The Variants: A Jessica Jones Mystery

All things considered, things are going well for Jessica Jones at the start of this story.  Her biggest problems are dealing with caffeine withdrawal and trying to figure out what lipstick to wear for her wedding to Luke Cage.  Then Daredevil drops by, almost begging Jessica to testify on behalf of his latest client at her trial.  This woman was also a victim of Zebediah “The Purple Man” Killgrave who burned her family alive ten years after her encounter with him.  Daredevil needs Jessica’s testimony to show that such a thing is possible and wasn’t the woman’s fault.  While the thought of what time bombs Zebediah left ticking in her head looks to be the biggest issue facing our protagonist, that quickly changes.  Right about the time Jessica walks into her apartment finding two women who look just like her – and one of them is Captain America.

Writer Gail Simone and artist Phil Noto team up to bring us a story of multiversal madness as even more Jessicas show up over the course of the story.  They’re all positioned as intriguing “What Ifs?” for the character, though if you’re hoping to see some really unique ones they don’t show up until the final issue.  What they’re doing here is the real mystery of the story, which is a good thing because we’re getting to the point where seeing Jessica deal with the Purple Man in every single miniseries or ongoing series is getting to be a bit old.  Points to Simone, though, for finding a unique way to deal with the character here thanks to her husband’s Avengers’ connections.

It all leads to a finale that’s a bit surprising and arguably could’ve used more buildup regarding the big bad.  We also get to see Noto show off a bit with the other variants of Jessica that show up and he makes them all feel credible, regardless of how silly they may seem at first glance.  The artist also does a good job serving the story from beginning to end as it mostly involves a lot of characters talking to each other, and he’s very good with the body language and visible emotions needed to make that stuff seem interesting.  It all leads to a perfectly decent outing for Jessica where I wouldn’t mind seeing more of the new villain introduced here, or of Simone and Noto tackling her adventures again.