Blue Beetle #3

I'm currently a little over 3000 miles away from my local comic shop, so I don't really have much to write about lately, but I think I've pinned down what is bothering me about the new Blue Beetle series. Yeah, there's some residual disgruntlement at losing Ted, and having a new Beetle that isn't consciously tied in with the Dan Garrett legacy, but I think what's really bugging me is the Posse.

I can understanding the reasoning behind it. The traditional villain structure in comics is a little removed from how criminal organizations actually work; they're more like small armies than like the franchise structure organized criminals tend to utilize. I can see wanting to make use of a real-world criminal structure instead of the traditional supervillain/henchman structure, and, in a place like El Paso, I can see wanting to use a gang as your model.

That said, "The Posse"? I guess there's a chance they're maybe an International Posse offshoot, but so many gangs are so much more creative. In my old neighborhood in Los Angeles, the dominant gang was Los Avenidos, but nearby were Toonerville, Frogtown, the Rascals. All of which are much more creative than "The Posse." Really, I think it's a less convincing name than Vibe's old crew, Los Lobos.

One of the things I'm really liking about the series is the fairly casual nature of Jaime's daily life in a majority-Latino city. Having The Posse running around makes it feel less like a story about a guy who happens to be Latino and more like tokenism.