About Heroes

Writer: Mark Waid
Artists: George Perez and Bob Waicek

This issue was a lot of fun. It also had Blue Beetle in it, upping the fun factor. The best part about this issue was realizing that Mark Waid has actually read the new Blue Beelte series. He writes Jaime as the young, insecure, untrained, and awkward hero he is. He incorporates a lot of the character traits and even the La Dama villain from the Blue Beetle series into this issue. Waid's not just swapping off characters every issue, he's using them to their fullest extent whenever possible. Plus, Jaime's interaction with Batman are phenominal. He keeps asking Batman questions, responding with "yessir," and telling Batman that he is intimidated by him. Pre-IC, Batman would have responded coldly, but with our new friendly Batman, Bruce guides Jaime just as he would Dick or Tim in the situation. This shows Batman's skills as a mentor, and why Dick and Tim are shaping up to be great heroes in the DCU. If Jaime didn't live in El Paso, he should move to Gotham, just to be tutored by Batman. The Fatal Five show up and have to fight Batman and Jaime. Normally I would say, never in a million years would Jaime and Batman win, but with the intervention of the probabilty altering Haruspex, I was okay that they won, though Batman has some issues at the end. Another great thing about this series is that each issue is not just a random pairing, there is a reason for them, and they are all set up in the previous issue. Batman met up with Jaime last issue, and Supergirl meets up with Lobo here, setting up next issue. I'm enjoying this series as a whole, but this issue, as well as the first were the best so far. That's probably because of Batman's appearences in them anyway.

George Perez is doing a wonderful job. Unlike some other artists whose art has ages with the new computer coloring (see Dan Jurgens in Nightwing) Perez is still full of life and doing some of his best work in years. Perez nails Blue Beetle, and proves he can draw an intimidating Batman. I think a lot of the vibrancy in Perez's art comes from Bob Wiacek's inks and the colors by Tom Smith. Nothing feels out of place, and the Smith's colors don't overpower Perez's artwork. He knows that multilayered glows don't look that well on Perez's art, and keeps it simple in some places, and goes all out in others. The book looks damn good because of this. I was reading this in the car, and my girlfriend noticed it out of the corner of her eye and went "Ooh pretty colors!" My girlfriend's not that ditzy, but it's a rarity that she ever notices the comic I am reading. Here's hoping the Brave and the Bold can keep up some great stories and art from Waid and Perez. If they can manage it, then this will be a book to be looked back upon. A