Jessica Campbell Jones

Publication history

Jessica Jones debuted in the Marvel MAX-imprint series Alias, (which bears no relation to the TV program of the same name). The character and series were created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos. Alias ran for 28 issues from 2002 to 2004, with most covers drawn by David Mack. Jones and other characters from the series moved to Bendis' subsequent series, The Pulse.
In a 2005 interview Bendis claimed that "[o]riginally, Alias was going to star Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman), but it became something else entirely. Which is good, because had we used Jessica it would have been off continuity and bad storytelling". Previously, Bendis commented "I was at one time toying with doing Jessica Drew [in Alias] because she has the best hair of any superhero in comics, but this book is entirely different than what that idea was to be." Although both statements make clear that Drew was a part of Bendis' earliest conception of Alias, by the time he was actively developing the title, Jones was his central character, one with a distinct background and voice from Drew.
In a Marvel Comics podcast Bendis expressed his desire to incorporate Jones into the parallel-universe Ultimate Marvel imprint. In Ultimate Spider-Man #106 she appears as a senior at Peter Parker's school.

Fictional character biography

Origin

Introduced in the Marvel Universe as a retcon character, Midtown High student Jessica Campbell was present when Peter Parker was bitten by the irradiated spider that gave him his powers. She had a crush on him, and had just plucked up the courage to speak to him when he was distracted by the bite. Jessica also had a celebrity crush on teen heart-throb Johnny Storm.
Soon thereafter, Jessica was riding in a car with her family when they collided with a military convoy carrying radioactive chemicals. Her family was killed and, after spending several months in a coma, she was placed in foster care and adopted by the Jones family. Months later she awoke, stirred by the first coming of Galactus outside her hospital room.
Jessica later discovered that the radioactive materials she was exposed to in the accident had granted her super-strength, limited invulnerability, and flight (which she never fully mastered). The Joneses re-enrolled Jessica at Midtown High, where she was ostracized by her classmates, especially Flash Thompson. Peter Parker (who had since become Spider-Man) sensed in Jessica a kindred spirit — someone who had also lost family due to a tragic circumstance. Jessica mistook his kind attention and lashed out at him, believing he was merely pitying her. At that time she found out she had super-powers.

Heroic career

Promotional art for cover of Alias #28. Art by David Mack and Mark Bagley.

As Jewel, Jessica was an upstart heroine with a fairly uneventful career until she intervened in a disturbance at a restaurant involving longtime Daredevil foe Zebediah Killgrave, the Purple Man. Killgrave effortlessly placed Jessica under his mental control, a situation that would continue for several months. Though she wasn't sexually assaulted herself, Killgrave enslaved and humiliated Jessica, forcing her to watch as he raped a succession of college coeds whom he had abducted and mind-controlled for his amusement. Killgrave also forced Jessica to beg him to have sex with her, often until she broke down in tears, only to deny her, as a form of psychological abuse. After eight months under his control, Jessica began to lose the distinction between his will and her own, developing a kind of Stockholm Syndrome.
In the midst of a temper tantrum, the Purple Man sent Jessica to kill Daredevil, erroneously directing her to the Avengers Mansion. Since Daredevil is not an Avenger, Jessica attacked the first hero she saw there in a red costume — the Scarlet Witch. The mind-control began to wear off and Jessica attempted to flee, but she was caught and received a severe beating at the hands of the Vision (the Scarlet Witch's then-husband), and Thor. She escaped death due to the intervention of the only Avenger who actually knew her, Carol Danvers, who took her to safety.
Jessica remained in a coma for months, under the care of S.H.I.E.L.D., while also undergoing psychic therapy with Jean Grey of the X-Men. In addition to assisting her emergence from the coma, Grey placed a special mental command in Jones' subconscious that would protect her from further mind control. During this time Jessica developed a doomed romantic relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Clay Quartermain, who would prove to be a valuable friend and contact for her later in life.
The intensely violating nature of her experience with Killgrave, combined with the fact that no one noticed she had been missing for eight months, forced a demoralized Jessica to give up being a costumed superhero.
Jessica tried being a superhero one final time before giving up, adopting a darker identity as the Knightress. Intercepting a crime meeting between the Owl and a mafioso, she met up with fellow superhero Luke Cage. After defeating the Owl and his goons, she discovered that one of the thugs had brought his children with him. Jessica Jones took off her mask and revealed her identity to the cops so that they would allow her to look after the children for the night. Luke Cage went to her home later that night and the two had a long talk, the first step towards a lasting friendship.

Private Eye

Main article: Alias (comics)
Jessica Jones, now no longer a superhero, opened a private detective agency, and, given her background, was sought out by clients with superhero connections. Despite her wishes to leave the superhero life, she found herself repeatedly drawn back into it. Longtime friend Carol Danvers set Jessica up with her fellow Avenger Scott Lang (the second Ant-Man), and the two dated for several months. She also had an off-and-on affair with Luke Cage, which led to her becoming pregnant.
Having escaped from high-security incarceration, Killgrave was now obsessed with Jessica and attempted to break her spirit by making her experience her worst nightmares — that she had walked in on both Lang and Cage in bed with her friend Carol Danvers. This time however, the mental defenses Grey had given her allowed Jessica to free herself from his control. She knocked him out and he was recaptured.
In the final issue of Alias, Jessica revealed to Luke that she was pregnant with their child. Luke, elated, admitted his strong feelings for her, and the two entered into a committed relationship.

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