Cages, Alias, Jupiter's Legacy

Cages

Dave McKean’s magnum opus.  I haven’t read this in a very long time, but I’ll always remember it for the best depiction I’ve ever seen of that magical moment when you click with someone for the first time and the rest of the world falls away.  Only comics can do this:

Magical.

The story is fine, talking about the lives of the residents of an apartment building. McKean has a surprisingly keen ear for dialogue and monologue:

There's something profound and true right here.

So sad and pathetic.

Heh, great button.

Soul crushing levels of realization.

But there are also plenty of clunky bits that don’t work for me at all.  (His description of all the musical keys stands out in particular.)  As a whole though, Cages is a worthy read.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Alias 22-23

The missing issues came in the mail today.  Basically, I spent eight bucks for two issues that took four minutes to read.  Not the best value, but I’d still rather have the complete run of issues than not.  The origin of Jessica Jones goes by really fast.  In a retcon I don’t have a problem with, she went to high school with Peter Parker and had a major crush on him.  She was going to ask him out on the day he got bitten.  Cute.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem 1-6

Mark Millar jumps ahead twenty or so years.  The stars of the last miniseries have grown up superpowered children of their own now.  Everything’s as dysfunctional with them as it was with their parents and their grandparents.  And then a ton of them start dying because that’s what Millar does.  (Quite well, it’s not like a Joss Whedon situation.)  

This reads a lot better in one sitting than in monthly installments.  I’m not sure if I’ll get the last six issues when they come out.  (The last announced release date came and went last month with no sign of issue 7.)  But I won’t deny that I want to know how things end.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Alias

Alias 24-28

Jessica Jones 1-18

Looks like past me didn’t think that Alias 22-23 were worth getting.  Maybe because I didn’t care about the origin of Jessica Jones?  Well, present me cares, and getting the trade of 22-28 off of eBay is cheaper than buying the two issues, so that’s in the mail.  

So the Purple Man finally shows up, and it’s just as horrifying as the first time around.

Kilgrave as written by Brian Michael Bendis really is one of the most terrifying villains ever written.  David Tennent’s portrayal in the show is equally sinister. 

Couldn't Jean Grey have made this a permanent thing?

The problem is one of diminishing returns.  If I remember right, he’s never as effective as his initial appearance in Alias.  Case in point is his return at the end of Jessica Jones.  The set up is legit scary:

Brrr.

But the follow up devolves into an interminable debate about what Jessica and Kilgrave really want, whether or not Kilgrave is a god, and a bunch of other nonsense.  It’s one of the few times Bendis completely fails to entrance with his pages of dialog.

Fortunately, the rest of the issues are as great as the first half of the run.  Some great cases involving some deep undercover work, Maria Hill, and the collapse of the Ultimate universe.  

The soldier's reaction is the best.

Even better are the scenes with Luke Cage and baby Dani.  The moments of ‘normal’ family life, instead of getting lost among the craziness of Jessica’s cases, stand out as shining moments of joy, even more special than the wonder of superheroes.  Yeah, becoming a dad has made me a total sucker for this kind of thing.

These David Mack covers...

Hee.

Luke has been more than fair.  But Jessica had her reasons.

Being a parent supercedes all.

Aww...

He's so cool.

Yeeeaaaah boi!!!!

I could have kept reading years of additional Bendis Alias stories.  At least the follow ups by Kelly Thompson are almost as good.  (If I remember right.  We’ll find out tomorrow.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good (Pretty good for JJ 13-17, the return of Purple Man)

Alias

Alias 1-21

Brian Michael Bendis really left a legacy at Marvel; Among other things, he created Miles Morales, reinvigorated Luke Cage as a prominent character in the universe, and came up with the complex mess that is Jessica Jones.

What an amazing character.  While Miles subscribes to the classic “With great power there must come great responsibility,” Jessica goes to the school of “Fuck my powers, I’ll do the responsible thing despite them.”  She’s got so many obstacles in her way, many of them placed there by herself.  But she gets past all of them in order to do the right thing, bitching and moaning the whole time.  

I’d forgotten how many cases Jessica goes through before the Purple Man shows up.  This is straight up film noir with a splash of superpowers, and it’s very well done.  

David Mack covers are always a welcome sight.

That's Steve Rogers, btw.

So. Gross.

And so begins a wonderful friendship...

Plus there’s the hilarious issue 10, where JJJ hires Jessica to uncover Spider-Man’s secret identity.  She takes the job, only to scam him out of thousands of dollars helping the homeless.  It’s priceless.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good  (Pure joy for 10, Good for 16-21)

And with that, I now have less than one thousand comics left to read.  The last 7% of my collection.  Crazy.