New Blue Beetle Graphic Novel Announced by DC

Blue Beetle has grown to be a beloved character in the modern DC Universe, with the Jaime Reyes incarnation of the hero starring in a number of comics and his own self-titled movie last year. As DC’s new July 2024 solicitations reveal, Jaime’s next foray will be into the world of graphic novels. The solicits include the first look and details surrounding This Land Is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story, a new standalone graphic novel centered on Jaime.

Scheduled to be released on October 1st, This Land Is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story hails from writer Julio Anta (Home) and Jacoby Salcedo (It’s Only Teenage Wasteland).

What Is This Land Is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story About?

THIS LAND IS OUR LAND: A BLUE BEETLE STORY

• Written by JULIO ANTA
• Drawn by JACOBY SALCEDO
• $16.99 US | 208 pages | 6″ x 9″ | Softcover | ISBN: 978-1-77952-282-5
• ON SALE 10/1/24

Writer Julio Anta and artist Jacoby Salcedo, the dynamic team behind the young adult graphic novel Frontera, take readers on a gripping and inspiring journey filled with high stakes and heart as Jaime embraces his new calling as Blue Beetle!

Jaime Reyes is an ordinary high school student in El Paso, Texas, with a deep love for his family, culture, and home, and loves nothing more than his neighborhood’s spontaneous gatherings that go late into the night. But lately, he’s begun to realize that he and his border community are being used as pawns in an increasingly toxic immigration debate. The last few months have seen armed troops deployed along the U.S. and Mexico border, manufactured crackdowns at official border crossings, and a mounting resentment among a group of disaffected and reactionary youth.

Jaime’s problems get even more complicated when he finds an odd bug-like artifact while stargazing. He starts feeling a little different—like there’s another voice in his head pushing him toward his most base instincts. And to make matters worse, he’s been having surreal dreams that show him that the true threat El Paso faces isn’t “illegal aliens” but actual aliens known as the Reach. In fact, according to his dreams, Jaime is meant to pave the way for the Reach’s impending invasion!

When Will Blue Beetle Return to the DCU?

In a previous appearance on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn referred to Jaime as the “first hero” in the new DC Universe, hinting that Xolo Maridueña will reprise his role in future projects. With a Booster Gold Max-exclusive series confirmed to be in the works, and both Jaime and his predecessor Ted Kord having ties to the time-traveling heroes, we’ll have to see if that ends up being a contender.

“It was very reassuring to know that it’s not just the character of Blue Beetle, it’s Xolo being Blue Beetle,” Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto explained to ComicBook.com last year. “Which means that what we have learned up to this point about his background and his family are part of Jaime Reyes’ character. And that is a beautiful thing to see because it’s a vote of confidence that what we did, the impact that it did and how it was shown, Whatever they end up doing in the bigger scheme of the DCU, you can always go back to Blue Beetle to know what are the foundations of Jaime Reyes.”

“I mean the first DCU character for sure is Blue Beetle and the first DCU movie is Superman,” Gunn said at the time.

As mentioned above, This Land Is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story will be released wherever comics are sold on October 1st.