Jessica Jones: Alias Book 4 (#22-28)

"The pity.  I don't want it.  I swear I don't want it" - Jessica Jones

So we come to the fourth and final volume of this introductory chapter into the life of ramshackle PI Jessica Jones.  She possesses super strength and can fly, but heroing never worked out for her.  We've seen enough hints and clues dropped throughout the previous three volumes that something pretty awful happened to her in her recent past and we're finally going to discover both how she came about her powers but also what that incident was and why she still suffers PTSD about it to this day.  She's been dating Scott "Ant Man" Lang off and on while this book also sees the return of Luke "Power Man" Cage who she has also had a sexual relationship with recently. And while this book closes out this part of her life, she was to become a regular in the wider Marvel Universe and of course there was an acclaimed TV series shown last year with a role in the 2018 MCU film "The Defenders" to come.  This volume's major antagonist is The Purple Man, Zebediah Killgrave whose voice can compell anyone to do his bidding and ssayed so creepily by David Tennant in the TV show, although he wasn't literally purple like his comicbook version.  I've actually covered Killgrave before in the second Waid/Samnee Daredevil volume here.  Anyway this is a packed seven issues so there won't be much brevity. Onwards!

Young Jessica.

We begin fifteen years ago with Jessica as a high school student dreamily looking at Peter Parker who is being bullied by Flash Thompson and friends.   She decides today will be the day she asks him out and follows him to a science exhibit, but as she reaches out to attract his attention he is bitten by a radioactive spider and feeling wonky he goes home leaving her looking downcast in his wake.

Later as she goes home she is wrapped up in her thoughts and is nearly hit by a truck containing radioactive material, a passer-by pulls her out of its way.   At home she looks at the picture of Johnny Storm of The Fantastic Four which she has tacked onto her wall, and her hand creeps into her knickers as she starts having a fiddle with herself before being interrupted by her kid brother who comes in and asks what she is doing.   She screams at him to get out and he leaves.

We then cut to her in the car with her brother, her parents are having a row as they drive to Disneyland with discount tickets provided by Tony Stark who her dad works for.  Her brother teases her and she punches his arm.  He starts yelling and her parents tell them to shut up.  Distracted her father loses control of the car and it slides half under a military truck and a canister comes loose and falls into the car onto Jessica's lap.  Then the car flips and catches fire and everything goes black.

A terrible tragedy

Then Jessica wakes up in a hospital bed.  It's dark, she looks out of the window and sees Galactus and the Silver Surfer.  The nurses notice her and say she's been in a coma for six months and the power surge from the battle outside must have woken her up, "it's a miracle."

Unfortunately she was the only survivor of the crash and we cut to her sitting in the office of the woman who runs the "Moore House For Wayward Children".  She tells Jessica she's been found a foster family, the Jones who are interested in adopting her.  The mother lost her family when she was the same age as Jessica and really feels for her. They also live in Jessica's old neighbourhood so she can go back to the same school.  Jessica remains surly and silent. The woman tells her she is special and lucky, "you have been given a second chance in life."  Jessica remains silent but looks conflicted by this.

Back at school people keep asking her what it was like being in a coma, she says "it was like... nothing" she tells them.   People gossip about her and then Flash tries to bully her so she aggrssively tells him and his mob "fuckers!  Seriously, all of you die! Just die!!"  And she runs away.

She sits on the bleachers sniffling to herself and Peter Parker comes up to her and tries to offer some words of comfort.  She thinks he is just looking down on her in pity and flees.  As she runs she flashes back to memories of her family, school, the Moore House and doesn't notice her feet have left the ground until she is floating a good few metres in the air.  She rises up higher and then flies forwards and down and lands in the river. 

First flight.

She tries to fly out and manages to get above the water, but then falls in again.   She starts to drown but Thor appears and grabs her and flies her back to dry land.  She vomits on his shoes saying  "shit... fuck".

Thor: "Young lady of Midgard, thy language leaves something to be desired".

And off he flies.  Later that night while watching J. Jonah Jameson ranting about Spider-man on the telly Jessica asks her adoptive father why people like the Fantastic Four but not Spider-man. "Image" her dad replies.

The Fantastic Four have a nice, clean cut look to them while Spider-man wears a mask and has creepy powers.   Jessica asks him if he had super-powers what would he do?  He thinks then says perhaps help people.  But when it comes down to it, how do you know who is worth risking your life for?  But if he did have them, he'd "sure as shit dress better than Spider-man". 

Jessica goes to a park and decides to test her powers.  She lifts a bike one handed over her head, then shoulder charges a thick tree cracking it all the way through.  She then tries to get the hang of flying and gets herself into the air.  With great glee she takes control, "Oh man! Oh man.  Shit yeah!!"

We then cut to a super villain called The Scorpion robbing people at a launderette.  Jessica lands on top of him and knocks him out.  People gather roud saying how cool she is.  They ask if she's a super-hero and she says, "yeah. Yeah I am".  One says "no costume?" another responds "eh, I think costumes are a fad anyhow."

The birth of a new hero,

We then return to the present day, Jessica is sitting in Matt Murdocks office with a handsome blonde man.  His name is Ka-zar and he lives in a secret tropical forest hidden away in Antartica called "The Savage Land".  He has come to them because Zabu is missing.  Zabu being a sabretooth tiger who raised Ka-zar to adulthood.  He needs a detective's help to find him.

Jessica says "no. I'm sorry.  No way in hell".  She isn't going to some savage jungle in the middle of the Antartic.  Ka-zar says he'll pay handsomely but she says she doesn't even "go over the Queensborough Bridge because I'm scared the Green Goblin might drop someone on me".  So she isn't going to go fight dinosaurs to find his cat.  She then leaves the office and Ka-Zar snarks, "Wow.  And I though Shanna got menstrual."

Back in her office she listens to her ansaphone messages, she has been getting a lot of crank type calls ever since J.Jonah Jameson wrote the nice article on her as seen in Book Three.   Then she gets one call that makes her freeze.  it's about someone called "Killgrave".  The person wants her to call back because they know she has history with this person and she has an important situation she wants Jessica's help with.  She hangs up and Jessica stays frozen, as her eyes show her in pain.  Then she runs to the toilet and vomits in it.

Present day Jessica is pissed at Carol Danvers.

We then cut to her talking with Carol "Ms. Marvel" Danvers in the garden of Avenger's Mansion.  Jessica is angry that Carol told the woman who called her about Killgrave and her involvement with him.   Carol is curious as to why she is so mad at her.  She says she just referred people who needed to know. She says Jessica is her best friend on the planet.

Carol: "And the reason I can be friends with you is that I understand what is the matter with you.  Okay? I see past all of this 'thing' you do, this person you act like and I know who you really are."

She says Scott Lang feels the same, now she needs to deal with her issues surrounding The Purple Man.  Jessica angrily tells her she needs her to stop telling her what she needs.

Then Captain America appears and is pleased to see her, inviting her inside.  But she doesn't go, then Scott Lang buzzes up riding a bee and asks if she is OK.  Overwhelmed, Jessica runs and gets into a taxi.  But Scott Lang pursues her and grows back to normal size in the cab much to the driver's annoyance.  Jessica begs him to leave her alone, but he says he knows what happened with Killgrave.

Yeah, smooth going Scott.

She scowls and says nothing.  He goes onto say that as an Avenger, a UN peace keeping taskforce, he can't just date anyone.  She had to be approved and although she came under a lot of scrutiny, Captain America put in a good word for her, "See how you're being all paranoid and no one has done anything remotely bad to you?"  Jessica tells the driver to pull over and departs telling Scott to "respect my fucking boundaries!" And she flies away. She lands close by, vomits then holds her stomach examining it and looks distressed.

We then jump forwards in time to her going to the house of the woman who called her, Kim Rourke.  Inside the house is a large crowd of people.  Kim says she is going to speak for the group. Everyone here has lost someone because of Killgrave.   She tells Jessica about a diner Killgrave went to when he ordered eggs, then told everyone eating there to stop breathing and thirty-four people died because of that, one of whom was her sister.

The Purple Man victim support group.

Jessica tells her it's not hypnosis he uses, "Killgrave has the power to overcome people's wills."  His power originates from his skin cells.  The pheromones and other secretions make a combination of psychoactive chemicals which when inhaled or absorbed by others allows him to take advantage of an "monomania".

Jessica: "It isn't hypnosis.  it isn't... the person... The victim cannot be blamed for.. for.. for anything they do when they are under that asshole's control".

