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Review: Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #13

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detailIn Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #13, Doreen Green, her mom, best friend Nancy, and an army of squirrels fight back against the living Gulliver’s Travel riff, Enigmo as he multiplies at an exponential rate and takes over both the United States and Canada. Writer Ryan North, artist Erica Henderson, and colorist Rico Renzi embrace the silliness of this premise and the seeming tranquility of the Ontario wilderness as Squirrel Girl with some assistance from the nihilistic robot Brain Drain and a very tired and pissed off Ant-Man of the Scott Lang variety use their minds, superpowers, and random pointless knowledge about various animals to defeat this crazy threat.

Add Scott Lang to the pantheon of popular characters that Erica Henderson has executed an epic riff on. She doesn’t draw him in Paul Rudd heartthrob mode, but in full anger mode with side of dad jokes about his “Ant Van” in his utility belt. He is constantly making fun of Canada, which kind of gets exasperating after a while, but luckily North balances his world-weariness with the high-level enthusiasm of Squirrel Girl and Nancy plus Brain Drain’s non-sequitur routine. (Basically, everything that comes out of this character’s mouth is super hilarious.) The plot of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #13 is very much a middle chapter as Squirrel Girl and her team regroups to take out Enigmo. But this regroup includes a size changing van, canoes, and way too much information about ant colonies so the comic is still pretty entertaining.

Rico Renzi should be commended for his deep blue and black backgrounds for the Ontario scenes, which make it seem like Squirrel Girl and her company are really in the middle of nowhere and not in New York City lite or a Vancouver backlot. This kind of detail in locations is one of the strengths of the comics medium, and it pays off in a big way as the team dodges traffic on the expressway between Ontario and the United States, which turns into a fight scene against cops that all look like Enigmo. The fight choreography is super jumbled, but North and Henderson hit on a genius idea in the final pages that turns the arc from superhero versus multiplying supervillains fight to a heist movie complete with cool (imaginary) costumes. This totally makes sense because both Brain Drain and Scott Lang are former criminals. Plus Ant-Man’s movie was more of a heist flick with a third act that parodied Marvel superhero films so this turn in the plot is totally logical.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #13 tells the same joke about Canadians over and over and the fight against Enigmo is underwhelming, but for the most part Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Rico Renzi turn in another wacky installment of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl complete with Doreen revealing that she treats the squirrels she controls as friends unlike Scott Lang and his ants, Maureen Green playing the overly proud parent, and the set up for next month’s heist issue. Plus there is the Marvel Comics debut of the talented Spider-Man fanzine artist Hannah Blumenreich on the reliably hilarious Deadpool trading cards that Brain Drain uses to pick a hero to help them against Enigmo

Story: Ryan North Art: Erica Henderson Colors: Rico Renzi
Story: 7.5 Art: 8 Overall: 7.7 Verdict: Read

Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.

Investigating Alias #28

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Alias (2001-2003) 028-000Investigating Alias is a weekly issue by issue look at the source material that inspired the popular and critically acclaimed Jessica Jones Netflix show.

In this installment of Investigating Alias, I will be covering Alias #28(2004) written by Brian Michael Bendis, drawn by Michael Gaydos, and colored by Matt Hollingsworth.

In Alias #28, writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Michael Gaydos, and colorist Matt Hollingsworth wrap up the story of the superhero turned P.I. Jessica Jones as she faces Killgrave one last time and proves without a shadow of a doubt and in front of all the Avengers that she is a hero. She also reveals that she doesn’t like fighting (Even though she is good at it withe her superpowers and everything.), which is in line with her actions throughout the series as she tries to use her words and sleuthing skills to solve cases instead of just bludgeoning people into submission. Bendis also once and for all shows that Scott Lang is a slut shaming jerk (Not on Killgrave’s level though), and that Jessica Jones and Luke Cage were meant to be. Hollingsworth’s colors add some nice atmosphere to their tender romantic chat that closes out the series. And it’s fitting that this book ends on a conversation when some of the greatest battles in Alias weren’t punching brawls, but wars of words.

Alias #28 opens with Killgrave in Scott Lang’s bedroom gloating over him and taunting Jessica while still breaking the fourth wall and playing the critic calling her comic “mainstream with just a touch of indy”. In admittedly what is a cheap twist, Killgrave is actually using his mind control abilities on Jessica to make her see a dead Scott. Then, he manipulates Jessica even more by forcing her to see an image of her friend Carol Danvers snuggled up suggestively between Luke Cage and Scott. This is while he is slut shaming her, and then he walks out and makes her watch as he tells people to beat their neighbor to death. Then, a plot element from Alias #26 comes into play in that it’s revealed that Jean Grey left a psychic trigger for Jessica to overcome Killgrave’s mind control if she makes the choice.

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The Avengers fly into the street to apprehend Killgrave, and Killgrave tells Jessica to break Captain America’s back in a scene very similar to the flashback where he told her to kill all the superheroes to get at Daredevil. However, in what is basically the most epic moment of the series, she beats the crap out of him for entire page as the Avengers watch and admire her. She talks with Scott after the battle about how she feels and says that she is pregnant with someone else’s baby. He runs away. And Alias ends with Luke Cage telling Jessica how much he has begun to care for her after she opened up to him about Killgrave. She tells him that she is pregnant with his baby, and he takes it in stride saying, “Alright then. Next chapter.” Their relationship is further explored in The Pulse where Jessica Jones finally takes a job at the Daily Bugle for J. Jonah Jameson, who is a big fan of hers after she rescued his foster daughter, Mattie Franklin, who used to be Spider-Woman.

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After seeming a little jarring in Alias #27, the plot device of Killgrave having the ability to break the fourth wall is ingenious at showcasing his evil and powers in a unique way only comics can. His dialogue has a theatrical smarm to it, which means that getting an actor like David Tennant, who is renowned for addressing the audience directly in his soliloquies in Hamlet as well as his monologues in Doctor Who, was a clever bit of casting. Killgrave thinks he plays both author and critic about the world around him giving a short critical assessment of Alias as a comic, predicting future events, and then calling Jessica a “whore” over and over again and shaming her for enjoying sex. Unlike most superhero villains, he has no larger plan to take over the world or gain power just to do what it wants even if that involves rape or murder. Gaydos is the secret weapon here with Killgrave’s casual expression and toothy grin standing at odds with the killing going on around him. And because Jessica isn’t immune to his powers (unlike the TV show), overcoming him is a much tougher challenge.

