Jessica Jones just walked in on herself. Literally. Sort of. And as confusing as that is, it does appear as though things are getting worse for her. Her problems with mind control had been in the past. That’s what she thought. Now she’s beginning to wonder. Her life gets considerably more confusing in The Variants #2. Writer Gail Simone sends Jessica on a journey through various aspects of the Marvel Universe in distinctly new and interesting ways as she deals with very complex horrors brought to the page by artist Phil Noto. It’s a dizzying look at strange mutations of possibility and probability in a funhouse head trip of a second issue.

It starts with a flashback. Jess is having coffee with Greer at the Cheyenne diner. It wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary were it not for the fact that prayer kind of looks like a human tiger. She’s concerned about Jess. But this is a flashback. Danger awaits when the narrative picks up four years later a couple of pages in. Jess punches herself right in front of her own daughter. It’s been a long time since she was under the influence of Kilgrave. Now she’s wondering just how much of her sanity is real. 

Simone captures interesting bits of psychology and sociology out of the corners of the Marvel Universe. The conversation between Jess and Greer is surprisingly sophisticated for something that doesn’t seem to fit into the central plot all that much. Simone does a brilliant job of cascading the narrative through the fragmented consciousness of somebody who may or may not be losing her mind in and amidst the strange complexities of an infinite multiverse. And then, certain that she might hurt herself or someone else, Jess calls on Jen to protect her (and others), and there’s a considerable amount of levity because...y’know...Jen is She-Hulk. 

Once again, Noto has a clean precision about his art that manages to deliver a very concise look and feel to the page. It’s all so clean and crisp, which clashes beautifully against the murky confusion of the script. There’s wit to Noto’s delivery as well. A full page of Jess punching Jen in the face as hard as she can is a hell of a lot more funny than it probably sounds. Noto has an impressive mastery of subtlety as well. There are like...three different kisses in this issue (three more than appear in most comics), and each one of them has a staggeringly different impact. 

Three more issues left in the series. It’s still pretty confusing as to precisely what is going on. Simone is gazing deeply into the psyche of Jess while Noto is bringing that psyche to the page with a striking clarity of vision. There’s an impressive complexity about it all that also embraces the whole of the Marvel Universe with a tender intimacy. Simone has a deep understanding of what works for Jessica Jones, and she’s bringing that understanding to the page. 

Grade: A+