Alias Omnibus by Brian Michael Bendis

Format: Hardback

Read: July 2024

So I have had this Alias Omnibus for 9 years… And I’ve only just read it! I remember it was quite a saga to get hold of too, being Marvel Max it wasn’t available through Marvel Unlimited (which I had back then) so I had to track down a hardcopy.. and it had to come from America. Then first one I ordered never arrived, nor did the second one (ordered through Amazon so at least it was easy to get refunds!).. the third one finally did but the time I did receive it I was starting to go through some shit with my boyfriend at the time, and it never got unwrapped… To my great shame (it’s also a big heavy book that is not the easiest thing to physically to hold and read so that’s another factor!).

I can’t remember if I’d heard of Alias before Netflix announced the Jessica Jones TV series or not. Checking my Amazon account it looks like I first tried to order the book in 2015 around the time the series came out. I know I was already reading comics for a while around that time, and after my Carol Danvers phase I’d been quite into Jessica Drew as Spider-Woman and got into some New Avengers and which also featured Luke Cage and occasionally Jessica Jones, and their new baby. That, along with Jessica’s fiery personality and lack of a costume, peaked my interest because I’d never seen a story with a superhero’s baby before.

Anyway I am a sucker for a detective story especially if the “hard-boiled” detective is a woman! I am a big Veronica Mars fan, and Jessica Jones actually had a lot in common with Veronica Mars but even more fucked up …and with superpowers. No way I’m resisting a premise like that!

Jessica Jones is an original character created by Brian Michael Bendis, and her first appearance is in Alias #1. She lives in New York, she has super strength and can sort of fly. She had a brief period as a costumed hero which ended… lets say badly… and now she scrapes by as a P.I. Jessica has a lot of past trauma which she copes with through excessive drinking, and sex. If you’ve seen the Netflix series, that hits the same notes as Alias, but they changed elements of the story – because The Avengers do show up in this story in less than flattering way (Captain America, Scott Land, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Tony Stark, Thor etc), and Jessica’s closest friend is Carol Danvers (still Ms. Marvel), plus Jean-Grey also makes an important appearance.

There are 28 issues in this omnibus (plus a fun What If?) which follow Jessica as she takes cases and tries to deal with her many issues. Once we start to get to know her, we then learn how she got her powers and why she stopped being a costumed hero (and why she’s such a raw, angry mess). It’s usually told Noir-style, from Jessica’s POV and in her voice but there are some diversions. I did love the issue where she deftly scams J. Jonah Jameson when he hires her to unmask Spider-man! Another highlight was a brief team up with Jessica Drew, I love these characters together!

We really get to know Jessica in this book, with a depth of character development that I’d not encountered before with Marvel comics. This is a Marvel Max title which means it has adult content, definitely not for children. There is sex (though nothing graphic), The Purple Man’s crimes are very disturbing, and it has A LOT of swearing.. but to me all the “fucks” make it more relatable!

This is comic book so I should also mention the art, which is by Michael Gaydos. I have to admit it took some getting to used his style to because he makes characters look so plain they can veer into ugly (even his Steve Rogers is more Daniel Craig than Chris Evans!). However, eventually I got over it and I began to appreciate how this added to Jessica’s story because Jessica doesn’t think she’s anything special. In fact she think’s she is worse than a failure, but an unworthy piece of shit, so if she was drawn looking like a Goddess that just wouldn’t work. I do remain confused by the teenage characters have coloured lenses in their glasses though – was this a thing in New York in the 2000s? Or did both these characters just need corrective lenses…

It’s not easy to get hold of this book in the UK, I think it was about £50 when I bought it in 2015 and it seems to be even more money now – but if you do ever get the opportunity to read this I highly recommend it!

I finished it loving Jessica Jones more than ever, and I decided to re-subscribe to Marvel Unlimited so I can read Pulse and the rest of her adventures. And I really want to know more about what happens when she and Luke Cage become parents! So there might be more comic book content coming! MU is only $69 (about £54) for a year which seems a good deal, especially when my partner has also been back to reading them lately as well. Re-watching X-Men has really pulled us both back to Marvel this year!