Alias Investigations - Jessica Jones Appreciation

[Frontier]

The nice thing about Jessica is that she's not JUST Lukes Lois Lane or Mary Jane though. She's a character that's very intricate to Cages life now, to the point where she's usually part of the package, yet she's also a character indepenent of him to the degree that writers can tell Jessica Jones stories without Cage. I think you can argue this is the best handled comic book marriage or even comic book relationship at marvel.

It probably helps that Bendis was given a lot of leeway to develop the relationship (as he's generally given quite a bit of leeway) and that there wasn't a big editorial opinion against the marriage like the Superman and Spider marriages.

Though I think MJ can and has been just as independent, with her own life, career, and aspirations separate from Peter, she's just still ultimately a supporting character and original a love interest so there hasn't really been a showcase of that compared to Jessica having Alias (her own solo).

[XPac]

It probably helps that Bendis was given a lot of leeway to develop the relationship (as he's generally given quite a bit of leeway) and that there wasn't a big editorial opinion against the marriage like the Superman and Spider marriages.

Though I think MJ can and has been just as independent, with her own life, career, and aspirations separate from Peter, she's just still ultimately a supporting character and original a love interest so there hasn't really been a showcase of that compared to Jessica having Alias (her own solo).

With all due respect to Cage, he wasn't Superman or Spider-Man. He was a relatively low profile character (at the time at least... you can certainly argue that's not the case now) who wasn't really being used at the time. So it wasn't surprising that Bendis in large part could do what he wanted. I'm sure if he wanted Jessica Jones to marry say Wolverine, there would have been a lot more micro management of the issue, if he was even allowed to do it at all.

I know other marriages in the MU have had their problems and I certainly don't wanna derail the thread with those sort of tangents, but I honestly do think marvel supports and beleives in this particular relationship. You can chalk up some of that support to Bendis, but I think this is the one marriage apart from Reed and Sue which will REALLY stand the test of time. The fact that they're relationship is on TV frankly speaks volumes.

[MCBT]

I can certainly say the chemistry between Ritter and Colter worked extremely well.

[gwangung]

That's a good point.

And I think that's part of the reason why comics sometimes don't want their characters to "grow up" so to speak.

Jessica grew as a person... which in a lot of ways is great. She went from a very damaged young woman to a reasonably together wife and mother. On one hand it's great that she was able to overcome her issues and grow as a person. But on the flip side, I think a lot of the baggage which she was able to overcome were in fact some of the things which made her story interesting. I think that's why it's cool seeing old school Jessica on the TV show. Grown up Jessica still has plenty of stories to tell as an ex-super heroine turned mother... but the younger self-destructive Jessica had a certain raw appeal.

Oh, exactly. THose issues are what made her unique and strong as a character. Getting past those issues makes her a stronger person, but a much less interesting character to read about. That story is just about the most important that could happen to her as a character, and that makes anything after that...just stories.

[totalsellout]

i kind of hope the show puts off a definite luke and jessica relationship for at least a season. just because jessica and killgrave are done, doesnt mean she has to immediatley get her shit together. i want to see jess with a matt murdock crush, crashing into lukes window to tell him he's not half the man daredevil is. i want at least a date with paul rudd. as this thread demonstrates, once you pull the married with a baby trigger, jessica gets limited. they can wait a while to do it.

[XPac]

i kind of hope the show puts off a definite luke and jessica relationship for at least a season. just because jessica and killgrave are done, doesnt mean she has to immediatley get her shit together. i want to see jess with a matt murdock crush, crashing into lukes window to tell him he's not half the man daredevil is. i want at least a date with paul rudd. as this thread demonstrates, once you pull the married with a baby trigger, jessica gets limited. they can wait a while to do it.

I'm sort of assuming Paul Rudd is off the table since he's got his own thing with the Wasp. Too bad though... that would have made for some fun cross over stories.

I don't think they're going to rush Jessica and Luke to the alter exactly... but at the same time given how damaged Jessica is relationship wise I don't see her getting too many other love interests. Given the nature of her character she's not the type to date around. Luke is the exception as far as letting people in.

In the last I hope Jessica shows up in Lukes show. I don't wanna wait till Defenders to get more Jessica.

Frankly I almost feel bad for the Cage show. I think Jessica Jones will be a tough act to follow given how freaking awesome Tenant was as Killgrave.

[The Overlord]

I think it would be interesting to make Jessica a PI again, it lets her get involved in noir style stories without being a superhero. There is not much you can do with her if she is only a house wife and really can't she and Luke divide parental responsibilities in regards to their baby? Jessica can make a difference in the world, without being a super hero. Their are many C-list street villains who could easily be made more threatening or compelling and work in a noir style story. Purple Man was kinda of lame before Alias and Jessica talking on different villains and dealing with different street level heroes, dealing with different situations could be very interesting. It could be interesting to see Jessica save someone else's child and feeling good about it while working a case, rather then Jessica's baby getting kidnapped all the time and Jessica having rescue her over and over again.

[XPac]

I think it would be interesting to make Jessica a PI again, it lets her get involved in noir style stories without being a superhero. There is not much you can do with her if she is only a house wife and really can't she and Luke divide parental responsibilities in regards to their baby? Jessica can make a difference in the world, without being a super hero. Their are many C-list street villains who could easily be made more threatening or compelling and work in a noir style story. Purple Man was kinda of lame before Alias and Jessica talking on different villains and dealing with different street level heroes, dealing with different situations could be very interesting. It could be interesting to see Jessica save someone else's child and feeling good about it while working a case, rather then Jessica's baby getting kidnapped all the time and Jessica having rescue her over and over again.

