- Printed
under Marvel’s Max imprint, meaning it is not for children!
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Jessica Jones is shown as an average school girl (and drawn as such) who has a crush on Peter Parker, who is too busy with a crush on the prettier Liz Allen to notice her. The art is used well here, intentionally resembling the work of Steve Ditko, the artist who first drew Spider-man, as it is purposefully a flash back to this exact time period and scene. She is then scene masturbating to a picture of the human Torch, of the Fantastic Four, when her brother walks in to her embarrassment. (Making her seemingly more relatable and real). The next day in the car on a trip to Disneyworld, her brother teases her for this, causing an argument between the siblings in the back seat distracting their dads driving causing him to crash into ‘experimental material,’ probably radioactive, an almost mickey take of the overused-way Marvel give their heroes powers, but none the less fits into this world. This kills her family and send her into a coma. Upon awakening Jessica returns to her normal life being bullied at school. After running home upset that Peter only now talks to her, in pity, she realises she is in the air, flying. She falls into the ocean when Thor saves her. (Note here the importance of Thor being male). He then says “young maiden of Midgard, thy language leaves something to be desired” after she curses trying to catch her breath. Thor saves her, but still insults her before leaving abruptly.
We come to the present (where the art is more realistic and
gritty in the sense of anatomy, colour and clothing), when Jessica gets a phone
call from ‘The Purple Man’s (Killgrave)” victim’s families asking her for a
favour, she looks horrified and throws up. She goes to meet the families and
they ask her to make Killgrave admit to all the murders he committed by taking
over people’s minds, and not just the ones he was found guilty of. She agrees
due to the families hopeful stares. She wakes up to find she was at Luke Cage’s
house, drunk, threw up all over herself and made a fool of herself at his
house, hurting is feelings in a drunken rant. She goes on to tell her why
exactly she quit being a superhero.
Jessica tells of when she was the superhero Jewel, (the art
now in the classic style of Marvel comics), when she attempted to sort out a
fight he caused he grasps her in his mind control, ordering her to remove her
clothes. She is about to, before he then orders her to ‘take care of the police
that are arriving”, as he wants to enjoy his meal. Unable to do otherwise,
without freewill, she does so. He keeps
her for eight months, where though he never raped her, he tortured her mentally
through humiliation. He would (in the words of Jessica) “he made me fucking
stand there and watch him fuck other girls. Telling me to wish it was me.
Telling me to cry while I watched...He would make me beg him for it. He would
just sit there and at his request I would beg him for it, I would beg him to
fuck me, I would beg him ‘till I cried...Eight months. I lay at his feet. I
slept on his floor. I bathed him.” The evil villain told he did this in revenge
for when other heroes had defeated him in the past, this was his revenge on the
superhero. Her family and friends didn’t
even realise she was gone for this time.
Back to the superhero and colourful illustrations show The
Purple man telling Jessica to “put on her stupid fucking slut costume” and kill
the Avengers, or “ any costume fuck” who gets in her way.
She unwillingly and uncontrollably heads to the Avengers
Mansion, and after knocking out the Scarlet Witch, is attacked by the
Avengers. The Scarlet Witches’ partner
Vision punches her in the face, just before Warbird (note a female Superhero)
saves her and carries her away before the Avengers can do any more damage.
Jessica says her “neck was messed up. My nose was broken. Lost some teeth. I did
some damage to my spine, and my retina detached.” Sending her into a coma shes
says doctors said it was brought on more
by the mental trauma than physical. “The Purple man mind fuck. The Avengers
assbeating. The physical stress of the whole thing.”
This shows that when all the male Avengers went to attack Jessica, with an angry violent husband punching her, it was only the female member Warbird who saved her from them, who did the right thing. It also doesn’t shy away from violence. Average comics (especially Marvel) show violence so regularly without consequence it becomes the norm. Here, one punch from a superhuman had devastating effects. Even earlier in the comic Thor simply pulled her out the water, not really comforting her or staying long to see if she was alright, showing a somewhat cold and half-arsed view of the male superhero. On the subject on gender, in is psychic hero Jean Grey (could have been male hero Charles Xaiver, who has the same power) but it is female hero Jean Grey who helps Jessica out of the coma. When she awakes, Jean tells her she has gotten rid of all traces of The Purple Man’s mind control, and that Daredevil has got The Purple man behind bars.
She then turns up to the Avengers mansion, to apologize for
her actions when Scarlet Witch (female heroine) says sympathetically, “well you
were hardly to be blamed for that,” while the male heroes involved in the
confutation remain quite, their body language looking uncomfortable at her
presence. Perhaps unable to admit their wrong doing in a violent attack against
the innocent Jessica. Nick Fury, offers her a job at S.H.I.E.L.D, saying
“You’re perfect for it, what you went through..and you came out the other side
in one piece?.. You’re a survivor, and a fighter, and we need you on our team.”
