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ALIAS #2 (Best of the Week!)
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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Marvel Comics/MAX Comics imprint
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Gaydos
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Stuart Moore
Price: $2.99 US/$4.50 CAN |
Bendis hooked me on this title with the first issue, which gave us a good portrait of lead character Jessica Jones, in all her neurotic, self-loathing glory. The second issue is even better, because beyond the characterization, we're starting to see the plot develop, and it looks like it's going to be more than just a washed-up P.I. with a lucky break. Jessica's paranoid narration this issue really lets us into her head, seeing what kind of screwed-up, dark world she lives in, and then about halfway through, Bendis turns it around on us and makes us see that maybe she's not making the world that way... maybe she really does live in a world like that. Gaydos keeps the art moody and expressive as it needs to be for the story, and while I thought at first that U.S. War Machine might be my surprise favorite, it turns out that Alias is the best of the MAX books after all.
Honestly, I didn't expect this issue to be what it was. I love when that happens. I figured we were in for Jess doing some soul-searching, thinking about what she'd stumbled on and what she should do about it. I guess, in a way, that is what we got. But the dark hook that Bendis puts in, confirming some of her worst and most paranoid fears, was totally unexpected. He also manages to do it while still keeping the reader in the dark, so we don't what's behind the events of the plot either. I was reminded of The Game or other good conspiracy
entertainment, where you get caught up in how entangled the character is,
wondering how they're ever going to get out.
Bendis does a terrific job of
slowly getting Jessica in deeper and deeper. At first, she's just making herself
nuts, but the more she finds out, the worse it gets. Bad information, a death,
no ability to go to anyone for help, it's like a bad dream. Then reality comes
crashing down in the form of the cliffhanger ending, which is a logical turn of
events and makes things so much worse than they had already been. Even more
impressive to me is that despite Jessica being backed into a terrible corner,
the book isn't depressing or slow, it's tense and exciting. I was originally
considering picking this up in trade format, but it's paced for serial
publication, and I'm glad to be reading it that way.
Gaydos's work is really nice
here. There's not a lot of action, really, so he has to capture physical tension
in Jessica's movements. He has to get the reader interested in mundane moments
like Jessica coming home, unsure if someone is waiting for her, or getting an
unpleasant surprise when she goes to a friend for help. He's got to capture the
fear and trepidation Jessica feels with each revelation. And he does, making it
look smooth and easy.
This is the kind of thing I'd like to see more of in comics. It's also the kind of thing I'd like to see more of at Marvel. Alias is funny, smart, intense and
definitely not for kids. With any luck, it's only the tip of the iceberg of what
the MAX line might have in store in the future.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