Killgrave hogs most of the dialogue for the first third of Alias #28, but this comic is all about Jessica Jones’ triumphCapAdmiresJess over him, her PTSD, and making a conscious choice to not be a victim. That’s why the climax of the comic is five, almost silent, vertical panels of her beating Killgrave to a pulp. It is a truly cathartic reversal as she beats up the man, who told her to beat up other superheroes while the aforementioned superheroes watch and are impressed by her. Gaydos cuts away from Killgrave vs. Jessica for a single panel to show Captain America’s reaction as he realizes that his motivational words to her in the first arc where she protected his secret identity weren’t in vain, and that she is truly a great hero even if she hates violence, doesn’t , and isn’t interested in being some kind of a role model. Her beatdown of Killgrave isn’t just a typical end of arc superhero vs. supervillain slugfest, but a personal victory for her as she puts on a mantle of a job she doesn’t want (superhero) to take control of her narrative away from Killgrave, whose metafictional asides are getting a little annoying. And the hug she gets from Carol adds to the catharsis along with her tears as she looks as the incapacitated Killgrave. She has found a kind of peace for now.

After letting Jessica Jones triumph over her demons, Bendis and Gaydos provide the final word on her romantic relationship with Luke Cage and Scott Lang that have been brewing and burning throughout the series. First, Scott Lang is super cold, and his immediate leaving of Jessica after she says she’s pregnant with another man’s child make come across as deeply unkind for fans of Paul Rudd’s charming everyman in the Ant-Man film. But it definitely makes sense in light of his previous comments about her drinking on their first date, his prying into her past and even asking if she got raped, and finally shape changing into Ant-Man when she obviously wanted to be left alone. Even though he is ostensibly nice and heroic, Scott’s relationship with Jessica has been dictated on his terms, and he didn’t like the fact that Jessica slept with another man so he walks out not caring about her feelings in light of her confrontation of Killgrave.

Luke Cage’s relationship with Jessica Jones has been all over the place in Alias. It’s “frustrating” as he tells her in the closing pages of this issue going from passionate sex in Alias #1 to Jessica calling him out for being a “cape chaser” to awkwardness when they both were bodyguards for Matt Murdock and most recently, Jessica opens up to him about her past with Killgrave. This is something she didn’t do for Scott, and Luke listens to her experience and is physically present for her without prying or judging. This simply being there continues in Alias #28.

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Hollingsworth’s colors might be darker alluding to their first night meeting, but Gaydos’ layouts are closer together. There are also plenty of silent, beat panels from Gaydos like when Jessica tells him that she’s pregnant with his child. Instead of running away, Luke sheds a single tear and then smiles. He is ready to make some kind of a life and have some kind of relationship with Jessica Jones. Her face is pretty tensed up through this whole scene, but relaxes just a little bit at the end. And, in 2016, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones are still a couple (Happily married since 2006’s New Avengers Annual) and appearing in Power Man and Iron Fist. The chemistry in this touching moment and the earlier one involving Jessica’s past can be definitely be seen in Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter’s interactions as Jessica Jones and Luke Cage even if he disappears and gets used as Killgrave bait towards the end of the season. Maybe, we’ll get closure in his show or Defenders.

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By the time we roll around to Alias #28, we have a real idea of what makes Jessica Jones tick thanks to Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos, and Matt Hollingsworth. The “Secret Origin of Jessica Jones” and “Purple” arc are especially valuable for providing concrete evidence to why she mistrusts superheroes and their punch first, listen later tactics. There is also her paranoia present from the first arc that is born out of her fear of Killgrave escaping prison and manipulating her to try to kill superheroes or watch him rape young women. Her defeat of Killgrave in Alias #28 is well-earned as she makes a powerful choice to overcome her past, defeat him, and find some kind of closure.

And like all good comics creators, Bendis leaves a couple threads hanging for future developments in the arc of Jessica Jones. First, there is her pregnancy and closer relationship with the father of her baby, Luke Cage, and second, there is her pending job offer from the Daily Bugle, which gave her an honest and worthy headline when she defeated Killgrave. Both of these threads are explored in The Pulse, which places her more in the mainstream Marvel Universe than in the sexy, sleazy, and artistically bold MAX imprint.

Because Jessica Jones is such a compelling character with her unorthodox, yet relatable approach to heroism and has an excellent arc, I will be following her over to the Daily Bugle in The Pulse series in a new series of features of called “Feeling the Pulse”. Fuck yes! (Sadly, that favorite word of Jessica’s isn’t allowed in The Pulse.)

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I would also like to thank Kori and Emma at The Rainbow Hub for publishing the first installments of the series, Brett and Elana for helping me find a new home for Investigating Alias at Graphic Policy and letting me guest on their Jessica Jones podcast, and finally to Julia Michels for being the first Jessica Jones fan I met in real life, the best Jewel cosplayer ever, and for rekindling my love for Jess and Alias by taking a night bus to New York Comic Con from Washington DC just to see the Jessica Jones panel. (And snap a selfie with Krysten Ritter!)

Investigating Alias #26-27

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Alias27CoverInvestigating Alias is a weekly issue by issue look at the source material that inspired the popular and critically acclaimed Jessica Jones Netflix show.

In this installment of Investigating Alias, I will be covering Alias #26-27 (2003) written by Brian Michael Bendis, drawn by Michael Gaydos, and colored by Matt Hollingsworth with flashback art on Alias #26 by Mark Bagley, Rick Mays, and Art Thibert and flashback colors by Dean White.

In Alias #26-27, writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist Michael Gaydos, flashback artists Mark Bagley and Rick Mays, and colorists Matt Hollingsworth and Dean White show how Jessica Jones decided to swear off the superhero profession, and why she hates being pitied. Bendis also give Jessica and Killgrave their non-flashback meeting in The Raft where Killgrave is aware he is in a comic book in a twisted version of Animal Man #26 as he says he can’t escape prison because he’s not “the writer”. There is a theatrical quality to Killgrave’s dialogue that David Tennant channels in the Jessica Jones Netflix show, and Bendis uses the character to get in some cracks about people not buying the comic, slut shaming Jessica Jones because she enjoys sex and sleeps with multiple partners, and worst of all is a “continuity error”. Along with being a rapist, murderer, and manipulative bastard, Bendis makes Killgrave the kind of comic book fan, who sees female characters as sex objects and cares more about continuity and big reveals than an emotionally authentic story. The metafictional twist is a little jarring so late in the series, but it’s evidence of Killgrave’s god complex as he “scripts” the page with his dialogue and also shows how much he gets under people’s skin with his abilities.