Kim says what they are looking for is "closure".  Jessica tells her that Killgrave is being held in a prison for super-villains called "The Raft".  Kim says they know that but although Killgrave admitted to many crimes when first captured but she represents the families of the victims he didn't admit to.

They were people he murdered mainly for sport and now he refuses to take responsibility for them.   She believes he is denying them for "fun".  They have taken every legal route to try and get him to cooperate but no luck.   They have to live with what he did every day, he won't let them rest.

One of the group asks if she used to be a superhero and she says yes.  He asks if she came up against Killgrave and she says yes.  Kim says they know she was involved in one of his captures, and Jessica says yes.  She then asks if Jessica can help them.  She's quiet for a moment, then closes her eyes and says "Yes."

Then we cut to her waking up in just her undies in an unfamiliar bed.  She staggers up and discovers that she is in Luke Cage's flat.  She asks where her clothes are and he says, doesn't she recall last night?

Luke: "You don't remember calling me drunk out of your fucking mind and telling me that I'm not half the man Matt Murdock is and that I could go fuck myself?  ... And then about fifteen minutes later or so, you flew into my window and crashed into my fridge."

She ponders the wreckage and says she'll pay for it.   Apparently she then threw up all over her clothes which are at the cleaners.  She mumbles she doesn't know why she said what she said.

Luke asks her what sent her on this "little binge?"  She starts by saying she doesn't want to talk about it, then changes her mind and says "Killgrave".   She has been hired to find evidence on him to help some people who hired her.  He asks what her history is with him and like pulling teeth she finally opens up about what happened a few years ago.

Killgrave is a fucking prick.

The art changes, drawn by Mark Bagley, it looks much more traditional Marvel superhero stuff.  She is in her superhero identity "Jewel" all happy and confident.  She flies into a restaurant which people are fighting in.   Sitting calmly at a table is Killgrave, she stops and stares at him as he asks what her real name is.  She answers him and he tells her to take off her clothes.  She starts to but then he orders her to take care of the police outside and completely under his control she goes out and smashes them up.

Back with Jessica and Luke, he asks how long he had hold of her and she says "eight months".  Luke asks if he made her... implying rape.  She firmly says "no." He is somewhat disblieving but she says what he actually did was make her "stand there and watch him fucking other girls, telling me to wish it was me.  Telling me to cry while I watched".  He would pull college girls of the street, but when there wasn't any around he'd make her beg him for it.

Jessica: "Beg him. He'd just sit there and at his request I would beg him for it... I would beg him to fuck me... I would beg him until I cried."

For eight months she lay at his feet, slept on his floor, bathed him.  He would do it to her for every setback he suffered at the hands of the other superheroes. She dropped out of sight for eight months and it "had absolutely little to no effect on my family and friends".  Luke Cage moves closer and gives her a much needed hug.

Hugs are nice.

He says did she put him in jail, she says it was everyone but her. She says it didn't matter that he put those thoughts in her head, because she still felt them and it didn't feel any different from when she thought for herself.  In fact it feels better because "the command is pure.  It's strong. It's loud and clear."

Jessica: "In my mind I can't tell the difference between what he made me do or say and what I do or say on my own.  The only reason I know I wasn't in love with him is that I say to myself, how could I be?  I hate him.  That's it.  That's what my sanity is holding on to."

She knows that although it was chemical and pheromones affecting her, but it felt like she was in love with him.   Tell a crazy person what he sees is just chemicals in his brain and he's still going to see things.

A break for freedom.

Luke asks if she hurt anyone and she admits that yes she did.  Killgrave is crazy, months would go by where he would just fuck college girls and watch TV then all of a sudden... and we return to the flashback as Killgrave angrily shows her a newspaper with the headline "Daredevil Saves The City". He rants how he hates him then tells her he's sick of looking at her, she will put her costume on and go to the Avengers Mansion and beat Daredevil to death.

She flew off and as she got further away from him, his hold over her disappeared. Which left her with no idea what to do.  So she decided to continue her mission even though she could feel her body trying to stop her.   She knew it was fucked up but couldn't stop herself.

She landed at the Avenger's Mansion and they were coming home from a mission.   She swooped down to attack Dardevil, "except it wasn't Daredevil, not even close... it was the Scarlet Witch."  She hit her and then finally realised what she was doing was wrong and just stood there. She tried to form an apology but couldn't and tried to flee.  Thor came after her and tried to hit her with his hammer.

The Avengers and The Defenders who were teaming up with them all came after her and Vison who was The Scarlet Witch's husband belted her round the head knocking her out.  Carol grabbed her before any more harm could come to her.  He neck was messed up, her nose was broken, she lost some teeth and her spine was damaged, her retina detached "and on top of it my mind kind of gave up on me."

Carol to the rescue!

The combo of Killgrave's mindrape and the beating from the Avengers and just the mental stress of it all caused her to just check out.  She scowls at Luke saying she can tell he's pitying her. He asks how long she was out for and how did she come out of it.  Jessica asks if she has heard of Jean Grey of The X-Men?  She's a powerful psychic.

The art style changes again, this time drawn by Rick Mays.  Jessica is hanging out in a park in her mind.  Jean Grey comes up to her and tells her they caught the Purple Man, put him away for good.  Daredevil got him, beat the crap out of him.  Jean asks how that makes Jessica feel?

Jessica says he loved her.  Jean says he didn't, but Jessica insists in his own way he did.   Jean introduces herself and transforms into her Phoenix costume.  She says she is here to help Jessica, "into the next phase of your life."  Jessica just needs to trust her.  Jessica says she fucked things up, Jean says she'll help her but she needs Jessica to wake up.  So Jessica does so.

Jean Grey is the coolest.

She's lying in a hospital bed again with Jean and Nick Fury looking down at her.  Jean apolgises for getting into her head without asking but it was for the best.  Fury says she's getting the best medical care in the country and she'll be good as new.

A few months of treatment and therapy later she's ready to leave.  She hugs Agent Clay from S.H.I.E.L.D who's been watching over her.   Then she walks into a room where all The Avengers are waiting.  Iron Man apologises to her on behalf of all of them saying they overreacted.

Jessica mumbles an apology to them, but Scarlet Witch says she wasn't to blame.  Fury then offers her a job as S.H.I.E.L.D liason to The Avengers.   She'd be a level six agent and an auxillary Avenger.  He says she's a survivor and a fighter and he wants her on his team.  But Jessica tells them she appreciates all this but she's done with costumes, she doesn't have what it takes.  She thanks them for the closure then turns her back and walks away.

The Raft.

In the present she moves close to Luke and they snuggle.   He offers to take the job for her, but she says she needs to face him.  "Good for you" he says.  We then cut to her arriving by helicopter on The Raft.  She meets Clay and tells him she feels like "barfing up my uterus."  He wonders why she didn't fly, she brushes him off.  They embrace saying she appreciates him taking care of this, "what are high-ranking government employees/ex-boyfriends good for..."
They walk past the cells containing "the worst of the worst".   Killgrave is at the end, the conversation will be recorded but no one who doesn't already know what happens between them will ever see it.   He says that he thinks nothing will come of this and does she want him there with her.  She says she'll speak to him alone and she approaches his cell.

Killgrave: "Jessica Jones. If it isn't my favourite comic book character of all time."

She tries to talk to him but he keeps talking about a comic book layout of their conversation and speaking of himself in the third person describing what he thinks Jessica's thoughts are and that there were things they shared "the truths only they know."

Jessica tries to keep him on topic, telling him she's here as a representative of the families of his victims.   He just says "you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of your readers."  She keeps on telling him that the families each lost loved ones because of him but he refuses to acknowledge what she is saying, "something really bad s going to happen to you Jessica.  I wouldn't turn to the end.  I bet something really horrible happens."

The watching Agents think he's "fucking insane".  Agent Clay wants to go in and punch him. Jessica asks him if they are all characters in a comicbook why doesn't he get up and walk out of there.  "I'm not the writer" he responds.  He tells her she smarter than this, he's shown her.

Killgrave: "One day you're a high flying super hero no one has ever heard of, the next you're the centre of the world.   All of a sudden it's all about you. Continuity inconsistences be damned, it's all about you.  How did you get your powers again? How did I get mine?  How was that? Accident? What?  Gloss over it now.  Don't get too techinical."

