Notice I didn’t say Secret Six, the comic, is perfect. I’m sure there are flaws in there somewhere, but I’m not in the mood to find them. And, of course, none of the Six are perfect at anything. Deadshot’s a great shot, but he isn’t exactly legendary, and he godawful fighter. Catman has always played second-fiddle to Batman. Actually he’s played something like eighth fiddle to Batman. Possibly he got kicked out of the string section altogether and has to follow Batman around with a tuba. My point is, he’s not in the same league. Scandal turned to business because she couldn’t measure up to her father and runs a mercenary team because she couldn’t quite hack it in business. Ragdoll is pretty flexible, but you’d have to put him up against Dick Grayson in a stretch-off before I’d could judge who’s bendier. Plus there’s always Plastic Man.

Nor do they form the best team. When a team’s greatest accomplishment is managing to keep one of its members from getting knocked up by a guy named Dr. Psycho you know that you aren’t talking about the JLA. Especially since the team didn’t manage to keep one of its members from knocking up Cheshire. Right there, in that middle ground of evil between Dr. Psycho and Cheshire is where the Six’s effectiveness lies. What I’m saying is, they’re not impressive.

It’s a cliché to say that a character’s flaws are what make them unique. However, that concept has become a cliché for a reason, and Secret Six demonstrates this reason very well. Batman, as a character, is allowed to make mistakes, but is never allowed to be shown as a buffoon. These characters can. Superman is never allowed to be as petty as any of these characters are. Wonder Woman cannot have their moral failings. None of the team books are allowed the goofiness that this team shows. Because of their ineffectiveness and essentially petty natures, the Secret Six are allowed a freedom that no other characters in the DCU have. Showing the team rescue a puppy, shoot a nun, enter a dance contest, liberate a nation, design a line of handbags, none of these things would be out of place in a Secret Six comic. They will only do things for certain reasons, but there is nothing they will not do.

After you’ve seen the tenth preview for a Batman comic that says something like, “Will the Dark Knight cross the line and kill his opponent,” and thought to yourself, “No. Obviously not. Why even bother trying to make me believe something like that,” that wide range of possibility begins to look very good.

We’ve all done Batman vs Superman, and Batman vs Captain America.

How about Original Bucky vs Original Dick Grayson?

It seems like an uneven fight, since Original Bucky fought Nazis while Original Dick Grayson just ran around in a futile effort to make Batman seem less gay, but I’ll be buried deep in the cold, cold ground before I admit a Marvel anything trumps a DC anything, so I’m going to call it for Dick Grayson.

Because they can’t marry anyone else.

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Pros: It’s fun. And crazy. And consciously so. At one point Batman is fighting a robot. He takes his belt, snaps it out straight, pulls a sword out of the straightened belt, slashes the robot into pieces, re-inserts the sword into the belt, and wraps the belt around his waist again. Because if anything can come out of Batman’s utility belt, the show’s writers might as well make it the looniest thing possible.

The show pokes fun at both itself and the old tropes of comics. What’s great about this is the show manages the trick of making the self-mockery add to the story, not deflate it. When a baby alien gives the Blue Beetle a picture it drew of it and the Blue Beetle holding hands, the ridiculousness of the scene makes it all the more touching.

It’s a comics trivia-lover’s paradise. It has an unlimited cast, a thousand and one references, and even manages to sneak tributes into the style of animation

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Well, it’s official. The Blue Beetle comic is cancelled. Damn. As always, after a book I love is cancelled, survivor guilt kicks in. Why didn’t I recommend it more? Why didn’t I blog about it more? What could I have done? At this point the best I can do is eulogize a bit, and hold out hope for the future.

I am going to miss this book a great deal. It had a spirit that wasn’t like any other book out there. How many books out there are composed, nearly entirely, of decent characters? Not ‘decent’ as in multi-faceted characters that have a sense of coherency but can still surprise you, although the book was full of those, as well. ‘Decent’ as in genuinely good people using their skills to do the right thing as much as they could.

Even the most enduring *villain* in the Blue Beetle is a decent person with reasons for doing what she does. Not Lex Luthor reasons: he wants to take down Superman as a way to show humanity that they need to think for themselves and not put all their trust in heroes they know nothing about. Genuine reasons: It’s a hard world out there and she wants to make a good life for herself and her family, and she’s willing to use shady means to do it.

All the characters are like this. There are no neglectful, stupid, or cruel parents, no mindlessly nattering siblings, no manufactured high school cliques. Everyone in this series is simply trying to do their best, and that makes their failures more tragic, and their victories more inspiring.

It’s not just the characters. The first twenty-five issues are what I’d give to anyone if I wanted to show the perfect epic story. It works on the technical level. Each piece of the final puzzle is given to us separately, each with its own, interesting story. At the end, they all fit together into a coherent picture that makes sense, even though we didn’t see it coming. There is a recognizable arc for each main character. It follows the rules of an exciting adventure story – building up the odds until it looks like the hero can’t possibly win, and then showing us how yes, he can, we just didn’t notice how.