Alias #26 continues Jessica’s recounting to Luke Cage of her time under Killgrave’s thrall. There is the final Bagley and White flashback as she dodges Thor’s hammer, but gets decked by Vision as both the Avengers and Defenders try to take her down. Luckily, Carol Danvers swoops up and takes her to a SHIELD hospital before she sustains any more injuries. The art switches again to a manga style from Rick Mays (Kabuki Agents: Scarab) as Jean Grey tries to get Jessica out of her coma by telling her that none of this was her fault, Daredevil took down Purple Man, and making her realize she needs help. Next, Jessica recovers at a SHIELD hospital and strikes up a friendship with Agent Clay Quartermain, who has appeared throughout the series, and she also gets an apology from Iron Man and the (Kurt Busiek/George Perez-era) Avengers along with a job offer as SHIELD liaison to the Avengers. But because she was manipulated by Killgrave, Jessica thinks she failed as a hero, and this is her official retirement as a superhero. The issue ends with Jessica going to The Raft (and getting access with the help of Quartermain) to confront Killgrave and find some kind of closure for herself and the families that have been affected by him.

Killgrave4thWall

As I mentioned earlier, Alias #27 starts strangely with Killgrave being aware that he is in a comic book and breaking the fourth wall in a creepy, opposite of Deadpool and She-Hulk kind of way. Talking with him is too much for Jessica, and she apologizes to the head of the support group that she was supposed to help. Then, there is a major plot twist with Killgrave escaping The Raft after a prison riot, and the support group woman blames it on Jessica because she’s a “mutant fuck”. The next pages are very tense as Jessica is afraid to go to her apartment or office and calls Carol, her mom, and Malcolm as she freaks out about Killgrave’s whereabouts. Quartermain offers to pick her up in a SHIELD helicopter, but she thinks he is being manipulated by Killgrave and runs to Scott Lang’s apartment. She wakes up with the TV blaring and sees Scott covered in his own blood and ants in a mega cliffhanger setting up the final issue of the series.

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Alias #26 is all about Jessica Jones coming to terms with her trauma and PTSD in her own way from the flashback sequences to her conversation with Luke Cage and finally deciding to confront Killgrave head on towards the end of the issue. The opening page of the issue is intimate and emotional as Gaydos uses a six page grid to show the give and take nature of Jessica and Luke’s chat as she talks about how difficult it is to tell her story out loud, and that she doesn’t want to be pitied. And Luke is there just to support and listen; he admires the fact that she dodged a blow from Thor’s hammer and gives her yet another warm hug. For some reason, she calls Scott instead of him in Alias #27, but that could because of her panic captured by lots of shadows and black from colorist Hollingsworth and pained, intense facial expressions from Gaydos.

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And part of Jessica Jones’ trauma involves superheroes as Bendis and Bagley create a dark juxtaposition between the speed lines and bombastic poses of Thor, Iron Man, and Vision swooping through the sky, and the dialogue about how fast and scary this encounter was. Both Bagley and Gaydos show the physical damage that Vision inflicted on Jessica for hitting Scarlet Witch while under Killgrave’s control , and the mental scars are much worse as she slips into a coma. This flashback scene shows that the Avengers aren’t the best choice for solving problems that involve any kind of psychological nuance. Saving the planet perhaps from the Kree, Skrulls, and Thanos perhaps, but not helping a young woman overcome the mental control of her psyche as well as PTSD from being used as a sex object by a twisted man. And because of their punch first mentality, they don’t listen like Jessica Jones does in her private investigator work and possibly cause more harm than good.

JeanHelpsJess

In contrast with the violent punches and split second decision making of the Avengers (Except for Carol Danvers, who truly cares about Jessica and gets her out of the brawl.), Jean Grey takes a slower, more meditative approach to helping Jessica rebuild her mind after Killgrave’s manipulations. First, she places her at ease with the pretty manga style of Rick Mays’ artwork being attributed to Jessica’s enjoyment of the “kick-ass” film Akira. Mays’ art style is cartoon-y, accessible, and almost therapeutic and works in tandem with Jean telling Jessica that none of this is her fault, and that Killgrave wasn’t in love with her. However, the cut back to reality via Gaydos’ art is super jarring with Jean wearing a green sweater and not a cute green and yellow Phoenix get-up and Jessica still recovering from her physical injuries. But she finds support at the SHIELD rehab along with hugs and smoke breaks from the “cute” Agent Quartermain, and his willingness to be genuine and hear her out creates a nice friendship between them. His taking out the skeevy political kingmaker back in the first arc of Alias no longer reads like a deus ex machina, but helping a friend out.

This real connection between Quartermain and Jessica is the total opposite of the Avengers’ apology to Jessica as Iron Man doesn’t even let Carol greet her and launches into a spiel about how bad he feels that they attacked a fellow superhero. His dialogue reads like a politician’s off a teleprompter. The awkward poses of the various Avengers from the late-1990s/early-2000s iteration of the team written by Kurt Busiek, including Beast, Wonder Man, Jocasta, Scarlet Witch, and Vision, makes them look like they’re going through the motions for a Make-A-Wish kid instead of truly apologizing for physical and mentally hurting a fellow superhero. And, of course, Jessica sees through the facade and calls Nick Fury’s immediate job offer after the “apology”, a “payoff”. Why would she want to work with people, who detached her retina and beat her up? There’s also her own insecurity about being a superhero after Killgrave forced her to use her abilities to beat up police officers and Scarlet Witch. She has a very good reason for turning her back on the superhero profession, and her disdain toward random people asking her why she retired and if she knows The Thing and other random heroes makes complete and utter sense now.

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Alias #27 is also proof positive than Killgrave is more frightening when he is offscreen or panel and in a character’s head rather than smarming around like some Joker wannabe. The pace in the “Purple” arc truly picks up in this issue as Jessica flies, jumps, and runs all over New York to her main haunts of her apartment and office. Gaydos’ panel layouts get thinner, and he uses lots of close-ups on her to show how unsafe and uneasy she feels. Jessica even calls her mom, who she hasn’t talked to the entire the series because that is how dangerous Killgrave is. And there is the continued use of black from Hollingsworth, which is kind of like the purple that the Jessica Jones TV show uses, when she is afraid of him. This visual touch puts an added level of desperation into every conversation that Jessica has until she crashes at Scott Lang’s place. And Bendis and Gaydos go full horror movie on the final page of Alias #27 with a truly revolting image matched with an insane reaction shot from Jessica.

The Jessica Jones TV show captures the tone of the second half of Alias #27 and extends it to a full season of television. Basically, tonal adaptations are much better than straight up adaptations of comic book arc’s plots. (Looking at you, Zack Snyder and Watchmen.) With his ability to get anyone to do what he wants, virtually anyone can be his pawn, and both Bendis and Melissa Rosenberg channel this fear in the comics and TV story of Jessica Jones. In the Jessica Jones TV show, there are cutaway shots of Killgrave whispering to or licking Jessica when she is doing some normal like sitting in her office or on the train home. Likewise, in Alias, Michael Gaydos shows his presence by having a drop of purple in Jessica’s eye when he escapes from The Raft. He is a relentless presence of evil, who thinks he can get away with anything and is a compelling, utterly loathsome villain.

