Blue Beetle #5

Blue Beetle #5
What a difference an artist makes! Comparing this book with that which preceded it...well, the two are barely comparable. The art is suddenly difficult to understand, people look different, places don't really look like much of anything, and the flow of the story is disrupted over and over again. Even the great dialogue doesn't have that kick anymore. Take for example the sequence in BB#4 where Jaime is talking to Oracle: "Birds of Prey?/Yes./So they're like super-powered birds?/No!/They have bird-powers?/No./Do they at least have bird code names?/...one does./Annnnnd we're back to you sucking." Great dialogue, and the art really sells it. (I just noticed an error in Hamner's art. In issue #4, Oracle's wheelchair has handles. True fans of the Birds of Prey know that Barbara's wheelchair doesn't have handles, for the express reason that she hates being pushed around. Oops.)
In this issue we also have nice dialogue, especially between Jaime and the Phantom Stranger (who, but for the art on the cover, would be very difficult to identify), but since the art is so off, it makes it very difficult to enjoy.
Besides which, nothing much happens in this issue. I would say it's good, but I really must take the art into consideration, and therefore, this issue scores OKAY. Hopefully next issue will feature Hamner again. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to continue reading this series. I love the storytelling, but the art is just awful. And what's even the point of having a "guest artist" on a series that hasn't even been around for half a year?