Review: Blue Beetle Vol. 2- Blue Diamond
Quick Summary
Pros: The book’s second half is well-written and exciting. Jamie Rayes is a great main character, especially in regards to his relationship with the Scarab.
Cons: The book’s first half is a bit chaotic and lacks a clear focus.
Overall: This is a book with a pretty average storyline but an entertaining cast of characters. The story flips between good and bad as the volume hits the halfway point, with the asymmetrical quality levels balancing one another out. However, Jamie Rayes and his Scarab are consistently compelling all the way through. Because of this, this book will likely appeal to fans of Jamie Rayes but won’t necessarily appeal to those simply looking for an all-around good story.
Story
Blue Beetle Vol. 2: Blue Diamond, by Tony Bedard, has a variety of ups and downs that mostly end up evening each other out. For the first half of the book, the narrative struggles to find its footing and bounces too chaotically from one storyline to the next. In the second half, things improve significantly, enough to balance out the tumultuous first half. The main consistency between these two halves is Jamie Rayes and his Scarab, a unique pair that add some interesting character development and occasional comedy into the mix. In this way, this collection is likely to appeal to those looking for character driven moments from Jamie, not a captivating narrative that stands on its own.
(spoilers start here)
Blue Diamond picks up right where the previous book closed. Jamie is with his Scarab in New York City looking for a vague sense of direction in his life. This portion of the book has some fun and excitement but is also rather chaotic. The first two chapters focus on the villain Stopwatch, who dominates the story and even gets a flashback to his origin. However, Stopwatch is easily defeated and does not show up again for the rest of the collection, despite a tease indicating he survived his encounter with Blue Beetle. A similar series of events happens with Director Bones and the now returning Blood Beetle, both of whom are dispatched with relative ease. These constant narrative shifts make it hard to build a significant level of genuine interest and are a big hindrance on this portion of the book.
Luckily, things start to improve around the book’s halfway point, when Jamie is teleported into the depths of space. At this point, the focus of the narrative shifts from a vague mission involving Jamie looking for direction to a specific mission involving Jamie looking for a way back home. The level of fun and excitement remains the same but the narrative benefits significantly from additional direction.
This portion of the story is also more interesting as it gives additional background regarding Jamie’s Scarab and its current enemies. In the first half of the book, villain origin stories only serve to develop the villain of the moment, taking away from Jamie’s character development. In the later half of the book, the origin stories of the villains are directly related to the origin story of the Scarab, allowing for more multifaceted character development. This makes the read more enjoyable as it gives Jamie more time in the spotlight.
This also works as Jamie is the most consistently positive element of Blue Diamond, in both the first and second halves. His personal drive and his relationship with his Scarab are unique elements of this series that help set it apart. Watching the two develop together may be the most significant draw for this comic as a whole.
(spoilers end here)
Art
The artwork in Blue Diamond is mostly positive, though it does have a few strange moments. The entire collection is almost exclusively penciled by either Ig Guara or Marcio Takara. Both artists do a fine job detailing characters and locations. They also do well in bringing creativity into the mix, which is especially noticeable when the book shifts over to more cosmic destinations. Plus, both artists manage to detail the book with a similar style, providing a good level of visual consistency that smooths the reading experience. There are a few moments where proportions seem off, especially in background characters, but these errors do not happen often enough to make a large impact on the quality of the art as a whole. All in all, this is a decent looking collection.
Continuity
Blue Beetle Vol. 2: Blue Diamond continues the story started in Blue Beetle Vol. 1: Metamorphosis (Review)
This Blue Beetle series ends with this volume. However, the story continues in Threshold Vol. 1: The Hunted.
This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:
- Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) appears here immediately after his adventures in the New Guardians series, specifically the adventures at the beginning of Green Lantern: New Guardians Vol. 2: Beyond Hope.
- Kyle Rayner’s memory of losing someone is from Green Lantern #54, now collected in Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Vol. 1.
- Khaji Kai mentions the a confrontation between the Reach and different Lantern Corps. This is detailed in Green Lantern: New Guardians Vol. 2: Beyond Hope.
- Jamie’s trip into space is due to the events of Justice League International Annual #1, now collected in Justice League International Vol. 2: Breakdown (Review).