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Killgrave’s terrible comments towards Jessica about her getting naked for comic book readers and multiple references about her being a human retcon show that Bendis and Gaydos are aware of fan criticism of Alias being paced, plotted, and extremely different in tone and attitude to that most Marvel superhero books. Alias isn’t filled with fight scenes, huge plot twists, and there are no easy answers to Jessica Jones’ problems. Michael Gaydos also draws the book in a more naturalistic way with a touch of noir and a muted color palette from Matt Hollingsworth, who will occasionally go bright when a character, like Captain America, Spider-Man, or even Speedball shows up in the comic.

Alias is about a woman, who thinks she isn’t a hero and does heroic things in her own unconventional-for-the-genre ways and focuses on the nuances of her emotions and fucked up relationships instead of punching, hitting, or telling a thrilling crime yarn like Bendis’ work on Daredevil. Alias #26-27 shows this by spending an entire issue of Jessica Jones coming to terms with her traumatic relationship to both Killgrave and superheroes, facing her fears and confronting Killgrave, and then unraveling everything because just punching someone, quipping at them, and throwing them in prison doesn’t solve everything. (Sorry, Spider-Man, who definitely has his share of personal issues.)

Investigating Alias #24-25

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Alias (2001-2003) 024-000Investigating Alias is a weekly issue by issue look at the source material that inspired the popular and critically acclaimed Jessica Jones Netflix show.

In this installment of Investigating Alias, I will be covering Alias #24-25 (2003) written by Brian Michael Bendis, drawn by Michael Gaydos, and colored by Matt Hollingsworth with flashback art and colors on Alias #25 by Mark Bagley and Dean White.

Alias #24 begins the final arc of the comic, “Purple”, in which Jessica Jones finally talks about how she was mind controlled by Zebediah Killgrave, aka the Purple Man, forced to watch him rape young women, and eventually sent on a “mission” by him to kill any superhero in her path. Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artists Michael Gaydos and Mark Bagley (with the exception of one panel with two naked girls on Killgrave’s bed) don’t show Killgrave’s rapes, but convey his horribleness from quick flashes of him using his power on Jessica Jones, and Jessica’s reactions to him in the present day.

Alias #24 and #25 are powerful and unsettling issues of the series and had a huge influence on the Jessica Jones Netflix show from the close relationship between Jessica and Luke Cage to Killgrave’s ability to instantly make someone do what he wants and even the support group for Killgrave’s victims. And most of all, the show and comic both show the effects of Jessica Jones’ PTSD without exploiting her or participating in victim blaming.

Alias #24 features an out of left field cameo appearance from Kevin Plunder aka Ka-Zar, the ruler of the Savage Land, who wants Jessica Jones to find his pet sabretooth tiger. This case is a little too much for her so she goes home looking for something more local, and then gets a phone call from a woman named Kim Rourke, who needs her help finding information about Zebediah Killgrave. Kim was referred by Avengers Mansion so Jessica flies over there and confronts her friend Carol Danvers for bringing up something terrible for her past, and things get heated with Scott Lang shrinking, growing, and hopping in her cab while Captain America just wants everyone to sit down and have a cup of tea. Scott also found out about her past with Killgrave without her permission so Jessica jumps out of the cab and goes to Kim’s house where dozens of Killgrave’s victims are assembled. She tells them about how his powers come from pheromones, and that he is currently in the supervillain prison, The Raft, after confessing to some mass killings. However, the people in the support group want closure and for him to confess to each of their situations, and Jessica empathizes with the group and takes the case.

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Alias #25 opens with Jessica Jones lying in her underwear at Luke Cage’s apartment. Working the Killgrave case has heightened her PTSD, and she ended up angrily calling Luke, flying into his apartment, and then puking all over clothes. Luke sent her clothes to the cleaner, let her crash on his couch, and now wants to know what’s wrong with her. Jessica tells him about Killgrave as the art style switches to the style of Mark Bagley’s Amazing Spider-Man comics in the 1990s complete with early digital style colors from Dean White that are different from Matt Hollingsworth’s darker, more naturalistic palette. Jessica (then Jewel) was doing a routine superhero patrol when Killgrave placed her under his mental control, made her attack the police so he could get away, and made her his slave for eight months. He didn’t have sex with her, but even worse, he made her watch as he raped college age women and forced her to bathe and beg him for sex. After a headline shows Daredevil saving the day, Killgrave just snaps and orders Jessica to kill him and any superhero in her path. The issue ends with Jessica flying and then punching Scarlet Witch when she is surrounded by both the Avengers and Defenders. She flies away and is confronted by Thor.

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Alias #24 and #25 is a study in what to do and what not to do with someone, who has been through a traumatic event, like being raped or having a family member murdered in front of them in the case of some of the people at the Killgrave support group. Listening is the key, and this is why most of these issues is dialogue driven with Gaydos using the interview layout format for Jessica Jones to answer the support group’s questions about Killgrave. He also uses a 21 panel grid as Jessica opens up to Luke Cage about her past with Killgrave. Luke Cage isn’t perfect and makes an insensitive joke about group sex with the New Warriors, but he’s a better listener than Scott Lang, whose dialogue in the issue is basically him mansplaining to Jessica that he already knows all about her past because he has Avengers clearance. He also doesn’t respect her boundaries and uses his size changing powers in creepy ways like jumping into her taxi cab, hiding on her sunglasses when he’s shrunk down as Ant-Man, and generally making a mess of things.

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Unlike TV shows, like Law and Order: SVU and the recent season of Game of Thrones, and comics like Lobo and Aquaman, which use rape for cheap drama in advancing plotlines, Bendis, Gaydos, and Bagley take Killgrave’s actions very seriously and focus on how his victims’ feelings instead of throwing in cheap plot twists. They show Jessica to be visibly affected by the return of Killgrave to her life with Gaydos drawing a double page spread of Jessica Jones flying on top of a roof, touching her stomach, and taking a moment to process her feelings before she goes to the support group. Bendis, Bagley, and Gaydos also use dialogue, facial expressions, and gestures to depict his actions instead of showing the rapes. Bagley draws his first appearance in Alias #25, which goes from being a happy superhero escapade complete with upbeat dialogue from Bendis and a poster worthy splash page to slow close-ups of Killgrave’s smirking face as he tells Jessica Jones to take off her clothes and then beat up the police so he can finish his steak. This jarring shift in tone from traditional superhero tale to disturbing mental manipulation shows how destructive and evil he is.