There's a lot of interesting stories you can tell of a PI in a super hero world... the problem being that non-super hero comics usually don't sell well. That's why I think Jessica will be mroe sucesssful on a TV show than she will in comic book form.

[The Overlord]

There's a lot of interesting stories you can tell of a PI in a super hero world... the problem being that non-super hero comics usually don't sell well. That's why I think Jessica will be mroe sucesssful on a TV show than she will in comic book form.

The Walking Dead does really well, there was Gotham Central over in DC and there the other Vertigo and Image titles that are not super hero related.

I think like Gotham Central, she could have a super hero related title, without it being a super hero title. Really there are many street level heroes she can work with on her cases and really there are a lot C-list street level villains she can go against well working cases, a lot of those villains are doing nothing nowadays and many of them have the potential to be compelling.

Also when I read Alias, I get the feeling that Jessica would not be content being a house wife and nothing else, I feel she would want to make the world a better place and help people, but in her own way, rather then being another super hero. That could be her character arc, balancing being a mom, being married to a super hero, but also wanting to contribute to society in her own way. Yes she is not self destructive like she was before, but she can still question her place in the world and be unsure about things and have to deal with some messed up situations.

[juan678]

Jessica Jones by Cameron Stewart

art by marguerite sauvage

[Reality]

The Walking Dead does really well, there was Gotham Central over in DC and there the other Vertigo and Image titles that are not super hero related.

I think like Gotham Central, she could have a super hero related title, without it being a super hero title. Really there are many street level heroes she can work with on her cases and really there are a lot C-list street level villains she can go against well working cases, a lot of those villains are doing nothing nowadays and many of them have the potential to be compelling.

Also when I read Alias, I get the feeling that Jessica would not be content being a house wife and nothing else, I feel she would want to make the world a better place and help people, but in her own way, rather then being another super hero. That could be her character arc, balancing being a mom, being married to a super hero, but also wanting to contribute to society in her own way. Yes she is not self destructive like she was before, but she can still question her place in the world and be unsure about things and have to deal with some messed up situations.

Yeah, I'd be interested enough in the arc of her trying to be independent while also part of a family to buy her book. You could bring in the Purple Children and Purple Girl to highlight the family shift of the character later on, and easily could mine that situation and her backstory/interpersonal issues for years too come.

[XPac]

Yeah, I'd be interested enough in the arc of her trying to be independent while also part of a family to buy her book. You could bring in the Purple Children and Purple Girl to highlight the family shift of the character later on, and easily could mine that situation and her backstory/interpersonal issues for years too come.

I always hoped we'd get a bit more out of Purple Girl once Purple Man's stock started to rise a little bit. I suppose there's still a chance someone down the line can mine that.

Still, I do think some sort of meeting between Jessica and Purple Girl (or even Purple Girls mom) would be kinda interesting.

[juan678]

Netflix’s eventual Defenders lineup art by Jacob Edgar

[The Overlord]

Yeah, I'd be interested enough in the arc of her trying to be independent while also part of a family to buy her book. You could bring in the Purple Children and Purple Girl to highlight the family shift of the character later on, and easily could mine that situation and her backstory/interpersonal issues for years too come.

That's interesting idea for an arc, though I wouldn't use Purple Man and characters related too much, I want to see Jessica deal with different situations and problems.

It would interesting to see Jessica deal with different villains, though not every arc would need a super villain. Though given the fact that Jessica is a mother, it could be interesting to see her invested in saving other people's children. A mother going to her to find her lost child could lead say having to deal the Scarecrow, who in the past was a serial killer who has no problem targeting children. I think if Jess saved a child, she would know she is making the right choices.

[XPac]

The Walking Dead does really well, there was Gotham Central over in DC and there the other Vertigo and Image titles that are not super hero related.

I think like Gotham Central, she could have a super hero related title, without it being a super hero title. Really there are many street level heroes she can work with on her cases and really there are a lot C-list street level villains she can go against well working cases, a lot of those villains are doing nothing nowadays and many of them have the potential to be compelling.

Also when I read Alias, I get the feeling that Jessica would not be content being a house wife and nothing else, I feel she would want to make the world a better place and help people, but in her own way, rather then being another super hero. That could be her character arc, balancing being a mom, being married to a super hero, but also wanting to contribute to society in her own way. Yes she is not self destructive like she was before, but she can still question her place in the world and be unsure about things and have to deal with some messed up situations.

Image and Vertrigo are a bit different than marvel though. But yeah, you can certainly argue Gotham Central works as a comparrison.

I do hope Jessica starts becoming the "go to" PI in the marvel universe. Sort of like how when a super hero needs a lawyer they either get Matt Murdock or Jen Walters. I'd like for Jessica to be the PI of choice if a super hero ever needs a PI for something.

I did sort of like how the TV kind of sold the point that Jessica was a VERY smart PI... but not necessarily a smart super hero. And by that I mean a lot of her plans were pretty terrible... the characters on the show even pointed that out. She'd do an amazing job of finding purple man with her detective skills, but most of her plans for actually dealing with him were pretty flawed. Course, in part that was less the fault of Jessica and more the show really made Killgrave come off very intelligent.