These words could echo to an audience
who have been through difficult times of mental and or physical stress to give them
compliment, and applaud their strength, and even find Jessica more relatable
than she already is; a girl who was over looked in high school, fantasying
about good looking members of the opposite sex, arguing with her little
brother, sexually oppressed and humiliated by men, drinks to cope with bad
memories. She is also often lacked sympathy from her ‘heroes’ and question
whether their always doing the right thing, something many people find when
looking up at their childhood heroes; everyone’s human. .She is not only relatable for women, but
also men could find alot of these qualities relatable.
She refuses Fury’s offer, asking if it’s a ‘pay off’ and doubting his saying of she has what it takes, saying “did you see what happened to me, that is the result of having the opposite of what it takes.” showing insecurity, self blame and even more relatable qualities people feel when their down. She quits the superhero gig, and hangs up her costume.
We come back to present day, where she just finishes
explaining this to Luka Cage, her former lover. He says he will take care of
this Purple man thing, what the victims families have asked her to do (being
the caring and protective man that he is.) She says she has to do it, and he
respects that; “good for you.”
In a creepy confrontation with the Purple man (in jail) the
Purple man seems well aware he is in a comic book, constantly breaking the fourth wall. “Well if it isn’t my favourite comic book character of all time.”
He even goes on to describe the panels as they are layed out. “Interior shot.
Jail. Day. Jessica Jones...the ex-costumed super-hero, now private eye, comes
face-to-face with her greatest foe, her worst nightmare...the Killgrave, the
Purple Man. Tight shot on Jessica. She stares blankly, Trying not to give
Killgrave the satisfaction of how much this confrontation is getting to her,
But her eyes are glassy with held back tears. Her quivering lip betrays her.”
All of this is identical to the comic page layout, apart from the expression of
Jessica’s face. She doesn’t look scared or intimidated by the Purple Man
anymore. In a uncomfortable few sentences the Purple man says “I wouldn’t flip
to the back of the book, something really bad is going to happen to you
Jessica. I wouldn’t turn to the end. Something really terrible happens.” She
doesn’t get the confession she came for.
Upon returning home she finds out that there has been a break out of a maximum security prison and the Purple Man has escaped. Soon the Purple man has the street in a ful scale riot after he demands everyone to kill each other. Jessica is present, and though the Avengers are there, it is a psychic projection of Jean Grey that tells Jessica there is a psychic trigger in her mind that can make her immune to the Purple Man’s orders, all she has to do is choose to switch it on. She dose, and when thePurple man demands she break Captain America’s back “Do it now whore!” She punches the Purple Man in the face, and beats him senseless, to which the Avengers compliment her, “Oh my god, Oh my Jessica! You did it! Look at you” as she cries over Warbird’s shoulder, seemingly thinking that these violent actions shouldn’t be so well congratulated, and maybe the ‘World’s Mightiest Heroes” are a bit too comfortable with these horrific acts of violence, or perhaps she cries because revenge didn’t give her the satisfaction she had hoped for, and it didn’t make the pain go away. Perhaps both?
The story
concludes with Jessica telling Luke she is pregnant (something that has been hinted
at, and that Luke is the father, but not before he has already told her he’s
developed emotional feelings for her. Luke appears happy at the news, asks her
is she wants to keep it to which she says “Very, very, very much.” He responds
“alright then, New Chapter.” This scene is drawn and uses colour, location,
dialogue and expression including body language to make the scene the right
amount of awkward, touching, and relatable to anyone who’s had to tell someone
how they feel about them, and putting those fragile yet strong emotions free to
their knowledge hoping for the same in response, and how tense and happy that
atmosphere can feel, like butterflies in the stomach.
This comic is
incredible. The art is reminiscent of the time period of comics that is meant to
be set in, making the character of Jessica feel like she has always existed in
the Marvel universe and she has simply always been overlooked, just as she is
throughout the comic by all except Luke Cage, Jean Grey and Warbird. The art
during her superhero days looks more sexist in terms of body structure and anatomy
of Jessica, perhaps a dig at the sexist view of women in popular superhero
comics, or the view in which The Purple Man see’s her. Though I would argue The
Purple Man doesn’t see Jessica as a object of sexual desire, despite him
calling her “Pretty,” but more of a object he wants to hurt as she labels
herself a superhero, and it is his hate for crime fighters that makes him want
to subdue, mentally and physically torture, and belittle her, (hence constantly
calling her a “slut” or “whore” and making her his slave, but never have sex
with her, despite making her beg for it.) I think this shows The Purple Man
hates Jessica, not for who she is, but what she stands for as a superhero, and
because of his past defeats by crime fighters wants to make himself feel better
by making one admire him in every way.
