Jessica Jones: Alias, Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos

This was my first foray into Jessica Jones in the print medium. I enjoyed it. A solid four.

Title: Jessica Jones: Alias, Vol. 1
Author: Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos (Illus.)
Series: Jessica Jones: Alias
Publish Date: September 22, 2015, by Marvel
Genre: Graphic novel, superheroes
Source: Purchased

Publisher’s Description: Meet Jessica Jones. Once upon a time, she was a costumed superhero… but not a very good one. Her powers were unremarkable compared to the amazing abilities of the costumed icons that populate the Marvel Universe. In a city of Marvels, Jessica Jones never found her niche.

Now a chain-smoking, self-destructive alcoholic with a mean inferiority complex, Jones is the owner and sole employee of Alias Investigations – a small, private-investigative firm specializing in superhuman cases. When she uncovers the potentially explosive secret of one hero’s true identity, Jessica’s life immediately becomes expendable. But her wit, charm, and intelligence just may help her survive through another day.

COLLECTING: Alias 1-9

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

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Percy Procrastinator says…

There are two stories in this trade. In the first, Jessica finds herself being used. I took it that she is early in her career because she gets caught in a “trap” and used by several powerful people. It’s a character piece as she wrestles with what she should do.

The second story is about her learning how to check out her clients better and trying to help people. And dealing with some very strange circumstances. A wife wants her lost husband found. He was a sidekick to several heroes, but can’t seem to settle down. It ends with a really good talk about psychology that I liked and still think about.

What stopped this from being a five was a bit of the art. I eventually got used to it, but I think it needed a bit more to elevate it. As good as the stories were, I think they needed a bit more dialog, maybe narrative text, to explain a few things better. 

Spider-Man/Deadpool Vol. 0: Don’t Call It A Team-Up

Sadly, I cannot rate this very high. Maybe after I read more in the series, it will be higher than a two, but unto itself, I can’t go higher.

Title: Spider-Man/Deadpool Vol. 0: Don’t Call It A Team-Up
Author: Joe Kelly, Fabian Nicieza, Daniel Way, Kevin Shinick, Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, Christopher Hastings, Scott Aukerman , Pete Woods (Illustrator), Patrick Zircher (Illustrator), Eric Canete (Illustrator), Carlo G. Barberi (Illustrator), Aaron Kuder (Illustrator), Mike Hawthorne (Illustrator), Jacopo Camagni (Illustrator), Skottie Young (Illustrator), Ed McGuinness (Illustrator), Reilly Brown (Illustrator)
Series: Spider-Man/Deadpool, Book 00
Publish Date: May 24th 2016 by Marvel
Genre: Superhero
Source: Purchased

Publisher’s Description: Two great tastes that taste great together! As Spidey and Deadpool fast-talk their way into an ongoing buddy book at last, grab the full story of their unlikely bromance. Through the magic of comics, Wade Wilson steps into the swinging shoes of a young Peter Parker! Then, the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler and the anti-social there-goes-the-neighborhood merc trade blows and “yo mama” quips. If friendship blossoms during encounters with Hit-Monkey and the Hypno-Hustler, will that jerk Otto Octavius ruin everything by being all Superior?

COLLECTING: DEADPOOL (1997) 11, CABLE & DEADPOOL 24, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 611, DEADPOOL (2008) 19-21, AVENGING SPIDER-MAN 12-13, DEADPOOL (2012) 10, DEADPOOL ANNUAL 2

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

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Percy Procrastinator says…

This is a situation where there needs to be a reader’s guide. Many book series have published a prequel after the first several books are out. They can clarify things that the author intended but that the readers didn’t understand or know about. Or they can muddy the waters to readers who don’t know when to read it. For me, this is firmly the latter.

I don’t usually notice art in comics. If It’s a good story, the art is second. It’s only if the story isn’t going well that I notice the art.

I noticed the art.

It could have served to help tell the story, and that’s what they were trying to do, but it fell flat for me. I lost count of how many different styles were used. I think it attempts to patch a few things here and there to be tied to other stories. Again, maybe if I had already read other volumes, it would make sense. It doesn’t.

The story itself is disjointed. It feels more like an anthology that covers several gaps in an ongoing story than a cohesive story itself. We start in some action, but I never got the sense that there is tension about anything. I think that’s because, as with most series, the main characters have a feeling of not being able to be hurt. That’s certainly true here. After that, we move to a different point in the timeline, and things are different, and it takes a while to figure that out.

In the end, I found this too disjointed. Again, it reads as if it actually came out several years into an ongoing series and acts to glue various things that happened in that series better. If they had had some expository explaining where the story fit and what happened, or maybe even a warning that it should be read after a certain point, it might be better. Perhaps if I ever get to those, I will revisit this and see how it stacks up then. Until then, I can’t recommend it.