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Post by coke & comics on Dec 12, 2015 20:21:30 GMT -5
Alias #10 (August, 2002) by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos  Summary: Jessica Jones agrees to an assignment for J. Jonah Jameson, to find out Spider-Man's secret identity, and let the Bugle do a story on her investigation. She gets the better of him. Thoughts: What's obviously unique about this issue is the format. Rather than using word balloons, the dialogue is presented in script form. It comes off more as illustrated prose such as Stardust than a traditional comic. Bendis has used similar techniques in brief in both Goldfish and Alias, and we see touches of the idea in Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, notably the truly excellent 3-parts Spider-Man/Punisher/Daredevil saga illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz. I like the technique if used sparingly. I think it works here.  Gaydos takes the opportunity to not use the traditional colors, but give us a painted comic with a watercolors feel. We get a stunning rendition of Spider-Man this way.  Bendis is no stranger to J. Jonah Jameson, having given us a good take on the character in Ultimate Spider-Man. I quite like his take, which he uses here. He, like many, tries to walk a tricky line and display Jameson as a person with an interest in social justice and journalistic integrity, but with some severe blindspots, most noticeably when it comes to the idea of super-powered people in costumes, particularly web-slinging ones. Bendis walks the line well, focusing more in this issue on Jameson's negative aspects, but without sacrificing the idea that there's a decent guy deep down. Jameson's rude to his employees, always yelling, sexist and seemingly obliviously so. The entire story is two scenes. Basically setup and punchline. It works well. And it works because Bendis gives us a good Jonah. Jessica is barely a character in the comic. She gets insulted by Jonah and then one-ups him. We learn that after her time as Jewel, Jessica went by the name Knightress. Grade: A |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Dec 16, 2015 18:40:19 GMT -5
Alias never did much for me, but this is the greatest Team-Up book ever published by Marvel. (#4 on the all-time list.) |
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 30, 2015 0:58:53 GMT -5
"ReBeCCa, PLeaSe CoMe HoMe, part 1" Alias #11 (September, 2002) by Brian Michael Bendis and Michaeyl Gaydos  Summary: Jessica Jones travels to Lago, New York, where a teenage girl named Rebecca is missing. Against her wishes, her trip already made the town newspaper and a billboard. Her investigation takes her through the father, a helpful local officer, and the school, where a schoolmate tells her Rebecca is a mutant. Thoughts: At this point, it's the book's effect. The same scene of Jessica listening to a client tell their story. I again think it works, especially now as a homage effect. Jessica doesn't take notes, sits perfectly still and listens to the client. It's issues like this that I like and I wish the show had spent more time on. This is an honest straightforward private eye story. Only at the end do we get the twist that reminds us this is the story of a private eye in the Marvel Universe. Maybe Rebecca is a mutant. Maybe not.  The first 10 issues had no titles. This story does. I copied the capitalization as the issue had it. It's based in part on the style of the title, mimicked for the credits, where every letter except internal "a"s are capitalized. Except in the story title, every vowel is lower-case.
Grade: B |
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 30, 2015 13:52:48 GMT -5
"ReBeCCa, PLeaSe CoMe HoMe, part 2" Alias #12 (September, 2002) by Brian Michael Bendis and Michaeyl Gaydos with David Mack, Mark Bagley, and Rodney Ramos  Summary: Jessica Jones quizzes Mary Wilkinson on how she knew Rebecca was a mutant. She heard it from Liz the Cheerleader who heard it from Freddy the Football Player. She talks to Freddy and has another unpleasant conversation with Rebecca's father. A sexual liaison with the sheriff invokes memories of her time as a superhero. She wakes up in a jail cell. On a hunch, Jessica checks out the church and finds the reverend practicing an anti-mutant sermon. Thoughts: Reviewing these as issues is almost tricky. Not quite enough content. Might be better to consider as a whole story. That's fine. I like the pace. I don't think it is necessary or even always desirable to finish something in 22 pages. She walks around, doing her private eye thing, and each of these 2 issues has ended with finding the next clue. Good characters, good character work. Solid noir. I think the use of other artists has so far been inspired. We have already seen Bill Sienkiewicz for excerpts from the Rick Jones book. This issue introduces David Mack for images of Rebecca's collage journals (we saw a hint of this last issue, but they just used the book's cover art) and Mark Bagley for images of Jessica's past as Jewel. Bagley is a perfect choice to illustrate a superhero world, particularly one meant to contrast with Gaydos' noirish world. That these are the same world but viewed from two different points is the great effect achieved.    Grade: A- |
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 30, 2015 14:17:11 GMT -5
I had pulled out a stack of Alias comics for this thread. And just put away #10-12 and pulled out #14-17.
Where's #13? I don't see it in the box.
Maybe I pulled out the first 13 issues when I first pulled out some comics and it got separated from the others? Must be around here somewhere.
Hmmm...
May need to hire a private eye.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Dec 30, 2015 14:19:09 GMT -5
I had pulled out a stack of Alias comics for this thread. And just put away #10-12 and pulled out #14-17. Where's #13? I don't see it in the box. Maybe I pulled out the first 13 issues when I first pulled out some comics and it got separated from the others? Must be around here somewhere. Hmmm... May need to hire a private eye. So funny you posted this. I literally JUST had the same experience with Justice League #1, which I KNOW I own and have had sitting around here for ages now, but it's nowhere to be found! |
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Post by coke & comics on Jan 12, 2016 2:20:16 GMT -5
I still can't find #13.
Or #22.
So I took it as an excuse to buy the trades. I prefer having things I like on my bookshelf over the boxes anyway.
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Post by coke & comics on Jan 12, 2016 2:39:19 GMT -5
Alias #13 (October, 2002)
by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos
with David Mack
Summary: Jessica tells off the bigoted preacher, then dismisses the jerk cop, then gets a call from (the former?) Ant-Man asking about a date. She meets a reporter to talk about the preacher and hate mail and prejudice. She tries once more to talk to the father and finds his throat slit.
Thoughts: I really like this. The sleuthing is something I enjoy when done well, and it's done well here. I like the dialogue. Bendis seems to be doubling down on mutants as allegory for homosexuals in this instance, but that's fine. I like when she tells off the preacher, that the goal of religion should be to bring out the best in people, but instead he preaches hate.
It's not clear to me what happens at the end. Jessica recognizes a girl and decides she knows where Rebecca is. Maybe it will become clearer next issue.
Comparisons with TV show: Scott Lang and Jessica Jones both entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe at about the same time. They haven't met, and I don't expect them to. But you never know.
Grade:: B+
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Post by coke & comics on Jan 16, 2016 15:14:16 GMT -5
Alias #14 (November, 2002) by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos  Summary: Rebecca's neighbor knew where she was all along and told Jessica where to find her. Jessica finds her in a club reading poetry and takes her home. Rebecca had run away because she was tired of the small-minded values of everybody in town. Rebecca is not a mutant, just a lesbian with liberal ideas. As Jessica leaves town, Scott Lang calls and keeps her company via phone on her drive. Thoughts: As I've mentioned, I'm a big fan of straight-forward detective work. More than cryptic clues here and there, I like to see things just play out. Some red herrings, the mutant thing, the preacher, the dead father. But in the end the girl had just run away with her girlfriend. And told nobody except the younger neighbor. We get the murder resolved. A domestic squabble between a man and his sister-in-law. Again, straightforward. The issue is driven mostly by Rebecca talking to a silent Jessica, explaining her thoughts on things. We also get a bit of a twist. When we'd met, Rebecca's mom had seemed well-meaning and concerned, and her dad had seemed the suspicious deadbeat. From Rebecca we learn her father is the loving one, but weak. And her mom is, in her words, "a lying bitch". We see this play out when her mom's first reaction to her return home is to slap her and call her a whore, blaming her for her father's death. The person responsible for his death is of course the woman who killed him, and nobody else. Jessica explains this to Rebecca when they have a heart-to-heart. 
"What the fuck kind of superhero are you?" Indeed. This issue gives no title. It is the conclusion of a four-part arc. The first part labeled itself "Rebecca, Please Come Home, part 1." This is part 4, though that is not evidenced in the issue. Comparisons with TV show: As I've pointed out before, I think the show needed more of this type of story. It jumped to fast to the last arc of this series, and should have spent some time breathing and establishing Jessica as a private eye. Taking on cases just like this one. Grade: B+ |
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Post by coke & comics on Jan 31, 2016 0:31:26 GMT -5
Alias #15 (December, 2002) by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos  Summary: Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are acting as bodyguards to Matt Murdock. While on duty, Black Widow pays Matt a visit. Jessica and Luke discuss their relationship. That night, Jessica goes on a date with Scott Lang, Ant-Man. At some point, Dr. Octopus rampages nearby, but they decide Spider-Man and Human Torch can handle it. Thoughts: Issue 14 featured a phone call from Matt Murdock, telling Jessica he had work for her. Because the press had outed him as Daredevil and he was going to claim the story false, he hired bodyguards--Jessica Jones and Luke Cage--to create the illusion he needed protection. I quite like the interplay between Jessica and Luke (but it's the same type of dialogue I don't like when Bendis tries to give it to Captain America). I'm glad they returned to the subject of a "cape-chaser". Luke's a superhero. A lot of his friends are superheroes. Therefore, he ends up having sex with superheroes. It's cool. I like that he describes Carol Danvers as a crazy person. Even though that's unfair. After the Avengers abandoned her to marry the interdimensional alien who had used her womb and was now controlling her telepathically only to escape to immediately have her mind, powers and life ripped from her by Rogue, she's bound to have a few hang-ups. Capturing natural dialogue of somewhat crude people is Bendis' strength. Why he was so suited for crime noir (and should probably have treaded into superhero comics much more carefully). This shows as he captures the awkwardness of a blind dinner date. And a really awkward one at that. He suggests she not drink. She opens with talking about his prison time. And it comes back around to dissing poor Carol and her taste in men. The last panel is great. An entire neighborhood looking at a scene of a superhero battle while they sit at their table and continue their date.  Gaydos as usual admirably handles a script that gives him nothing to do. "Draw Jessica and Luke sitting next to each other for 5 pages, then Jessica and Scott at a table for another 15." But, while I make fun, I still feel strongly that the medium of comics needs to find room within itself for dialogue and low-action scenes. It's only as visual a medium as the story requires at any given moment. Grade: A- Notes: The opening page is a scene which also takes place in Daredevil #36. Jessica also appears in an earlier scene in the same issue as Daredevil, standing behind him at his press conference. She will also appear briefly in Daredevil #39, as a witness in the White Tiger trial.  |
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Post by Trevor on Jan 31, 2016 21:32:45 GMT -5
Great thread c&c! I just finished the series today, binging it over the last week or two. I thought I had read it back in the day, but apparently only the first few issues because most of it was new to me. Not sure which I enjoyed more, the book or the show, but I loved both. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your reviews.
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Post by badwolf on Mar 17, 2017 9:52:12 GMT -5
I enjoyed reading this series issue by issue, but was always disappointed by the endings. So anticlimactic. Maybe if they hadn't been drawn out for four or five issues it wouldn't have felt so bad, I don't know.
And yes, Bendis did want to use Jessica Drew, but couldn't, for reasons I forget.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Aug 25, 2017 3:52:19 GMT -5
Recently binged the series. Overall very good. I know he did some terrible things with the Avengers, but Bendis is a good writer overall. As you said, Alias plays to his strengths.
I was surprised how different this was to the Jessica Jones Netflix show. Specifically the Purple Man stuff. I though that plot was better handled in the show, though her past with the Purple Man was still well handled. I just didn't care for the present-day conflict as much. Also, Jessica's being known in the superhero community and friends with a number of the Avengers inherently lightens the tone even when the story tries to be more gritty.
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Post by zaku on Aug 27, 2017 13:30:11 GMT -5
Ok, stupid question: did Captain America at the time have a proper "secret identity"? My memories are a little fuzzy...
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