I work at a daily newspaper, but one that's on a much smaller scale that the operation that serves as the foundation of this new title. All the same, I found it incredibly easy to relate to the business and characters at the heart of this story. There are three characters in the spotlight in this first issue, and Bendis does an incredible job of bringing them to life, flaws and all. The storytelling is ambitious as the media venture that's proposed in the plot, and Bagley manages to convey all of the emotion necessary as well as a peripheral sense of mystery that should keep readers coming back for plenty more.
Jeesica Jones needs a job because she's finally begun to think about her future. Ben Urich has fallen out of favor with his publisher and has been relegated to back pages of The Daily Bugle. J. Jonah Jameson fosters a deep hatred and mistrust of so-called "super-heroes," but those feelings are getting in the way of his job, which is to run not only a newspaper, but a business as well. All three of these people have reached turning points in their personal and professional lives, and whether they know it or not, they can help each other.
On the surface, Bagley's style is a conventional one suited for more straight-forward, super-hero action stories, but he's been working with Bendis for a long time. It shows through here. There's an appropriately dark look to the art here that brings with it a sense of maturity and tension. Furthermore, the panel layouts are inventive at times, working well with Bendis's flowing dialogue. The colors reinforces the more mature mood that looms over the book.
What's interesting to note here is that Bendis uses elements from other books he writes or has written to build a new story here. Elements from his Alias series play prominently here, and events from the most recent issue of Daredevil are referenced in this new book. For those of us who follow Bendis's work, it reinforces the reality of the fictions he's crafted over the years. But for those unfamiliar with those prior works, there's good news. This is a thoroughly accessible new title. One needn't be familiar with any of the characters before hand, save for perhaps J. Jonah Jameson and his well-known disdain of Spider-Man and other masked heroes.
I think what I love the most about this debut issue is Bendis's treatment of JJJ. He's consistent with past incarnations of the character, even the Silver Age rage-a-holic, but Bendis fleshes him out more here. Jonah doesn't abandon his beliefs, but he realizes he's allowed them to affect his work. He demonstrates he's open to other ideas, that he's responsible to his readership and to his staff. Jonah is admirable here, but not to the point of reversing his past establishign character traits. As he's done in Ultimate Spider-Man, Bendis explores the notion that at his core, Jameson is a man of principle who makes mistakes.
