One of the constant running debates between myself and a friend who also works at a comics shop is which is better, Powers or Alias. The two books have a lot in common: They're both set in a world full of super-heroes, aliens and other weird shit. They both center on grounded protagonists who are peripherally involved in that world, whether it's a former super-hero-turned-cop or a former super-hero-turned-private investigator. They're both written by Bendis. They both feature the word "Fuck" as often as possible, and mix a dark and gritty feel with a sense of humor that is always funny. And now, they share one more thing in common: They're both so damn good that I have a compulsion to pick them up both in singles and collected format. Marvel's done it to me again, and even though I have all the issues, I could not pass up the first nine issues of Alias in this shiny, beautiful format.
One of the big selling points of Alias is the cliffhangers between issues. Bendis has served up some doozies in these nine issues, including the first revelation of what Jessica had gotten on a tape, another revelation about how high up the conspiracy against that person went and a few false starts about Rick Jones and some of the identity troubles surrounding him. Honestly, I thought that this cliffhanger-heavy storytelling style might make for a collected edition that wasn't as good as the serial issues, but in fact, it's just as good. Though the surprises aren't as powerful without a one-month wait before you get more information, they're still great story beats.
In addition, what keeps Alias going is Bendis's style of writing and the strength of his protagonist, Jessica Jones. Jessica is superstrong, may be a little more durable than you and me, and has some other undefined powers, but she is not a super-heroine. She doesn't belong in that world, she never felt right in that world, and even when she's relating to people in that world, she's relating as a normal person. She doesn't team up with Warbird (of the Avengers) to fight crime, she sits down to have lunch and talk about available men. She doesn't join Captain America in an assault on HYDRA, she has a chat with him in her apartment. She doesn't even save Rick Jones from an army of pissed-off Skrulls or Kree, she talks to him about his book and how weird it is for people like them to hang with people like the Avengers.
It's this street-level view that really endears Alias to me. Because while what we're getting is a relatively realistic approach, down to people talking about and having sex, using curse words and spending a lot of time confused about what they're doing and why, it is set against a very unrealistic world. Jessica stops in to the Baxter Building, talks to the Avengers' butler, even faces down an old Spidey villain, and that flavor of the Marvel Universe is as important to the feel of Alias as Jessica herself... but seeing it from this new angle is what makes it important. Bendis has brought this same sort of "what if things were a little more real" approach to Daredevil, but it's more evident, and probably more sustainable in the long term, with Alias.
I'll be honest, one of the big reasons that I wasn't planning on buying the Alias hardcover was because of Michael Gaydos's art. Not that it's bad... far from it, Gaydos has a command of facial expressions that is second-to-none, and the feeling of the real world is one that very few artists would be able to do as well. Instead, I thought it was art that might not really benefit that much from the larger format, being less flashy than many of the other hardcover artists I've seen. I was wrong, though, because the book does look better in this oversized deluxe format, on slicker paper. The details are easier to see, and Hollingsworth's nuanced colors, dark without being overwhelming, are even more impressive. One of the reasons I've picked up the Marvel hardcovers is because the artwork is breathtaking in this reproduced format, and Alias is no exception... I can spend a few minutes flipping through pages, just being amazed at the artwork with Alias, just as I have with Daredevil: Yellow or Ultimate Spider-Man.
So I'm still not quite ready to declare Alias better than Powers, or vice versa. They have plenty in common, but they also have their differences. One of those differences is, of course, the publisher, and Alias had a lot of pressure riding on it, not just the market forces that judge a new book's survival but also the many eager eyes waiting to find out whether or not Marvel could successfully launch a mature readers line. MAX may still be a little uncertain, but Alias is a solid hit, and this hardcover will make a nice addition to the other worthy hardcover volumes Marvel has thus far produced.
