El Paso's new hero debuts

The El Paso Times, which shares a hometown with the new Blue Beetle, covers the launch of the new series:

"A lot of people have been looking forward to it because it has an El Paso setting," said Brad Wilson, owner of All Star Comics, 4406 Dyer. "A guy came in this morning. The first thing he said, 'You got Blue Beetle?' "

Blue Beetle, who has a blue-and-black bug-themed costume, is the superhero identity of Reyes, who is attempting to discover the powers granted by the mystical scarab he found when it crashed in El Paso. Reyes replaces a Blue Beetle character murdered by a villain last year.

The book is a spinoff of the "Infinite Crisis" mini-series, where in issue No. 3 the scarab arrived in a fireball storm that smashed the El Paso County Courthouse in half.

Relax, because Superman was there to catch the building and repair the damage.

Too bad Superman doesn't hang out in Stamford ...