I have a confession to make:

I haven't been reading Blue Beetle.

I did buy the first few issues right after the year jump and I enjoyed them well enough. Jaime is very likeable, his supporting cast is cute, the Beetle scarab is interesting and I really really liked the appearance of Guy Gardner.

Especially when he was fighting so hard with himself not to kill him. That was really cute.

Unfortunately, then there was a spell of unemployment, which meant I had to be really really scrupulous and penny pinching about my comic book purchasing. (Heck, it was probably irresponsible to buy comics at all during that period, but I did have some money saved up.) I ended up having to drop a lot of titles, which meant comics like Blue Beetle, Aquaman and Hawkgirl didn't make the cut.

I was sad about that. Well, I was sad about BB and Aquaman (I was just starting to understand what the heck was going on!), Hawkgirl not so much. I've come to realize that I'm not terribly fond of Kendra when she's not making Sand terribly uncomfortable. It's a shame too, a girl with wings and a mace kicks ass, and I did find her romantic issues interesting and sympathetic...but well, I love vagina dentata as much as anyone, but the series did nothing for me.

Blue Beetle, I was sadder about. I loved Ted Kord, and I still predict he'll be back in some form or another, but Jaime's really really cute and charming.

I like that Jaime's race feels natural without it being shouted from the rooftops/a giant neon sign, a.la diversity in a Judd Winick comic. (For the record, I don't think Winick is a bad writer, but I think he tends toward "LOOK HOW DIVERSE I AM!!!" school of writing. Which is still, admittedly, better than no diversity at all. But I digress.) He's the sort of character I think of when I say "We need more gay/ethnic/whatever" characters. I don't know if Jaime's was a requirement to his creation a.la "We need a hispanic Blue Beetle" or if it was just that the best idea for the new Blue Beetle happened to be a kid who was Mexican-American, but ultimately I don't think it matters. He's a very interesting, well developed character who is a member of an under-represented minority and I'd like to see more of that.

The story was an intriguing enough start, but I wasn't really deep enough involved at the time to rationalize keeping it over one of my hardcore favorites. From what I hear, it's getting better and better.

And Guy Gardner's going to be in it soon.

I kept intending to go back and catch up on the issues I've missed and put it back on my pull list, but I forgot. I'm going to now, though. I keep hearing talk of possible cancellation and I'm already feeling tremendously guilty that Firestorm was another one I'd let drop. :-(

I like good comics! I want good comics to stay! Also, Guy Gardner will be in it again! So I'm gonna give Blue Beetle another chance.