I loved the Jessica Jones Netflix series that came out in 2015, so I was excited to read the series it's based on. And I was not disappointed. The Jessica Jones in Alias is just as surly, self-destructive, and ultimately kind-hearted as the one in the TV show. The stories are poignant and touch on the sociopolitical issues surrounding superheroes and mutants in the Marvel universe.

Luke Cage in Alias is rather different from the same character in the Jessica Jones and Luke Cage TV series -- here he's more of an unfortunate stereotype, especially in how he talks. Don't get me wrong, there are real people who talk like that, and that's fine -- but it's very different from the Luke Cage portrayal I'm used to.

The art collages interspersed with the comics are really cool. ( )

I read this after watching Netflix's Jessica Jones (season 1), so I was pleased that it has a similar feel and characterization, despite coming in a somewhat different place in Jessica Jones's character arc.

The first story acr does a good job portraying the gritty underbelly of the comics universe, with the intersection of politics, scandal and superheroes. I didn't care as much for the characterization of Captain America, but the story was good.

The next story arc, about a missing teen in a small town, is much smaller in focus. It shows how the existence of mutants plays out in small-town America, far from the X-Men and any high-profile heroes.

In between was a single-issue of Jessica messing with J. Jonah Jameson, who very much deserved it, in a way that further elaborates her character and priorities.

The artwork, while well-suited to the dark & gritty style, wasn't quite to my taste. ( )

Not only have I read a lot of superhero stories by this point, I've read a lot of "deconstructions" of superhero stories, stories where the tropes of superhero stories are turned on their head in some way. Sometimes this is done to make a clever point (i.e., Watchmen), but sometimes you wonder why the writer bothered. "Oh, you've proved that it would suck to be a cop in a world full of superheroes. Congratulations, so has everyone else who's written this story."

What differentiates a good deconstruction from a bad one, I think, is doing more than simply subverting a genre convention, but understanding what a genre means. Alias is, thankfully, one such book. It stars Jessica Jones, a former superhero, now a private investigator, and her cases take her into the dark underbelly of the Marvel Universe, as she crosses paths with Daredevil, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, and J. Jonah Jameson. But why bother showing what the Marvel Universe would look like from this perspective?

What writer Brian Michael Bendis understands is that the superhero story is a power fantasy-- and Alias is a story about powerlessness. It tells the tales of people who were superheroes, or can't be superheroes, or have had brushes with superheroes, and contrasts the superheroes against their sheer inability to do anything whatsoever. Jessica Jones is a woman with low self-confidence who very rarely gets what she wants. Nothing can exacerbate the feeling that you can't control your own life like putting you next to people whose lives are magnificent. There are a few sequences in this book where Jessica tries to get in contact with the Avengers or the Fantastic Four, and she can't even get past the phone menu or the receptionists. She's completely powerless.

In her cases, she encounters a number of others trying to find power of various sorts: politicians, an ex-sidekick, a teenage runaway who might be a mutant. They're decent mysteries, but they're even better explorations of what it's like to amount to nothing, and what you might do to amount to something, anything. I particularly enjoyed the story where Jessica was trying to track down Rick Jones, who has been a sidekick to Captain Marvel, the Hulk, and Captain America at various times, which presented a very funny flip-side to the superhero archetype:

"This fucking guy doesn't shut up about the -- about the fucking -- what is it?"
"Kree..."
"Kree-Skull War. And I have no idea what the fuck a Kree-Skull War is! Some big space war and he saved the planet and shit."

And of course, we're all powerless, right? At least that's what Bendis convinces me of by the time that the first volume of Alias is over. He's used the superhero genre to say something interesting and with thematic depth, and though I like a story where Superman-2 fights the Anti-Monitor just as much as the next guy, I like this a whole lot, too.

Bendis is aided in his "deconstruction" by the excellent artwork of Michael Gaydos. I mean, serious excellent. Gaydos as a very realistic style, suited to a grounded story like this, but what's best of all is Gaydos's masterful command of facial expressions. You always know exactly how Jessica (and all the other characters) are thinking and feeling. The art and dialogue move slow at times; there are two-page spreads that include 34 panels, continuously flipping back and forth between two characters. You really feel immersed in a scene and a conversation.

There's a lot of nice, little touches too, and big ones. I like Jessica's not-quite-trusting relationship with Ms. Marvel, and her own "sidekick," and her brewing relationship with nt Man, and every line of dialogue spouted by J. Jonah Jameson (seriously, give that man his own series).

Not to mention that it is the only superhero comic I have ever read where someone sits on the toilet.

Jessica Jones: Next in sequence »

Jessica Jones is a former Avenger who has given up the caped life and is now a private investigator. I've read a few trades where Jessica appears - mostly New Avengers, also written by Bendis - and this is definitely grittier than the sanitized "mother" archetype she tends to fill elsewhere. She's a chain smoker, has a one night stand with Luke Cage (who is apparently dating someone else), and uses curse words often. I like this portrayal of her much better.

As for the story itself, I thought that it was engrossing. I'm not a big fan of the art, however. I guess it's supposed to be dark and gritty looking to match the "Max" imprint, but I thought that it detracted from the story rather than adding to it. ( )

Collects Alias #1-15. ( )