Alias Jessica Jones Reading Order
Popularized by the Netflix television series, Jessica Jones was created in the pages of a Marvel comic book series by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos. She first appeared in Alias #1 (November 2001), published under Marvel’s MAX imprint, which allowed for explicit language, sexual content, and adult themes.
Jessica Jones is a private investigator with a past tied to the Avengers. Once a costumed superhero operating under the name Jewel, she abandoned that identity after a traumatic career marked by failure and psychological abuse. By the time Alias begins, she is a chain-smoking, self-destructive alcoholic and the owner and sole employee of Alias Investigations, a small New York detective agency specializing in cases involving superhuman individuals.
The early storyline follows Jessica as she navigates morally compromised investigations and personal demons, including a case involving the exposure of a superhero’s secret identity, which draws her into a larger and increasingly dangerous conspiracy. Central to her backstory is her history of manipulation and control by the villain Zebediah Killgrave, the Purple Man, an experience that defines much of who she became.
Although Alias was published under the MAX imprint, Bendis moved Jessica Jones to the core Marvel Universe. Subsequent stories fully integrated her into mainstream continuity, establishing that she attended Midtown High School alongside Peter Parker and later became a member of the Avengers during the New Avengers era and started a romantic relationship with Luke Cage. Over time, Jessica Jones evolved from a noir-styled deconstruction of superhero tropes into a recurring figure within Marvel’s primary ensemble of characters.
