Jessica Jones
Created Brian Michael Bendis

It's a big leap, going from saving the world on a regular basis to trying to get the goods on some middle-aged hubby bopping the babysitter, but it's one JESSICA JONES, a former super-hero who now runs her own P.I. firm, has decided to make. Alias Investigations deals in the humdrum world of missing people and cheating spouses, but it's set against a comic book world where there are superheroes constantly flitting about. it makes for someinteresting twists on both the P.I. and supoerhero genres. Like, the client who seems more worried that his wife might be be a mutant than than that she's been playing slap-and-tickle with the neighbour.

It's not an entirely original idea (writer Brian Michael Bendis' own Powers comic book deals with the same scenario, almost), but this isn't some cobbled-together world of superheroes. The appeal here is that this is the Marvel Universe where Jessica plies her trade. Her supergero past? She was a member of the Avengers. Luke Cage (Hero-for-hire) and Matt Murdock (Daredevil) show up early in the series. Alas, it turns out that Jessica wasn't much of a superhero. And she's not doing too well as a P.I., either, barely scraping by. But she's refreshingly human, prone to drinking and smoking and talking too much, with enough flaws and foibles to keep her interesting.

The other attraction is that Alias is published under the Marvel Max imprint, which means this ain't for kids. The situations are decidely adult. And the language is rougher than normal (though how overuse of the word "fuck" automatically makes anything adult is beyond me....) Anyway, just to make sure everyone knew what was going on, in the very first issue (which revolves around a missing persons case involving a woman who seems to be dating Captain America), Jessica and a certain rather well-known superhero (Luke Cage) get it on. Evidently in quite some detail, although there's no nudity.

This drew the ire of the comic's printers, American Color Graphics of Sylacauga, Alabama, who literally stopped the presses, claiming the comic was "obscene." "I'm literally stunned," Bendis said. "There's nothing in Alias that you wouldn't see on The Sopranos." Marvel subsequently moved the printing to Quebecor, a printer based in Montreal.

One of the highlights of the book is the dialogue -- Bendis has always had a way with low life and smartasses, and he's at the top of his game here. He's the man behind such other critically-acclaimed crime comics as Goldfish, Torso and Jinx.

COMICS

• ALIAS
  (2001--, Marvel Comics/MAX)
  Written by Brian Michael Bendis
  Illustrated by Michael Gaydos