Marvel Cinematic Universe fans may know Jessica Jones solely from her three-season series Netflix, but Marvel Comics readers have been reading about the adventures of the super-powered detective for two decades now.
Ever since her introduction in the 2001 Alias run, Jessica has been met with acclaim and approval for her authenticity: a former costumed hero brutalized by a villain, giving up the life and working her way through trauma on the grim streets of New York before finding healing and love on the other side of that darkness.
But while the vast majority of fans can rarely get enough of her, there are those who occasionally take to Reddit to voice their complaints. They may be in the minority, but their opinions demonstrate that such acclaim is not always universal, even for a character as complex as Jessica Jones.
Not every comic book fan is going to love every character, and whenever a discussion ignites on Reddit about anything Marvel-related, fans can always count on divisive commentary regardless of the subject. During a 220-comment dialog about a Tweet by Jessica Jones creator Brian Michael Bendis, one particular Reddit user called attention to a detail in his Twitter bio and used it in a passive-aggressive slight:
"'Creator of Jessica Jones' - 0utside of Bendis' books, does anybody actually feature her as a character?" wrote Reddit user Sitcom_and_Tragedy. Of course, her defenders immediately stepped up: "I think she pops up once or twice in the critically acclaimed tv show in which she is the title character," quipped Redditor ksaid1.
Even the most commonly held fandom opinions on Reddit can include an unpopular caveat. Art and popular culture are subjective, of course, and even unpopular opinions are respected when couched in nuance — like when the 2016 run of Jessica Jones, written by Bendis and drawn by artist Michael Gaydos, transitioned into a digital exclusive with a story by writer Kelly Thompson and art by Mattia de Luis.
Redditor ff29180d gave a critical synopsis of it in 2019 and was on board with almost everything: "It also goes a lot more in depth on Jessica's friendship with Carol and what they are willing to do for each other. Gaydos is drawing and it's as great as always." Except one small quibble with the Thompson/de Luis run: "The art is awful."
When Bendis and Gaydos first created Jessica in 2001's Alias run, the series was released on Marvel's MAX imprint aimed at mature audiences, and for good reason. the stories built a gritty world in which Jessica thrived.
It's little surprise, then, that when Bendis returned to the main Marvel banner for Jessica's run as the central star of Pulse, some Reddit users felt that outside of MAX, Jessica felt a little too polished: "The friendly atmosphere kinda turned me off honestly. I also feel like they toned down the character too much to fit her in the Main 616 universe," Reddit user patrice789 wrote.
Over the years and across the comics, Zebediah Kilgrave has remained the arch-nemesis of Jessica Jones. She's faced down other bad guys over the years, but there's a reason Kilgrave, AKA the Purple Man, was the central villain of Netflix's Jessica Jones season 1.
Some Reddit users, however, feel Marvel should shade the stories with other colors. Kilgrave even came back from the dead in the Purple Daughter storyline, which prompted Reddit user antimojo to offer Marvel a bit of advice: "Jessica Jones is better/more than Killgrave. You can just leave him gone and tell gritty street level Jessica stories, and it would be fine. Or you know ... move on."
Jessica Jones fans rejoiced when Netflix brought the heroine to the small screen in 2015, but while there was plenty for purists to pick apart when it came to the comics influencing the show, some readers feared the exact opposite.
Reddit user NOVAofURTH, for example, seemed to feel that actress Krysten Ritter was so convincing as Jessica that her portrayal may have inadvertently influenced writers of the comics — particularly Thompson's Purple Daughter run: "I am a big fan of how Jessica was written in Alias, the Pulse and New Avengers. However, I've been hesitant to pick up the 2016 series and this one because it seemed more like Krysten Ritter's Jessica if that makes any sense."
On the other hand, for some readers, the theft-of-purity trope is a little too much, and Jessica's comics transformation as a character who copes with mental illness through alcohol and throwing herself into detective work due to Kilgrave's abuse feels a little too on the nose. In fact, one Reddit user preferred the Netflix series' depiction over the comics.
"I get what the comic was going for by presenting an optimistic wannabe hero who was transformed into a rude and crude hard-drinking detective, but 'girl loses her innocence' is not a trope we need more of," wrote Redditor trekie140. "Jessica can have more things that define her than being a victim of sexual abuse."
In Alias #15, Jessica took Luke Cage to task for "cape chasing" — specifically calling him out for sleeping with She-Hulk, a move that didn't sit well with Reddit user DrBalu, who writes, "Damn that was rude, and unnecessary of her."
Jessica's feelings for Luke have always been complicated, however, and while she dismisses her advances toward him, her apology shortly thereafter reveals that the emotions she often drowns in alcohol may have prompted her commentary rather than any sort of disapproval of superhero sexual relations.
When it comes to Jessica Jones writers, Reddit users aren't shy about expressing their affection for Thompson or Bendis, the two who get the most credit for the character's development across Marvel's MAX, NOW! and Legacy imprints. One writer who gets no love, however — at least from Reddit user ocram62580 — is Ed Brisson, specifically his depiction of Jones during his Contagion run.
While technically not a Jessica Jones comic, she was one of the featured "street-level heroes" forced to deal with a mystical virus from K'un-Lun. But Brisson's portrayal seemed to be too one-dimensional: "With regards to JJ - it's Bendis, Thompson or bust," ocram62580 writes. "I don't think she's been given justice by other writers, they mostly just treat her as an angry woman with no depth. I especially hated how she was written in Contagion."
The Blind Spot storyline, driven by Thompson at the helm, sees Jessica set up as a suspect when a potential Alias Investigations client turns up dead. Naturally, she turns to a friend — in this case, Dr. Strange — but the one-time outsider's chumminess with the Master of Mystic Arts had at least one Reddit reader questioning why each new Jessica story seems to retcon her into other Marvel storylines.
"She's the Forrest Gump of the Marvel world," writes user VictorZiblis. "They keep weaving her into places she never was, making connections that don't even make sense for her history." Retconning Jessica's story, however, has been par for the Marvel course: New Avengers #51 and Amazing Spider-Man #601 both fleshed out her history to include a much closer connection to Peter Parker than her 2001 origin indicated.
Every comic run receives its share of critics, most of them well-intentioned purists who feel as if the way they view the characters and their portrayals are beholden to authenticity. Sometimes, though ... as was the case with one particular Reddit user ... they don't find any value in what they read.
"My opinion is Jessica Jones is not a good character in either the show or the comics so it was kinda hard for me to get through the comics but I did like them better," writes user Cesarhulk123. One might be tempted to ask, why persevere through a series if one finds a character disagreeable, but clearly the old catchphrase "Make mine Marvel!" applies to everything the brand publishes for some fans.
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