Holy shit.
From the beginning, Alias has proven to be an amazing series, yet another example of Brian Michael Bendis's high quality writing -- writing that combines an appreciation for the wonder of super-heroes with a cynical, real-world view. Keep that context in mind when considering my next comment. This is the best issue of the series to date. Bendis takes the kind of real villainy we refuse to think about and injects it into a somewhat silly super-villain, and it makes for a chilling story of psychological agony. This issue is not to be missed.
After agreeing to help the families of the Purple Man's victims, Jessica Jones apparently fell off the wagon and hit the bottle... hard. She ends up at the home of an old friend, who's understandably curious what drove her into her desperate and drunken stupor the night before. Jessica shares a story from her past, from her time as the super-hero named Jewel, and how the Purple Man... hurt her.
This is another one of those issues in which Michael Gaydos steps aside for flashback sequences and allows Mark Bagley to bring the lighter tone of Jessica's time as a costumed hero come to life. Gaydos's more realistic and dark style establishes a harsh mood right away, but it's Bagley's brighter tone and its contrast against the horrors of which the human heart is capable that really packs the punch this month. Gaydos's role can't be underestimated either, though. His take on Jessica in the present the pained expressions on her face make it clear just how ugly that chapter of her life, under the sway of a sadistic madman, really was.
Bendis throws the reader off-guard, opting not to go for the obvious forms of torture that the Purple Man could inflict on one such as Jessica. No, he delves into a more insidious kind of torment, running his grubby little paws over the psychological self rather than the physical. As I read Bendis's script and the meticulous and convincing descriptions of the antagonist's whims, I was completely immersed in the story and the characters. My heart went out to a young woman that doesn't exist outside the pages of this comic book and the confines of Bendis's creative mind.
Another strength to be found here is a revisitation of Jessica's self-destructive tendencies and a further context of her life to help explain her self-loathing. Bendis has crafted a wholly convincing character in this series, and I find reading about this tragic figure to be completely engrossing. Alias isn't about private eyes or super-heroes. It's about broken people and how they can be found all around us.
