CMYK Reviews

Writer: Justina Ireland
Artist: David Messina
Colors: Brian Reber
Marvel Comics

What If…? is a concept that I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for, even if its quality varies wildly, and even if most recent efforts in the field have clustered in the “meh” range. What If…? Jessica Jones lands a bit higher on the quality scale, but falls well short of being memorable for anyone but the most hardcore of Jessica Jones fans.

Jessica Jones started out as a new version of Jessica Drew before being split into her own thing, and then was later retconned into being part of Peter Parker’s backstory. It’s only natural we now get a story that looks at what it would be like if Jessica was the one bit by the radioactive spider instead of Peter. The only thing missing is Jessica Jones doing a dance while corrupted by a symbiote.

The beats are similar to the main Jones story – she abandons heroism after tragedy (in this timeline, Green Goblin killing her parents) leaves her feeling like it’s an empty path, so she’s working in a bar for Luke Cage until she hears about the Kingpin’s death. She feels inspired to investigate, events then follow.

There’s some fairly delightful retro-inspired art utilized for flashbacks in this scene, showing Jones as the mini-skirt/suit wearing Spider-Girl. An early scene with a mouthy barfly flashes some quality writing for Jones’ smart mouth. Jones is a fun character, and Ireland does a solid job approaching her. There’s also a cute hint early on at what some of Jones’ powers are, since they differ from mainline Peter Parker’s, and it pays off towards the end of the issue.

The denouement lands a little flat. The reveal of who is now behind the Green Goblin mask feels wedged in. This could easily have been expanded into a genuinely strong four issue mini-series. As it is, it smells of not enough real estate on the pages to get everything in, weakening the quality of the story.

The greatest sin of What If…? Jessica Jones is it looks at the status quo and says, “well, good enough.” The issue ends with Jones still rejecting the superhero life to become a private investigator, while Uatu murmurs about fate being inescapable. Blah. If you’re doing an alternate reality, you should have it alternate.

All in all, a solid issue, even if it’s non-essential reading. But if you’re a sucker for What If…? like me, there’s worse ones to read.