Jewel Knights Crusaders

The Twelve DC Relaunch Books We're Most Excited About Here At Bleeding Cool

Everyone’s talking DC relaunch. Yes, even you. And it’s the same at Bleeding Cool Towers as well. So I asked ten writers for Bleeding Cool to tell us which, of the fifty-two issue launches, they are most excited about. Here’s what we thought.

Greg Baldino – Blue Beetle

Out of all the relaunches coming from DC this September, the one that caught my eye and prompted a little air-punch was the return of Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle. I’ll admit to having a falling out with superhero comics over the last several years– they were going one way, I was going another –but Jaime struck a chord with me, and kept me reading all the way to the woefully undeserved end of his series. Teenage superheroes have always had a special resonance for me; it’s an age of idealism, doubt, and finding out who you are, and at the time I felt that Jaime was the best teenage superhero character besides Bendis’ Ultimate Peter Parker. In an age where superhero comics seem obsessed with gruesome death tolls and teeth-gnashing shouty “heroes” that make the ’80s look plucky and idealistic, BB was, and hopefully will continue to be, wonderfully optimistic. Saving lives was genuinely more important than punching the cool-looking bad guys in the face; and by coming out to his family and friends, being a superhero was never a “terrible burden” that he had to “carry alone.” Jaime’s character stepped away from the shadow of Spider-Man’s guilt-driven heroics and does good because (shock and surprise) it’s the right thing to do come September 21st.