Angrily she shows him a photo of a girl he made dance of the balcony of a hotel in Chicago.  She talks over him as he tries to mess with her head some more.  She yells that the girls brother deserves to know why his sister died. "He needs to hear you say it! Say the words1  Say: 'I killed your sister because I'm a crazy fuck'".

He just tells her she was there for the flashback. She acts like a whore in front of the readers because "you are a whore... you're the biggest whore in the history of the medium".  Jessica gives up.  As she leaves he tells her not to contradict continuity or "they'll eat you alive".  She falls into the arms of Agent Clay upset at the whole situation.

Killgrave won't budge.

Outside she smokes a ciggie and Clay asks her what she is thinking.  She tells him she's still scared that he has a hold over her. And now she has to return to her employers and tell them she has nothing.   They hug again and he jokes for "a comicbook character, you're pretty well rounded".

Later she returns to Kim's house to give her the bad news.   But when she opens the door, Kim says she'll call the police.  Her TV is on tuned into the news, it's reporting on a riot in The Raft.  And Killgrave is a confirmed escapee. Kim thinks Jessica is responsible, "all you mutant fucksare all the same.. you trick us, you manipulate us".  She threatens to call the police again and Jessica leaves.

She goes and hides in an alley near her flat and calls Carol leaving a message that she is terrified and unable to go home because Killgrave might be inside.  She confesses she visited that morning and maybe she inspired him to pull something. She calls her mum and tells her to go and visit aunt Jenny to get her somewhere safer. She gets a call from a doctor who had treated her last week saying she needs some important follow up tests. She hangs up and slumps down tearfully.

She calls her office and Malcolm her somewhat unwanted teenage assisstant answers it.   He tells her someone called "Quaterflash" keeps calling and hanging up.   She asks if anyone is in the room with him, he doesn't understand what she means, then asks how he got in.  He used her spare key.  She tells him to get out and fires him, he asks her why she called if she didn't want an answer.  She says she was calling for her messages.  She tells him to get the fuck out of her office and go home. 

She watches him leave the office alone.   She gets a call from Agent Clay.  He has no idea how Killgrave managed to escape.  He took a copter and a pilot and fled to the mainland.  She hears a click on the line, they are tracing her call so they can pick her up.  Paranoid, she tells him how does she know he hasn't been taken over and whispering in his ear.  She'll come in when they catch the fucker.  Black humvees pull up and in a panic she flies away.

She arrives at Scott Lang's place.  He's heard the news too.   She says she doesn't know where else to go.  They end up in bed together and as he sleeps she smokes and watches the news which says the city is in chaos and The Avengers and Fantastic Four should be doing more to help. She crushes an ant by mistake and when she turns to apologise to Scott sees him dead and covered with thousands of ants.  She stares in horror.

Oh no. Poor Scott. What a shame.

We pull back and Killgrave is sitting in a chair opposite as she screams in terror.  He orders her to be quiet, while she screams that she killed Scott.  "Well I am the bad guy" he says.   But he didn't actually kill him, he just made her see it.  Scott is awake and Killgrave tells him "look at me like you want to fuck me because I'm the best a third-rate character like you could do."

He tells her to stand up saying he hopes this will be one of "many reminders of just how special you are to me and how much I detest your whore ways". He then makes her visualise Carol with Luke and Scott.  She gasps and cries, then he tells her to shut up as she's annoying him so she does so.

He then tells her she is to come outside he wants to do "something violent and chaotic, as is my destiny to end this."  He wants her to come and witness his big scene.  Scott is told to stay put while Jessica dresses and follows Killgrave out into the crowds.  He orders everyone to start beating up the person to their left until they are dead and fighting breaks out.

As they walk through the chaos, Jessica suddenly sees an image of Jean Grey, when she was in Jessica's mind before she set up a "psychic defence trigger".  Because she was so worried about Killgrave taking her over again she thought something like this would work.   Jessica asks, "I.. I can end this?" Jean smiles and says "please do" and vanishes.

Even Captain America is impressed by that punch.

The Avengers arrive on the scene and Killgrave orders her to break Captain America's back when she doesn't accept his first kill demand, "do it now, whore!"  And she punches Killgrave so hard he goes flying and is knocked right out.  Carol hugs her while Jessica sheds cathartic tears and the crowd now no longer under control stop fighting.

Scott arrives on the scene and tells her it was a villain called Carnage that blew the security system in The Raft. He says not to mention what happened to him in his bedroom.  She then has a confession to make to him.

Jessica: "I'm pregnant.  I'm three months pregnant".

And Scott's face falls when he realises it's not his. And he walks away saying, "bye Jessica". Later she meets up with Luke Cage outside her building.  She's the subject of another glowing headline in The Daily Bugle, Luke says she's officially the only one Jameson says nice things about.

He then tells her that over the past couple of months he hasn't been able to stop thinking about her. She frustrates him, but he worries about her and after she told him about what happened to her, he found himself caring about her.  And he says he's here for her if she needs him. 

"You like me?" she queries and he grins and says "Yeah". She tells him she's pregnant and he's the father.  He breaks out into an even wider grin.  He asks if she wants it and she says, "very, very, very much."  He keeps grinning and she says "Alright then.  New chapter".  And that brings this volume and the series to an end.

Just look at that grin.

So here at the end we finally found out why Jessica was suffering from PTSD and so reckless and angry.  Killgrave is a monster.  He might not have physically raped her, but the mind rape he subjected her to is like something out of a nightmare.  To make her feel so debased and worthless is just repugnant, he's basically the ultimate gaslighter and merely a more extreme version of abusive relationships people suffer from every day.  It's understandable why she has pushed people away since then and it's tragic seeing the happy, enthusiastic Jewel full of public spirit reduced to an emotional wreck.  It's interesting that she opened up properly to Luke Cage, rather than Scott Lang.  Scott was pushy and demanding whle Luke Cage let her come to him and confide in her own time.  Her backstory of losing her family the way she did, and the only thing positive coming out of it, her powers, getting turned against her is a real tragedy and explains her reluctance to use them apart from exceptional circumstances.  As I said in the intro, Jessica and Luke and their baby become part of the Marvel Universe back then, cosmic retcons not withstanding. At the end of the book, writer Brian Michael Bendis says that Jessica's adventures will continue in the series "Pulse".  The main difference will be no sex and swearwords and that "Jessica will be happier, at least for a couple of pages".  And after that cathartic punch delivered to Killgrave by her, thanks to the ever awesome Jean Grey, all her pain, self-loathing and anger was behind that swing and I am not saying she's instantly over all her issues, but you can defnitely see how she gained some much needed emotional closure and yes, she's probably happier now most definitely shown in her enthusiasm to be a mother.  And that finishes this series off on a nice happy ending. Awww.

Jessica Jones: Alias Book 3 (#10, #16-21)

"They are killing that girl. I lost her" - Jessica Jones

Time to return to the ramshackle world of Jessica Jones.  She's a super-powered individual who after a brief career as a costumed hero has become a private detective instead.  However she still can't escape from the world of superheroes intruding on her life.  She has super strength and can just about fly and she is somewhat messed up with severe PTSD the reasons why will be explained in the fourth and final volume of this series.  Jessica Jones was created and here is written by Brian Michael Bendis, one of his earliest contributions to the Marvel Universe. The book is part of the Marvel MAX line which also played host to Garth Ennis's Punisher and Nick Fury tales, so there is sex and swearing aplenty.  The art is by Michael Gaydos, whose use of Warhol-like repeating panels fits brilliantly with Bendis's very conversational dialogue make the whole thing feel finely crafted.  In previous volumes she had a drunken fling with Luke "Power Man" Cage and went on a date with Scott "Ant Man" Lang and these strands continue through the storyline.  The first story I'll mostly skip as it isn't a traditional story it's a series of textual conversations over full page images. I imagine it was done to give Michael Gaydos a breather, all you really need to know is that Jessica Jones manages to piss off J. Jonah Jameson who promises he'll get all up in her grill if she ever screws up.  Which leads us neatly into the main story arc of the collection.

Jessica is in a shop reading a magazine and internally swearing at the contents which are all about how to be the perfect woman, "no wonder I feel like shit about myself all the time". Then a man with a gun holds the place up.  She panics wondering if she should be a hero for two seconds.

Jessica: "Fuck me... fuck! I promised myself I wouldn't do shit like this anymore".

She dives on the robber as he fires and disarms him holding him down.  She tells the shopkeeper to call the police but the man picks up te gun and angrily points it at the robber. She manages to talk him out of firing then asks if she can get some cigarettes, which the shopkeeper charges her eight dollars for.  Such gratitude.

