Jessica Jones

So, for all the things I did like about this comic, there was certainly a lot that wasn't so great. It's rather unfortunate, considering how much potential this could have had, but such is life I suppose.

Looking at the art of this comic there was certainly a lot to love. Flipping just a few pages in we see something pretty unique. Jessica Jones wearing an over sized yellow t-shirt, lying on top of her shirtless ripped boyfriend! It sounds silly, I know, but if you've been following my reviews at all you know that sexy men is a big issue for me. (see playlist "women in comics" here on my youtube channel)

Who an artist/editor/brand choose to sexualize speaks to who they see as their audience. Which makes the over sexualization of female characters such a slap in the face most of the time. Not only because the female body is being used to make easy cash, but it clearly points to the fact they only want to speak to heterosexual men.

This comic, on the other hand, did things completely differently. Which is why I think in a lot of ways in can serve as a visual primer on how to portray female characters well.

While this opening scene is intimate, it isn't intruding into Luke Cages privecy in the same way that Catwoman's privecy was completely ignored at the start of her new 52 run. He's pretty much naked, but he's hanging out with his girlfriend and having some exposition together about their relationship. And from what I can tell from this comic, Luke Cage going shirtless didn't seem completely out of whack with his personality.

But considering this is the only comic about Luke Cage I have ever read though, I would be very interested in hearing other opinions if you feel like I'm wrong!

Moving on through this collection the art styles were a bit all over the place. This book includes almost a completely run (sans v10) and the artist rolls seems to have changed up a couple of times. I really didn't think the smudgy stile employed later on was very good, but it was certainly preferable to the "3D" style on the back cover...

I really liked how above the waist everything was though. Treating Jessica Jones and her fellow female characters just the same as their male counterparts. There's even a few random male crotch shots, although none of them struck me personally as overtly sexual it was a nice change. Overall it simply felt more relaxed and natural then anything else.

And that's pretty fitting with the general tone of the series. Dramatic sure, but certainly a more relaxed and real world approach to super heroes. For better or worse it reminded me a lot of the Irredeemable Ant Man in the way it's trying to show the real day-to-day life of being part of the Marvel universe.

That said, do not pick up Irredeemable ant-man. That comic should never have been written. It just makes everyone involved (fictional and nonfictional) look like a bunch of stupid idiots.

But enough about the positive, what about the negative? Well let me tell you! For a comic that is supposed to be about Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and their future daughter those characters got waaaaaay too little page time or development. Which is a huge loss because the premise is so unique and interesting!

Instead we have Jessica Jones, pregnant, wandering around while things explode around her. She certainly deals with all this random violence in a way that hints at her deep flowing toughness, but that's really not enough. The only piece of real character development we get from her is when she's telling her yet unnamed daughter about how she met Luke Cage. Otherwise the comic mostly follows her coworkers at the Bugle or the Avengers.

While I'm never a huge fan of random parts of bigger plots showing up in smaller comics, Pulse does handle these intrusions fairly well. I still have little idea what exactly Luke Fury is going through outside of this comic, but in comic plot still works as a stand-alone. I also enjoyed all the negative vibes going around about S.H.I.E.L.D. because I really find them endlessly annoying.

I also felt like Jessica Jones' pregnancy was dealt with in the most generic way possible. Going into this I knew it wasn't going to be a super nuanced and ground breaking story about being pregnant, but it was just too cliche for words. Especially the scene were Jessica is talking with some other super moms, it was clear the writer had not only never been pregnant (he's a dude) he had probably never spent that much time around other mothers.

Most certainly too "graphic" for mainstream audiences - touching more on what Jessica's body went through during pregnancy would have fit well with the real world feel they had going. Did she have morning sickness? How long? How bad? Apparently she didn't need bed-rest. All we know is she has a uterus of iron and delivers super early. Yay? I also didn't really appreciate the use of Captain Marvel's pregnancy as a joke very appropriate.

But even asking for the plot-line to actually follow Jessica Jones and Luke Cage through this journey seems like it was too much. I assume that's why the plot kept deviating from this focus. Marvel just didn't think this was strong enough on its own to sell enough comics. That's probably true, but it doesn't stop me from lowering this from an inspiring four or five stars to an average three.

While I would have liked to comment on the issues of race that Luke brings up in his final speech to try and get Jessica to marry him, I really have no idea. Searching the internets I still have no idea. So input is welcome. Considering how I felt about Bendis' portrayal of pregnancy, I'm not too terribly optimistic about Cage's speech. To me it kind of sounded kind of backhanded, but I have no personal experience in this area.