But comics books aren’t read because they’re a technical exercise. The amazing part of the story is frustratingly indescribable. All I can say is that most comics readers have come to accept that the best part of a story arc will come at the beginning. Most comics are built on a premise, not a conclusion. We are meant to enjoy the ride, and we do, but there is something fantastic that happens when a comic, or any story, can dazzle us with cute concepts along the way and then reach a conclusion that is more than the sum of its parts. I was amazed by the depth, the artistry, and the emotional payoff of the those issues.

The first four trades of The Blue Beetle, Shellshocked, Road Trip, Reach For The Stars, and End Game are for sale. I would recommend them to anyone. I recommend them to you.

But what’s next for Jaime Reyes and the Blue Beetle? Well, Batman: The Brave and The Bold airs tonight on Cartoon Network, and the first episode is called The Rise of the Blue Beetle. At San Diego this year, presenters said that Blue Beetle toys tested as well as Batman toys.

Perhaps we will soon see the Return of the Blue Beetle, as a show on Cartoon Network, or as a comic book aimed for younger audiences. I’m hoping for both, but I’ll have especially high expectations of the comic. DC’s comics aimed at kids have been almost universally excellent. And who knows, maybe a fresh start, free of the continuity hassles that came with Infinite Crisis and the shadow of Ted Kord (whom I also love), the Blue Beetle will thrive, hooking new readers and ensuring its long-term survival.

What can I say? I’m an optimist.

Batman’s life is one of sustained tragedy. His loved ones will suffer, his path will be lonely, his city will see terror and destruction again and again, his friends will pull away from him, and no matter how hard he fights or what battles he wins, crime will always be present in the darkened alleys of Gotham City.

And this is a good thing. We read Batman comics for a certain noir tone, and that means corruption and cynicism and the looming threat of tragedy. When you give that up – well, just look at some of the Batman covers from back in the sixties.

There are other reasons for the fatalistic tone of Batman comics. A huge event happens, Batman plans a counter-attack. He hits it with everything he has, all his allies, all his tech, and wins. And then he sits around sprucing up the Batcave for the next year and a half, while the police easily handle the minor criminals in Gotham and the press cheerily reports the massive drop in crime. Comics are an ongoing form of entertainment, and there always needs to be something more to do, some evildoer left unvanquished.

At the same time, I would like to see a girlfriend introduced and not think, ‘which is it going to be, evil or dead?’ Or see an event come up that means something other than a body count. I’d like to see a few battles unequivocally won. I remember seeing The Batman/Superman Adventures animated series while I was a kid, and I was thinking, recently, how the comics are a little too dark and too traumatic to be labeled as ‘Adventures’ anymore. I think I would enjoy a little less noir and a little more adventure stories, even when it comes to Batbooks.

I also have no doubt that some people want the series to get a lot darker, but I wonder, at what point do you have to break the tone of the series to get a little more variety in your stories?

There is a book in which Superman helps win the Civil War, saves Lincoln from assassination and then makes his spaceship into a horse and rides it out west to the frontier.

There is a book in which Superman skips the cumbersome spaceship-steed concept altogether, and becomes a centaur. All right, he’s evil, but sacrifices have to be made for convenience.

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I always pictured it as being DC’s equivalent of New York City. (And while we’re at it, how great a name for it is ‘Gotham.’ That really does evoke a certain mood and tone without being explicit about it. It has to be one of the best made-up city names that I’ve ever heard.) However, DC already has New York, so that possibility is out. I suppose it could be a Boston Equivalent, but Gotham does not have a New England quality to it. What I’ve heard, although I don’t remember where, is that Gotham is supposed to be in New Jersey, making Batman and his crew all Jersey Boys. That would explain Matches Malone. Anyone?

When I was a kid, I was on a long flight with my parents. The airline, obviously worried about kids running around on a long flight, gave me a comic book. It was a horror comic in which a blonde dude with a Prince Valiant hairstyle and a cross on his shirt ran around a castle trying to outwit a vampire-ghost thing. I can’t remember the spelling, but phonetically the ghoul’s name was pronounced ‘Freak-o-luckus’ and he would wander around killing people horribly.

I distinctly remember one panel, when a man, who I knew was dead meat because he didn’t have a name and he was a brunet, held his sword out in front of him as he backed against a wall. Sadly, that didn’t help him out, because the ghosts sharp-nailed, blood-stained hands came through the wall behind him.

And that was the last time, during childhood, that I had the simple comfort of keeping my back to a wall to make me feel safe. I still think that the stewardess who gave that to me should be slapped around.

What was the first/last/most memorable thing in comics that geunuinely scared you?

Because to read makes his speaking English good.

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