Alias, Part 5: The Secret Origins of Jessica Jones

[cyberghostface]

So this is the final Alias post, marking the end of the series. The entire series is available in four trade paperbacks (or an oversized omnibus edition) so be sure to check them out if you liked these posts.

Finally, a trigger warning as this story features the Purple Man reimagined as a rapist. Just getting that out there.

#22...

The titular story begins with a flashback to the events of Amazing Fantasy #15, where we see Jessica was sitting on the stairs the entire time pining for Peter.





Establishing her as the Forrest Gump of the Marvel Universe, after later leaving, she's almost hit by a truck carrying hazardous chemicals (the same one that hit Matt Murdock apparently).


(The following was a double-page spread that I cut in half for the 1/3 limit, although it's still pretty easy to see what's happening)





The following two pages were also spreads that I had to show only half of.

In the car with her family, Jessica gets into a fight with her younger brother.



They collide with an army truck.



That cannister, if it's not clear enough, is on Jessica's lap before the car goes off the road. Jessica's entire family is killed, and Jessica goes into a coma.

Six months later, Jessica wakes in the hospital when there's a power surge due to a fight at the Baxter Building outside between Galactus and the Silver Surfer.

Later, Jessica is at a house for wayward children, and the owner tells Jessica that a family called the Jones is looking to adopt her.



#23...

At school, Jessica is picked on the other kids (including Flash Thompson) for being 'Coma Girl'.





As she starts to run, her life flashes before her eyes and...



Of course, Jessica still doesn't know how to work her powers and she ends up in the river and almost drowns when Thor saves her.



Later while watching TV with her stepfather, Jessica asks him why does the public like some superheroes (like the Fantastic Four) and not others (Spider-Man).



Jessica tests her powers, and discover that she's strong enough to push over a tree. She tries to fly again, and she ends up landing on the Scorpion who is currently in the midst of a robbery.





#24 starts off the 'Purple' arc...

Jessica receives a call from a woman named Kim Rourke who is calling behalf on some families who are looking for information on a certain person after being directed by Carol Danvers (they initially called the Avengers Mansion)...Killgrave.






The person talking is Scott Lang, the Ant-Man and Jessica's current boyfriend. He tries to explain that Carol is her friend and is just trying to help, but Jessica runs off.

After listening to the tape recording again, she goes to meet the families of Purple Man's victims.







#25...

Jessica wakes up in her underwear in Luke Cage's apartment. She wants to know what happened, and he says she called him up drunk to tell him that he's not half the man Matt Murdock is and that he can go fuck himself.



Luke Cage wants to know what set her off on the binge, and Jessica eventually tells him.

One night while patrolling the street as Jewel, Jessica encounters the Purple Man after breaking up a fight that he caused some people to get into.





Luke asks Jessica how long he had her, and she tells him that it was eight months. He asked if he made her do anything to him during that time.







Jessica says the horrible thing about is that she couldn't tell what he made her do or what she did on her own.



As she leaves Purple Man's hideout, she feels the effects wearing off her but she's still acting on autopilot and attacks the Avengers, knocking out the Scarlet Witch. Just after she's done it, she's back to normal but is attacked by the Avengers.

#26...







Jean Grey helps Jessica deal with what the Purple Man did to her deal with the conflicting emotions that she feels toward Killgrave (Jessica thinks that Purple Man loved her in his own way) as well as get rid of any traces of the Purple Man's brainwashing. She tells her that Daredevil got Purple Man, that he's in jail and he can't hurt her anymore.

After a few months of physical rehabilitation, Jessica meets the Avengers again. They apologize for what happened to her.









#27...











Jessica goes to the woman who hired her to tell her what happened, but when she gets there the woman is upset and tells Jessica to leave before she calls the police. Jessica sees what's on the television.





She calls Clay Quartermain who tells her to come to him for protection, but she doesn't know if the Purple Man is telling him to do that. She goes to Scott Lang's apartment because she's scared to go in her own.

The next morning, she wakes up to discover that Scott is dead and covered in his own ants.

#28...

As this is the final issue of the series, there's a lot going on and a lot I had to cut out.

Turns out Scott's not dead yet, Purple Man (who was in the room with her the whole time) just wants Jessica to think he is to torment her.

The Purple Man takes her outside, and wants to get the "big guest stars"' attention, so he tells everyone around him to kill everyone they see. Soon there's a full-scale riot. He makes a bit more fourth-wall commentary with this being the "big crossover event".

A psychic projection of Jean Grey appears, and tells Jessica when she initially helped her out, she implanted a psychic defense trigger into her mind in case anything similar happened to her again. But for it to work, Jessica has to turn it on.







Later with Scott, he tells Jessica that it wasn't her fault that Killgrave escaped--Carnage blew up the security system and Purple Man took the chance. He says they went through a lot but they got past it. Looking guilty, Jessica tells him that she's three months pregnant (there's some foreshadowing prior that I had to remove) and when Scott finds out it's not hers, he says goodbye and walks away.