She arrives back at her flat thinking maybe it's good things like that happens, reminding her not to be a hero again.  Suddenly she realises someone is in her bathroom and it turns out to be a young woman in a costume with a spider on the front and no mask on.  She asks if Jessica is Jessica then starts crying saying, "they lied to me! Those fuckers lied to me!"

Mattie Franklin in Jessica's flat.

Jessica demands to know what the hell is going on but the woman panics and jumps out through her window leaving a very confused Jessica in her wake.  She leaves her mask behind and Jessica sits a ponders it.  We jump forwards in time and Scott Lang has come over.  She tells him it was creepy, she was "like Spider-man with little tits".  Scott asks why she didn't call the police, she says they won't be able to do anything.

Jessica: "All that will happen is they will take my information and then tommorrow morning there will be blurb in page six about what a lunatic I am."

He asks what she wants to do and she apologises for calling him out in the middle of the night saying they've only been out a couple of times. He says he's actually thrilled she thought to call him, "I was incredibly cool to come over".

He asks if she'll feel safer if he stays over, she says not really so he invites her over to his place and she packs her laptop and goes with him. We then jump forward again, he's fast asleep and she is sitting up to table in just her underwear checking her computer, searching for "Spider-girl" but getting no results.

Investigating the mystery girl.

She then decides to call someone named "Agent Quatermain".   She finally gets through to someone called "Clay" who wants to know why she called at 0400.  She tells him about the girl in her flat and he says he'll call her back.  Her phone rings again and he tells her that her name is "Mattie Franklin".  She did a short run as Spider-woman, "the third one for those counting at home".

He tells her he's sent her his files on her which will only be in her e-mail inbox for forty minutes.  Then he queries her sleeping with Ant-man telling her he's been in prison.  Jessica says she knows that and thanks him for his help ending the call and swearing about S.H.I.E.L.D. to herself.

Then her phone goes again and we cut to J.Jonah Jameson. He's leaving the Daily Bugle offices and is in an underground carpark.  Jessica appears out of the shadows telling him tHe tries to blow her off, but when she says it's about Mattie he pauses then tells her to get in the car.

Then we're back with her and Scott in bed together having sex, she asks him to stop and he asks so asking what he was doing wrong.  She says it's not him it's her and lies back down facing away from him.  She says she shouldn't have come over, he says she 's just in a "shit mood".  He asks if she talked to "that J.Jonah Jameson dickface?"  She says she did.

We cut back to her in his limo, he says nothing which she thinks is the exact opposite of when she last met him "when he wouldn't shut his fucking mouth".  She think how she doesn't want to be sitting here with "this piece of garbage".

Jessica: "All I hear in my head is: this guy hates you. And this isn't like my usual self loathing paranoia. No. I have it on tape. On my answering machine.  Him wishing I would drop dead."

She thinks how he is everything wrong with journalism in America, using the Daily Bugle to push his agenda instead of reporting the facts.  But it's not about him, it's about the girl.  A girl he somehow took responsibility for and who is now in some sort of trouble.  So she sits in silence not knowing what to do...

A chilly meeting with J. Jonah Jameson.

So she "babbled like an idiot".  She tells him that Mattie broke into her flat strung out or something then ran away.  The whole thing has left her freaked out and despite the shit between them she thought he ought to know.  Finally Jameson speaks asking where is she now?  Jessica says she doesn't know, but he asks her the same question again.

Then he asks her what her angle is?  Money?  "Of course it is.  It always is!"  But Jessica says she doesn't think he's hearing her.  He accusing her of dangling Mattie over his head, "preying on people's fears and hopes. You piece of trash".  He says he'll find out what her scam is and burn her in hell for it.

Jessica says just listen to her, but he responds that if any harm comes to her she will be the one to answer for it.  He tells her she screwed around with the wrong person this time and orders her to get out of the car, as she leaves he says "I want her back unharmed now!  Or I will ruin you!"  Jessica walks away thinking that blew up in her face.

Back in bed with Scott she says she should have gone to the police, she says she never does because of a hangover from being a superhero, thinking she can handle anything herself.  Scott agrees she has problems with authority.  She denies this at first then agrees.  She also feels the cops will grill her.

She thinks with her and Jameson the one with shitloads of money will win "because, like, look at me and look at him".  Scott wonders why it would be her word against his.  She says the "guy's a loon."  He pretty much accused her of kidnapping Mattie.  She should have gone to the police.  Scott says told you so.  She asks him "are you done?"

Back in her office she decides to try and find the girl.  She checks over the slim file she has on her and notes down all she remembered Jameson saying.  He ranted about "Spider-man! Daredevil! Osborn! All of you!"

Jessica: "Well, Jameson always has a gay boner for Spider-man.  And I bet he mentioned Daredevil just because he's in the news.  But Osborn.  Norman Osborn?  Is he even alive?"

She mulls this over and finds the name Jessica Drew in the files, a former Spider-Woman, so she looks her up.  She also has a Private Investigation business.

She calls her office to find she's in Istanbul on assignment, this annoys Jessica who thinks she hasn't even been able to afford to go the movies since Ghostbusters 2.   She leaves a message on her mobile saying it's regarding Mattie Franklin.  Then wonders, "now what?"

Malcolm pops in.

Then Malcolm appears in the doorway, he's a young man who keeps trying to work for her. He asks her about Captain America and what she think of him revealing his secret identity, she hadn't seen that.  He thinks it's bullshit, that he's copying her who came out years ago.  Also Daredevil got outed by the tablouds but he's suing everyone "like a big fucking pussy".  He told his friends at school she did the coming out thing years ago before it was trendy.

She tries to get rid of him, but he says he can help, he has an "enncyclopedic knowledge of stupid shit".  So she asks him if he has heard of Spider-Woman.  He says there has been three, she wants to know about the young one.   He says he doesn't know anyone who knows her and what's wrong with her?  She says she thinks she was on drugs.  He asks if he finds her will she give him a job, she says if he finds anyone who knows anything about her she will give him a part-time job as long as her parents are OK with it.  Then she shoves him out, him leaving happily.

Later her phone rings and it's, Madame Web who is mentioned in Mattie's file.  She tells her she will come and meet her tonight at seven o'clock.  Because she can see the future Jessica asks if she will ever find true love.  Madame Web ignores this and gives her address which she asks her to write down as she foresees her getting lost in her building for nine minutes.  Then she ends the call.

At twelve minutes past seven, Jessica arrives and is shown into Madame Web's rooms by an assisstant.  She thanks Jessica for being late saying recently she hasn't been able to trust her abilities, "I was doubting myself, which is something I rarely do."  Jessica says she has no idea who she is or why she is here.

The mysterious Madame Web.

Madame Web says she is here because of Mattie Franklin, she is also trying to find her because she is in terrible trouble.  She was there at the ceremony when she received her powers and began her life as Spider-Woman.  Madame Web used her abilities to guide her, but recently she has lost contact with her.  She cannot see her on the astral plane nor her possible futures.  She fears her young body is having trouble with unnatural abilities.

Jessica queries the "possible futures" part of her statement.  Madame Web says every decisions made "creates a new set of tangents of time and space.  Every descision creates a myriad of possibilities for your future." She sees Mattie playing an important role in her future.  Jessica asks if she sees her now and Madame Web says she is in a place of strobing lights and dancing.  Jessica is angry with her and they fight, in one future she kills her, in another she is killed, "you look like you, but not you."

Jessica demands to know just what she does and Madame Web says these are only possible futures.  The she tells Jessica what she's been through in her past, "I wouldn't wish on anyone. I'm so sorry."  Jessica is shocked at having her mind read without permission.  Madame Web says she can't help it, "the images... so strong, so violent." Jessica screams "FUCK YOU!!!" at her and storms out.  We return to her in bed with Scott, he asks what she saw that upsets her, but Jessica falls silent and turns away from him.

He persists, asking what Madame Web said that so upset her, but she doesn't want to talk about it.   He asked if she was raped, and she sits up saying "no!! Why would you say that?"  He says he's just trying to figure her out. 

Jessica: "Such a guy thing to say!! A girl has a secret in her past... she must have been raped".

He doesn't understand why she's so upset as she gets out of bed and starts to get dressed. He says all he was trying to do was continue the conversation, but she reiterates she didn't want to talk about it and slams the door as she leaves.