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Alias #24 and #25 establishes Killgrave as one of the most terrible and pathetic villains in the Marvel Universe. Like in the Jessica Jones TV show, he never takes “No” for answer and is what rape culture apologists, like Roosh V and his Return of Kings cronies, aspire to be. He uses his mental abilities just to sate his own appetites from telling 84 people to stop breathing when a restaurant is too loud to his rapes of college students that he makes Jessica watch for eight months. However, like most men who sexually assault women and manipulating other people for their own pleasure, Killgrave has an inferiority complex and tortures Jessica Jones mentally and sexually because of the many times he had been defeated by Daredevil, the Avengers, or other superheroes. He hates these superheroes because they have the power to ruin his lifestyle of getting anything he wants from anyone.

One of Bendis’ finest moments as a writer in Alias comes in issue 24 when Jessica is talking with Kim Rourke about Killgrave’s abilities and whereabouts. Jessica tells her, “It isn’t the person. The victim cannot be blamed  for– for– for anything they do when they are under this asshole’s control.” This line of dialogue is a sharp right hook at victim blaming and gains meaning later on when Jessica reveals to Luke that she still struggles with realizing that her beating up police officers and Scarlet Witch and watching Killgrave rape women wasn’t her fault because his pheromones felt so “pure”. Killgrave’s abilities could be a metaphor for date rape drugs, like rohypnol, which incapacitates victims and impairs memory. But, in spite of these manipulations and feelings, Bendis makes it completely clear that Killgrave is 100% in the wrong, and that it isn’t Jessica or any of his victims’ faults that they did terrible things for him.

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On a slightly happier note, Alias #25 starts to a create an emotional bond between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage and was the first issue of the series that I could see them actually working as a couple. First of all, Luke doesn’t shame Jessica for her drinking or use of profanity like Scott does in their date back in Alias #15 and helps her at her lowest moment without getting angry or defensive. She got angry and flew into his apartment and busted his fridge? So, he makes up a spot for her on the couch while cleaning her vomit stained clothes. However, they really bond once Jessica opens up about her past and feels bad that no one asked about her when she went missing for eight months while she was with Killgrave. Gaydos draws a pained expression on her face, and then Bendis gives Luke some simple dialogue (“Come here.”) and he gives her a hug. Luke Cage doesn’t have the answers to all of Jessica’s problems, but he is just there for her and listens. He is supportive of her just like Jessica is supportive of the other Killgrave victims that want her to investigate him.

By caring about the emotions and feelings of victims of Killgrave’s rapes, sexual assaults, and other mental manipulations, Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos, and Mark Bagley use Alias #24-25 as an opportunity to create empathy for Jessica Jones the character and show how truly difficult it is for her take on the case involving him. They also lay the foundation for Killgrave as a villain, who is the ultimate embodiment of rape culture, with the inability to be refused anything by anyone that continued to be explored in the Jessica Jones TV show. One difference between the comic and show in regards to him is his hatred for superheroes, which is why he sends Jessica after them.

Alias #24 and #25 are two difficult comics to read and think about with their descriptions of rape and depictions of PTSD, but Bendis, Gaydos, and Bagley make sure that the blame for all these terrible things are laid squarely on  the rapist, Zebediah Killgrave.

Investigating Alias #18-19

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18-marvelInvestigating Alias is a weekly issue by issue look at the source material that inspired the popular and critically acclaimed Jessica Jones Netflix show.

In this installment of Investigating Alias, I will be covering Alias #18-19 (2003) written by Brian Michael Bendis, drawn by Michael Gaydos, and colored by Matt Hollingsworth.

In Alias #18, Scott Lang commits relationship suicide by asking Jessica if she was raped after she won’t open up about the past experience that Madame Web saw in the previous issue. After fielding an annoying phone call from her friend Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel, Jessica actually goes to her day job as a bodyguard for Matt Murdock, who is afraid that Daredevil’s enemies will come after him after he was outed as Daredevil in the tabloids. With the appearance from Murdock and later mentions of mutant growth hormone (MGH), writer Brian Michael Bendis intertwines “The Underneath” arc of Alias closely with his then current run on Daredevil. After work, her annoying fanboy Malcolm introduces her to Laney, the sister of a wannabe drug lord named Denny Haynes, who is supposedly having sex with Mattie Franklin and likes to party at the charmingly named Club 616. Jessica affects the clothes, makeup, and speaking patterns of a Manhattan socialite, gets into the club, and then sees Denny with Mattie super doped up right beside him.

Alias #19 features some downright pulsating colors from Matt Hollingsworth as Jessica’s attempt to rescue Mattie is foiled by Denny and his friends, who are shooting up MGH taken directly from a wound in her back. It’s a jarring, sickening sight for Jessica, and she tries to grab Mattie, but is actually defeated in a physical fight by some men who are hopped up on MGH. After getting thrown out of the club bleeding and barely conscious, she meets Ben Urich, who says he has been tailing her because J. Jonah Jameson thinks she has Mattie, and gives her important information about MGH. Then, she checks into the hospital, lies to police officers about being mugged, and finally ends up back in her apartment for a much needed rest. However, the issue ends on a real shocker (Pun fully intended) of a cliffhanger as Jessica Drew (formerly Spider-Woman) shows up in her apartment furious about what has happened to Mattie.

In these two middle issues of “The Underneath” arc, Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos go right at the jugular at every day sexism beginning with making Scott Lang a textbook mansplainer in the opening of Alias #18 and flat out asking her if she got raped even though she doesn’t want to talk about her past. And even when Jessica tells him that she’s angry, Scott asks why his unsolicited comments about her theoretical rape offend her. He’s more concerned with coming across as a “good guy” than her feelings with some awkward dialogue about hearing the end of her story about Madame Web from the previous issue. Gaydos’ storytelling is deft as he goes from three intimate panels of Scott and Jessica in bed to quickly having her dress and leave while Scott has the same dumb expression on her face. And then he floods the next few pages with emotions as Jessica’s paranoia returns while she walks around her apartment. Alias is usually a wordy book, but Bendis lets Gaydos have a few almost silent pages to show Jessica drinking to deal with Scott being a terrible person (Carol calling about him doesn’t help.) and collect herself so she can find Mattie Franklin, who appears in a flashback.

The theme of sexism continues (and is called out directly by her) in Jessica’s day job as a bodyguard for Matt JessClubOutfitMurdock, who she respects and empathizes with because his secret identity was compromised without his consent. However, she does throw a little shade his way because he told Luke Cage his secret identity and not her. This is sexist in her opinion and in her own special way, she trolls him by never knocking on his door when she arrives for her bodyguard duties and smoking on his porch because he can sense her with his superpowers. It’s just a friendly reminder, and Matt and Jessica actually have a solid, professional relationship as shown in a Sorkin-esque walk and talk scene where she tells him about how Jameson is pressuring her to find Mattie. Matt promises to help with that situation by doing a “client harassment” call, and Jessica instantly repays the favor by warding off the press, who calls Jessica an “ex-superhero slash private investigator person.” Elevator pitch, much.

