Blue Beetle #17 Review and *SPOILERS*

Time To Finish Up This Arc

Written By: Christopher Sebela

Art By: Scott Kolins, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Josh Reed

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 24, 2018

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Here we are at the penultimate issue of Blue Beetle and the end of this arc, which has been such a letdown so far that I can't think of anyway that it can possible crawl it's way back up....... Well, maybe if it makes the story a bit clearer, but even that seems hard pressed at this point.  Previously, we saw Jaime going up against Stopwatch, a villain who is trying to go back and rewrite his own history so that he never becomes the time traveling monster that he's become, but each time he goes back, it only goes as it always did, but now that the has the Blue Beetle armor it seems that he finally has everything that he needs to give himself the happily ever after that he's always wanted.  Let's jump into this issue and see if Stopwatch can stop the cycle.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

Our issue begins with Jaime immediately getting out of his restraints and going after Stopwatch, but even though it seemed that Jaime was the key to the doctor changing his past, it doesn't seem to matter here because Stopwatch is able to do what he needs to do without Blue Beetle........ but our  hero puts a stop to this and subdues Stopwatch by ripping the time travel components out of..... his...... body........ maybe?  Leaving Stopwatch to become what he's always wanted to be and with that....... somehow turning back the clock to the point where Paco, Brenda and Naomi aren't crushed by falling debris........ I don't get it.

So in the end, Stopwatch and his alien looking henchmen, who were forced against their will to help him seem to be on their way to getting locked up, while Jaime and his friends make their way home after a strange, strange adventure.  Too bad that Naomi has figured out that Jaime is Blue Beetle and wants nothing to do with him anymore because he lied to her and as we leave this issue....... we see more of Stopwatch's henchmen crossing the desert, when they come across the time traveled up villain again and offer to help him out.......... even though he looks like a glowing monster and for some reason, none of them seem to know anything about one another.

That's it for this issue of Blue Beetle and it was a goddamn mess.  I have no idea what went down in this issue and have no idea if it even made sense on paper before it was drawn, but even with the added art, I think it became more confusing because I have no idea what Chris Sebela or Scott Kolins were trying to relate to us from this issue and from what we get out of this, even though I'm a fan of Blue Beetle, I'm happy that it is ending in one more issue because what we're getting here doesn't do the character any justice.  The art was confusing, the story never made sense to me and nothing seems to matter from one issue to another.  All in all, I really hate this arc and this issue.

Bits and Pieces:

Both the writing and the art in this issue are confusing to the point that I have no idea what went down here and I don't know how that is possible.  Things just happen whether they make sense or not and nothing is ever explained.  I'm happy that we only have one more issue of this series because nobody should have to be exposed to this iteration of Jaime Reyes for how cool the character should be.

2/10