December Graphic Novel Read

Meh. I still feel the same way about 70% of the Marvel Max titles that I did when they were published the year I was still managing the comic store. We read this one for the relevance of Jessica Jones just being released and taking the world by storm -- which proved the reverse of the norm. The show was so much more coherent with a good long reaching story (number of stories) to tell. ( )

I wasn't madly in love with the art in this one, but I liked the stories. Jessica Jones is a character you want to root for, whether or not she has it all together. Following a character in the periphery of the spotlight feels a little like reading Astro City. I'm looking forward to reading more. ( )

I watched, and immensely enjoyed the recent Netflix Jessica Jones series, so when I saw the first four graphic novel collections, I had to pick them up.

This first one didn't disappoint at all. In fact, it provided a story that I find is the only kind I can actually enjoy from a major publisher like Marvel now: A story that occurs down deep between the major "event" stories that seem to be all the rage at Marvel and DC now.

I've complained about this before. To me, it seems that the bulk of the major superhero stories fall within three basic storylines:

1 - The superhero meets the villain, gets his ass handed to him, then comes back to soundly beat the villain, but not taking him out for his heinous crimes, allowing him to escape and run one of these three scenarios again and again.

2 - The superhero meets another superhero, communicates ineffectually, or mistakes the other hero as someone doing something bad--even though the two heroes have likely saved the world/universe together at least 78 times. They fight, the come to the realization they should act on the same side, and they go discover the villain behind all this and soundly beat the him, but don't take him out for his heinous crimes, allowing him to escape and run one of these three scenarios again and again.

3 - One of the superhero's team mates or loved ones is captured by the villain. Things look dire and the superhero gets his ass handed to him, but finds some way to exploit the villain's weakness, get the loved one to safety or team up with the team mate to soundly beat the villain, but not take him out for his heinous crimes, allowing him to escape and run one of these three scenarios again and again.

Occasionally, you can throw in the death of a character, but no big deal, they virtually always come back later on.

So, this no longer appeals to me. But stories like the two arcs in this first JJ collection? They don't follow that pattern at all. They still exist in the superhero world, but instead of running one of the three scenarios above, they work with the framework and the history of Marvel's universe to tell different stories. Stories of political machinations. Stories of madness. Stories of humans wanting to be superheroes, and of superheroes who just want to be human.

The story and the art are perfect. This first collection, at least, is fantastic. Well written, well drawn, well realized. ( )

Not bad. Not what I was expecting, and interesting, but definitely not my usual choice in art or writing. Second read, and I find I'm getting more comfortable with the art style and writing. Definitely a strong enough draw to be worth the second read. ( )

Wizard Top 100 (1991-2009: 40
IGN Ultimate Bookshelf Essential