Jessica Jones #10 is a much-welcome return to form for Jones. While, as usual, it still tells its story in a slow-burn fashion, there’s always something happening on every page that makes it completely engaging. The mystery itself is almost as much fun as Jessica’s reaction to it, as she handles every twist of fate thrown at her with 100% attitude and some classic lines of dialogue.
Private investigator Jessica Jones believes that she knows the identity of the person who’s taken out an assassination contract on Maria Hill… but things aren’t as simple as they seem. Hill, being a former spy with SHIELD, is a notorious liar and the constant appearances of Maria Hill LMDs don’t help in separating fact from fiction. With the Hobgoblin trying to cash in as an assassin and Hill’s own father refusing to cooperate with Jessica, her job’s about to get a little harder. Meanwhile, Jessica’s mother gets an unexpected visitor…
There are also a few sneaky tongue-in-cheek moments in this issue. The best has to be the brief appearance of the Hobgoblin – as B-list a villain as you can get – who’s so desperate to be taken seriously as an A-list villain that ironically he only proves once more why he’s so poorly regarded. It’s a warped treat that deserves to go down in history as one of super-villainy’s epic fails.
Even the artwork is lighter this time out. While the series excels at showing the less-attractive side of the Marvel universe, there’s something strangely elegant about this issue without it coming across as too different. Equally, the pacing is spot-on for this issue, with hardly a frame being wasted. In previous issues, there have been too many scenes full of awkward silences, but this issue counters that admirably. Unfortunately, that also highlights one of the few real problems here though:
A single issue is just too damn short.
While the point of each issue in a multi-layered, heavily story-arc driven series like this is to set a tone and keep bringing back readers for more, you can’t help but wish that you got a few more pages per issue. This issue successfully grabs the reader with an intriguing story, but by the time the last page is reached you feel like you’ve only just gotten started.
Jessica Jones #10 is a solid issue, and certainly one of the best of this series so far. It’s crude, funny, mysterious and entertaining. You’ll just wish there were more of it.
