Darkest Before Dawn
The issue starts with Booster recounting all those who have died as a result of Max Lord's actions in JLGL, which is 1013 and Blue Beetle being 1014. I love how they show Booster's sorrow on how to tell Jaime's family that he's dead and that he wants to bring him home as Jaime and not Blue Beetle. We really see how tortured his character is at letting the Blue Beetle dying at Max's hands yet again. Meanwhile we see Ice and Captain Atom together as Captain Atom thinks of those who have died in the explosion which makes him wonder if he's really good and tells Ice to say "I told you so" when this was dangerous, seeing as Jaime, a 17 year old kid, was killed. She blasts him which seems to calm things down, as she explains she's glad he might still be around in the future. And then we see Fire and Rocket Red, wit RR in disbelief that Jaime was only 17 and how little they had,in his custom, to celebrate the life he lived. Things heat up (bad pun, I know) when Fire kisses him.
Finally, when Booster is giving up even though the team says he's the reason they made it that far, the greatest thing that could have happened happened. Blue Beetle stood up, saying he knew how to stop Max.
I've been saying it for weeks and I'll say it again: the Beetle ain't done yet! I've been hoping for him to come back and until I saw the last page I was panicking all these weeks and now I am as happy as possible! I yelled "The Blue Beetle's alive!" in the car on the way home. I can't wait to see how they explain his survival/resurrection. A great issue which shows the character's feelings after Max's actions and the death of a valued friend who was still just a kid. A book that could be made into a popular ongoing series. A spectacular 5 for this issue! JLI!
