The first time I ever read any Blue Beetle was when Ted Kord died in the lead up to some Crisis or another – I don’t know which exactly, and it’s not relevant enough to warrant me searching for a specific name. From that death a new Blue Beetle was born, Jaime Reyes, who starred in a 36 issue series before the New 52 rebooted everything.

For some reason I never read the New 52 Blue Beetle, but I did recently just unearth the pre-New 52 comics I owned. Needless to say Blue Beetle: Rebirth #1 couldn’t have come at a better time for my renewed interest in the character. The Rebirth specials are designed first and foremost to bring readers up to speed on where the title character/s are at in their life, while also being entertaining enough to entice the reader to add said book to their pull list – at least that’s my understanding. Blue Beetle Rebirth #1 almost succeeds in doing this.

The comic is well written enabling you to get a great understanding of the people in Jaime’s life, but the events leading up to the comic – the New 52 era – isn’t quite as well covered. The relationships between Jaime and his family are hinted at, and while I would have preferred a deeper explanation this is only the first installment in this series, doing any more than giving the reader the briefest glimpse probably wouldn’t have had the best result.

What we do get is quite enjoyable, and all the elements are in place for a great story, but they never quite come together. Blue Beetle Rebirth #1  isn’t a bad comic, but it’s not the best to have come out of Rebirth, either. Here’s hoping we have a series that gets better with every issue because the potential of the comic is just beneath the surface – and it’s huge.

Story: Keith Giffen Art: Scott Kolins
Story: 6.5 Art: 7 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Read

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.