This final volume of Alias is a perfect sendup and metatextual commentary of the depictions sexual violence against women in comics. All of Alias is a masterclass in retroactive continuity but this volume especially uses they way Jessica is inserted into the Marvel universe with such pointed purpose. I stand in awe of the emotional intelligence of Bendis' writing here. Comics in general and Marvel Comics in particular have a torrid history of using sexual violence against women as cheap plot points. So the way Jessica's interiority is centralized and the ways institutions like the Avengers are framed as reproducing rape culture was so brilliantly done. Through this Bendis' both lambasts infamous comics like Avengers #200 while creating a meaningful narrative about the aftermath of sexual violence. And all this without being didactic 

I did find some parts of the finale a smidgen overbearing. The Purple Man himself had a self-referential almost fourth wall breaking persona that went a hair too far and jolted me out of what was otherwhile an engrossing read. But generally I adored this finale.

And I truly can't talk enough about how fucking stunning this entire series is. Michael Gaydos, as the primary penceller and inker of this series deserves so much credit for creating that now iconic moody vidusual landscape for the story. I'd also love to highlight Matt Hollingsworth the primary colourist of the series (also notably one of my favorite colorist in the industry) because his work here was just as integral to the feel of Alias as Gaydos and adds a cohesiveness to the piece that was just breathtaking.

Further props to the illustrators of the flashback scenes Mark Bagley, Rick Mays, Dean White and Art Thibert. Their job was to recreate the particular aesthetics of periods aod comic book history, the 60s and 90s and they did it brilliantly.

Alias is a fucking classic for a reason. It's both a deeply emotionally resonant piece of storytelling and an incredibly rich dialogue with superhero comics history. I urge anybody and everybody to pick up this series because it's just brilliant.