So while I’ve been doing mainly movie character retrospectives for this series, I do want to expand my horizons to include some characters that have appeared before from other media, specifically, live action television and net adaptations of series. So get your bottles of Jim Beam ready, we’re doing a overview on Marvel's female Defender, Jessica Jones.
(Damn it Jessica, did you already empty the bottle!)
The very definition of “issues”, Ms. Jones is a hard drinking, sarcastic, quip throwing private eye who only wishes to forget her past. Said past includes a car accident which orphaned her with superpowers she never wanted, an adopted mother who saw her only as publicity, and an abusive, sadistic mind controlling rapist called Killgrave.
Between two seasons and a team up with the other Marvel Netflix Heroes in the Defenders, Jessica has a fling with Luke Cage, finally stood up against the psychotic Kilgrave, fought ninjas. and finally explored the secrets of her past
Sometimes the best characters come when a publisher tells you you can’t use someone else. Neil Gaiman first proved that when he wanted to revive The Sandman series with the original Sandman. Instead he was told to create a new story and mythology with the name and out came one of the best characters and tales in comic history. I will be doing something associated with this series in the future so keep an eye out for that.
(I think I used The Sandman way too much in this article, but it’s a great series, look it up!)
Simillary, Alias, started out with a different concept and character. Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Mack conceptualized a series staring Jessica Drew. Who was Jessica Drew? The first, of many, Spider-Woman of course! But that’s a whole other can of arachnids.
Bendis was denied the use of Drew however and he had to create a completely new character for the comic and thus, Jessica Jones was born. He honestly thought he got the better end of the bargain considering he would have to break a lot of continuity to make Drew fit into his idea of what Alias was to become.
So there are quite a lot of key differences between the two interpretations of Jessica. In the comics she’s much more interconnected with the heroes of the MC universe. To start of, before the car crash and toxic waste that gave her abilities, Ms. Jones went to the same school as Peter Parker, and of course, stalked him.
(Ah, young love. She does confess her crush to him years later, although Luke wasn’t too happy about it…)
Jessica’s power set after the accident is pretty similar to her Netflix counterpart, except she has one big change. While the show makes use of Jones’ agility to jump very far, in the comics she actually has the ability to fly, albeit with the “bonus” of being unable to land with any dignity intact. Still, Jessica’s true superpower is still shown! Her mouth. Considering this was published in Marvel’s adult in-print, expletives flowed like water with even Thor commenting on her...vocabulary.
(Be warned people, there’s too many great pics NOT to share so this might be a image heavy post!)
So of course she decides to be a superhero! When one has superpowers, that’s just what you do, right? And a name! Jewel, because....it's nice?! Of course being in New York means you’ll know all the other superheros and thus she and Carol Danvers became besties. Life was great!
(Look at that costume! Can you imagine Krysten Ritter wearing that?)
Yeah, no. Just like in the series, she met with her nemesis, Killgrave. Although in the comics, he’s a bit more…colorful. Known as the Purple Man because what else would you call yourself with that hue, slim Grimace maybe, this mind controller took Jessica in as his pet for eight months. Unlike the comics however, there really wasn’t any romantic notions involved. He just made her watch every sick and twisted thing he did, while making her beg him to sleep with him.
(Because yes, he is that purple... and Marvel wanted to EARN that Mature rating!)
Because Kilgrave acts like a child, it all came to a head when he he found out Daredevil saved the city so he had Jessica attack the Avengers. No, she didn’t succeed at anything other then sucker punching the Scarlet Witch before Thor hammered her. It took months of therapy, both physical and mental provided by Jean Grey, to get her back on her feet but she was done with heroics, opting instead to open her own detective agency.
In television and other media, the heroes can never be truly happy. Comics, well, sometimes the heroes can find a sort of peace. In her own original series Jessica helped a lot of the heroes of the Marvel universe in her own ways. Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil. And to top it off, she had an active love life with Scott Lang, better known as Ant Man.
Unfortunately, she was also sleeping with Luke Cage at the time who himself was seeing a few other people. This all culminated with her finding out she was pregnant with Luke's child which effectively ended her relationship with Scott.
Around the same time a group of people came forward to ask her to find out if their missing loved ones were done in by the Purple Man, currently in a special prison, who we find out is also someone who can break the fourth wall which he uses to try an explain away all his misdeeds as none of it mattering. They were all comic book characters so they weren't real people, and thus he wasn't really doing anything of consequence in his twisted mind.
Of course he gets out and tries once again to use Jessica for his reign of destruction and sadism. Fortunately, with some help from a trigger that Jean Grey implanted in her mind, Jessica is able to break free of his mind control and knock him out. A couple of times. It was cathartic.
The series ends on a lighter note. She talks with Luke and they decide to have the child together who they name Danielle and their adventures had continued since, in a much more brighter day.
(Look at that! Jessica, happy!)
So that’s the basics of the comic book version of our favorite hard drinking noir detective. Quite a lot of changes happened to bring this hero to the small screen but in all honestly, I do love both versions of the character. However, next time I’m introducing a new type of article where I help introduce people who’ve never been into comics before, to their first series. Stay tuned true believes for Gateway Comics: Moongirl and Devil Dinosaur. Excelsior!
(I’ll end on the Netflix version of the Jewel outfit….that Jessica never wore thank god.)
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_(Vertigo)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Jones
