ALIAS #3

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Monday, November 19, 2001

After accidentally discovering Captain America's secret identity on a stakeout, Jessica Jones returns to the scene of the crime, only to find that a much worse crime has happened since then, and she's one of the prime suspects. Even her powers can't get her out of this one, but a certain blind attorney can...

It's series like ALIAS that restore my faith in the tired superhero format, and it's writers like Brian Michael Bendis that make me feel that the comic book format will eventually get all the respect it deserves. The best indie comics out there right nowapart from the slice-of-real-life genre that drives such phenomenal series as Adrian Tomine's OPTIC NERVE or an in-between reality and fantasy format like the Hernandez Brothers' LOVE AND ROCKETSare the ones doing what many comics have long professed to do but have rarely done: treat their superhero characters like real people, with real lives and real concerns.

This is one of ALIAS's major strengths, and one which makes Jessica one of the most interesting characters in comics. How often, for instance, do you have a former superhero admitting that she can fly, but she just can't land very well? Or how about a police interrogator who asks personal questions about what the Thing is really like while he's treating Jessica as if she's a murderer? And did you ever wonder if superheroes ever had a falling out? Obviously they do, if Carol Danvers's initially harsh treatment of Jessica is anything to go by. Of course, it could just be that Carol has the fluand when was the last time you saw that happen? Rarely has even the Marvel Universe, which prides itself on its "human" characters, been treated so honestly and with so much realism.

Michael Gaydos' artwork does the same thing for Bendis's script here as Michael Avon Oeming's artwork does on POWERSit completes the film noir quality of the piece, making this less a comic and more a collection of film stills. Gaydos' art tends a bit more to the realistic, though sometimes you have to wonder if that realism is carried just a bit too far: whether it's Carol's flu or not, she looks atrocious, and the other characters rarely fare better. But it's interesting to see the contrast in the ways both Gaydos and Oeming approach Bendis's dialogue-heavy scripts, and even more interesting when the styles occasionally converge. Is there something about a Bendis script that would lead any artist to repeat a single image several times, regardless of the book he's working on? Possiblybut even if there is, it's a technique that hasn't yet worn out its novelty or lost its impact.


I've often groused about Bendis's tendency in POWERS to follow a strong lead with a fairly weak ending, but I don't see that happening here yet. Every issue builds the suspense to such a degree that you'll regret having to wait for the next installment. I personally can't wait to see what will happen next.

ALIAS

Grade: A-

Issue: No. 3

Author(s): Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $2.99