Should You Read ‘Alias’ If You’re Excited For ‘Marvel’s Jessica Jones’?

In anticipation of the upcoming Netflix series, ‘Marvel’s Jessica Jones’, I decided to binge read Brian Michael Bendis’ and Michael Gaydos’ comic book series, ‘Alias’. Finishing the 28 issues has me even more excited for the new television show. However, the comic book series itself, for the most part, was not worth reading.

The title launched on Marvel’s R-Rated MAX imprint, which pretty much means Bendis is allowed to integrate a lot of swearing and sex into the story. Bendis takes advantage of his literary freedom immediately with the first line of dialogue; “Fuck!” He was responsible in his use of adult material and used it to amplify the darkness and grittiness of the story that wouldn’t have been possible without it.

Michael Gaydos’ style of art matches the grittiness of the series to a tee. I also enjoyed the sharp contrasts in the style that occurred during flashbacks that were illustrated by Mark Bagley. Unfortunately, Gaydos’ art does feel repetitive and stale at times, which leads me to my main issue with the series.

After reading the first few issues, the story itself becomes repetitive and even uninteresting at times. Jessica Jones, an ex-superhero turned private investigator, is introduced to us as a loose cannon. She swears, smokes, gets blackout drunk and has a lot of sex. Her character doesn’t develop a whole lot after that. Her investigations are slow there is never much of a payoff.

‘Alias’ is divided into roughly five different story arcs. If you are checking it out, like I was, in anticipation of the television series, I’d suggest only reading issues 22-28. 22-23 are Jessica Jone’s origin story. Then 24-28 is the Purple story arch, which as you might have guessed involves Jessica Jones confronting Kilgrave.

Bendis takes full advantage of the MAX imprint with Kilgrave. For those of you not in the know, Kilgrave, aka the Purple Man, has the ability to control other people’s will power. He wants you to jump off a bridge; you will soon find yourself jumping off a bridge. The commands and things he does to people in these few issues is haunting and the type of thing that will make great inspiration for the Netflix series. My only complaint is the resolution of this arc, like all the others, fell flat.

If you can’t wait for Friday, I highly recommend checking out issues 22-28 of ‘Alias’. It will get you even more amped up for the weekend and spare you the lull’s and repetitive and at times uninteresting storytelling that plagued most of the series.