If you’re like me, you’re excited to see Peggy Carter star in her own mini-series starting this month. But Peggy isn’t the only Marvel woman to headline her own television series. Sometime later this year, Jessica Jones will follow Daredevil as Marvel’s second series on Netflix in A.K.A. Jessica Jones, starring Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter as Luke Cage.
I was somewhat familiar with Jessica Jones from her in Bendis’ Daredevil run and then hanging around with Luke Cage in the New Avengers – but I had never read her series Alias from Marvel’s defunct MAX line of “explicit” comics. Since Marvel hasn’t released digital copies, I purchased the omnibus on Amazon.com. Here’s what I thought – first without spoilers and then with a few spoilers.
Spoiler-Free
Is Alias worth the purchase? Definitely! Outside of her appearances in Daredevil and New Avengers, Jessica Jones isn’t the most interesting character, but after reading this series, I can see why Marvel/Netflix chose to adapt her into her own series.
Her series is quite unique to Marvel – it feels more like an indy character piece – but it does help humanize and ground the comic experience and should provide an interesting lens for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Without giving too much away (read further for that) – the story is about a former superheroine who quits using her powers and wearing a costume because of a traumatic experience and becomes a private investigator instead. Brian Michael Bendis created the character with a backstory that interacts frequently with the Avengers.
In addition to fitting well in the dark and gritty world of Daredevil, the premise could also be fit well with whatever happens in Captain America: Civil War – as her story helps examine the effects of powers, costumes, and secret identities on one’s daily life.
Michael Gaydos’ art in Alias plays well for the story – it works well with a story that is somewhat darker, more character driven, with less action and more dialogue. There’s some nice switches in art that go with the story too. For instance, Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man partner Mark Bagley often draws the more colorful and heroic flashbacks of Jessica Jones’ origin and former life as Jewel.
For those interested in the mature aspects of the series, Jessica Jones does have quite the potty mouth and copes with her traumatic experience through alcohol and sex, but I didn’t find anything gratuitous and felt it worked well for the character and the story.
The omnibus covers all 28 issues. Some highlights include: revealing her origin and traumatic experience, how she hooked up with Luke Cage, some good interactions and relationship drama with Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel), a flight with Scott Lang/Ant-Man, interesting interactions with J. Jonah Jameson, and some real interesting commentary on gay rights and being true to yourself and those around you.
The omnibus is now available for
40% off on Amazon and worth the purchase – the enlarged size works well with the series.
Now for the spoilers…
The big question I wondered was what exactly happened to Jessica Jones. It’s the unique premise that follows the series throughout its run – and isn’t answered until the end, which isn’t really a bad thing. We’re not exactly sure what happened to Jessica Jones because she doesn’t want to share with, and she doesn’t want to cope with it.
In the end, we learn she was sexually abused by Purple Man – and not through a direct sexual assault but actually worse. Purple Man’s power is that his body creates pheromones which allow him to control people’s actions. He uses this to enslave Jessica Jones for eight months, watch him assault college girls, beg for him to assault her, and then attack the Avengers. Throughout the series, Jessica Jones copes through drinking and sex. By the end of the series, she is forced to face her past head-on with family members of some of Purple Man’s victims ask her to confront him in prison. Just her luck, he is released the next day. She and then Daredevil re-capture him.
I also wondered how Jessica Jones and Luke Cage get together – and it’s much more realistic than some of your typical “love stories.” Jessica hooks up with Luke Cage while drunk and then regrets it after her friend Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel) tells her he’s a “cape-chaser.” Their friendship is also a highlight – as it is riddled with the mistrust that is too true in real-life relationships.
Toward the end of the series, Jessica Jones starts dating Scott Lang, who is quite a nice guy but then is sort-of killed by Purple Man (he returns somehow in later comics). It’s around this time, and at the end of the series, that Jessica Jones finds out she has been pregnant with Luke Cage’s baby. There then somewhat stuck with each other but also much closer after Jessica confides in Luke about what happened to her with Purple Man.
Unlike some runs, the final story pays off – but the stories leading up are good too as Jessica becomes a compelling backdrop to explore how concepts like superpowers, secret identities, and mutants affect daily life.
Again, check out the omnibus on Amazon.