Jessica and Scott fight.

With some trepidation she returns to her flat but no one is there. Carol Danvers calls her, but she doesn't pick up.  Carol leaves a message saying Scott contacted her and was "bummed out" so what did she do to him.  Jessica gives the ansaphone the finger.

Next day she is doing body guard duty for Matt Murdock, still under seige regarding his true identity as Daredevil. She notes to herself that while she and Luke Cage are meant to be there in case one of Daredevil's villains attacks him all they are really doing is pushing the media away.   She thinks that it's obvious he is Daredeil and she's just here for show.

He comes out to meet her while she smokes a fag. He asks where she's been the past couple of days and she says "living in a dream".  She fills him in on the situation with Mattie Franklin and J.Jonah Jameson.  He says he call Jameson and tell him to stop threatening her, he asks if she is still looking for the girl and she says yes, though she only has soft leads.

A new lead is discovered.

Later she returns to her office to find Malcolm and a friend skateboarding outside.  She's all what the hell, she told him he couldn't hang out there.  But he says he did what she asked and found someone who has seen the Spider-woman.  He introduces his friend, she called Laney.  She tells Jessica her brother is dating Mattie Franklin.

They go into her office to talk. Laney says her brother is a junkie and drug dealer.   His name is Denny Hayes and she thinks he's a "full blown scumbag.  Real piece of shit."  He's assaulted their mother, and dealt drugs since he was young, but recently he's shown up in a sports car and nice clothes.

He's come round saying he's found the "thing" that will put him on the map. She thinks he's in some large scale dealing now, maybe heroin.  She just knows he's "stupid as a wall and all of a sudden he has a brand new Porsche and shit." He knows he is hanging out with Mattie, maybe even fucking her.  She's met her in passing but she was well out of it, she imagines her brother is keeping her well medicated.

Apparently he'd been itching for his own super girlfriend, she asks if that has happened to Jessica, she says "sadly yeah..."  Now Denny has a fancy condo, dating a superhero and peddling whatever he's peddling.  She wants Jessica to rescue Mattie who's likely all strung out and being exploited.  She doesn't have her brother's address though, he won't let her over.  But he hangs out at a club called "616", him and his partner are aways there. Malcolm pipes up asking he if he gets the job, Jessica says she'll think about it.

Rocking the skank look.

That night she queues to get into the club wearing her usual clothes, but the bouncer won't let her in. So she  goes back home, gets tarted up, puts on a skimpy top and skirt and goes back.  She is let in this time.  As she watches the masses dancing and thinks "fuck me.  We are doomed as a society" she also thinks how she hates places like this.

She starts looking for Denny and Mattie, asking various patrons about where she can find him.   He lives in the backroom, the women she asks about him say she can go in but should take it slowly, "let him discover you.. you know". One of the women takes a liking to Jessica and says she'll introduce her to him.  They go into the backroom and Denny is sitting on a couch listening to a report from  lackey and lying with her head in his lap is Mattie in her Spider-woman outfit looking well out of it.

Jessica thinks to herself how shocking Mattie looks and how she is too young to be in a club.  She is looking right at Jessica who thinks the jig is up and she'll have to grab Mattie and run.  But then she thinks she might get her hurt, and these people might come round to Jameson's place to find her.  "I don't know what to do" she thinks and also notes she looks even worse than when she appeared in her flat, possibly strung out on heroin.

Jessica: "I want to cry just from looking at her.  She looks right at me, but... is she so out of it she doesn't recgonise me?"

But her outfit and "incredibly whorish makeup" she put on seems to confuse her.  She thinks that kids shouldn't be superheroes and even on her worst days she didn't look as bad as Mattie now.

She introduces herself to Denny as "Madeline" and he ask if they have met before. She says no.  All the while she is thinking what scum Denny is.  It's what "that psychic bitch Madame Web was babbling about".  she described this scene and "fuck! This is it! Fuck! Fuck!"  She said they'd fight and either one would die, which she really doesn't want to happen.

Jessica: "This isn't what I want.  Thi isn't what I want in my life.... what the fuck am I doing here?  I didn't have to do this! What the fuck am I thinking?"

She thinks after all the things she's done she be remembered for the murder of a sixteen year old girl, then she thinks she might be in love with Matt Murdock as her thoughts spin out of control. Then Denny breaks the spell saying he knows who she is and what she is doing is entrapment.

She says that she's a temp at an investment  firm not a cop, but she decides she wants to leave and regroup.  He asks her to stay.  She asks what the are into and Denny says it's time to get "real high".  She sits down and Denny gently speaks to Mattie telling her it's her birthday while she feebly agrees with him.  He cuts her letting it drain onto a spoon, while the woman who brought Jessica in hands out pills and Jessica takes one.

Jessica takes a pounding.

Thinks start getting all messed up distorted for her while Denny cooks the drug up.  Angrily Jessica punches him calling them "fucking animals".  But to her surprise his eyes light up green and he wallops her back with the same strength she used on him.  She lies down and slips out of consciousness.

She wakes up to find she is being dragged out of the premises and she is hurled into a pile of rubbish.  She lies there for a while then is approached by a man introducing himself as Ben Urich a reporter from The Daily Bugle.  He admits he's been following her as Jameson thinks she has Mattie.

She tells him she almost had her, that Mattie Franklin was here in the club.   She tells Ben the people who have her have powers, "I've never been punched that hard... and I've been punched." He tells Ben about how strung out Matty was.  He asks iff they have harmed her, and Jessica says yes. He asks if the men had protruding foreheads and she says yes again.

Ben realises they were taking MGH or "Mutant Growth Hormone".  For the length of the high it gives a normal person superpowers.  The foreheads are a giveaway as they are "fucking up their genetic make-up with that shit.  Their cell structure is damaged."  Jessica says they are killing Mattie and they have to rescue her.  Ben says he thought she wasn't a superhero anymore, is anyone paying her to find her?

She goes to an E.R. and asks to see someone privately she is assigned a doctor who tends to her headwound and says she's fine.  She's had a blood taken and already people are gossiping about her being a superhero.  Then two cops arrive and question her.  She tells them a "bullshit lie" about being mugged and returns home.

She takes of her shoes as she thinks that she hopes Ben will find Mattie and get Jameson off her back.  She just wants the girl home safe, "then I want to be left alone".  She thinks that her body can't take that sort of abuse, then she is cut off by someone in the flat who uses electricity to subdue her.  She collapses on the floor and the person is revealed to be Jessica Drew - Spider-woman ver.1 - and she wants to know "where the fuck is Mattie Franklin?"

Jessica Drew.

She zaps Jessica again, saying Jessica is the last person to see Mattie, "one more time before I turn into a real bitch, where is she?? What did you do with her??"  Jessica manages to tell her she's looking for her too and to check her answering machine.  Jessica does so and realises Jessica did call her and is telling the truth.  Then Jessica Jones punches Jessica Drew sending her tumbling over the table and knocking her out.

Then Ben Urich calls her saying Jameson wants to talk to her., so she Ben and Jessica Drew go to Jameson's house.   After an awkward silence Mrs. Jameson says that they had been warned taking in an orphan would be trouble.  Jessica Jones says she's an orphan.  Mrs. Jameson ignores this and confirms she was the last person to see her.

Jessica: "I was the one who originally approached your husband about Mattie's disappearence.  But because of some misunderstandings we've had in the past he mistook my words... as some sort of threat."

Jessica Drew introduces herself as Mattie's friend, then Mrs. Jameson asks if it is true what Ben Urich has told them about what's happening to Mattie and Jessica Jones says yes it's true.  She says they were too strong for her to get Mattie away from them. 

Mrs. Jameson then tells them a bit about her, how her father was J. Jonah Jameson's best friend before he died.  Jameson adored Mattie and loves her like a daughter.  She says because Jonah has unresolved issues with his son Mattie was his chance to prove he was a better father and a better man.  What's happening now is "killing him".

Jessica Jones ask if he knew she was a superhero and Mrs. Jameson says he did not although Mattie has confided in her.  She didn't tell him because of Jonah's issues with masked vigilantes.  Knowing she dresses as Spider-man especially is a "hard pill for Jonah to deal with".  She's been missing for a couple of weeks, they haven't dared call the police because Jonah's enemies will use it as an excuse to mock and ridicule him, using her to get at him.  If they can get her back discretely, she tails off...

Mrs Jameson makes a plea.

