Blue Beetle Graduation Day #5 Review
The Real Graduation
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Writer: Josh Trujillo
Art: Adrián Gutiérrez
Colors: Wil Quintana
Letters: Lucas Gattoni
Cover: Adrián Gutiérrez & Wil Quintana
Variant Covers: Baldemar Rivas; Daniel Sampere & Alejandro Sánchez
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: 3.99
Release Date: March 28th, 2023
Fear
Jaime Reyes spent four issues being pulled this way and that, eventually being so unsure of what he could or should do that he helped an enemy rob a friend and ally. He still can’t talk to his scarab, Khaji Da. And now both beetles that wanted to kill him are on the loose. Jaime needs to do some growing up if he’s going to take control of his situation, and Blue Beetle Graduation Day #5 is the perfect time to do it.
Nitida and Dynastes, the green and yellow beetles, are on the loose when Blue Beetle Graduation Day #5 beggins, and no less than Flash, Shazam, Cyborg, and Green Lantern Jessica Cruz have entered the fight against them. Jaime starts out on the sidelines, having been completely fooled into helping his enemy Fadeaway steal tech from Victoria Kord’s vault. But it’s not long before he jumps in the fight, determined not to let the other heroes imprison or kill the beetles out of their fear of the Reach. During the battle, Jaime is hit by friendly fire and knocked unconscious. While he’s out, Jaime has a dream/vision where his parents are pushing him to go to college and not throw away his life and the Reach is urging him to join them. After pushing back on both, Jaime realizes that what’s been holding him and Khaji Da back during this threat is fear. And it’s their fear that they need to overcome.
Blue Beetle Graduation Day #5 gets to the heart of what Jaime has been unable to voice until this moment: that he’s afraid. All series he’s been surrounded by outside influences, all of whom think they know what’s best for him: his parents wanting him to go to college, Batman and Superman wanting him to take time away from superheroing, and the Reach for wanting him to join them. This mirrors what everyone goes through as they transition into adulthood. At some point the questions of who and what you want to be have to be answered. Trujillo sets Jaime’s moment of decision in a dream sequence in the middle of a fight. It’s an abbreviated moment, but it’s well timed because his returning to the battle (with new armor, no less) is an effective representation of the choice he’s made. In this way Trujillo is able to realize this moment in Jaime’s arc with a minimum of dialogue or internal monologue; Jaime doesn’t have to tell us what he’s decided because we can see it for ourselves.
Jaime’s literal graduation in the series’ first issue was never what the story is about. Blue Beetle Graduation Day #5 features the graduation that matters–however unofficial it might be. And this moment–Jaime overcoming his fear–is accompanied by the heroes around him realizing that they were wrong to tell the young man what was best for him. It may be a cliché, but this scene has a lot of “you are now a man” energy. Trujillo’s script delivers a very human, very recognizable moment.
There is also a standout moment when Kory is confronting Cyborg and reminding him that they made plenty of mistakes in their journey to becoming heroes. It’s basic wisdom, but it’s worth saying because as people get older they do have a tendency to forget their own mistakes.
Blue Beetle Graduation Day #5 unfortunately lacks any follow-up on the incident with Fadeaway last issue which suggests everything about that was a complicated red herring. Hopefully that turns out not to be the case.
Beauty and Controlled Chaos
Gutiérrez’s art is frenetic throughout the issue. Blue Beetle Graduation Day #5 is heavy on action, and many of the visuals are in a state of barely controlled chaos. Gutiérrez jumps between the individual confrontations within the larger fight, and in each instance he transitions between close-up, medium distance, and wide angles with each panel. The bulk of the action also takes place on pages with asymmetrical panel layouts. Gutiérrez pulls the reader into the action with the first page and even on the quieter moments he never lets them go.
The intense, vibrant coloring is back this issue. After a somewhat restrained fourth issue, Quintana goes all out here. Most battle sequences are set against yellows and oranges which lets every character stand out. Even if Quintana didn’t already favor an overall brighter look, the contrast brings every character to life and matches the high energy of Gutiérrez’s work.
Quintana’s standout moment, though, is the three page dream sequence where Jaime confronts his fear. Quintana gives the sequence an overexposed feel, first with yellow and pink when he’s confronting his parents and the Reach, and then in blues as he reflects on being Blue Beetle. Gutiérrez’s art doesn’t do much to separate this from reality, and it might have come across as more of a flashback than an internal monologue. Quintana moves it into a whole new space.
Gattoni likewise cuts loose on this issue. He frequently uses oversize and highlighted words in dialogue bubbles to convey emotion and emphasis. Sometimes this takes the form of exasperated or energetic phrases. Other times it’s in urgent calls to other characters. Gattoni makes an interesting choice with Flash’s dialogue, highlighting it with red and yellow, transitioning between the colors from left to right. It’s especially effective in a sequence with Jaime when Jaime says Flash is talking too fast for Jaime to understand him.
Particularly effective is Gattoni’s depiction of Khaji Da’s dialogue. All series its’ been unintelligible on the page–a representation of Jaime’s inability to understand his scarab. Rather than simply move immediately from unintelligible to legible in two bubbles, the unintelligible dialogue slowly morphs, from dialogue bubble to dialogue bubble, into easy to read English (in the English printing).
Final Thoughts
Blue Beetle Graduation Day is one of those series where it’s obvious how integral every member of the creative team is to the book’s success. As a result the series becomes more than the sum of its parts. Blue Beetle Graduation Day #5 is the most shining example yet. It’s hard to imagine this book being done in any other way by any other team, and it once again outshines the competition.
Also published at Comic Watch.
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