It confronts the violence so passively used in comics, by
showing its devastating effects. It also shows is a rare comic that shows a
female lead who is character full, relatable, not sexist in any way and defeats
the oppressing male villain. Karen Healey writes in her essay titled The Secret Origins of
Jessica Jones: Multiplicity, Irony and a Feminist Perspective on Brian Michael
Bendis’s Alias that:
“Jessica’s
final triumph over Killgrave is enabled by Jean [Grey]’s act of sisterhood and
activated through her own agency. Moreover, Killgrave’s prophecy that
“something really bad will happen to you” is denied. Jessica’s secret origin
insertion into continuity is not punished, but redeemed by her win. Jessica’s
victory, then is not only satisfying in the comic book terms of good triumphing
over evil, but a symbolically feminist blow against the controlling,
all-knowing patriarchy in suitably superheroic terms.”
I agree
with Healey on this point, though I would like to have seen Jessica to pick up
her Superhero mantle once again, and not let it be ruined by The Purple Man’s
villainy, because then, ultimately, he won. He got rid of one more superhero in
the world. Yes Jessica is still a private eye and helps people, and arguably
this end shows that the male’s view and representation of women in the
mainstream media can seriously damage women’s confidence and create perverse
demented men who expect women to do whatever they say. Perhaps the villain of
The Purple Man is meant to be a metaphor. But I would have loved to see Jessica
Jones be strong enough to overcome his evil and re-take up the mantle of Jewel.
Though it is a very arguable (and a good, valid point) that it was not The
Purple Man that made her quit, but more the overly violent, “attack first as
questions later” actions of her would be co-workers The Avengers that lost her
faith in Superheroes. Roz Kaveny writes in Superheroes!
Capes and crusaders in comics and film “The Superhero world failed to save
her, and then it nearly killed her....healing takes time and not conveniently
at the end of a three dollar issue.”
I had
heard of Jessica Jones before, but never really looked into her story as I
wasn’t as interested in detective stories as much as superhero ones, (which is
partly why I’d like to see Jessica’s return as Jewel.) I understand that these
two genre’s of detective stories and superhero ones cross over alot, (in such
characters as Rorschach and even Batman being labelled The world’s greatest detective!
starting out in detective comics. But would audience’s read Batman’s comic’s if
never put the cowl on and solved cases and Bruce Wayne? Was it not the moral
ambiguity and wearing of the cowl that made him different and exciting?) But
perhaps superheroes are so over-done that Jessica’s story is reverting to the
old ways of no masks, as it’s more original these days. But maybe it’s my
narrow-mindedness that I’d rather have a costumed super powered crime fighter
in stories and not the fault of this extremely well thought about, relatable,
strong character in Jessica Jones.
Kaveny
states that “Jessica’s arc has to do with her accepting she is a flawed human
being, whether she identifies as a superhero or not, which is to say that she
moves towards the complexity of life in Marvel, and away from the shiny
idealism of her earlier shinier model of being a superhero (Jewel) which was
partly a critique of Marvel’s early days, and even more of a critique of their
major rival DC.” Understanding Kaveny’s point, I would still like to see to see
Jewel back in action, dealing with these conflicted emotions, disliking the
Avengers and mainstreams heroes, constantly uncertain of if what she does (and
superhero-ing in general) is right, and attempting to deal with super-villians
in a more defensive than aggressive manor, and seeing where that could lead our
heroine. Dose this give her conflict with heroes when they fight villains,
making her not on either side but better than both? Is she strong enough not to
loose her temper when fighting villains that have harmed those close to her
(like The Vision did when she attacked his wife the Scarlet Witch?) This would
be interesting to see such a powerful hero with a wider gaze of right and
wrong, and unsure guideline to follow, leading her to sometimes going toe to
toe with the heroes. Part of the appeal of superhero comics is the colourful
costumes and extraordinary powers, people doing incredible things and I
personally feel she should become this new kind of hero who can embody these
things and dislike superheroes despite being one. It would be something
audiences haven’t scene and give her this self loathing but complicated relationship
with herself, a duty to do what is right but hating herself for doing it. But
perhaps this would make her less relatable, and the thing most people would
really do is walk away from that style of life if all it does is let you down
and disappoint you.
After
such an engaging, original (apart from her typical power of strength, invulnerability
and flight) character that has such a thought provoking and well written origin
story and terrifying and unlikeable arch-villian, I would love to see Jessica
Jones, and even Jewel, have a future series in the Marvel Universe, and with a Television
show confirmed, that looks extremely possible.
Michael Bendis, B. (2008) Alias: Volume 4: The Secret Origin of Jessica Jones. New York:
Marvel Comics, 2004.
Roz Kaveny (2008) Superheroes!
Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Film I.B Tauris & Co Ltd. Great Britian
Michael Bendis, B. (2008) Alias: Volume 4: The Secret Origin of Jessica Jones. New York:
Marvel Comics, 2004.
Healy, K. (2006) Available at: http://girl-wonder.org/papers/healey.html
(Accessed on: 16/10/2014)
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