He'd kick Nite-Owl's ass

The obvious review for this week should be Buffy: Season 8. The third issue was out yesterday, the penultimate of this initial story arc, and Joss is firing on all cylinders. Or I could talk about his second, awfully cool issue of Runaways, also out yesterday. Instead, I'm going to sing the praises of Jaime Reyes.

I'm coming to the scarab's party late and feel like a chump for it. I'm a fan of John Rogers and read his blog religiously - dude wrote the Global Frequency pilot, come on - but I just paid no attention to the new Beetle. Rogers was co-writing with Keith Giffen through issue 6, taking over solo scripting chores with issue 7. Because I've picked it up late, I bought the first bound volume and will get the second when it comes out in a couple of months, but from here on out BB's on my pull list.

So what's so great about the Beetle?

Jaime's 17, his best friends and family know his secret, and he's both stoked and freaked by being a cape. Plus, in issue one he goes toe-to-toe with Guy freakin' Gardner. However, as tough as Honor Guard Gardner is, Jaime's mom is an order of magnitude tougher. When Jaime returns from his lost year (all part of the OYL silliness) his moms has some problems adjusting, particularly to the alien battle suit with a mind of its own.

There's a sense of (forgive the irony of this comment) realism to Rogers' and Giffen's portrayal of the Reyes family and friends that's missing from most funny books. If a real teenager found an ancient blue scarab that latched onto his spine giving him super powers, he might behave a lot like Jaime. At least I hope he would. Especially if that scarab keeps giving the kid very bloody and destructive suggestions during battle. I wonder what that's about? :)

One more great thing about BB: the artwork. I've seen prettier comic art and I've seen more exciting comic art, but the sense of proportion and movement are quite natural here. Rogers sums it up best: "You will notice the distinct lack of massive, levitating breasts, a choice further marginalizing us in the mainstream comics community."