Jessica Jones, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Jessica Jones: Blind Spot

Don’t want to review this too deeply since I’ll be re-reading it in a couple of years.  Okay, when I put it that way, might as well review it. I may regard it completely differently after such a long gap.

Kelly Thompson writes the first significant Jessica Jones story after Brian Michael Bendis’ departure to DC.  It’s the length of a trade, but internally divided into 6 issues, to allow for cliffhangers, I presume. (And possibly artist payments, as Marcio Takara draws the final installment after Mattia De Iulis’s work on the first five.)  [UPDATE: This was originally published digitally as 6 issues. Make sense.]

I came into this with mixed expectations; I originally vowed to stop reading any Jessica Jones (and Miles Morales) solo titles after Bendis left.  His voice was so inextricably linked to those characters that I refused to believe anyone could come close to recreating the magic. But then Thompson included a great Jessica Jones guest appearance in the middle of her delightful Hawkeye run.  I reconsidered my stance, and when this graphic novel came out I went ahead and bought it.  But between purchase and perusal, I read Thompson’s West Coast Avengers 3, which continued an already shaky run.  Which lowered my hopes for this yet again.

So after all that, how did it turn out?

Tons of fun!  Doing this list style.

1. Thompson nails the Jessica/Luke Cage dynamic.  They sound like an authentic married couple with a toddler, talking about grocery shopping, the need to have some alone time, ordering take out, and play-fighting over who gets the last piece of dim sum.  They realistically mix this with surviving lethal gunshot wounds to the head, protecting their daughter from reality-warping villains, and the trauma of being mind-controlled by purple-skinned psychopaths.  They’re also honest about their feelings for each other and (usually) share their doubts and fears. It’s everything that Bendis got right about their relationship, and it’s so satisfying to see it continued here.

2.  Jessica isn’t wrong when she says things always to go shit on her.  It’s the other hallmark of her life. Dead body in her office->Arrested by the police->Shot in the head, all in the first issue. Check.

3.  The entire interlude with Elsa Bloodstone made me so very happy.  Everything about their interactions brought me joy. The dialogue, the shared respect, the casual repelling of a monster invasion along the Hudson, the discussion of melee weapons.  It fairly shimmered with glee.

Looks so cool.

4.  The art by Mattia De Iulis.   I can’t find much about him online, this might be his first comic book work.  If so, it’s an amazing debut. His work looks a lot like that of David Marquez, and I mean that as a high compliment.  I’ll have to keep track of this guy.

Marquez

De Iulis

If this is what I can continue to expect from Thompson and De Iulis, I’m in for the long haul.  Though I have to say, I have major Purple Man fatigue at this point. It’s way too soon for Thompson to bring him back.  (On the other hand, I appreciate that trauma this severe doesn’t just disappear from Jessica’s life.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1910, 1969

I tried.  I tried so hard.  But like the first time through with all three of these volumes, I couldn’t make it through any of them.  They’re just so dense, and any semblance of plot is buried beneath the groaning weight of literary references, text, and general weirdness.  

Unlike the excellent original LoEG series, these comics meander all over the place.  Alan Moore seems more concerned with cramming in as many obscure cameos as he can into these pages, instead of telling a coherent story.  Sure, Black Dossier was meant to be a reference book more than a story, but that doesn’t make it any more fun to read.  

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give Black Dossier all the props in the world for its ambition and execution.  It’s a collection of so many different literary presentations - the familiar LoEG comic, an article from a 19th century British newspaper, a 1950’s newspaper comic strip, a folio of Shakespeare’s work, an illustrated novel from the early 1900s (complete with thicker paper stock!) and so much more.  Really, really impressive.

If only the material it contained was remotely interesting.  I can’t keep any of this. That’s two times I’ve had zero desire to complete a read through (First time in this project), and I have zero desire to give it a third chance.  

Regret buying: No for Black Dossier, Yes for Century.  After Black Dossier, I should have known better.

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring (Cutting)