I stopped reviewing Alias with the first issue that is collected in this trade, but I've never stopped reading and loving it. It's just that the book isn't in First Look, and while I can sneak in a quick read of each issue before opening on Wednesday (nobody tell my boss), I don't get a chance to review it unless I buy it, and I'd honestly rather have the trades. That works out pretty well, actually, because after reading the single issues of "Come Home" and the date issue that are included in this trade, I was left with the impression that it was the weakest Alias storyline so far, and maybe not as good as the book should be. I still think it's the weakest story the book has had, but that has more to do with how much the book impresses me on a monthly basis than any particular failings of this story... you guys see the 10 up there, right?
So Jessica Jones, intrepid private eye, has ducked a conspiracy and dug into the life of a delusional would-be celebrity. How better to follow that up than to take a look at that private eye staple, the missing persons case? And how better to follow up on the wreck of a personal life that was a big part of the first two arcs than a conversation between the object of her ill-advised sexual adventure and then a date with a genuinely nice and regular guy, who just happens to be Ant-Man in his spare time? The sort of super-gal meets real world aspects of Alias are a big part of what I enjoy about it, and it has a tone that is very similar to Daredevil. In fact, it's not too far from the truth to call this the sister book, as it has even had a couple of background crossovers where you see the flipside of one book in a sequence in the other.
What really drives Alias, though, and what I always love, is the dialogue. There are some absolutely brilliant exchanges of dialogue in this trade paperback. Jessica's anger and knack for making horrible first impressions are such a part of her character that I have come to expect them, and believe them as I would if she were real. The bigotry and stupidity of a small town is portrayed with such clarity and reality that it made me wince at times. And the way everyone talks, not like a writer is putting words into their mouths but like they're fumbling for their words and not always thinking before they say them, is always engaging and more often than not hilariously funny. The date between Scott Lang and Jessica in particular is one of those issues where it's impossible not to read without getting a huge smile out of the whole thing. I also can't remember any single issue of Alias that hasn't had at least one laugh-out-loud moment.
This is the volume of Alias that has had the most artists, and it's interesting that each of them is used to accomplish a different tone. Gaydos, of course, is the guy who defines this book, and his work is as perfect for Alias as Maleev's is for Daredevil. They both accomplish largely the same thing, a sense of gritty reality and some expressive characters, and Gaydos accomplishes a lot with the storytelling. He has some of the same flaws I see in a lot of the artists Bendis works with, including a lot of repeated panels and some panel flow issues where I can't figure out if I'm going left to right or down and then right, but that's more a matter of Bendis's sometimes-weird page construction than a flaw in the art.
Mark Bagley, the guy who brings Ultimate Spider-Man to life every month (or every two weeks lately), provides a beautiful and important two-page flashback or dream sequence featuring Jessica's super-hero alter ego. It's such a well-defined, heroic portrait that it shows absolutely what a break with that life Jessica has made, but it shows a wistfulness, a longing for that life, that she hides on a constant basis. Then there's David Mack, whose collages made their way from the covers to the interiors in this issue. I must confess that I have never known a girl who made collage diaries, and in general I didn't really get the sense of magic that these things so obviously inspired in Bendis from his enthusiastic afterword, but they're good for what they are, and certainly portray effectively the diary of a talented and artistic teenage girl.
So this is my least favorite story in the Alias run so far. But I still read every issue with anticipation and glee, and I still bought the trade paperback without a moment's hesitation, and I still gave the book a 10/10. What do you think that says about the series, and how great I think it is? If you're a Bendis fan and you haven't picked up Alias, trust me that you will eventually regret it when you finally read an issue and see that this is as good, if not often better, than all the other spectacular work he does on a monthly basis.
