Blue Beetle #1 / Supergirl #1 / Captain Atom #1 - Eric's Mini-Reviews

Blue Beetle begins with a novel enough premise: the scarab that grants Blue Beetle his powers is actually a world-destroying weapon used by a group of intergalactic conquerors. However, this particular plot twist is revealed on the first few pages, and my writerly instincts tell me that scripter Tony Bedard should have approached the story from the opposite direction, establishing Jaime Reyes as a teenage hero first and then slowly teasing out the true nature of the scarab. As it stands, the issue is too crowded, not only introducing Reyes and the scarab, and them to each other, but also supporting casts of friends and enemies for Reyes in both his civilian and heroic identities. Artist Ig Guara deserves applause for juggling everyone as best he can, but in the end, there's simply too much noise. Reyes does sport a Rise Against t-shirt, however, thus awarding the book at least one check in the plus column.

Who knows, Supergirl, from co-writing Michaels Green and Johnson and artist Mahmud Asrar, could be the breakout hit of the DC relaunch. Seriously, who knows? It's impossible to tell, given how little information is conveyed in this first issue, which comprises exactly one scene over the course of its twenty pages. Those pages, in which a disoriented Supergirl lands on Earth for the first time, in Siberia, and battles Russian soldiers until her more famous cousin shows up, are heavy on action, but light on plot. In its favor, the writers seem to have a solid grasp of the character's voice, shown here in a series of narrative captions since Kara doesn't speak English (or Russian) yet, and the art does its job well enough without ever seeming exploitative. It could be great, but we'll have to tune in for a few more months to find out.

J.T. Krul desperately wants his Captain Atom to be Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen. That is, not merely a nuclear-powered hero, but a hero in command of the nuclear forces that bind the universe together; a captain, if you will, of atoms. Unfortunately, Krul is no Alan Moore, and his science reads like gibberish instead of poetry. Further muddying the waters is Freddie Williams II, a fine artist but surely no Dave Gibbons. Williams' work is ill-suited for the grandeur that Krul flirts with here, which is a shame, since some of the other titles in the relaunch would've fit Williams gritty style perfectly.