Alias #10

Posted: Thursday, June 13
By: Jason Cornwell

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Gaydos

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Plot:
The book opens with Jessica Jones arriving at the Daily Bugle for a meeting with J. Jonah Jameson. After Jameson makes it known that he dislikes private detectives almost as much as he hates costumed vigilantes, we see him admit that he does respect Jessica for her decision to cast aside her life as a costumed hero, as it's behavior he encourages all super-heroes to practice. We then learn the reason for the meeting, as we see Jameson has taken notice of the media storm that has arisen when the Daily Globe released the story that Matt Murdock is Daredevil, and Jameson wants the Daily Bugle to bask in the glow of it's own super-hero outing. As such we see Jameson is looking to hire Jessica to discover Spider-Man's secret identity, and even more surprising we see Jessica accepts the job. Two months later we see Jameson discovers that Jessica hasn't been trying to unearth Spider-Man's secret, but rather she's been billing the Daily Bugle for her numerous charitable contributions to various orphanages, hospitals & homeless shelters.

Comments:
An enjoyable standalone issue that displays a great understanding of J. Jonah Jameson in the opening half of the book, as his interaction with Jessica Jones is absolutely priceless reading material. I mean I've been looking forward to this issue thanks to his strong use of the character over in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man & Marvel Team-Up, but I'll confess Brian Michael Bendis blew away all my expectations in the opening half of this issue. I'll also give him credit for a strong closing half, as this sequence was a fun display of Jameson blowing his top when he discovered what Jessica was up to. The book also does a pretty fair job working in a bit of history about Jessica's past as a super-hero, as we learn she went through two separate identities before quitting the game. Now the Daredevil reader in me is a bit irked by this issue's reference to plot elements that have yet to play of in the pages of that title, but then again it doesn't reveal anything too unexpected. Plus, it is nice to see a sense of continuity being established, and it's also interesting to get Jameson's reaction to what's happening over in Daredevil's book.

I'll buy the idea of J. Jonah Jameson hiring a private detective to unearth Spider-Man's secret identity, and that he would assign his best reporter to follow the investigation. I'd also accept that Ben Urich would hold his tongue, and would be willing to accept the rather flimsy excuses that Jessica gave for her actions. What I find quite difficult to accept is that Jameson would let this go on for two whole months before he finally caught on to the idea that he was being scammed. I mean this is J. Jonah Jameson we're talking about here. One would think that he would have had Ben Urich in his office every single day reporting in on the progress, but this issue makes it quite clear that Jameson was completely in the dark about Jessica's actions. This wasn't some idle investigation that Jameson thought up & then forgot about for two months. This was exposing Spider-Man's secret identity, and yet Brian Michael Bendis' story requires Jameson to cool his jets for an entire two months before figuring out that Jessica Jones isn't even making an effort to figure out Spider-Man's secret. This is completely out of character, and as such I had real trouble accepting this ending.

With the exception of the opening page, this issue is a fully painted affair, and while the art looks quite nice, it bears the two problems that I always have with painted books. First the art doesn't really tell the story in so much as it's more a display of various static images. Oh there's details like our peek at the Spider-Man map, and while it may have been this way for quite some time over in the Spider-Man books, this issue marks the first time that I noticed the old Daily Bugle building design is back (a move that is much appreciated by myself). However, most of this issue is a series of pinup images, that don't really convey much information beyond the idea that Jameson is mad. My second problem with painted art is that the colors are almost always rather flat in appearance. Now I realize that this may be a style choice on Michael Gaydos' part, and it works quite well in sections of the issue (e.g. the double-page cityscape shot of Jameson standing in front of his office window), but part of me was a bit disappointed by this art's rather washed out appearance.

Final Word:
A very enjoyable issue that is somewhat undone by Brian Michael Bendis' desire to have the story end with J. Jonah Jameson getting screwed over by Jessica Jones. Now this issue is a great stand alone tale, as it neatly plays with several supporting players from Spider-Man's cast, plus it also nicely acknowledges the current events playing out in Daredevil. The interaction between Jameson & Jessica is also a whole lot of fun, as Jameson at his blowhard best. However, I did find myself questioning the premise that has Jameson so far out of the loop on this investigation of Spider-Man's secret identity that Jessica could string him along for two months. It becomes especially hard to believe when we see Ben Urich actually has to tell Jameson what exactly Jessica has been doing, as this asks the reader to accept the notion that Jameson hadn't asked these questions before. Still, the main idea & the character interaction are strong enough that I'd give this issue a recommendation.