Jessica waits for Luke outside his apartment. He tells her he was going to call her to congratulate her for defeating the Purple Man.

Comments

[hivemindcomics]

:D

[espanolbot]

I do wonder how the tv adaption, AKA Jessica Jones, will handle this. I know that they ARE going to be adapting the story, but that the Purple Man won't literally be purple, as they thought that it wouldn't fit with the tone of the series that they're making.

They also said that it's going to be based in the same universe as the Marvel comicbooks connected to Joss Whedon's Avengers movie... which again leads to more questions. Particularly as the X-Men are owned by Fox (and they aren't going to release the rights back to Marvel's film division, that's why they shove a new movie out every couple of years, whether it has open flaws or not) and Spider-Man/Fantastic Four are owned by Sony (ditto, that's why they are rebooting the franchises instead of returning back to their initial company).

This'll kind of put a lock on their use of Peter Parker and his associated villains, Dardevil, and Jean Grey. But they have confirmed that Luke Cage will be appearing, and if it's in the MovieUniverse it's possible that they could be wibbling things to get Cap to appear, particularly as they have already confirmed that Stark will be involved in the opening episodes in some way.

Whether that means that it'll be Tony that faces the blackmail threat or not, I don't know. But it would kind of make sense, considering RDJ's portrayal of the character and the characterisation of his competitors, such as that twit from the second movie.

[auggie18]

No live action tv Jean Grey? Sadface! Maybe they can get around it by putting her in there and just not referring to her by name or something?

[pyrotwilight]

"I do wonder how the tv adaption, AKA Jessica Jones, will handle this. I know that they ARE going to be adapting the story, but that the Purple Man won't literally be purple, as they thought that it wouldn't fit with the tone of the series that they're making."

They could probably keep the name (Purple Man) if they wanted to and say that his powers cause those he uses it on to have flashes of purple light when getting controlled or when finally becoming free of it.

[cyberghostface]

I heard that he might be a guy in a purple suit.

[pyrotwilight]

Well. That could work too. Though now I feel I over thought it. XD

[darkknightjrk]

I imagine that some of it might be taken out due to it not being important to the story in the grand scheme (like her crush on Peter), or using other characters in the comics in their stead (I'm sure there are more psychics in the 616 then the ones in the X-Men).

[thehood]

Fox has the movie rights for the X-Men, but not the TV rights. Marvel has the tv rights, it's why they have the X-Men in their cartoons.

[featheredserpent]

Thanks for this; This is something I'd actually be interested in getting my hands on, "meta" done right.

[filthysize]

Still LOL at Killgrave smacking his head under a banner that reads "Mr. Bendis' Outlet." No kidding.

[ian_karkull]

The art in the teenage years segment is absolutely gorgeous, but that little kid is definitely doing a trollface impression when he's leaving Jessica's room.
The Purple Man turning so meta during a fairly mundane scene doesn't really work for me, but overall, this is some pretty good rwiting. Hard to believe that this is Bendis before he turned all Bendis-y, as ironic as that seems.

[citygod]

Agree with your meta comment. And that was a shame, because this story is one of Bendis' best.
And that last page is the best thing he's ever written.

[big_daddy_d]

Always enjoy seeing Purple Man get his ass handed to him. So satisfying. Otherwise, love this series. Love the end. Jessica became one of my favorite new characters in Marvel.

[donnblake]

One of the really loathsome Absolute Monsters in Marvel, tis true.

Though I have to admit it'd be interesting to see someone with Killgrave's powers who wasn't a complete monster, but couldn't turn it off.

[lieut_kettch]

So is Kilgrave's fourth wall breaking actual, Deadpool/Ambush Bug level awareness, or just a delusion? Because I'd love to see what happens when he comes in contact with Wade.

[filthysize]

It's left ambiguous. He never actually says anything that suggests he has actual awareness like Wade or Ambush Bug, so it could easily be explained as a delusion.

Strictly speaking, he never even broke the fourth wall, because he doesn't engage the audience.

[arise]

Going to have to hunt down the trades for this as a late Christmas present for myself, I think! Didn't even realise it was Bendis until I reached the tags.

The Purple Man bits are chilling - usually I shrug off fictional creepy predators (I guess Law and Order and Criminal Minds desensitised me), but ugh *shudder*

[kusonaga]

While this is good stuff, Purple Man's fourth wall breaking is unnecessarily pretentious.

[darkknightjrk]

I don't get Purple Man's quansi breaking the forth wall thing at all. Either Bendis is trying to write him like a schizophrenic or he's trying to make some point that's completely lost on me.

Also, anyone else who was reading this as it came out or through the scans assume that there was going to be a twist that her quitting superheroing was part of Purple Man's suggestions?

[thehood]

That isn't breaking the 4th wall, he doesn't speak to the audience. It's medium Awareness.

And no, her quitting was her choice.