Alias (2001) 9

B Level - Part 4
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Jul 2002

. Jessica calls Avengers Hotline and leaves a message about Rick; she goes home and crashes at her desk while working on a separate case, the philandering husband
. the phone wakes Jessica up; the creepy guy has broken into her apartment again and he picks up; she takes the phone from him; it is Jarvis on the line; he explains that the guy she thought was Rick Jones really isn't and the Avengers are aware of this imposter

. The next part confused me a bit because I didn't realize that it was more than I took it to be; I thought it was just some random encounter in a diner; it wasn't until I got to the end that I realized who it was she was talking to, the philandering husband

. I must have missed something or it is inside baseball because I'm not sure what the title of the arc, B-level, refers to; or maybe I do, maybe it's a reference to the way Jessica sees herself, as not being a top tier hero/person like Captain America or Ms. Marvel

. This story wasn't quite as satisfying as I would like it to have been; it did feel a bit like a character building or defining arc whose purpose was to better illustrate who Jessica is

12/1

Alias (2001) 8

B Level - Part 3
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Jun 2002

. Jessica has caught up to Rick Jones; she questions him about what is going on and why he's acting so weird; he seems paranoid and keeps talking about the Kree, the Skrulls, the war between them, and the role he played in it; he seems to think he's a wanted man because of that
. Jessica tries to encourage him to go back to his wife but he thinks his problems will only antagonize their relationship
. Rick is very reluctant to reach out to the Avengers for help, Captain America in particular, but Jessica convinces him to try asking the Fantastic Four for help; they go to the Baxter Building but can't get any further than the robot receptionist
. After they leave the Baxter Building Rick runs off after spotting something in the sky

. It is still unclear what the hell is going on; are Rick's fears based on delusions or is he seeing things, in the world for what they actually are
. I'm curious to see how this one turns out, with just one more chapter to go in this arc, and hope that it won't be a let down

11/28

Alias (2001) 7

B Level - Part 2
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
May 2002

. Jessica is skeptical but listens to the woman who claims to be Rick Jones wife; later she checks her story and it seems to check out
. Jessica goes to a book store and buys a copy of Rick's book, Sidekick, she reads it while sitting in a park; there are a couple excerpts included as double page spreads
. Jessica is approached by a young woman who claims she can tell if people have powers; she learns from the young woman and her friend that Rick Jones hangs out and plays guitar is a bar nearby
. She goes to see Rick's show; she tries approaching him after the show but he takes off running after mumbling something paranoid about the Kree-Skrull War

. This did not go in the direction I thought it might; I'm curious; I want more

11/15

Alias (2001) 6

B Level - Part 1
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos

. Jessica goes out for lunch with Carol, who tries to set her up with Scott Lang (Ant Man) but Jessica is not interested; Carol accuses her of only liking bad boys and warns her that Luke Cage gets around and has a thing for "capes"
. Jessica spends some time online baiting the husband of one of her clients; the wife wants proof he has been doing more than just having online relationships with other men
. A stalker shows up and walks in to her office when she is in the bathroom; he answers her phone when it rings; he is just 17; it is played fairly low key but it seems serious to me
. After the stalker leaves a woman shows up who is looking for Jessica's help finding her husband, Rick Jones; I wasn't aware that he was married and wonder if this isn't another stalker

. Love some of the panels in the part of the issue where Jessica is having lunch with Carol, especially the inset 9 panel grid
. Not blowing me away but has me wondering which way it is going

11/3

Alias (2001) 5

Alias Investigations - Part 5
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Mar 2002

. After beating up her would be murderer Jessica tortures him until he reveals who he is working for; Jessica tracks that guy down to a golf course; he does most of the talking; he doesn't seem to care that she found him although he is a little disappointed at how things turned out
. As the man and his entourage are leaving Jessica gets a call from SHIELD Agent Clay Quartermain; he tells her to walk away and not do anything; then she sees helicopters swoop in and take the man and his entourage into custody; Quartermain then reveals that they had a bug planted on her all along; in other words they were using her to get at this guy she caught up to on the golf course; apparently he was trying to buy political influence and when he didn't think he got his money's worth he tried to make the current presidential administration look bad and throw his weight behind another candidate, Keaton
. Jessica goes home, finds, and destroys the bug SHIELD had planted on her; on the television Keaton is holding a press conference to announce that he is abandoning his campaign for the presidency
. Steve Rogers shows up at her apartment; he wants the tape she shot; they talk for a while; the conversation goes from serious to friendly; it ends with him suggesting she give Carol a call, which she does after he leaves

. Not mind blowing great but I enjoyed, possibly in large part because it is my kind of story; it does move slowly; each chapter was easy to summarize because there wasn't a hell of a lot going on; there's a heavy focus on dialogue which I would be much more okay with if this was a prose novel instead of a graphic novel; that said, the dialogue wasn't as exposition heavy as it is in many comic books; it was used as much of not more to set the tone and mood as it was to explain
. There is one more story arc in this collection; I will probably jump right into that but then take a break for a month or two before picking up the second volume of Alias

10/27

Alias (2001) 4

Alias Investigations - Part 4
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Feb 2002

. Jessica goes to Washington, DC to try and find the people who set her up; she goes to the office of the election campaign for Keaton for President; there she finds the woman who hired her in the first issue, which leads to a lawyers office, which leads to a parking lot; she waits there for the lawyer to leave so she can tail him
. Matt Murdock calls while she is waiting to let her know that the police have dropped the charges against her because the evidence shows that the murderer was a person with very large hands
. Just before she gets off the phone with Matt a person with very large hands walks up to her car, pulls her out, and starts choking her

. Slow; this story is slow moving, not bad, I kind of like it, just slow

10/20

Alias (2001) 3

Alias Investigations - Part 3
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Jan 2002

. Two-thirds of this chapter is Jessica being interrogated by a police officer in an interrogation room at the police station; for the most part it doesn't go well for her; the cop isn't very understanding even though it is clear that he knows she was an Avenger
. The interrogation finally ends when Matt Murdock shows up; Luke Cage sent him
. After she has been released Jessica heads to Carol Danvers' apartment; she and Carol were close when they were on the Avengers; Carol has the flu and isn't in a good mood; at first she balks at Jessica's request for help tracking down whoever set her up but helps her in the end
. The information Carol gets leads to a presidential candidate's campaign office

. Not a whole lot happens but I like the way it unfolds and the way the dialogue between Jessica and the cop is illustrated and the placement of the word balloons

10/11

Alias (2001) 2

Alias Investigations - Part 2
By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos
Dec 2001

. A woman hired Jessica to find her sister; which she did; Jessica videotaped the sister with Captain America out of costume
. Then Jessica began to get suspicious; her client disappears; the "sister" is murdered
. Jessica goes to Avengers Mansion but no one is home; she tries turning to Luke for help but he is otherwise occupied
. Jessica returns home to find the police waiting for her; she was photographed near the scene of the crime by a police photographer; before she knows about the photograph she denies knowing about the murder to the police who know about her "powers"; she quickly becomes a suspect

. Good read but not exactly a stand alone story
. In some ways this felt more like chapter one of this arc and the previous chapter was more like chapter zero, an introduction to the series
. This setup feels very familiar although I cannot recall where I've seen it before; probably in a movie or tv show
. Love the use of thought balloons/boxes to give an insight into what Jessica is thinking and feeling

10/3

Alias (2001) 1

Alias Investigations - Part 1

By Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos

Nov 2001

. Jessica Jones, private investigator, former superhero and Avenger

. She makes a living now snooping on cheating wives and looking for missing persons, for a fee

. She has a one-night stand with Luke Cage and accidentally spies on Captain America while working on a case

. This is a good opening chapter, a real mixed bag which isn't very focused but instead provides a sample of what Jessica's average day is like, or so I'm guessing

. Michael Gaydos does not draw people pretty in this book, I'm okay with that; I really like the visual storytelling and the placement of word balloons; I wonder if that was all Gaydos or Bendis or both

. Of course I'm reading this after watching the first season of the TV series based on this comic and am seeing some of the same stuff but I know enough to know that it isn't identical, I really enjoyed the first season of the tv show, more than either of the first two seasons of Daredevil 

9/26