meaning, it's up to the Scarab to take care of this. And that of course, is exactly what he does, he shuts them all down.



And his final word is "goodbye", as Jaime begins to fall along with the various aliens. And Kahdji Da is gone, and Jaime is alone as he falls, so naturally, he thinks that he's about the buy the farm. He is fortunate enough to somehow be encased in a kind of force field so that at least he won't burn up upon reentry...in his own words, he'll just go splat instead. So naturally, he thinks about his family, his friends, and his predecessors, Dan and Ted, and what would they have done.

He doesn't know what they would have done, he's not Dan or Ted...he's Jaime Reyes, and it has just dawned on him that the alien he's falling with, happens to have wings. Oh Jaime, you're such a good boy. He does manage to wake up Djo-Zha, and naturally, they fight some more as they are falling,but at least they are slowing down, until Jaime accidentally knocks the guy out.

Oops.

Splat.

And Jaime's holographic image finally fades, as Ted Kord's holograpic image appears. Woohoo!



But not to worry, Jaime's not dead, he' just in a full body cast, with almost every bone in his body broken. Guy showed up to take custody of the aliens, except for Djo-Zha, who's body is found missing its scarab. Coincidentally, Hector disappears after yelling at Jaime about poor Nadia, and he's eventually spotted on a camera renting a car, and giving his name as "Joshua".

Fortunately for Jaime, the Scarab is slowing starting to reboot, which heals him, which is nice. Traci shows up, and Peacemaker decides that he has to leave, which is so sad.

And finally, the day that the Scarab was supposed to reboot, they are all sitting around in the living room, nervously wondering if it is going to come back, or not,when suddenly Kahdji Da makes his triumphant reappearance, and that is where the book ends.

Mr. and Mrs. Reyes and Milagro make it out alive, as do Paco and Brenda and La Dama, and Dani Garrett and Peacemaker and basically everyone except poor Nadia. And Hector has the other Scarab and will presumably go on to become the Black Beetle, so that winds up that plot point rather neatly. So, it's a nice ending, and Jaime is still Blue Beetle and will go on to fame and fortune in the Teen Titans, and on The Brave & the Bold cartoon...but dammit, I still am going to miss this book.

A lot.