DC COMICS
   WRITER: John Rogers
   ARTIST: Rafael Albuquerque
   COVER: Cully Hamner

   Eclipso is on the loose, trying to put her soul into the body of an innocent child. But Blue Beetle gets in her way with the unexpected aid of neophyte sorceress, Traci 13. There is a lot of originality and well-timed comedy in this issue but the pacing and tone of the story work against it. Eclipso is suppose to be an overwhelmingly dangerous threat but in this issue, she almost comes off as a bumbler, taking too long to do the simplest things. Actually, more panel space goes to expanding the characters of the Beetle and his supporting cast than in showing the conflict between hero and villain. In fact, the hero of the book spends most of his time in civilian clothes and does not don his Beetle-suit until he really needs to. Perhaps the creative team thinks that the real attraction of this book should be the personal life of the Beetle's alter-ego rather than the super-heroics. Personally, I don't find Jaime and company too interesting on their own so this approach does not thrill me. The art is also too stylized and choppy. Some characters seem to drop into a panel out of nowhere, making it look as though everyone has amazing teleportation abilities. Many of the females look too much alike and if it weren't for facial hair and muscles, many of the men would look too much alike as well. Two out of five stars.