Book Review: Jessica Jones: Alias Vol. 3 by Brian Michael Bendis et al.

Jessica Jones: Alias Volume 3 written by Brian Michael Bendis, art by Michael Gados, and coloring by Matt Hollingsworth

In the first story, J. Jonah Jameson hires Jessica to find out the identity of Spider-man. Being J. Jonah Jameson, he is very caustic and unpleasant to Jessica, who reluctantly takes the job. She turns the tables on him in a fun and unexpected way. I found the story  interesting. The storytelling style was different. Instead of the usual comic panels, the issue has larger images in an artsy watercolor style, much like the cover above. The text is all dialogue in a script format with the character's name in capital letters, like this:

    J. JONAH JAMESON
I have to be honest with you. I haven't found many people in your line of work that I would say were of strong moral character.
    JESSICA JONES
I'm sorry?
    J. JONAH JAMESON
I've worked with some investigators -- hired some. Haven't found one I would let babysit my grandson.

While different and distinct, I didn't find this style of storytelling particularly satisfying reading.

The main story in this book has the third Spider-Woman, Mattie Franklin, showing up at Jessica's office asking for help. She's a huge mess (seems like drugs) and winds up web-slinging her way off into the night, but leaving Jessica with enough questions that she follows up. Mattie is the adopted teen-age daughter of J. Jonah Jameson, so you can imagine how it goes with him. This story is back to a regular comic book style and it continues the Scott Lang (aka Ant-man) dating sub-plot, making a more interesting read.

Overall, this issue is fairly standard and interesting more as part of the series than as a stand-alone story (unless you are a big J. Jonah Jameson fan). Since it's Marvel Max, it has lots of swearing; since it's Jessica Jones, it has a couple of awkward sex scenes (without nudity but with frank dialogue).