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ALIAS #2 (Best of the Week!)
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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Marvel Comics/MAX Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Gaydos
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Comicraft
Editors: Stuart Moore & Nanci Dakesian
Price: $2.99 US/$4.50 CAN |
Alias has quickly proven itself to be yet another Brian Michael Bendis triumph, and there's one simple reason: Bendis has crafted a compelling, complex character to serve as the title's heroine. Bendis's crisp, Sorkin-esque dialogue brings her to life, and the murky tones Gaydos and Hollingsworth bring to the book envelop her in tension, darkness and fear.
Private eye and former super-heroine Jessica Jones has a videotape of Captain America out of costume. She has his face, and she doesn't want it. Her imagination runs wild, as she fears being the target of one of the world's many criminal and terrorist organizations, any one of which would kill thousands for the information she now possesses. She seeks out the woman who hired her, and the woman she followed, but to no avail. She also seeks comfort from a friend, but finds only a closed door instead.
In the first issue, Jessica wanted nothing more than to just feel something, anything at all. She should be careful what she wishes for. Bendis instills the book with palpable emotion. I believe in Jessica's fear. I believe her paranoia. I believe her desperation. We've all experienced that moment of extreme panic. Mind you, Jessica has much more grave reasons to be scared that most of us have, but the common ground is there. It serves as a bridge the reader can cross into a different world.
Gaydos does a great job of bringing Bendis's cinematic script to life, and Hollingsworth bathes each scene in deep, rich, colorful darkness, even in scenes set in the light. But I think my favorite aspect of the art is how Jessica looks. She's pretty, sure, but she's no supermodel. Jessica Jones looks like an average person, and despite her not-so average job and history, she still acts like an average human being.
This is a private-eye book, but is it detective fiction? No, not right now, and that's fine by me. This is a character study, set in an aspect of the Marvel Universe that's gone largely untapped: the dirty, human side. Some may argue that Bendis is repeating himself, telling stories he could be telling in Powers, his cop drama set in a world of super-heroes (from Image Comics). It's not. Alias is different in tone, and oddly enough, it's edgier than Powers. It stands out as the benchmark for Marvel's MAX Comics line, and matching its level of quality will be no easy task.
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