Your Blue Beetle Spanish lesson of the day

There's something I've noticed coming up in various blogs and conversations, and I was trying not to let it bother me but I feel like I should help clear it up.

First, yes - the new Blue Beetle is Latino.

Specifically, Jaime Reyes is a Mexican-American and lives in the border town of El Paso, Texas - which has a Latino population of about 80 percent and where, according to the 2000 census, 69 percent of the population speaks Spanish at home.

Writer John Rogers has been doing a fantastic job reflecting all this, with almost no slips into the easy "shorthand" stereotypes others might use to hammer in the idea that the kid is brown. Original artist Cully Hamner did a great job with his character designs, showing that Latinos can, and often do, look different from one another (current artist Rafael Albuquerque is also becoming a favorite). Mostly - and this is what makes Blue Beetle one of the best comics out right now - Jaime is just a kid. His ethnic background doesn't define him. Instead it's just one facet that helps make up who he is, which is as it should be.

So, as a fellow Mexican-American who was himself raised in El Paso, let me point out something that's been bugging (heh) me: The character's name is JAIME Reyes, not JAMIE Reyes, and in case you're wondering it's pronounced HI-MEH, not JAY-MEE.

Thank you very much, y muchas gracias.