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El Paso superhero appears in Batman TV series: Blue BeetleEL PASO, Nov 14, 2008 (El Paso Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Meet the Beetle? DC Comics superhero the Blue Beetle, reincarnated in 2006 as El Paso teenager Jaime Reyes, makes his TV debut at 6 p.m. Friday on cable Channel 62-Cartoon Network (digital cable Channel 130). "Rise of the Blue Beetle!" launches a new animated Batman series titled "Batman: The Brave and the Bold," in which the Caped Crusader teams with a different superhero each week. Though the newer Blue Beetle comic books are set in the Sun City, Friday's series premiere neither mentions El Paso nor shows any obvious landmarks. About the closest it comes to that is setting a scene in Jaime's bedroom, where he talks to his friend, Paco. In the show, Batman summons Jaime, who transforms into the blue scarab with a mysterious alien technology, to help him free a bunch of Picachu-looking creatures from another planet from the evil Kanjor Ro. "This is like a dream come true; partners with Batman," said Jaime/BB (voiced by Will Friedle, Eric Matthews of "Boy Meets World" fame). Batman encourages the Blue Beetle to summon his powers. When he saves Batman from certain destruction, it goes to the kid's head. Kanjor Ro strikes back, dissolving the Beetle's slick, winged costume, including the scarab attached to his back. The boxer-clad Jaime regroups, thinking "What would Batman do?," and helps his hero put Kanjor Ro away for good. The show was written and co-produced by Michael Jelenic. Blue Beetle is based on a character originally known as Dan Garrett, a rookie police officer created by Charles Nick Wojtkowski in 1939. The character fell out of favor over time and was reinvented as an archaeologist in 1966. The Blue Beetle was reintroduced a year later as Ted Kord, one of Garrett's students. He was reincarnated as Jaime Reyes, a Hispanic teen from El Paso, in 2006 by writers Keith Griffen and John Rogers and artist by Cully Hamner, none of whom have any obvious ties to El Paso. The character was introduced in the "Infinite Crisis" series (book No. 3) in February 2006. The first new Blue Beetle comic debuted that May. Now working for the Border Patrol, the Blue Beetle enlists the help of the Teen Titans to battle the evil Doctor Polaris and the Intergang as a "Day Without Immigrants" demonstration takes place in issue No. 33, out Nov. 26. According to the DC Comics Web site, www.dccomics.com, Issue 34 is due Dec. 31 and ends the "Boundaries" battle for Downtown El Paso. Issue 35 is due Jan. 28. Doug Pullen may be reached at [email protected]; 546-6397. To see more of the El Paso Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.elpasotimes.com. Copyright (c) 2008, El Paso Times, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |