Finally got around to picking up the first volume of the original Jessica Jones series, and I just finished reading the first arc. I’m both surprised and beyond impressed. Aside from her appearances in other Marvel stories, my only big exposure to J. Jones is from the Netflix series. I’d heard how well the show adapted the comics, and I can certainly say it does, but to no surprise the comic is far more enjoyable.
#spoilers
From the reputation the series has, I expected it to be all about the Purple Man right through the gate, but it’s not, and I’m so happy about this fact. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always in the mood for more Purple Man, but I’m glad to see that this series has more to provide than that.
If you’re like me and have only watched the show, basically take the main core of it and add a lot more comic book embellishment to it. The main plot of this first arc surrounds a bunch of politics and scandal where at the base of it all is a missing person’s relationship with Captain America. Cool, right? It doesn’t overstep its boundaries and never feels to big, just a natural street-level case that dabbles in the lives of other major Marvel players, amongst them being Luke Cage and Matt Murdock (respectfully so, and yes, Jones and Cage have sexual relations, more painful than you might expect).
If I were to describe this book, it would be like a cupcake, where the cake is a great detective mystery with superhero icing on top. It moves fast, but you get your money’s worth as is usually the case with Brian Michael Bendis…
I cannot stress it enough how great Bendis is at making binge-worthy stories. I don’t get it. He crafts a flow in all of his books that just keeps me turning pages and if I don’t have some form of trade or stack of back issues in hand it becomes difficult. Perhaps that’s why I’m struggling with his Superman books right now where I have to move real fast through an issue and then wait a month to continue. It might be worth revisiting those later on as trades to see how well it plays.
So yeah, Alias. It’s a solid book, and I’m eager to read more. Anything worth speaking of comes up and I’ll sound off, but at present I think there’s not much more that can be said for this book. It’s brilliant.
TL;DR Score: Jeph Loeb states it right in his introduction: this book is revolutionary.
TL;DR Comics 