Blue Beetle #7 Preview

[Factor]

Nice issue. I honestly thought it would be more heartfelt considering the subject matter, but it was pretty fun and a nice homage that featured a ton of important characters from Giffen’s career.
I’m slightly bummed that we didn’t get the classic Legion like the cover promised. But it was cool seeing those 5YL characters again.
I will say that I would have enjoyed it more if it didn’t feel like they’re hinting that spoilers:

Ted will die soon

end of spoilers. I wasn’t really worried for him until this issue. Why have him return only to be at risk again?

[RogueWhistler]

I wonder why the Legionnaires on the cover are all classic, except Lightning Lad but including Lightning Lass, and the ones who actually appear are 5YL. Maybe it's just a question of what reference Adrián Gutiérrez was given, since Howard Porter did the interior Legion pages.

[Thor-Ul]

I wonder why the Legionnaires on the cover are all classic, except Lightning Lad but including Lightning Lass, and the ones who actually appear are 5YL. Maybe it's just a question of what reference Adrián Gutiérrez was given, since Howard Porter did the interior Legion pages.

Maybe the editor wanted it in that way.
However, did you notice Lightning Lad? Did you noted something curious there?

[RogueWhistler]

Maybe the editor wanted it in that way.
However, did you notice Lightning Lad? Did you noted something curious there?

He's on the cover under Jaime's chin, using his Bendisboot design. I guess they didn't want to undo his raceswap, but it's a bit odd that he's the only one from that era.

I thought Lightning Lass was on there too, between J'onn and Captain Marvel, but looking closer I think it might be Lightning Lad again, just with his classic look.

[Thor-Ul]

He's on the cover under Jaime's chin, using his Bendisboot design. I guess they didn't want to undo his raceswap, but it's a bit odd that he's the only one from that era.

The suit is basically the same. But indeed, they insist in the raceswap. And indeed it seems like out of place among the classic line up. At this step, I would not be surprised to see any new reimpresion of the odl issues of Legion with a re-colored Gath.

I thought Lightning Lass was on there too, between J'onn and Captain Marvel, but looking closer I think it might be Lightning Lad again, just with his classic look.

All the Legionnaires are in their most classic suits (Chamaleon Boy is in his red suit) but Ayla appears in her Gosamer identity from the Batch sw6 version. Stil there she is too small to see cleary any toher changes, but it seems the colorist is being more flexible with Ayla than with Garth.

[Robotman]

I really enjoyed this issue and it was a very nice tribute to Giffen.

It’s always cool to see Cully Hamner draw Jaime again. So they had Hamner who worked with Giffen on the first Blue Beetle series, Kollins who drew Giffen’s second Blue Beetle run, and Howard Porter who worked with him on Justice League 3000.

Once I spotted Jonni on the cover I figured out who the “boss” was . It was the most Keith Giffen-y way to address the different origins that Giffen himself gave Jaime.

I wonder why the Legionnaires on the cover are all classic, except Lightning Lad but including Lightning Lass, and the ones who actually appear are 5YL. Maybe it's just a question of what reference Adrián Gutiérrez was given, since Howard Porter did the interior Legion pages.

It could have been an editorial thing since DC doesn’t really know what the hell they’re gonna do with the LoS now that Johns’ Legion of 4 Worlds story isn’t happening. The team is in limbo so they just played it safe and used the 5YL version.

[RogueWhistler]

The suit is basically the same. But indeed, they insist in the raceswap. And indeed it seems like out of place among the classic line up. At this step, I would not be surprised to see any new reimpresion of the odl issues of Legion with a re-colored Gath.



All the Legionnaires are in their most classic suits (Chamaleon Boy is in his red suit) but Ayla appears in her Gosamer identity from the Batch sw6 version. Stil there she is too small to see cleary any toher changes, but it seems the colorist is being more flexible with Ayla than with Garth.

Maybe he'll end up like Kendra Saunders, where he's mostly unrebooted with only the change in race sticking.

It could be Gossamer, that'd make more sense than Garth being there twice, but it looks to me like that figure has a cape and orange tights.

[Thor-Ul]

Maybe he'll end up like Kendra Saunders, where he's mostly unrebooted with only the change in race sticking.

It would be a triumph for Bendis and I don't want to give that man any other win. It is bad enough with accelerated old Jon Kent.

It could be Gossamer, that'd make more sense than Garth being there twice, but it looks to me like that figure has a cape and orange tights.

Could be just a coloration effect or a miscommunication thing. You have to see everything in their context. You see the cover and you see all the characters of the JLI era, the Legion than Levitz wrote and Giffen draw mostly and several of the parody characters than Giffen created and worked on (Lobo, Heckler, Ambush Bug & Jonni DC, not to confuse with Johnny DC).

But I see three anomalies there: Lightning Lad (really really small, so I think it is intentional, it has been not the first time than I see this), Gossamer/Lightning Lass (strange coloration too) and... Supergirl/Laurel Gand. See the figure behindnMartian Manhunter, close to Jaime's knee. Who is? The character should be Supergirl, who was a member of the Legion around the time Giffen was the penciller, but her colors seem more like be of Laurel Gand, created to replace Supergirl in 5YL Giffen run. The penciller could had made Supergirl, but the colorist made her Laurel Gand.
A little change of color can made a world of difference.

[Eskana]

This issue was a nice break from the series so far... I haven't been crazy about this run (both with the art and the whole Yellow/Green/Red Beetles running around.) It was nice to see the old JLI headquarters, even if it was just a few seconds. It WAS a bit annoying that people always seem to mix up Max.... Jaime asked Booster if Max read his mind, and Booster says "probably not," but Max doesn't read minds... he controls them. And that wasn't until later (although that could be the "probably not" of Booster trying to remember when Max coudl do that.) Still, it was nice to see and I liked that they even included Dinah in her old costume.

The part I most enjoyed though was seeing El Paso again. I have been feeling a lot lately like they are trying to forget that part of Jaime's story and go with Palmera City, so it was nice to know that they still acknowledge it! And I liked the comparison his mom made with working in the hospital and having to make life-and-death decisions and learn from them.

I wasn't a fan of the DC Cop part... I haven't watched "Loki" but it seemed too close to the TVA and Miss Minutes, or whatever that is, but as long as it's just a one-and-done that won't be referenced again, it's okay.


HOPEFULLY, Ted ends up being fine, but maybe is officially moving into a new role, probably time-travel related. It had to happen at some point, so I feel like that's best-case-scenario.

[Robotman]

Yeah I think it’s best for both characters if Ted can go off and do his own thing away from Palmera City.

They keep having to find ways to sideline him when he’s in Jaime’s book. Plus I don’t think Jaime will be able to grow as a hero if he has to always check in with Ted and play Beetle Jr.

I’m glad that it seems like Ted will be with Booster doing some time travel shenanigans.

As far as Jonni DC trying to get the scarab origin straight I much prefer the scarab to be alien. Maybe it was magic that short circuited it and it has some residual magic in it, but I think they should just stick to the Reach origin.