Alone Against A Horde: ‘Blue Beetle’ #3 [Preview]
In Blue Beetle #3, by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins, Jaime Reyes is one young man facing 150 alien bugs. Fortunately for him, he's a bit of an alien bug himself, thanks to his extraterrestrial Blue Beetle armor. But he's still outmanned, or "outbugged" as the cover puts it, and he's missing the support of his mentor, Ted Kord. It also doesn't help that these vaguely human-shaped space bugs, known as Horde (no article), share a hive mind, which means the attack as one. Despite their number of bodies, this might make them more coordinated than Blue Beetle, considering Jaime and his armor don't always agree on what to do.
The visuals in this book are frankly fantastic. Kolins is drawing and inking as well as co-writing, with Romulo Fajardo Jr. on colors, and you can see the influence of co-writer (and co-creator of the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle) Keith Giffen on the art and design choices. In fact, you can see the influence of one of Giffen's (and all of comics') biggest influences, Jack Kirby. The look of the Horde creatures is especially cool, with Kolins giving them a truly creepy mantis face, and Fajardo adding a glow to the yellow seams of their bodies (or armor?). And I don't know what that thing is that appears at the end of the preview, but it looks like it fell right out of the Fourth World.
Blue Beetle #3 features a variant cover by Jaime Reyes co-creator Cully Hamner, and comes out November 23.
Here's the official word from DC:
“THE POSSE” part three! How do you defeat a foe with 150 bodies? Meet the hive mind called Horde, an entity that can summon a host of minions to overwhelm any foe. That’s not the sort of complication Jaime Reyes needs in his life as he continues to deal with his overbearing mentor, Ted Kord, and a new romantic interest.