We cut to both Jessicas in Jessica Jone's P.I. office.   They compare approaches to private detectoring then Jessica Drew apologises for attacking her and asks if she was in the Avengers.  "Guilty only by association" responds Jessica Jones.  Jessica Drew says she'll try not to hold it against her, she doesn't much care for the Avengers.

She asks Jessica Jones where she got her powers from and Jessica blows her off saying it was chewing radioactive bubble gum.  She asks Jessica Drew if she still plays the superhero and Jessica Drew says sometimes but her powers are wonky so she saves it for "special occasions".  She doesn't have a costume as it makes her ass look fat.

Jessica finds Denny Haye's address doing a net database search and the two of them go to his home.  Jessica Drew zaps the lock so they can sneak into the building then they smash down the door to his flat.   They check around but no one is home.  Then Jessica Drew makes a call to a "Special Agent Hunt".

She asks him where the last place Denny Hayes used a credit card is.   It turns out its a hotel and she thanks him and hangs up.  Denny is at the "Matador" hotel.  They both go to the building and pretend to the concierge that they are a "surprise" for Denny.    He lets them up and they listen at his door hearing an argument going on  Jessica zaps the lock and they barge in to find Mattie passed out on the bed and another hero called "Speedball" in there who is losing control of his kinetic bubble making powers.

Speedball in action.

He pleads with them to get the drugs but Jessica Jones is knocked out by his power.  She slips into a dream where she is being attacked by the Avengers then wakes up again.  Speedball is trying to keep his powers together and gets control of his balls.  Denny, all fired up on MGH attacks Jessica Jones, but Jessica Drew shocks him and Jessica Jones punches him then smashes a TV over his head.

Finally all the bad guys are down and the Jessicas quiz an embarressed Speedball.  He was trying to bust them, Jessica Drew angrily asks him "what the fuck is up with your shit powers?"  And he stammers that he's going through a rough spot and can't always control it.  And he's here with the cops.

Jessica Jones picks up Mattie and when the cops burst in Jessica Drew zaps them and they make their getaway with her.  Jessica Jones flies her out the window and they land in an abandoned building.  Mattie blearily asks her what's going on. She jumps out of the window and call a taxi with her.

Mattie Franklin, clean and healthy.

We then cut to six weeks later and Mattie visits Jessica in her office, she is cleaned up now and in normal clothes.  She says it's important to her to meet Jessica as herself, and she wants to thanks Jessica for saving her life.  She says she doesn't know how things got so out of control.  She went out with a "cool older guy" once and he slipped her something because she didn't know where she was, "it wasn't me, it was a movie".

She says it's hard to explain but Jessica says she knows exactly what she means.  Mattie presents her with a framed article by J. Jonah Jameson which says "Superhero Team Up Trio Save Mystery Teen From Drug Dealing Parasites".  Jessica thanks her for it.   Jessica asks why she came to her house that night that kicked this all off, but Mattie can't remember why she was there. 

Later she meets up with Scott asking him where he's been the last six weeks.   He says he freaked out after he screamed at her and stormed out that night, "I said life's to short for crazy".  But she came into his life with her crazy and... she interrupts saying it's the worst apology ever and that she called him seven times and he never responded.   She tells him to shove it, but he admits he thinks he's in love with her.

He says he has very strong feelings for her and that she's a better person than she thinks she is, smarter than she thinks she is, prettier than she thinks she is.   She says she's mad at him and now he does this!  He then asks her out on a date. "A fancy date?" she asks and he says yes.  She says it better be damn fancy, "you got a lot riding on it." And that brings this arc and the volume to a close.

Scott 'fess his love.

So what's interesting about this storyline is that it actually becomes more insightful once you read Jessica's "Secret Origin" revealed in the fourth and final trade.  Jessica's desperation to help Mattie is because she found herself in a similar situation some time ago, dropped via small hints.  The mind read by Madame Web lets us infer that it was something pretty dreadful as well, Bendis is teasingly revealing things a bit at a time like her being an orphan so all will finally be revealed in the last arc of this series.  Jessica as usual remains a singularly likeable person despite all her flaws.  Her relationship with Scott Lang shows him up to be something of a dickhead though and she'll realise this finally in the next trade.  Despite getting beaten up, mind read and zapped she gets right back up and plows on with her mission never letting extraneous bullshit put her off.  The mystery is well laid out with one clue following another and another until Mattie is located.  The brief team up with Jessica Drew is pretty awesome, both look seriously badass and it's notable just how damn silly Speedball looks with his bright colours and spandex outfit when dropped into the "realism" of  Marvel MAX series.  The crossovers with Bendis's run on Daredevil are also fun, MGH was something that appeared in an early storyline of that series, which just reiterates that unlike Punisher MAX, Alias does take place in the main Marvel Universe. Michael Gaydos's art is superb as usual, repeating panels fitting the rhythm of Bendis's naturalistic dialogue.  Only one more volume to go, keep an eye out next month for it.

Jessica Jones: Alias Book 2 (#11-15)

"We're two consenting adult peoples..." - Jessica Jones

Time to rejoin the beautiful disaster that is Jessica Jones.  Once she was a superhero called "Jewel" but gave it up as she felt she didn't really fit in with the costumed set and for reasons yet to be elaborated upon too.  She has superstrength and can fly, badly, but now she runs her own private investigations firm called "Alias Investigations" with her as the sole PI employed there.  But she keeps getting jobs that bring her back into the sphere of superhero influence.  In book one she helped foil an attempt to embarrass the President of the US via getting Captain America accused of murder.  She then got caught up in world of a delusional man who believed himself to be Rick Jones.  She is also suffering herself from severe PTSD which viewers of her TV show will know the reason for but readers of the books will have to wait until book four to find out about.  The writer is Brian Michael Bendis, now a controversial figure at Marvel, but back at the start of the noughties his work on street level characters like Jessica Jones and Daredevil gained him a lot of praise.  Michael Gaydos is on art duties, his use of repeating panels to match Bendis's rythmic dialogue give the comic an almost Warhol-like quality.  If you are wondering where issue ten is, it's been moved to the next volume and will be covered then, never fear.  Now for another trip into the dysfunctional world of Jessica Jones.

Jessica is in cheerful mood, driving her car and singing along loudly with the radio.  She passes a huge sign which reads "Rebecca Please Come Home. We Love You" and the road takes her into the small town of Lago, just by New York.  She misses her turning and has to get out to ask directions. She takes in her surroundings as mutters that it's "like I tripped and fell inro 1978". A local policeman spots her and gives her directions knowing who she is and why she is there, they flirt with each other then Jessica goes to the home of Katherine Cross, it her neice Rebecca who has gone missing and Jessica is there to find her.

Jessica meets the sheriff.

She tells Katherine that it was unhelpful telling the local newspaper she was coming to investigate, "I'm your private investigator, 'private' being the operative word." Now the whole town has been alerted to her prescence and her neice's abductor might have got spooked.  Rebecca's mother comes down the stairs and asks Jessica if she'll really be able to find her?

Rebecca's mother then takes her through the last time she saw her.   She left her at home to play bingo at church the might before, when she got home her husband Frank was passed out in his chair and she went to bed without checking on her daughter. Then later that day she got a call from the school pricipal who said Rebecca hadn't shown up for school that day.  So she doesn't know exactly when she went missing.

Jessica asks her if she thinks her husband had something to do with it.  She admits that she doesn't trust him and doesn't even like him anymore, Rebecca's disappearance has opened her eyes to that.  She says he goes to "whores" and that he's seen him leering at Rebecca, "he was such a jackass about it.  Couldn't even pretend not to." Jessica asks if Rebecca said anything about it.  The mother says no, then Jessica asks if Rebecca had any trouble at school.  Her mother says she'd been "mouthing off" at teachers and she knows Rebecca hated the jocks.  Jessica asks for a recent photo and gets one of Rebecca looking pretty Goth.

Rebecca Cross.

Jessica contemplates the photo and says "nothing like this has ever happened here in this town, has it?"  Katherine says no.  Jessica lays out who she is going to see and they negociate her payment then Jessica goes to where Rebecca's father Frank is. He says to Jessica, "come on in, bitch."  He moans about his wife asking Jessica "she tell you I fucked the kid?"  Jessica calmly says she'd like to come in and discuss this civilly.

