OK, I'll say it: I miss the "F" word. However, while The Pulse features Jessica Jones and is sort of a replacement for Bendis's MAX title Alias, a lot more has changed here than just the title and the amount of profanity to be found. Bendis's hard luck heroine has found a happy relationship and a new job, which makes The Pulse a much more optimistic book than Alias. Not so optimistic that it can't include a dead body, of course, which hints at the first storyline. In true Bendis tradition, though, the first issue of The Pulse isn't really about story, it's about character, and while it's a typically slow start, there's plenty to enjoy here, especially seeing Bendis riff on one of those characters whose hilarious obnoxiousness he has just nailed, J. Jonah Jameson.
With Bagley onboard and much of the action taking place in the Daily Bugle newsroom, it's a little hard to escape the feeling that you're reading a spinoff of Ultimate Spider-Man rather than Alias. This is probably good news for sales, however, given that Ultimate Spider-Man is immensely more popular than Alias, but I do miss the darker, cynical edge that Alias had. However, after the brutal treatment that Jessica suffered, mostly at her own hands, in the pages of Alias, there was also something deeply gratifying in seeing her happy with her boyfriend, a character with whom she had great chemistry. Bendis also does something interesting in making Jessica, the hard-worn cynic, something of a wide-eyed newbie when it comes to the newspaper business, turning her quite believably into a good point-of-view character for the series.
While it's good to see Jessica back, I must confess that what I really liked about The Pulse is the potential of seeing an honest-to-God journalism focused comic and hopefully a lot more of Ben Urich, a character I've liked since I saw Frank Miller's take on him. Urich is a crusading reporter with a realistic edge, not short on morals and principles but able to be scared and not really a two-fisted reporting guy, but just an older guy with experience and inner strength. I loved the contrast that Bendis showed between Jonah's pitch of The Pulse to Ben and Jessica, as it indicates which one of them knows him better. Then there's Jonah Jameson, who is written so as to be unwittingly hysterically funny (loved him telling each member of The Pulse team that the other one was a washout) but also to be more than just a cartoon. His recognition that his take on superheroes is an unpopular one, and indeed his acceptance of Jessica, shows actual character growth from a supporting cast member who has generally been deliberately played a little one-dimensionally.
While I love the characters and the premise, I must confess that I was hoping to see a completely different artist on this book, rather than someone who had worked with Bendis before. It's not that Bagley's work is bad; indeed, he does some nice work on the subtle storytelling cues of Bendis's story, which require story points to be explained with just a look or a change of expression, and the work overall carries the same level of professionalism and detail I've come to expect. It's just that it's such a familiar look, and the characters look a little too perfect compared to the rumpled versions we got from Gaydos on Alias. Jessica's head seems huge, Luke Cage seems surprisingly small, Jonah and Ben both look way too young, and everybody, everybody is skinny. But then, Gaydos would have been a little too abstract and moody for the tone of the book. I would have killed to have seen somebody like Lee Weeks on this book. At any rate, good art, if not ideal in my mind for the story.
In the end, though, The Pulse is another promising debut from Bendis, with a lot of familiar Marvel characters who aren't really what you call primary players. The premise, a journalist's look of the superpowered Marvel Universe, has plenty of potential, the ensemble cast so far is terrific and the book neatly handles believable characterization and laugh-out-loud humor. It's definitely a big difference from what was to be found in Alias, but there's enough similarity that those readers will enjoy it, and my guess is that the slightly more optimistic tone and brighter artwork will draw in more new readers as well.