The sexism comes to a roaring crescendo towards the end of Alias #18 when Jessica uses gross men’s ideas of female beauty and sexuality to her advantage in getting inside Club 616. After a rude bouncer compares to a cast member of a sequel to The Crow, Jessica puts on makeup, lipstick, a crop top, and short skirt so she can get into the artificial world of the club and save Mattie. She understands the heterosexual male gaze, loathes it, but uses it so she can do the right thing. And her observations about the vapidness of Club 616 are right on point and relatable to any introvert. Hollingsworth creates a digital glare with his colors to simulate the noise of the club, and Gaydos’ art blends together so that the people look just like a clump with no individuals being distinct. And Bendis puts the finishing touches with his sharp as tack inner monologue for Jessica, who sums why noisy clubs are so annoying in one powerful sentence, “These people are the reason I never go anywhere remotely resembling any place like this.”

 

And then she goes to work mining the bathroom gossip until she finally gets close to Denny Haynes, an evil, wannabe power player, who only sees female superheroes as notches on a belt. We learn about this from Jessica’s chat with his younger sister, who said that he wanted to sleep with a superheroine because a Russian gangster named Ivan used to date Dazzler. (I wasn’t aware this disco themed superhero was ever involved in mob activities.) Also, Denny is more horrible in person as he pressures Jessica into joining his friends, who are doing drugs even when she wants to leave and wait by the entrance to grab Mattie. There is an air of menace about Denny and his private VIP lounge with Gaydos shading his eyes, and Hollingsworth using a purple palette as Denny kisses the barely conscious Mattie before basically smoking parts of her DNA.

JessHitstheClub

Gaydos shows the abominable nature of his activities, and how it affects Jessica by having the panels in the pages where MGH is being used wobble and break perspective. It’s your usual comics panel grid, but freakier. And it gets Jessica angry as she punches a guy with yellow eyes, who then knocks her out. Gaydos uses pitch black panels mixed with blurry ones and close-ups of Jessica’s bloody face to show what a bad state she’s in until she goes to the grey and brown of a New York alleyway to talk with a very angry and foulmouthed Ben Urich, who is justly angry at MGH and its users. He’s also a nice exposition fairy for readers, who haven’t read Daredevil and have no clue what MGH is.

MGHHellofaDrug

Sexism rears its ugly, thematic head one final time as police officers question Jessica about her injuries while she’s recovering in the hospital. Bendis and Gaydos break the fundamental “show, don’t tell” rule of storytelling, but there have already been two major interrogation sequences with Jessica and the police and perhaps they didn’t want to be redundant. And Bendis’ writing is colorful enough as Jessica heads to her department. She calls the cops “fucking power tripping mother fuckers”, who treated her like a little girl and shamed her for being out after dark. They are a part of rape culture, who think that because women walk in certain areas and wear certain things that they were “asking for it”. Jessica’s words lash out at this terrible, invisible, yet very real institution, and Bendis isn’t afraid to expose his male characters’ sexism and biases even the heroic ones like Scott Lang and Matt Murdock. The feminist ideals that pervade Alias #18 and #19 make it so much more than the middle chapters of a trade paperback-length storyline and add a layer of social commentary to Jessica’s own character arc.

But what makes “The Underneath” really work as a story arc so far is Jessica’s personal connection to Mattie Franklin as young female superheroes, who both had to experience horrible things. It’s like her relationship with Hope in the Jessica Jones TV show, but with arachnid themed costumes. She’s doing straight up heroic things, like fighting guys with mutant powers, following leads, and getting beat up and ending up in the hospital just because she genuinely cares about Mattie and doesn’t want yet another female superhero to be manipulated by evil men. But her methods are different from traditional superheroes, and she ends up in hot water with Jessica Drew, who also cares about Mattie and used to mentor her. It will be interesting to see the two ex-superheroes turned P.I.s who share the same name work out their differences and interact in the concluding issues of “The Underneath”.

Alias #18-19 explores casual sexism, objectification of women, and rape culture through Jessica Jones’ continued search for Mattie Franklin, which gets tense and dangerous when she’s in real physical danger for the first time in Alias. These issues also allow Matt Hollingsworth to go wild with his colors from a sultry blue for the club sequences to a threatening purple when Jessica fights the MGH users or a morning shadow for when Jessica shows up for her day of work Matt Murdock. And Brian Michael Bendis continues to write the hell out of Jessica Jones, who is empathy, misanthropy, sadness, paranoia, and sarcasm all rolled into one of the most human characters to inhabit the Marvel Universe.

Investigating Alias #16-17

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 alias_16_cover_marvel_february_2003Investigating Alias is a weekly issue by issue look at the source material that inspired the popular and critically acclaimed Jessica Jones Netflix show.

In this installment of Investigating Alias, I will be covering Alias #16-17 (2003) written by Brian Michael Bendis, drawn by Michael Gaydos, and colored by Matt Hollingsworth.

Alias #16 starts a new story arc called “The Underneath” where Jessica Jones looks for Mattie Franklin, who stumbles around Jessica’s apartment in costume and then jumps out the window while cursing her out. Jessica is freaked out and spends the night at Scott Lang’s apartment, who she started dating last issue.There, she calls Agent Quartermain, her contact at SHIELD, who gives her grief for sleeping with Ant-Man and gives her information on Mattie’s whereabouts and known associates. The issue ends with Jessica confronting J. Jonah Jameson, who she had previously scammed out of money while he wanted her to find Spider-Man’s secret identity.

Alias #17 uses a non-linear narrative structure with Scott and Jessica starting to have sex, but they stop when Jessica tells him that she’s had a horrible day beginning with “J. Jonah Dickface”. (Scott’s words, not hers.) Writer Brian Michael Bendis bookends the story of her day with Jessica and Scott’s observations on these events and offers insight into their relationship while furthering the mystery plot and also hinting at her dark backstory. After Jessica tells J. Jonah Jameson being missing and asks about his relationship with the girl that he and his wife raised and cared for, he gets angry in his typical, superhero hating way and promises to destroy her if she doesn’t find Mattie.

