Alias

by Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos (and guest artists), and Matt Hollingsworth
Omnibus collects Alias #1-28 and “What If” (complete series)

If you love the Jessica Jones TV show and are looking for something to tide you over before its final season (out…sometime this year), look no further than Alias. 

Jessica’s solo series and the show’s source material for of the first season, Alias covers Jessica’s origin story, her PI job, relationships with Daredevil and Cage (along with many others, like Carol Danvers and Peter Parker, not in the show because MCU reasons), and most of all, her past and confrontation with Killgrave, or “The Purple Man,” who is literally purple (but if you’ve seen the show, good luck not hearing David Tennant’s voice as you read).

Alias was also one of Marvel’s “Max” explicit comics, which meant drugs, sex and swearing were all fair game – and pretty much necessary for the alcoholic, self-destructive Jones. But Bendis writes her well so she seems like a real person – a real woman too, which surprised me from his treatment of women in other books – and while sometimes the swearing feels gratuitous, the sex (usually just an excuse for the male gaze when a female lead is involved) is not. Though it would have been nice if Jessica was getting down and liking it.

But damn, does Bendis love dialogue. He looOooOOoves the sound of his own dialogue and eventually it’s just tedious filler, especially when one page memoir excerpts are thrown in. Y’know the adage ‘less is more?’ Bendis never learned it. There’s no doubt the show  improves the slow dialogue and pacing (though he does have writing credits there too), and while much of Alias focuses on Jessica’s relationships with men, the show’s greater emphasis on Jessica and her sister Trish were largely thanks to Melissa Rosenberg, show creator and writer. (Funny how women writing about women leads to more stories about sisterhood.) (Also, Jessica enjoys sex in the show too. Progress!)

Along with the Bendis slog – which was just interesting enough to keep going – Michael Gaydos’ art was not my cup of tea. Thankfully Jessica wasn’t overly beautiful or sexualized, but at times the art just looked sloppy and she had a Mr Potato nose and a clay, lumpy face. The supporting characters (especially Steve Rogers and Scott Lang), also had lazy eyes or mushy faces – if we were supposed to be seeing the world through Jessica’s drunkenness that never got across. His already static characters along with the tidal wave of Bendis’ dialogue usually resulted in a ton of small panels, or a wall of text, which looked exhausting as was reading it. Also, Gaydos loves to do this thing where he gradually zooms in on a person’s face with each resulting panel and that was claustrophobic as hell. Guest artist’s Mark Bagley’s Jewel sequences were also sloppy, boobsy and cartoonish.

For Alias’ 28 issues, there wasn’t one I enjoyed looking at.

Jessica Jones is a great character in that she’s multifaceted with an emotional past and very human flaws, and her story of abuse is important too. If you looOooOOoved the Jessica Jones show and want more, this is perfect. If you liked season one but wouldn’t watch it again, or if JJ is still in your Netflix queue, don’t bother with Alias – because this might be the source material, but the TV show does it better.