I am fairly consistent when I talk about Brian Bendis – I love the man’s work through and through, but his early Marvel work is my favorite. I’m not saying this in the way that a lot of people consider any artist of any kind’s early work their best. I don’t believe his talent has gone downhill at all. I still think he’s a strong writer. However, when he was first starting out at Marvel, and even when he worked at Image and did work for Caliber or Oni, his original content that he wrote in which he didn’t have to adhere to any editorial edicts of any kind or conform to any sort of basic idea – back when he could do whatever the heck he wanted in whatever capacity he wanted? That’s my favorite kind of Bendis.
Previously I recommended to you Powers, one of Bendis’ earliest and longest running series. I chose Powers because it was just in time for the relaunch of Vol. 3, the third issue of which just came out this month. Today I bring you to the flip side of that in a book which you all should be familiar with by now: Alias.
(This is, of course, just in time for the return of Jessica Jones in New Avengers, but we’ll get to that.)
Alias centers around Jessica Jones, the sole proprietor of Alias Investigations, a detective agency in New York. However, Jessica Jones isn’t your average private eye. Jessica is an ex-superhero, a costumed crime fighting pink-haired heroine named Jewel. However, as life would have it, tragedy struck and she decided to move her life in a different direction. As we spend time with Jessica, we learn many different things about her – she can fly and has super strength, but she chooses not to use them. She’s rather lonely, and a bit of an alcoholic, but she doesn’t let these things hold her back. She’s also rather good at her job. The biggest thing you’ll learn about Jessica Jones is that she has a mouth like a sailor. She’s perhaps one of the strongest female characters Bendis has ever written for Marvel Comics, and she is easily his greatest creator owned character that he introduced to the universe.
What Alias seeks to do is, like I mentioned, take a brand new heroine and insert her straight into the Marvel continuity. She’s been there for years, but no one’s noticed her until now. She’s friends with Carol Danvers, and she went to school (and had a crush on) Peter Parker. She’s even met and fought with Captain America! Jessica is steeped deep into Marvel continuity, interacting with all the big names and witnessing some of the biggest moments of the Marvel U (including the arrival of Galactus). In this, Alias strongly succeeds. Jessica is integrated flawlessly, and big name Marvel U characters make frequent appearances to keep up the atmosphere of the world Jessica Jones inhabits. In fact, Matt Murdock is a big character himself in the book (which should be no surprise considering Bendis was writing Daredevil at the time). We also see Luke Cage and the now deceased Ant Man Scott Lang, as well as Nick Fury and Thor and frequent references to Skrulls (foreshadowing much?).
What I really love about Alias is that it is pure Bendis. While I enjoy his work in New Avengers, etc, they all lack certain elements of Bendis due to the fact that these books are meant for such large audiences. I would imagine that Bendis had always hoped Alias would reach a larger audience, but since it had a nice MAX logo on the cover, Bendis was allowed to get away with more, and since he came up with the character and the context, there were no limits for what style he could do with the book. The book features curse words out the wazoo and exceptional amounts of exposition, which is and always has been one of Bendis’ main strong points as a writer. The book is dialogue heavy, and I love it. Bendis has such a natural talent for dialogue, and the issues where the New Avengers sit around and do nothing but talk are arguably some of my favorites of that entire book. Since Alias is made up almost entirely of realistic conversation pieces, consider me a #1 fan.
Continued below
Not only that, but Bendis allows himself to get a little bit weird in this book and do some things I have found he does not attempt often. Specifically, Bendis breaks the fourth wall like a mother. My favorite moment in the book is the final arc, in which we meet Jessica Jones’ nemesis – The Purple Man. The Purple Man is a batshit crazy villain with the power to make anyone do anything he wants just by saying it. What’s more is, the Purple Man knows he’s in a comic book, and he uses this knowledge to taunt Jessica Jones while behind prison bars in one of the oddest scenes I’ve ever seen Bendis write. It flows so incredibly natural though, and it manages to let Bendis convey ideas he normally does not attempt to push on the reader in a very well thought out manner. In fact, the last arc of Alias is – dare I say it? – the trippy-est arc, and Bendis uses his talent as a writer like a boss.
Of course, I couldn’t praise the book without actively praising Michael Gaydos as well. Gaydos is the artist for the entire book (outside of select scenes where artists like Mike Bagley and David Mack come in to display different eras in Jessica’s life) and he does a fantastic job. The book is set in a very noir-ish atmosphere, which is supposedly obvious due to the main character being a detective, and Gaydos pulls off the style perfectly with darker colors and an almost water color feel at times. Gaydos also creates beautiful recurring themes in the book, such as when Jessica interviews clients, to show recurring elements of Jessica’s life and bring us back to certain constants. Bendis has been known to work with artists on his independent works that are able to tackle their pages in a more unique style (such as Oeming for Powers), and Gaydos is a perfect example of what an artist can do when they really tackle the panel for what it’s worth.
Needless to say, I cold easily read Alias in a day or so if I so wanted to. The book reads like pure sweet caramel to me from start to finish. There isn’t a single dull issue contained within the story, and all of it beautifully told from an incredibly talented creative team. Everything I previously praised about Powers is equally true for Alias, and in a lot of ways I put the books together hand in hand. Both books tackle the idea of a super hero from different angles and allow Bendis the room to harness his best talents with absolutely no limits. Anyone who enjoys his work pretty much needs to read Alias at some point, because it’s definitely one of THE defining moments in his Marvel writing career before he came Mr. Avengers. It is one of the books that I always hold his writing to standard when I review his work, and I long for the day when Bendis will return to a title like this.
Granted, Jessica is becoming Jewel again and has certainly calmed down a bit from her private eye days, but a fanboy can dream.
