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Pulse #9 "Secret War Part Four" Book Released: 08 June 2005 Review posted: 30 June 2005 Writer: Brian Michael Bendis Artist: Michael Lark Publisher: Marvel Comics  0.50 out of 5 Stars Reviewed by Adam White

Whatever Happened to Jessica Jones?

How is it that a book by Brian Bendis and Michael Lark can be so horrible? I’d been a big Bendis fan since his days of doing Jinx, and of Lark since his work on Scene of the Crime, but lately I’ve given up on both. The biggest tragedy, though, is what has become of Jessica Jones.

It’s a tough job to turn Luke Cage from a bad mutha into a domesticated, bedridden fool, but Bendis managed it frighteningly well.

I am a huge fan of Bendis and Gaydos’s Alias series, from which The Pulse is supposedly spun off. Jessica Jones was the best thing to happen to Marvel in years, and every issue of Alias had style, grace and panache. I was leery when Bendis announced that Alias would be replaced by The Pulse, despite his claims that the loss of the “Mature Readers” label would only mean losing the harsh language. Unfortunately, as Pulse #9 once again proves, losing the “MR” label meant the loss of all maturity for the stories and for Jessica Jones.

Pulse #9 is denoted as “Secret War Part Four,” crossing over with Bendis’s biannual Secret War miniseries. Jessica wanders around throughout the story yelling “Where’s my boyfriend?” and that’s about it. She cries some, too. And she’s been doing this for four issues straight. What happened to her complex personality? Where’s her vitality and sarcasm? Where is the real Jessica Jones?

The next debacle involves the needless inclusion of Wolverine, solely so that he may appear on the cover (which, by the way, has nothing at all to do with the issue anyway). Logan screams about being “raped,” and says that he has feelings too. What? Logan’s as needlessly whiny as Jessica has become, serving no purpose at all in the book. Iron Fist also puts in an out-of-character appearance, babysitting the missing Luke Cage, who almost seems like he knows he’s stuck in a bad movie that he’s contractually obligated to do.

The writing itself is just lazy, with each issue rehashing the last. Bendis wastes not only Jessica and Luke Cage, but also solid supporting characters like Ben Urich and Kat Farrell. Bendis used to be one of the best; now he’s become Marvel’s overworked poster boy who’s stretched himself way too thin.

To be fair to Michael Lark, his art is still really solid — the problem is how do you illustrate a story where nothing happens? Lark’s boredom comes across in his art, and it lacks the flair of his previous work. I can’t believe he left Gotham Central for this.

The bottom line is that The Pulse has flatlined; Bendis killed Jessica Jones from the outset and has dragged her corpse behind his chariot ever since. He’s also accumulated a dangerously steady body count over only nine issues — it’s a tough job to turn Luke Cage from a bad mutha into a domesticated, bedridden fool, but he’s managed it frighteningly well. Mix in constantly changing artists and a Liefeld-like release schedule and you’ve got one sad excuse for a book.

It kills me to be so critical of both a character and writer that have brought me so much entertainment, but it has to be said because I would rather have no Jessica Jones at all than the shell that appears in The Pulse. Every consecutive issue has left me more depressed and increasingly disgusted with both Bendis and Marvel in general. Please somebody be merciful and restore Jessica’s dignity.