Jessica Jones is surrounded by alternate versions of herself, but the mind behind the whole scheme is about to reveal herself. Can even Jessica overcome her selves? Your Major Spoilers review of The Variants #4 from Marvel Comics awaits!

THE VARIANTS #4

Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Phil Noto
Colorist: Phil Noto
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 26, 2022

Previously in The Variants: Every time a Variant arrives, Jessica loses a little piece of herself. But someone is trying to take EVERYTHING SHE HAS.

How can Jessica fight back against an enemy who claims to actually BE her?

A MONSTER IN MIND

With three alternate versions of herself now in residence, Jessica has sent her family away to protect them, worried that a hypnotic trigger set by Zebediah Killgrave is about to turn her into a murderous drone. Her alt-selves try to get her to make a plan, but the dark-and-angry Omega Jessica instead sends her into a full-blown panic attack and straight into the arms of… ANOTHER Jessica Jones. This variant is still The Knightress and believes that one of the others is actually behind Ms. Jones’s recent woes, but she has an answer: Ask Luke for a certain phone number… on Krakoa. With her four other selves standing watch, Jessica Prime delves into the depths of her own mind to confront the Killgrave in her head. Once she’s face-to-face with her former tormentor, she lets the other shoe drop.

That phone number was for Wolverine. And now, Killgrave’s mind-self has to stand against one of the pillars of the Marvel Universe… PROFESSOR X.

YOU HAVE TO FORGIVE

Simone’s script is once again full of charm and personality, giving each alt-Jess her own voice and distinct personality. Jewel is especially kind and sweet, having never faced the horror of the Purple Man, while Omega is still embroiled in her own trauma, and Captain America Jessica uses her natural leadership talent to keep everyone on track. Noto’s art is truly impressive in these pages, as most of the cast has the same face but still manages to remain distinct. The cameos of Luke Cage and the Daughters of The Dragon are striking, but it’s the full-page arrival of Charles Xavier on the mental plane that really blows my mind here. The twin reveals at the end of the issue are equally shocking, in different ways, and the final page reveal that things are even more dire than they seemed leaves me super-excited for the final chapter of this excellent mini-series.

BOTTOM LINE: A KILLER CLIFFHANGER

The Variants #4 manages to walk a very fine line, examining the various eras of Jessica Jones in a way that deepens the emotional connection to her previous appearances and even shows some progression towards healing from the abuse that defined her, with truly lovely Noto art and coloring pulling together for 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. I recommend you track down all four issues before number five comes out. You won’t regret it.

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THE VARIANTS #4

93%

93%

Excellent Comic Entertainment

Aside from some minor issues in coloring that make a certain sequence confusing, this issue stands as a great single issue experience and a really effective setup for the final issue's conflict.

Professor X has seldom seemed this cool.

• Writing

  9
• Art

  10
• Coloring

  9
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0