Blue about Blue Beetle?

It’s a bit depressing to think that John Rogers is going to be leaving “Blue Beetle” before long.

Newsarama: Right up front, John, are you leaving Blue Beetle?

John Rogers: It’s temporary, although I don’t know exactly when I’m coming back to the book. What happened is, essentially, Keith and I always wanted to tell the origin story and #25 wraps up that origin for Jaime.

As I was breaking year three, and the nice folks at DC came to me with two other projects – one of which is a really great opportunity right now. And I said, why don’t we back off Blue Beetle for awhile? I think we’ve got it to the place, the cast of characters, where other writers can write it. Sean [McKeever]’s doing a great job with Jaime over in Teen Titans. So I said let someone else take him for awhile. I can’t keep him to my chest – he can’t be my baby for too long.

So I’ll start working on these two other things. One is a big crossover mini-series and the other is possibly another ongoing title. So while I’ve got that work, I’ll be away from Blue Beetle, but I always reserve the right to come crashing back and grabbing the reins, being the pushy bastard I am.

NRAMA: So what you’re saying is that you don’t know when or if you’ll be able to do it, but you hope to come back, right?

JR: Absolutely. I love Jaime; I love all the characters. It’s continually been the most fun I’ve had in my writing career. I have a real sense of ownership having spent the time to build this character up into somebody who had a story and a really great supporting cast. I want to go down the road with him, so I might kick in for a story when I can, but right now I want to really concentrate on these other projects.

Rogers’ work on “Blue Beetle” has been absolutely phenomenal. I’d love him to stay with the book from now on, but I am looking forward to seeing what other comics he’ll be producing…