By: Omar A., Grade 11
Of course, that is expected considering that this comic is inspired by crime and noir fiction, so that itself is not something “new,” but for it to be in Marvel, and for this character to be connected to the Avengers and the “typical” image of the superhero.
So, the reading experience feels new, if that makes sense.
Yet, despite her unfriendly exterior, she is still a caring human with the same seed for helping people that the average superheros have; she doesn’t not believe in superheros, but she doesn’t believe in herself being an actual one.
She still needs money so it’s not like she does stuff for free, but she frequently helps those who need help, such as the adopted daughter of J. Jonah Jameson, a known critic of superheroes and biased journalistic, so despite their disagreements, she still wanted to help her, even though it was immensely dangerous, as seen in volume 3, my personal favorite volume of the series.
So really she is a victim of circumstance, which doesn’t seem to affect normal superheroes, who get frequently changed or retconned — so that consistency with her experiences being a force that she has to reckon with and the ensuing PTSD.
But it doesn’t go all out, thankfully. One of my least favorite elements of books is excessive violence, gore or disturbing material, only being added in for the sake of shock value or to make the material target a different audience even if the story doesn’t need such an audience to be complex and effective, if that makes sense.
But the book still doesn’t shy away from dark and sensitive topics which add a whole other edge to the character that the readers could use to empathize with her and understand her pain. So it could balance that by being gritty and dark but not being so excessively dark and depressing that one might get bothered or eye-roll their way through the book.
Lastly, her relationship with other characters.
Jessica Jones doesn’t frequently meet high profile characters like Spider-Man or something. Really it almost seems like she had a tight circle of friends that have defined those she could depend on throughout much of the media she had shown up in. Other comics, her very own Netflix television series, other heroes television shows.
That group constitutes mainly those who also belong to the “street side” of Marvel comics. And they also seem to coincidentally be some of my other favorite characters.
The most important two are: Daredevil and Luke Cage.
Daredevil is my personal favorite Marvel superhero. If I get much into why I personally like him so much, I would need to split this article even more and it might deviate from its subject, but I can write a quick overview. Unfortunately, I am not that knowledgeable about Luke Cage, however he has a very close relationship with Jessica as either a confidant or romantic partner.
In short, Daredevil is the ideal superhero. He gets into an accident that makes him blind yet he makes the best of it by using his enhanced senses. He is an interesting character with some of the best supporting cast ever (including Jessica Jones), much better than most of Marvel heroes despite not being “focus” in universe. He has struggles and conflicts and his job as a lawyer gives him a unique skillset so different from his superhero nature.
See some of the similarities between them? Yet they are very different so even if the foundation is the same, they each serve a unique purpose while being imperfect humans themselves.
In stories — and real life — people who go through similar experiences could form really strong relationships depending on that element of understanding that they have of each other and it is in no way different here.
Those characters are so important for each other and throughout the comics they show that realistic and understandable need for help or comfort from each other, which is happily one of the benefits that come with friends…hopefully.
Oh and one last comment. I think her outfits are very nice. With superhero material, you kind of get used to over the top, likely unnecessary and superfluous fashion choices that just come with the territory of artists being given the ability to draw something really cool that might be possible to show or do in real life.
But Jessica Jones essentially only has two or so outfit styles and she only deviates from it once, and not by choice by that, since she had to wear something different to do private investigator stuff. But I find that really real because I rarely see people wear really distinctive outfits, let alone change them frequently.
I get it is a really small thing, however I personally find it rather amusing.
In conclusion, I would highly recommend you read her acclaimed comic series Alias or watch the Netflix tv-show, which I hear is quite good, even though I personally haven’t seen it yet (hopefully after AP exam season!) because I think she just happens to be a really interesting and thought provoking character that really makes her stand out. The realisms of her life mixed in with the supernatural elements provide an incredible and interesting blend that I am really grateful to have tried, and I hope you will find a similar interest with her distinctive character and history as well.
This might be my last post on her, so thank you so much for reading it, and I hope another opportunity like this comes up again.
THANK YOU!
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