He goes into a rant, he says he won't help her put him in jail. He says he was proud of his daughter, he had prayed she be better and smarter than everyone, "that she'd be able to go farther than us."  He could see that was happening and that he was "so happy that she was going to make it".   He tells Jessica she is free to search the house and his wife is "evil for using this to punish me".  He wanders off, Jessica tells him not to leave town.  "Where'm I gonna go?" he says bitterly.

She goes up to Rebecca's room which is a mess.  She finds some notebooks on her dresser and an empty box where she kept her pot. The flirty cop appears in the doorway, she asks if he knows who the local pot dealer is, but the cop doesn't know.  She asks to take the books back to her hotel, they are full of arty collages. "Might be clues.  Messages. Might be nothing.  Either way... the victim speaks." she tells him.

Searching for clues.

They leave the house and he asks if if she has superpowers which Jessica says yes to.  She asks if that will be a problem and he says "not if you behave yourself".  Then Jessica leaves to speak to someone at her school.  She asks the teacher who meets with her if she knew what cliques she was in or who her friends were.  The teacher doesn't know and opens Rebecca's locker for her.  As Jessica searches a student comes up and tells her she is looking on the wrong side of the door.  Jessica inspects the front and sees a very faint trace of the word "Die." The student goes on to tell her "what do you expect?  She was a mutant."

Jessica questions the girl more closely, "when you say mutant you mean Homo Superior?" She also asks if they ever say Rebecca use her powers, no one did, but Rebecca told several people she was one.  Jessica's patient questioning reveals Rebecca told a football player and cheerleader and the rumour then spread from there and when questioned didn't deny it. "Being a mutant is like being gay or Jewish... you don't want to pretend you are if you're not, right?" says the girl.  Jessica leaves to find Freddy the football player to aks him directly.

She goes to the football field and finds Freddy why the other players letch at her.  Jessica confirms that Rebecca told him she was a mutant but he never saw her use her powers.   He says he asked her out, but she said her mutant powers would kill him if they had sex. He asks if Jessica is the "mutant police" and that it's not illegal to "bang mutants is it?" Jessica rolls her eyes and returns to her car.

No luck with the jock.

Then a woman called Patrice Pugawa catches up with her and says she runs the local newspaper.  Jessica says she isn't going to give her updates on her investigation because she doesn't want whoever has Rebecca to know how she is getting along in her investigation and drives off but not before the reporter hints she might want to go to church on saturday. Later she is reading Rebecca's collage books and having a drink with the cop in the local bar.  Then Rebecca's dad comes in and drunkenly abuses Jessica but the cop calms him down.

Later Jessica and the cop have a tipsy clinch in the carpark, "mmmm you gonna fuck me, sheriff?" says Jessica and climbs on a car bonnet.  Initially he is wary because he thinks he might hurt her, "not unlessh you want me to.." slurs Jessica.  He decides to risk it and they start to have sex.  We then get a two page dream sequence done in a bright "traditional" style with her as Jewel flying past Thor, then she sees Rebecca watching her from a window and wakes up.

Even Jessica's dreams guilt trip her.

She wakes up in a jail cell.  The sheriff put her there to sleep off the booze much to her outrage. "I certainly wasn't going to have you stay in my house" he says letting her out.  She gives him a hearty "fuck you" and leaves.  Remembering what the newspaper woman said, Jessica goes into the church and finds the minister rehearsing a speech.  It's not a very edifying one, it's all about how mutants are an abomination that man not God created they are not in the bible and are not worthy of love.  He notices Jessica and says he can never tell if his voice reaches the back.

Jessica: "I hear you just fine."

The minister said he is doing a topical sermon, that people like to see an immediate parallel to their lives and scripture.   He realises she is the PI and a "super hero person". Jessica says she is not a super hero.  The minister says it's a shame about Rebecca although she has never come to church as far as he knows.

She starts to leave then says she be "pissed at myself for ever if I don't say this".  She tears into him for his prejudiced veiws, he stands by his words, "mutants are quite clearly an abomination bought on by mans greed". He insist nature tells him that it is so even though a pissed Jessica tells him how wrong and irresponsible his words are.  "You're more than welcome to disagree" he responds.

Jessica: "I... I... I... think this thing you're doing here is about the single most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life... You're preaching hate!  Like some back water shit-kicking hick."

He denies that is the case, but she goes on to say that if she finds out his preaching has contributed the the disappearance of Rebecca Cross... she doesn't finish her thoughts.  The minister asks why would it, Jessica tells him Rebecca was a mutant as she stalks out.

Not a great start to her day.

She goes and tries to compose herself in the diner's bathroom as she is very upset over everything that's occured so far since waking up in a cell, repeating "fuck you" over and over.  She looks around and sees some grafitti that says "Jesus was a mutant".  She walks out and bumps into the sheriff who tries to apologise to her, she walks away as he tries to explain himself to her.  She chews him out then leaves to carry on looking for Rebecca.

Then Scott Lang phones her up saying Carol Danvers gave him Jessica's number.  "Carol you goddamn bitch" thinks Jessica as she listens.  She tells him she is busy on a case right now, he asks where she is.  "In Hell" she responds.  She asks if he is Ant-Man, he says not anymore and "for that story, you're actually going to have to go out with me". 

We then cut to Jessica in the newspaper's office and she talks with Patrice who runs it.  She is sharing some mail which compares mutants to coloureds. "

Jessica: "Coloureds?  What fucking planet am I on?  What year is this?"

Patrice tells her she just wanted to give her an idea of the way people think in the town, mostly good people... she doesn't finish her sentence.  Jessica apologies for blowing her off the day before.  Patrice says she is just trying to help, she wants all this to be over.

More small town bigotry.

Patrice then says she assumes she's visited "our first Unity church of hypocrisy and racism."  Jessica says she has and nearly punched the guy.  Patrice says he's a "fucking asshole" and she's tried to talk to him about his rhetoric to no avail. Sadly the town loves him and the church will be packed tommorrow.  Jessica asks if she thinks he had anything to do with Rebecca's disappearance.  Patrice says not directly but he preaches a bullshit "tabloid version of reality"  He's giving people an excuse to act on their worst instincts.

Patrice tells her that a couple of years ago a kid fell out of a treehouse and by a fluke had no broken bones or cust.  A week later he was found beaten nearly to death with beer bottles.  The family up and left in the night and the kid died alone in hospital.  So "this shit" with Rebecca was bound to happen.

Jessica says Rebecca might be a mutant but Patrice states firmly that she isn't.  All her investigations have lead her to the fact the kids at Rebecca's school are full of shit.  Jessica mulls this over then says Rebecca wasn't a mutant but was telling people she was.  She goes onto say that when she was at school she told people she made out with Simon Le Bon one vacation, "teenage girls."

Then she shows Patrice Rebecca's collage books.  Patrice is impressed by them saying it's almost worse to think of something awful happening to someone with talent, "she definitely had a thing for the dark side of icons."  Jessica says she still needs to talk properly to Rebecca's father.  Patrice notes that half the town thinks he did it. Jessica asks her what she thinks and Patrice says that probably one of her classmates raped her and threw her in the lake because they thought she was a mutant.

Jessica finds Rebecca's dad.

Patrice contemplates the collages some more and wonders if there is a hidden clue to what might have happened to Rebecca in them.   She wishes Rebecca's parents had trusted her more, but Jessica says they probably didn't want to be reminded of what has happened.  "But it's news" says Patrice.  Jessica leaves and goes to Jessica's home to speak with Frank.  She finds him sitting dead in his chair with his throat slashed while the news plays out a plotline which was going on in Bendis's run on Daredevil - a debate on the unmasking of Matt Murdock.  As his body is taken away Jessica watches, smoking pensively.  A kid rides up on a bicycle, she eyeballs him then says "Kid.  Where is she?"

We then cut to Rebecca in a New York club speaking to the clientele about the whole Daredevil/Matt Murdock thing that is in the news.  She speaks of her love for him "this beautiful man who clearly defines something undefinable" then she reads out a poem dedicated to him as Jessica looks on.   After the poetry reading Rebecca kisses her cute girlfriend.  Then Jessica intervenes and drags her away as her girlfriend calls her a "cuntwipe".

Rebecca and girlfriend safe in New York.

Jessica kicks the bouncer in the nuts and gets Rebecca into her car. Jessic then goes on a four page unbroken rant about why she left the small town. To sum up she hates the "racist shithellhole" she was living in.  She wanted to get away to a place she could express herself.  She doesn't care about proms or "the fucking mall".  One day it all got too much and she got the bus out of there.