She does some online digging and finds out she was connected to Jessica Drew, a more prosperous Marvel private investigator, who doesn’t pick up her call because she’s in Istanbul for the month. Then, Malcolm, who is much more annoying in the comic than the Jessica Jones TV show, bursts in and is his irritating self. However, Jessica is so desperate than she enlists his encyclopedic knowledge of superheroes and possible connection to help find her offering him a job if he finds any information on Mattie. Then, she meets the cryptic, telepathic, clairvoyant, and quite creepy Madame Web, who babbles about Mattie possibly meeting a horrible, violent end. The climax of the issue is Web reading Jessica’s mind without her permission and seeing her horrible past (Killgrave still isn’t mentioned by name.), which causes her to run out in anger. The comic ends with Jessica silently remembering.

The opening scene of Alias #16 where Jessica Jones thwarts a convenience story in a not very superheroic way. I read this scene as Bendis along with artist Michael Gaydos and colorist Matt Hollingsworth deconstructing his more straightforward superhero work on Ultimate Spider-Man with artist Mark Bagley. Whereas Spider-Man would have swung in on a double page splash page and had some kind of a Clerks joke at the ready, Jessica opens up by throwing shade on a women’s magazine and its obsession with thinness and pleasing men. The hold-up happens as she is reading, and it’s never in doubt that Jessica is going to help, but she saves the day in her own special way starting out by throwing a can of soup at the robber and then just tackling him while referring to Spider-Man’s jokes as “shit”. However, the situation almost gets more horrible when the clerk is about to shoot the robber, and Jessica has to talk him down. The little incident doesn’t end with the typical, “Yo *insert superhero name here*, you’re the greatest and New York loves you”, but with Jessica having to pay full price for cigarettes. There is a sad, yet all too true kind of realism in the worker’s ungratefulness.

JessSuperheroClerk

This sequence encapsulates both Jessica Jones and Alias’ relationship to the superhero genre. Sure, she’s cool with helping people as seen in her previous cases, including an assist to Captain America, but superheroes are both a nuisance and a stress to her. Gaydos and Hollingsworth do an excellent job showing the stress part by quickly cutting from Jessica to the robber and now gun-wielding clerk with a blood red background showing she’s barely in control of the situation to go along with rambling dialogue like “El speako Englisho.” Gaydos shows the chaos of the situation by losing his usual panel grid and jumbling panels together as Jessica tackles the robber and tries to get everything squared away before the police officers come. And her fear of the police isn’t the silly “They’ll reveal my secret identity.” reason, but that the fact that police officers held her in an interrogation room and accused her of murder in the first arc of Alias and she’s afraid that they’ll do a similar thing and ask her continuous questions about quitting her superhero gig. The mistrust is well-placed, but kind of bites her in the ass when she doesn’t go them when Mattie Franklin shows up in her apartment and goes missing.

Along with setting up the P.I. plot, Alias #16-17 examines the burgeoning relationship between Scott Lang and Jessica Jones. Even though he has a criminal past, Scott is a decent guy, who cares about Jessica and invites her over to stay at his apartment for her safety, not a booty call. In fact, he’s snoring on the couch while Jessica does some work on her laptop with his adorable Avengers mug and Ant-Man helmet on his kitchen table. It’s a nice moment of domestic tranquility while Jessica freaks out about the missing, mysterious superhero, who showed up at her apartment, cursed her out, and literally bounced off the walls outside her place. Scott and Jessica also share some fun, sarcastic banter like Scott letting Jessica stay because he want “future boyfriend points”. But most of their conversation is about more serious topics.

Scott is a pretty good listener and stops having sex with Jessica in Alias #17 when he realizes that something is the matter with her. (Gaydos does an excellent job differentiating between emotionally vacant and pleasured fill faces in this scene.) However, he can get a little judge-y at times like when he inserts a completely unnecessary “I told you so” when Jessica says she should’ve called the police about Mattie after being verbally threatened by J. Jonah Jameson and getting a preternaturally eerie phone call from Madame Web just before she was about to dial Web’s number. And maybe his being an ass about her choices in a difficult situation is why she is silent in the final pages of the issue.

ScottandJess

In Alias #17, Bendis thinks of something clever to do with the annoyance that is Malcolm. Malcolm is definitely a stand-in for teenage fanboys, who picked up Alias for its sex, use of “fuck”, and perceived edginess instead of Hollingsworth’s noir color palette, Gaydos’ ability to convey fear, paranoia, and negative feelings through facial expressions and switch-ups in panel layouts, and Bendis’ ear for dialogue. He is just plain mean and makes fun of Captain America for revealing his secret identity and calls Daredevil a “pussy” for suing the tabloid that outed him as Matt Murdock in some kind of insane, proto-hipster way of telling Jessica that she’s cool for going public with her superhero identity way before them. But instead of throwing him through a plate glass window, but with her sass firmly intact, Jessica puts Malcolm the “geekboy” to work trying to find evidence on Mattie Franklin. And she gets to throw him the mother of all side eye when he asks for a cell phone to go with his purely theoretical part time job. Malcolm doesn’t get the robust manipulated addict to altruistic helper arc that the Malcolm played by Eka Darville in Jessica Jones did, but at least, he’s slightly useful to the plot in this issue instead of just being target practice for Jessica’s snark.

Jessica’s meeting with Madame Web towards the conclusion of Alias #17 is one of the most emotionally draining scenes in the series up to this point. Gaydos is an artist who conveys feeling through the eyes so he makes Web a character divorced from it by showing her either wreathed in shadow or just a panel of her glasses for close-ups. However, she isn’t completely removed from empathy and bows her head when she talks about seeing Jessica’s past while saying, “I’m so sorry.” This is the first straightforward thing she’s said in the comic, and her dialogue up to that point reads like possible ways this story arc could be concluded as Bendis doesn’t want to give away anything major at this point in the game. And then she does something that Killgrave did years ago (and we’ll learn more about later) and reads Jessica’s mind without her consent earning a well-deserved earful of anger from Jessica.

FuckYouMadameWeb

Telepathy and mind control has been one of the most problematic elements in both superhero and science fiction from Obi Wan Kenobi using it to get past a Stormtrooper in Star Wars to Professor X’s shenanigans in various eras of X-Men comics to Ms. Marvel being brainwashed, raped, and impregnated in 1980’s Avengers #200. I believe that reading someone’s mind without their permission is the psychic equivalent of rape because it’s a violation of consent and should be treated as such in sci-fi and superhero stories. Bendis handles it pretty well in Alias #17 by having Jessica tell Madame Web what she did was wrong in her signature foulmouthed way. Again, Gaydos goes away from the grid and uses big slashing style panel layouts to go along with Jessica’s accusatory gestures and Hollingsworth’s red and black palette. I don’t know much about Madame Web beyond the fact that she was extremely weird in the 1990s Spider-Man and Spider-Man Unlimited cartoons, but she comes across as a character, who lacks any kind of moral compass and idea of consequences. And she triggers memories of Jessica’s past that she would rather keep buried down deep as seen in the dark grey coloring of the final pages of the issue as she lays in bed.

