A slight slip of the scarab: Blue Beetle #15

It's not news that I've been loving the new Blue Beetle. Even within the constraints of the N52WO (New 52-World Order) imposed by DC's editorial board, the Keith Giffen/John Rogers take has been refreshingly fun and light-hearted. The Crisis/52/OYL architecture provided the launching pad for Jaime's time with the scarab, but it didn't seem to have much impact on story; however, I'm worried Countdown might. Or it might just be that guest writer J. Torres isn't my cup of tea (or blows).

The dialog was comicbook-y, the plot weak, and Jaime's first encounter with Supes was tone deaf. Cully Hamner's cover - close to the above, but changed so Supes is frowning, looking away from Beetle, and face in shadow - does a great job of capturing Jaime's excitement of meeting the Boy Scout. The facial expression Hamner pulled off in the armor gets the look of a star-struck teen. The guts of the book? Well the artwork's serviceable.

This was billed by DC as a standalone, and Rogers will be back with Rafael Albuquerque's great art next month, so I'm not going to worry much. I'm pretty sure that even with the Countdown tie-in that issue will click. I guess I've just gotten so expectant about this book that any miscues are going to jump out at me.