Rebecca: "It was like I was in a coma and now I wasn't.  Because I could kiss whoever I want.  I could talk about whatever I want.  I could express myself without someone making fun of me or asking what's wrong with me."

And once Jessica is gone, she'll leave again because she is in love.  She refuses to "bide her time" until she is eighteen.  Life is too short to live in that town surrounded by "fucking assholes".

Her mother is a lying bitch, her father is a weak man, she doesn't give a shit about what they think.   She's already realises there is "so, so, so much more to life".  She knows her neighbour Kenny, the only person there she cares about, told Jessica where she was.  But she wishes she hadn't told him where she was going so she'd be thought of as dead in a ditch " and I wouldn't have to deal with this drama".  She turns to Jessica and says "you know I'm right".

Then Matt Murdock calls Jessica and asks to see her next morning and this excites Rebecca as they reach the town, driving past the huge sign saying "Rebecca, Please Come Home.  We Love You".  Once they reach her house the find her aunt being arrested for the murder of her father. Jessica pulls up and realises what she's bought Rebecca home to.

Welcome home!

Rebecca steps out of the car and demands to know why her aunt is being arrested.  Her mother slaps her so hard she knocks off Rebecca's shades.  "It's all your fault, you selfish whore!" she shouts at her.  Rebecca starts crying saying to Jessica why didn't she tell her that her dad was dead, Jessica lamely says she thought she might be responsible.  Rebecca runs away and her mother screams after her, "that's right! Run away again! See who you kill next time!"

Jessica finds Rebecca sitting in the church belfry.  She reassures her that she didn't kill her father.  Rebecca asks how she found her, Jessica says she read her diary and knew she liked to get stoned up there.  Jessica then tells her she is really talented and tells her a friend told her "nothing makes a writer... liked a fucked up childhood".

Rebecca: "What the fuck kind of superhero are you?  Why is the world like this?"

Jessica asks her if she wants her to take her back to her girlfriend.  Later the sheriff finds her.  Jessica tells him her girlfriend had come here looking for Rebecca and both have left.  He hands over her cheque.  Jessica is surprised the mother paid her.  The sheriff says he "kinda made her."

Case closed.

He tells her the sister was drunk and when Rebecca's father mouthed off to him she "wigged out and stabbed him".  She's confessed so the rest is paperwork.  Jessica hands over Rebecca's collage books so he can pass them onto her mother.  The sheriff tells her to take care and Jessica wishes him well before driving off. In the car she phones Scott Lang telling him she had a bad day and could she keep him company as she drives home, which he agrees to.  And that brings this arc to a close.

We close out this volume with a one-shot about Jessica Jones relationships with two of the men in her life.  It begins with her and Luke "Power Man" Cage standing guard outside Matt Murdock's office.  Luke flirts with a woman who goes inside and when Jessica queries why he let her in he says it's because she's Black Widow in a disguise.

He then asks Jessica if they are talking now?  She doesn't respond so he demands to know why she took the job if she is so pissed at him.  He then says she fucked him, "you pounced on me, you physically grabbed me..."  Jessica says this is an inappropriate place to have this conversation.  Then mutters she was drunk.  Luke says she fucked him then came by his place and nearly destroyed his life.  And she should have thanked him for being there when she needed him.

Jessica asks who he was with when she came by.  Luke asks if she wants to be his girlfriend. "What? No!" shouts Jessica, and he says it's none of her business then.  Jessica says she wouldn't have hit on him if she knew he was a "cape chaser".  Luke laughs at it, but Jessica says she thinks it's gross.  He responds:

Luke: "If I was a lawyer, I probably would end up fucking a lot of lawyers.  But being in our profession... I am probably going to end up fucking a lot of people... in our profession".

He then says he's trying to be her friend and she apologises.  He says next thing she'll say is he fucked Iron Fist, and does she want to know why they call him that? Jessica says she heard that joke and they both smile.

Jessica and Luke Cage on guard duty.

Jessica then asks Luke is she thinks Matt Murdock really is Daredevil. Luke say definitely.  Jessica says then he likely heard this conversation, then Black Widow comes out muttering to herself.  Luke then invites Jessica to dinner, but she says she already has a date tonight.

We then jump forwards tp the evening where Scott Lang is waiting for her.  She is late and apologises profusely, she says her job is "fucking crazy" body guarding Matt Murdock.  Scott asks if he really is Daredevil, and Jessica asks if it matters because the tabloids have no right to be all up in his business. 

A waitress comes up to take their drink orders. Jessica asks for a double vodka on the rocks, but Scott interuppts and says, "how about you don't."  Taken aback Jessica says, "I'm sorry?" Scott says he was hoping they could not get drunk tonight.  So they order coke and a sprite.  Scott says Carol filled her in on Jessica's tendency to get hammered then be mad at herself afterwards.  He hoped they could stay sober and "have a nice, real, genuine conversation".

Jessica is silent and Scott says she is mad at him, but she says she is just stunned. He apologises for overstepping and says she can drink of she wants.  "No, we can do it your way" she says.  They start chatting and Jessica confesses she checked him out and found out he was in prison.  He says he was young and did something "unspeakably stupid."  But he left a better person and never went back.

Jessica and Scott flirt over soft drinks.

She says she didn't want to put him on the spot, but he says he understands his life has taken detours he never envisioned.  She says she was trying to be an intruiging smartass and it backfired.  He tells her he's also divorced.  She says she likes that, "divorced men are the best boyfriends.  Eager to please.  Tonnes of shit to prove.".   They sit in silence for a moment then Scott wonders why Carol thought they would be a good match.

Jessica says he looks like someone Carol would sleep with.  She goes onto say Carol has specific requirements for a guy n both looks and occupation. If a guy doesn't look the way she has imagined a boyfriend of hers should look, "it's not going to happen".  But Carol didn't asks him out herself because he'd been in prison.  Jessica says she doesn't care that's just what's "rolling around in Carol's head."

Jessica says she's bummed Scott out with the prison thing, she was trying to compliment him. "Well, you should try and do better than that" says Scott. "You're a very patient and curious man" she responds.  He was nice to her on the phone the other day and he's "tolerating" this conversation.  He says he "hypnotised" by this conversation. He has no idea what she'll say next.

Jessica says he has a daughter right? He says she is his "reason for everything". Jessica thinks she might be a good mum.  He then says he's fascinated by her job as a PI, but she says it's not as glamorous as everyone thinks.  Scott worries that everything he is saying to her sounds fake, in their line of work "costumes and adventures" it's hard to meet people to trust.

Jessica says he's the first person in ten years who hasn't asked why she isn't a superhero anymore.  He says she's the first person in ten years who hasn't asked him why he was a superhero.  Then he starts to ask why she isn't a superhere, she interupts him saying "Ha!  I knew you were going to do that!" Then both of them look out of the restaurant window, Spider-man, The Human Torch and Doctor Octopus are fighting.

This happens all the time in Marvel's New York.

Jessica asks if he wants to go help, but Scott says he hasn't bought his Ant-Man stuff. She doesn't want to help and they both consult their menus.  She says she's not mad about the drink anymore.  He laughs saying he knew she was mad about that.  She says it was rude, but "I guess I needed someone to do that for me."  They contemplate their menus somemore as fighting continues outside.  "I don't think our waitress is coming back" says Jessica, and that closes out this second volume.

More excellent stuff from Bendis and Gaydos.  The Rebecca Cross arc really struck a chord with me.  I grew up in a small town and went to school with stupid, boring, ignorant people.  I used to dream of running away, but never did because unlike Rebecca I have a very close relationship with my mum and sisters.  Still, I felt like I didn't belong, that there had to be more to life and when I realised I was gay aged 18 I knew if I could just hold on and get to university life would become so much better, which it very much did. This might also be the first time mutants are used to symbol gay people and not blacks during the civil rights era.  Mind you I always felt comparing mutants to any oppressed people is a bit strange because despite what UKIP might believe us gays don't have the ability to control the weather.  I was really glad when Rebecca was able to leave again with her girlfriend and be free of the stifling conformity of where she grew up.  The date issue is also a nice piece of work, just two people chatting and flirting, building characterisation and setting up Jessica with two eligible men to romance.  Overall we get more insight into just how self destructive Jessica can be when booze and sex intermingle for her and still leaves the reader wondering how she got like this and just why she stopped the superheroics.  Bendis is teasing out a plotline that will pay off in the final volume, so only one more before we get to that, although viewers of her excellent TV series will know the answer already...