Alias #16-17 opens with an exploration into Jessica Jones and Alias’ relationship with the superhero genre showing that it encroaches upon Jessica’s goal of just moving on with her life and job as a private investigator and also looks at her partially sweet and empathetic and partially strained relationship with Scott Lang as she tracks down D-List teen hero Mattie Franklin, the third Spider-Woman. Brian Michael Bendis’ writing, Michael Gaydos’ art, and Matt Hollingsworth’s colors are full of emotion as Jessica battles the pressure of J. Jonah Jameson accusing her of ripping him off in this situation along with being forced to relive past trauma when Madame Web reads her mind without consent. Jessica is really in a dark, lonely place by the end of Alias #17 even though she’s in bed with Scott Lang.

 

 

Movie Review: Ant-Man

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ant-man movie posterI’m sure when many folks heard that Marvel was planning on making a movie about Ant-Man, many scratched their head either asking “who?” or “what the hell?!”. For those who don’t know about the classic character, Ant-Man is one that goes back to the early years of Marvel dating back to 1962, including being one of the founding members of the Avengers.

While many have donned the identity, Ant-Man the film focuses on two key players, Hank Pym as played by Michael Douglas and Scott Lang played by Paul Rudd. The story at its most basic core is a heist film mixed in with a redemption story. Pym hires Lang to steal a super suit in order to save the world. Lang is an ex-con looking to do the right thing and see his daughter again. Mixed in there is the ability to shrink, lots of references to other Marvel superhero films, humor, and a lot of heart.

The film is a much more dialed back experience compared to Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and especially the Avengers. Most of the film really centers around and focuses on just three people, Lang, Pym and Hope Van Dyne (Pym’s daughter played by Evangeline Lilly). In that there’s some mixed results, and that’s how I’d describe the movie as a whole very mixed. Rudd plays his usual likeable self, though I never quite was won over as him as an ex-con or technology genius. His is the same role he’s done time and time again in numerous movies. Likeable, and solid comedic timing as expected. Douglas is his older gruff self, and brings a bit of gravitas to the film. Lilly is about as I expected, she’s never been an actress I’ve particularly liked, and here she’s rather bland. I’ve tried to think who else I’d have cast and come up short. I will say, she’s at least age appropriate opposite Rudd.

The movie overall is mixed for me. It doesn’t quite know if it wants to be a heist film, a comedy, or an action film. There’s montages that could have been great comedy (any else notice how many changes of clothes folks went through in 3 days?) and fall a little short. There’s also some fantastic humor strewn about. It also follows the familiar Marvel origin film. Hero is introduced and shown to be flawed. Hero trains and finds out what it is to be a hero. Hero battles bad guy at the end. After credit scene(s). It’s that battle where the movie really stands out from the rest.

Before getting to the good, the bad is the film riffs a bit too much on what has come before. Corey Stoll‘s Darren Cross feels like Jeff Bridge’s Obadiah Stane in Iron Man, even down to the bald head and corporation that’s actually going to do bad. The plot follows the same narrative structure as previous films. The special fx at times felt a little retro and Honey I Shrunk the Kids. And now for the good.

I find the boss battle endings of Marvel’s movies have been generally lacking, but the opposite is here. The final battle is actually rather inspire, taking advantage of the diminutive size of the antagonists and resulting in some fantastic humor and scenes due to that. It also allowed for things I really haven’t seen on-screen, ever. That had me beyond entertained and still found myself laughing at moments that have been spoiled in the movie’s ads and trailers. Here we see inspiration that much of the movie lacked.

The real standout of the film is Michael Peña‘s Luis. Peña in the past has balanced both comedic and serious roles and here his comedic ability shines with a motor mouth character that can’t quite get to the point. His is the glee I was hoping to experience myself, and did at times, just not enough. It’s also hopefully a role that puts his talent in front of more individuals (when you see him you’ll be like “I know him from xyz film/television show,” he’s that type of actor). He’s a very talented actor and I thought stole every scene he was in, even when it’s just serving waffles.

The after credit scenes are interesting and I totally agree “about damn time.” The second of the two scenes will make a lot more sense when Captain America: Civil War hits theaters, and felt a bit choppy with its intro.

The film is entertaining, and it’s nice to see Marvel do a film on a smaller scale. This one though at times comes off like it’s unsure of exactly what it wants to be, not shocking considering it has six writing credits directly involved with the film. It also makes me wonder what Edgar Wright’s original vision was before he left the project. It’s a fun movie though, and very enjoyable, it’s also a slight stumble for the Marvel movie juggernaut.

Overall rating: 7.5

Review: Ant-Man #1

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Ant-Man #1 (2015) - Page 1Ant-Man is the latest in the Marvel NOW! launches for characters that previously were better known for their roles in teams.  For various reasons, the characters are ones that might never have been thought about whether they could lead their own series, and in Scott Lang’s case it would seem that it is because on the scale of Marvel Heroes that he is considered to be somewhat on the B-list of heroes.  Certainly he has his fans, but the question is always whether that and enough buzz is enough to carry a series by itself.  There is also an obvious tie-in to the future, as the upcoming Ant-Man film is likely to generate some interest in the character as well, and this series did have the benefit of premiering one day after the world got its first look at a trailer for the upcoming film.

The story takes a lot of this into consideration as it launches the character onto his own.  Scott Lang is a very different Ant-Man than Hank Pym, and he is not one that is considered to be one of the smartest characters as is his predecessor.  This is made abundantly clear throughout, that Scott while talented in his own ways, tends to be more reactive in his actions than proactive.  This is perhaps less true in his heroics than it is in his private life, but both are woven together well here.  The story revolves around Scott applying for a job as head of security at Stark Enterprises, and it is an interesting way to fill in his back story for the fans who are less familiar with the character.  At the same time, he is shown dealing with the issues in his personal life that are harder for him to juggle than being a superhero, namely his failed marriage and his desire to maintain a parental role with his daughter.  There are some high points throughout, particularly when he is competing for the job and then later in the last few pages when he comes to some conclusion over his family, and not any real low points throughout.

The end result is a well-packaged story that is a fun and often times funny read.  There will be those that might think to disregard an Ant-Man comic because the hero lacks the same powers as others, but in doing so they would be overlooking a less common occurrence from the big two publishers, namely a story that is character driven more so than plot driven.  As shown here, Ant-Man is a person first and a hero second, and with the tone of the book matching the sometimes awkwardly funny personality of the character, this series is likely to have a cult following for as long as it lasts.

Story: Nick Spencer Art: Ramon Rosanas
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy