The Pulse, Vol. 1: Thin Air

The Pulse

by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley (Illustrator)

It's an inside look at the Marvel Universe's most notorious newspaper, the Daily Bugle! Former super hero and current private investigator Jessica Jones has just been offered a new a position with the Bugle's new super-hero section, The Pulse! Jessica's first to uncover the true identity of a former Bugle reporter's super-powered murderer! How is millionaire industrialist Norman Osborn involved in the case? And how ill Jessica's shocking discovery affect the entire Marvel Universe? Collecting THE PULSE #1-5.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Spider Man

120 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What started as a gig at the paper actually turned into an all-star walk-on with special focus on Jessica being pregnant with Luke's kid and freaking the hell out when the Green Goblin blows something up near her.

Watching her beat the shit out him was something special. And then when Luke came around to finish the job when the GG was about to get out of it by lawyers? I cheered. :)

This wasn't a blockbuster story, but it was good and it was solid. I couldn't help but grin and get sucked right in. Fanboy. You know?

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never realised how much my love of the character of Jessica Jones and my idea of her was tied up in Michael Gaydos's artwork. In Alias she feels so real, lived-in. She stands on street corner having a conversation and her back is rounded, her colours are dark and smudgy, she looks like she slept in a car all night. Which is precisely what she did do, because she's a private detective. But it takes the artwork to really make the character sweat and smell, and Gaydos made Jessica do that.

This artwork by Mark Bagely, I dunno. It makes everything look so plastic. The reality that Gaydos's artwork brought to Bendis's writing married to make something that felt truly different from other comics. This feels the same. Like really, truly the same. So sameish. Jessica's went from being just a lassie in a coat to being just another doe-eyed, L'Oreal haried, tight sweater-wearing female from the Marvel Universe. She's got a Bratz doll look about her. I hate it.

Dunno how this series is gonna go. I blame Bagely.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should've been an inconsequential series. It was a spinoff of nothing, a little sidebar of Bugle-related stuff that didn't play into a big Event or any major storylines of the day.

And yet this story has had staying power that normally we don't see. Stories come and go, and plot twists and developments usually fade off into the dark. (Unless you're Jonathan Hickman, in which case you've had ten years of comics all mapped out and just play the symphony you composed on day one. Asshole.)

Luke and Jessica? Best moments in comics in years, hands down.

Spidey and Urich talking about how he learned what's behind the mask? Priceless.

I'd forgotten that Osborn wasn't public as the Green Goblin to this point - because Bendis played it so well for years afterwards in the Secret Invasion and Dark Avengers runs.

This is just a fantastic story - gravitas, lots of insightful dialogue and some fun and rewarding action. Not too realistic, but not too wisecracky either which is unusual for a Bendis book. (He must've been writing the living hell out of his Osborn opus.)

[Lionel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit of a let down after Alias, especially the art

[Elfo-oscuro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se lee muy fácil y está bien hilada la historia pero una pena que metan a Jessica Jones con un carácter tan inseguro y dubitativo. No se puede comparar con Alias

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was ite

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first volume of The Pulse is sort of a comic trying to find itself. It's not quite the new Alias comic because it also stars Ben Urich, the staff of the Daily Bugle and even Luke Cage. It's almost a normal-person's-view-of-the-Marvel-Universe book, but not quite that either. Not that there's anything wrong with not knowing how to define it, because you put that altogether and you get a pretty amazing book.

Genre-wise we mix investigative work and super heroics. It's a very nice combo. Though we know whodunnit from the start, it's great to see the staff of the Daily Bugle put it together. It's not quite a Jessica Jones mystery, but it's close enough that you can enjoy the comparison.

Finally, the story of The Pulse is quite amazing. It's all about Norman Osbourne and the Green Goblin; its scope and the repercussions that it can have on the Marvel Universe are quite amazing.

Overall, a great new start to a great new comic. I'm sorry this one didn't run longer.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this was exactly as I feared it would be. Jessica had no spirit at all. She just kinda sat there while people talked to her in meetings. The fact that she had to get a job to get health insurance to pay for childbirth might be the most American thing that's ever happened in comics. But she was a shadow of her former self, no agency, not real focus in the story. I definitely won't be bothering to finish this series.

[Gabriele Pallonetto · Rating 5 out of 5]

La prima parte di una storia piena di azione per la supereroina più umana di casa Marvel che è temporalmente successiva agli eventi narrati in Alias.

Grandi protagonisti oltre a Jessica, il suo compagno Luke Cage, Spiderman, Goblin, J.J.Jameson e tanti altri.

Ritmi serratissimi e disegni splendidi.
Non vedo l'ora di leggere il volume successivo!

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

En realidad 3'5 (pero muy cerca de 4). Este cómic nos deja ver un poco del lado más "normal" de las vidas de algunos superhéroes, siendo más cotidiano y mundano que muchos otros que he leído. Sin embargo, ahí reside el encanto que tiene, dejándonos ver más sobre las relaciones entre los personajes y menos puñetazos y patadas (aunque también los tiene finalmente). En definitiva, muy recomendable.

[Valentin Derevlean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story 4 stele
Artă 2 stele

Ideea din spate, foarte bune. Daily Bugle decide că e nevoie de o schimbare în atitudinea articolelor sale privind supereroii și astfel apare o rubrică săptămânală dedicată eroilor în costum scrisă din interiorul lor. Ptr asta e angajată consultant Jessica Jones (doamne, urât a mai desenat-o Mark Bagley), care tocmai a aflat că a rămas însărcinată și copilul e, previzibil, al lui Luke Cage. Dar de dragul salariului și al asigurării medicale, acceptă compromisul și se angajează la ziar. Și tocmai în momentul în care o colegă va fi ucisă de Norman Osbourne, adică Green Goblin. Urmează confruntările cu poliția, Spider-Man și nici Luke nu stă deoparte.

Povestea e faină pentru că surprinde lumea eroilor din perspectiva celor de-afără, cu problemele lor și micile lor intrigi și tot tacâmul. Chit că pe măsură ce citești realizezi că e o bandă derivată cumva din Spider-Man și totul e ok. Unele replici bune, povestea merge ok. Arta în schimb e deseori groaznică, Jessica arată că o pițipoancă cu buzele mari, corpurile sunt desenate strâmb, sunt multe cadre care nu mi-au plăcut deloc. Unele bune, altfel, așa că nu știu de ce Mark Bagley e așa ezitant uneori. Asta e, mergem mai departe.

[CJ - It's only a Paper Moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

needed more Jessica. it suddenly became about Jameson and Urich. Which is not why I wanted to read this.

[Anto Tilio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loco, aguante Jessica!!!
Me gustó el primer volumen de The Pulse, se mete de lleno en el mundo periodístico centrado en todo lo que pasa entre los mutantes, super héroes y villanos de Marvel.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pulse feels like Marvel's take on Gotham Central. The Pulse takes its name from the Daily Bugle's new section that focuses on superhero news. Jonah Jameson, who anyone even remotely familiar with the Spiderman universe would recognize as the publisher/editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, despises superheroes and views them as reckless vigilantes, but as readership declines he decides to take an uncharacteristic risk. Jameson hires Jessica Jones to get the stories. Jameson figures that as a superhero, she will be able to get some inside information to pass along. Jones takes the job to provide some stability for her family as her boyfriend Luke Cage fights crime and Jessica reveals that she is pregnant. This volume focuses on a body found floating in a Central Park reservoir. Well, that's the story this issue follows, but it spends almost an equal time on Jessica Jones in general. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but she isn't that interesting of a character and really doesn't contribute anything of importance to either solving or covering the case. She's just at the office while other people talk about it. Considering that this is only volume one and I assume the writers were still getting their footing, it was a pretty good book. The case is interesting and unravels into some pretty good action. In regards to the art work, I have only one complaint. Overall, the art is solid, nothing ground breaking or awe inspiring, but it is solid. My issue is with Luke Cage. Sometimes, he looks like Taye Diggs and then he'll pop up a couple of pages later and all of a sudden he looks like a very angular drawing of Laurence Fishburne. It wasn't a big, distracting thing, but it did bother me, especially since all five issues have the same artist. I mentioned Gotham Central as a comparison before and I feel that The Pulse is much better. Gotham Central focused on the Gotham Police Department dealing with super-villains the best that they could, but is put a lot of focus on building the character of multiple officers. The Pulse is much more focused, with only Jessica Jones and Ben Urich as "main" characters and we didn't sacrifice the stereotypical action that we've come to expect from superhero comics. It's always fun to see a different side of the Marvel Universe and the Spiderman universe has plenty of notable people to interact with. I look forward to seeing where they went with this.
A little bonus for The Pulse is that Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are getting Netflix series in the future and I for one still don't know too much about them, so it's a nice crash course.

[Callum · Rating 4 out of 5]

The continuation of Jessica Jones' story after Alias Vol. 4. Faced with the knowledge that she will have to soon raise a family Jessica seeks employment with The Daily Bugle, putting up with the rancor of J. Jonah Jameson, as a consultant on their new super-hero coverage entitled The Pulse. Heavy drama ensues as the Green Goblin is implicated in the death of one of the Bugle's reporters.

Bendis continues to please with Jessica's journey through adulthood, this time bringing on more guest stars and shining a new perspective on Marvel's super-powered world. I have to say that I love Jessica's character and I am saddened to know this series continued for only two more volumes. Though she is a recurring character in the New Avengers, only the most recent issue really made good use of her and I worry that she will be either idly tossed aside for the sake of some Marvel universe plot twist or killed prematurely, preventing her from making the permanent mark on comics that she deserves. No matter what, Bendis has established the possibility of a serious, non blond bombshell female character in a heavily male universe that is infamous for its sexism. Here's hoping that he has started a trend that will continue and that we can see some female writers adding their own spin to the mix!

[Artemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though not as great as Bendis' stellar runs on Daredevil and Alias, this is still a great sequel of sorts to both of those titles. Focused primarily on Daily Bugle, this is a story of outing Norman Osborne as Green Goblin. Even though it uses a woman in refrigerator to get there (google it), it is still otherwise a well-written book. I loved the moment with Luke Cage losing his shirt (who wouldn't?), and it was nice to see Jessica Jones again, even though her role is very minor here.
Definitely recommended!

[Carles Muñoz Miralles · Rating 1 out of 5]

Me pensaba que me encontraría un Gotham Central al estilo Marvel, pero no le llega ni a la suela de los zapatos. Además, el estilo clásico de Bagley pesa como una losa en una serie de enfoque más moderno como esta.

[Gaby G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review at Oh My Books!

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I despise the Green Goblin but seeing Luke Cage in action was great!

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints The Pulse #1-5 (April 2004-November 2004). Terri Kidder needs a big story. As a new employee at The Daily Bugle, she finds that impressing her boss J. Jonah Jameson means going deeper than she’s ever been as a reporter. When she gets a lead about disappearances at Oscorp, Terri sets up a meeting with Norman Osborn…but Terri is about to become the story herself. Norman’s identity as Green Goblin is threatened, and Jameson’s recent hire of Jessica Jones means that his reporters might just have the extra muscle they need…but Jessica and Luke Cage’s pregnancy could be jeopardized by the danger.

Written by Brian Michael Bendis, The Pulse Volume 1: Thin Air is a Marvel Comics superhero book. The series spins out of Jessica Jones solo series Alias when ended with Alias Volume 4: The Secret Origin of Jessica Jones, and features art by Mark Bagley. Issues in this volume were also collected as part of Jessica Jones: The Pulse—The Complete Collection.

I really loved Alias. It was a fun, edgy series in Marvel Comic’s adult MAX line. The Pulse is where I started falling out of love with Brian Michael Bendis. The story (while somewhat interesting) took the fun of Alias and jettisoned it for an all-ages comic without the bite.

The story is largely the exposing of Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin. It was this period of time where it seems like everyone’s secret identity was being exposed. Characters like Daredevil and Spider-Man (not quite yet at this point) were losing their secret identities with the idea that secret identities are foolish…but they are a fundamental aspect of a lot of characters. With Osborn, it feel anticlimactic. The Pulse was a new book, but it feels like Spider-Man really deserved the story that would pump out Osborn’s identity…and it shouldn’t have been a footnote subplot of this series.

My real problem with The Pulse is Jessica Jones. Bendis who created the character turned her from a hard drinking, swearing, trainwreck into a relatively straight-laced balanced character in this series…which takes away her fun. It is all under the guise of “I’m going to be a mom, and I must clean up”, but it doesn’t feel faithful to the character. Jessica Jones becomes every other super hero female even if she doesn’t use her powers…Jessica is neutered.

What I do like about The Pulse is the idea that it is almost a procedural book along the lines of Gotham Central or Bendis’s Powers. With Ben Urich and Kat Ferrell as costars, the book isn’t a traditional superhero book. That is good, but I still think The Pulse would have worked better in the MAX line with more MAX type stories about the gritty underground of superheroes and New York City.

The Pulse isn’t a bad book, but it isn’t what it should be. The Pulse had so much potential, and Bendis failed the characters. The series quickly got sucked into crossover events and storylines that didn’t allow the series to grow as it should have. Bendis squandered both Daredevil and Alias to bring a so-so book to the shelf. The Pulse 1: Thin Air is followed by The Pulse 2: Secret War.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though not a true continuation of Bendis' Alias run, The Pulse does pick up loose threads from the end of that series. Jessica Jones is now in a committed relationship with Luke Cage, and she has resumed employment with the Daily Bugle following her time working for Jameson during "The Underneath" arc of Alias. Jameson has granted veteran reporter Ben Urich a column entitled "The Pulse", and Jessica serves as an investigator to ensure that the superhero perspective is well researched and balanced. The other connections to Alias is tenuous at best - the series isn't really that focused on Jessica Jones, nor is it nearly as violent or crass, nor does it have the brilliantly shadowy forms crafted by Michael Gaydos' expressive paints. No, it's much more of a traditional superhero comic and with Mark Bagley helming the art duties, the shift in tone has never been more apparent.

Still, there is a lot to enjoy with The Pulse. The first volume features Urich and Jessica getting on the wrong side of the Green Goblin, requiring Spider-Man to get in on the action. This represents a much more lighthearted take on the "eyes from the ground" perspective that was originally crafted expertly by Busiek and Ross in their Marvels series. This isn't nearly as good as that, but the sensibilities remain somewhat familiar.

[Just Villanueva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Premise: Jessica Jones is pregnant with Luke Cage's baby and is hired by JJ Jameson to write a column about superheroes with Ben Urich for the Daily Bugle. A murder leads to a case and an old enemy returns.
Review: While I loved Jessica's Jones OG Alias series, I have to say the first volume of the Pulse quickly surpassed it with better panel layout and the move from recycling the same picture over and over again. Aesthetics aside, I also liked how the perspective of this book is spread out between multiple characters: Jessica, Ben Urich, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, and even JJ Jameson. Ben Urich is the breakout character here (and how I miss him in the Netflix shows), while Jessica has evolved from the cursing, alcoholic detective to a more responsible working-mother journalist. Spidey was meh--he hardly did anything that altered the plot, though I did like how he was drawn. And JJ Jameson, who surprisingly is more complex here and a bit less of asshole compared to his usual comic book portrayal. (For those who only knew him as Peter Parker's boss in Tobey Maguire's films, he isn't anywhere near as funny in the comics. The opposite, in fact, but I did sort of like him here. Sort of.) It's a slow build but totally worth it--that final punch in the end by Luke--DANG!

[bruno giordano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me interesó la premisa y definitivamente quiero leer la continuación de esto, aunque voy a tener que esperar debido al orden de lectura que estoy siguiendo.

Pero, el hecho de ver el lado más civil de Marvel siempre me ha llamado la atención. Ver cómo las personas conviven con las diversas comunidades superheroicas, cómo es su día a día. Quizás a algunos les parecerá algo aburrido, pero me parece algo interesante de observar.

Tener a Jessica Jones como una de las protagonistas también es algo bueno, debido a que creo que es uno de los personajes sobre los cuales no se sabe mucho. Su relación con Luke Cage me gustó, me gusta la química que tienen.

Todo lo referente a Osborn también fue interesante. Me dan ganas de leer los cómics que antecedieron a este en lo referente a la guerra del periódico contra Osborn, sobre todo de Ben contra Osborn.

También deberé leer de nuevo en algún momento Secret Wars, ya que no recuerdo mucho de lo que sucede allí, por lo cual estuve algo perdido con los acontecimientos conectados con ese crossover que se mencionan aquí.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complaints first: I did not love the art here, though that might be just because I recently finished Alias and have come to associate that particular visual style with Jessica Jones. Secondly, this is a - we'll say "nicer" - version of Jessica Jones, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but her grit and attitude always made for an interesting and engaging character. That isn't gone here, but the tone is definitely different.

OK, nitpicking over - this is a wonderful start to a series with an engaging premise and delightful characters. The character dynamics are continually interesting, set against a murder mystery, investigative reporting, and flashes of humor.

Bendis tells a good story and I'm excited to read more of this series. It's excellent on a whole bunch of levels.

[Daniel Najac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aunque la historia pueda llegar a ser, en líneas generales, simple, lo que realmente gusta de éste cómic es la relación entre todos esos personajes Marvel y las miguitas que sueltan sobre su pasado. Personajes como Jessica Jones o Luke Cage se me quedan cortos en esta historia pero gracias al material extra ya se dónde encontrar más de esta pareja ("Alias" Jessica Jones). El único pero que no he conseguido rebatir internamente son los primeros planos de las caras de Mark Bagley, de verdad no sé si a más gente le pasará pero yo no puedo con ellos.
En definitiva un muy buen cómic para adentrarse en el mundo Marvel, empaparte de los pasados de ciertos personajes y ansiar más historias que completen ese puzzle mental que éste cómic te ha dejado.

[Amanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is far better than it needs to be. It's compelling and keeps you reaching for the next issue. Ben urich is such an underrated character and he really gets to shine.

My main complaint is with the handling of Jessica Jones. I can't get over how she is drawn, her big doe eyes are completely contradictory to her normal attitude which is altogether not present here. She gets one shining moment of badassery but is otherwise diluted to being the one character trait of pregnant woman. We kept getting hints of trouble in her relationship with Luke cage but it's not explored enough, at least not yet. I'd like to see more of her rough around the edges personality shine through instead of this weird young wide eyed optimist that's painted here.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jessica Jones is pregnant and has been offered a job at the Daily Bugle working alongside Ben Urich.

This is still figuring out what it wants to be, especially in comparison with Alias, but that doesn't stop it from being a lot of fun. I love any comic with J. Jonah Jameson as a major character.

Also the similarities with Dennis Hopeless's much later Spider-Woman: Shifting Gears, Vol. 1: Baby Talk are striking. Both series are about a pregnant super hero named Jessica teaming up with Ben Urich. They have similar tones too.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough Jessica Jones for a series that is supposed to be a continuation of her story. It's also possible I was lukewarm on it because the entire focus for her is her pregnancy, and I couldn't give a shit about babies... It felt cut short, like there were deeper places it could have gone with the Urich plotline with regard to the Green Goblin, but it didn't. Too surface-level, even for a comic, and especially for a comic as well-regarded as The Pulse supposedly is. Here's hoping the following volumes pick up a bit.

[Gad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este cómic me ha encantado. Me ha parecido una historia muy infravalorada y poco conocida para lo entretenida que me ha parecido. Aunque Spiderman es importante en la historia, esta se cuenta desde el punto de vista de Jessica Jones. No está narrada desde el punto de vista de los grandes superheroes de Marvel, y eso es un punto a favor, ya que está visión más cotidiana del universo es muy refrescante. Muy recomendable y fácil de seguir.

[Raymi Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gusta esa idea de ver a los superhéroes del punto de vista de los normis. Ademas de la dinaica de Jessica con el embarazo me parece de lo mas enternecedor. Pero en si, la historio es muy buena. Tiene este aire de misterio que me encanta. Y el dibujo, principalmente por ese en el que Jessica soñaba con su hija, es precioso.