AICN COMICS: TalkBack League of @$$Holes Reviews!!

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Michael Gaydos

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Reviewed by Cormorant

My experience has been that even among fans of the Brian Bendis oeuvre, ALIAS seems to generate little outright enthusiasm. They love ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, seem pretty caught up in the happenings of POWERS* and DAREDEVIL, and always pine for Bendis to return to the straight-up crime comics that made him his name, but…there doesn’t seem to be as much love for ALIAS, which, ironically, is my favorite of the lot. I think, perhaps, that ALIAS has something of a “been there, done that” feeling for some readers, the result of being Bendis’s second blending of the crime and superhero genre after POWERS. I submit, however, that the single-character focus and more-personalized tone differentiate it enough to stand ably on its own.

*Footnote: Yes, I know that ALIAS tends to outsell POWERS slightly, but I think that has a lot to do with it being published by Marvel; POWERS still garners more enthusiasm. Let’s look at the latest issue and consider what works about the book and also why it might not be getting as much attention as it deserves…

Gotta start with the cover. Hoo boy, I know there are some pretty devoted David Mack fans out there, but I’ve never been one of them, and his covers are far and away the main reason I think this book gets ignored. Frankly, the covers all look the same: semi-abstract collages, usually with a lone figurative element, and always with that annoying diary-style text overlaying everything. Mack fans, I’m sorry if I offend you, but if it helps, I never thought much of Dave McKean’s SANDMAN covers either. Individually, this kind of artsy design is aesthetically pleasing, and even carries the “legitimizing” air of novel cover design, but on a month-to-month basis it’s repetitious and boring. We’re talking an enticement level about on par with those STAR TREK paperbacks where characters’ heads float ethereally over star fields, know what I mean? Luckily for both SANDMAN and ALIAS, the contents within are substantially more interesting than the covers…

This issue occurs concurrently with events Bendis is orchestrating in the current DAREDEVIL, notably the public leak that Daredevil may be Matt Murdock. Jessica, we learn, is helping out Murdock (who offered her serious legal aid in the first ALIAS story arc) by doing a little bodyguard work for him. Assisting her is Luke Cage (aka Power Man), who…uh…offered her aid of a different sort during that story arc (they had sex after she got drunk). The first half of the issue is an extended conversation between the two regarding the fallout of that night, and, as with almost all Bendis conversations, it’s very crisp, entertaining dialogue that’s consistently unpredictable. I still waver over whether discussing such adult topics as meaningless one-night stands is appropriate for characters who were once part of Marvel’s all-ages line-up, but it’s hard to resist the lure of Bendis’s realistic handle on sex getting in the way of friendships.

The downside? Luke Cage bears more of a resemblance to his bitter incarnation in the recent MAX title, CAGE, than to his classic street-tough-with-a-heart-of-gold portrayal in the regular Marvel Universe. Visually, he looks like he did in CAGE, in which his classic yellow shirt and metal headband were dropped in favor of impersonal mirror shades and a more ‘hood-friendly do-rag, but more importantly, some of his antagonistic behavior has crossed over. Luke Cage has always been a temperamental hero, but when he gets frustrated at Jessica and gripes, “Fucking bunch of shit I have to listen to,” it just felt like Bendis had gone too far. One of the things I’ve liked about the book from the get-go is that the cameos from classic Marvel heroes, though they occur in a “mature readers” book, have done little to diminish their heroic stature. This is the first instance where a character didn’t feel right, and I’m annoyed at the possibility that the classic, “cornball cool” Luke Cage of the Marvel Universe might be permanently replaced by this mirror-shaded jerk. Again, the conversation was well-written – only Cage himself was off.

The second half of the book features one of the developments I’ve been most anticipating: the introduction of the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang, as a potential romantic interest. Does that sound impossibly stupid? It shouldn’t. Lang’s always been a more down-to-earth hero, being a single father who once served some prison time, and I knew he’d be an interesting addition to the comic from the instant Carol “Warbird” Danvers first joked with Jessica about setting the pair up. And Bendis really comes through here, giving readers the uncensored dialogue of their first date - awkwardness, funny moments and all. I pretty much knew the date would be interesting when Jessica ordered a double vodka on the rocks, only to have Lang interrupt her order with the suggestion that she not drink that night.

Lang: “I’m sorry. I just -- Carol told me you have a tendency to drink and then be mad at yourself about it afterwards…and I thought that this being our first date, and life being too short and all that maybe we could, uh -- not drink and have a nice, real, genuine conversation.”

Regular ALIAS readers will know that Lang has hit the nail on the head, but you better believe Jessica’s pissed as hell at his presumptuousness, and at Carol for talking about her behind her back. And at that point, you know the conversation’s gonna be interesting. And it is. It’s not strictly realistic, but as Quentin Tarantino reminded audiences in the 90’s, dialogue can sparkle and yet bear little resemblance to reality. And yes, this is an all-talking issue. I have some issues with Bendis’s dialogue sometimes in a book like DAREDEVIL or ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, where all the yak-yak-yakking can seem out of place, but in a dedicated “mature readers” title like ALIAS, headlined by an original Bendis character no less, I figure the book is all his baby and the dialogue is at least half the reason to show up.

Credit also goes to underrated artist, Michael Gaydos. He’s not the worlds most exciting artist, and the book’s drab colors don’t do much to spice up his style, but this guy draws some of the best moment-to-moment conversational scenes I’ve ever seen in a comic. He’s got a huge repertoire of facial expressions, and over the course of the last year he’s helped turn Jessica Jones into one of best-defined characters in comics, superhero and otherwise. Much to my dismay, however, I think his art is doing little to draw new readers to the book, and may even be turning some folks off. With Mack’s covers, I can happily say, “Please try someone else for a bit,” but I’d hate to lose Gaydos on the book, even if he’s an acquired taste and not the best draw for new readers. He’s as much a part of the book as Bendis, so my only visual suggestion for the book would be to try a somewhat broader color palette. Keep the noir effect, sure, but howsabout moving a little beyond the Vertigo color range?

Final judgment: Because of the covers and because of the art, ALIAS is not the easiest book to sell new readers on, but nevertheless, I’m highly recommending this book to folks looking for a character and dialogue-heavy crime book. I dislike the recent take on Cage, but that’s not an ongoing problem, and ALIAS continues to be one of the first comics I want to read when I make my weekly purchases. It’s also a book I think will appeal to women, partially because of the frank conversations about sex and relationships, and also because Jessica is a perfect example of a how a writer can create a very likeable female character who has some unlikable traits and who isn’t cast in the typical uber-babe mold. Definitely one of the coolest dames in comics.

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