Writer: Kelly Thompson

Art: Marcio Takara, Rachelle Rosenberg, VC’s Cory Petit, and Valerio Giangiordano

Price: $3.99

Release Date: March 25th, 2020

After the five-issue story involving Jessica Jones solving her own murder wrapped up, Kelly Thompson dove headfirst into a one-shot birthday party for her daughter Dani that would eventually lead into her new arc, which has actually already been released. Well, how interesting could an issue be about setting up for a birthday party for a two-year-old? Let’s dive into this week’s installment of JESSICA JONES: BLINDSPOT #6 by Kelly Thompson and see just how crazy it is for superhero parents to try to do something normal.

If you’re a big fan of the DISNEY XD Marvel cartoons, you’ll love this issue. It’s filled with the same attempts at humor, cutesy dialogue, and charming qualities as the cartoon shows for kids. From the guest star superhero early check-ins to the ridiculous D-list villain crashing all the fun, this issue took a quick drive down ”cookie-cutter action” Street and a hard left turn at ”attempted comedy that fell really short” Avenue. Fans, this issue was an extremely huge detour from what we just got in the prior five issues and I have no idea why.

Kelly Thompson created a series that was smart, aggressive, funny, interesting, mature, and entertaining. But this issue felt like Thompson did a complete 180-degree turn. This portrayal of Jessica Jones was nothing like we saw in the prior five issues. It honestly felt like a completely different writer. I double-checked three times to make sure that she still wrote this issue. Not only does this issue not fit with the series, but the jokes and slapstick nature of this installment takes the weight and pressure of the prior five and lets the air totally out of the tires.

The underwear jokes and wordplay zingers associated with “Lone” Shark were poorly set up and haphazardly placed. Plus, the crux of this entire issue was to focus on the color purple ( not the movie, which I guess would frighten Jessica anyway)… but really?!? Come on man! I know I’m new to Jessica Jones and I know she went through a ton with the Purple Man. Honestly, she went through some devastating stuff that would scare anyone. However, PTSD with the color purple seems like a huge reach for Thompson to just throw into the series that was never set up or referenced before. The sole purpose of this issue was to set that idea up to make her next arc have more weight, which frankly is just awful writing. You need the set up to make anything stick.

Thompson should have planned and gradually dropped subtle hints about this purple crux through the prior five issues. But instead, it’s a throwaway reason in this issue for Jessica to be upset or defensive that doesn’t fit with the issue at all. Jessica could have been equally upset simply because her apartment was destroyed, superheroes crashed her party early, and she’s stressed out because she’s trying to set up a birthday party… not because she can’t handle the color purple. This is absolutely preposterous. Now, please understand that I’m not deflating PTSD by this statement. It’s incredibly serious and incredibly real. However, in the confines of this story to which it was never set up and established before, its total nonsense.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I don’t know what happened. How can someone write the character so well and appear to have a real knack for the character for 4 to 5 issues and then suddenly lose all semblance of that character, their purpose and what they are about? Additionally, how can a series be so mature one minute and basically turn into a children’s cartoon series in the blink of an eye? I know… if it was written by a different writer. But, it wasn’t. This issue has absolutely nothing to do with what we just read and could easily be skipped. Technically, it shouldn’t even be apart of JESSICA JONES: BLINDSPOT since it has nothing to do with what we just read. Don’t buy this issue unless you want to read the next series. Even then, it’s not important enough to warrant you buying it. It could all be easily summarized on the intro page in the next issue if you care that much. Gosh, for a series that began with such promise, these last two issues simply fell apart and really disappointed this fan. Sure, there was a landing but it just didn’t stick.

5.5/10

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