Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #6 – Josh Trujillo, Writer; Adrian Gutierrez, Artist; Wil Quintana, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: The conclusion of this miniseries follows in the footsteps of the rest of the series—it’s a lot of fun and continues the satisfying expansion of the world of the Reach. My biggest complaint with this series is that it’s mostly put the classic supporting cast on the back burner—with Jaime’s parents and sister only appearing in the first issue and Paco and Brenda being missing for much of it. Instead, the focus has heavily fallen on Ted Kord and his sister Victoria, as Jaime’s internship turns into a pitched battle against an army of new Beetles working for a mysterious group known as the Horizon. These alien invaders have been coming for Earth, and are sworn enemies of the Reach—or so it seems. The last few issues have shown more nuance to the situation, and now Jaime is willing to risk everything to prevent their spaceship from crashing out of the sky on Palmera City.
That this entire series seems to have been an elaborate build-up to an analogy for immigration and refugees isn’t a big surprise, given the writer’s passion for advocacy. The manner in which it’s delivered is a little clumsy, but the sentiment is good. It’s also nice to see Superman, whose roots are in immigration himself, be the first hero after Jaime to stand up for the concept of alien refugees on Earth. If the story has one major flaw, it’s that it doesn’t seem to end so much as stop, leaving a lot of questions unanswered for Jaime. This would be a big problem for a final issue—but it doesn’t actually seem to be a final issue! The epilogue reveals the name of the next miniseries in this series, which is a pleasant surprise. This book came out of the Round Robin tournament, and while it didn’t win it showed some real passion for the character. This mini wasn’t perfect, but it was a good start for Jaime Reyes’ future.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
