Image taken from moviepilot.com
Welcome to Day 4 of Jessica Jones Month everyone! Remember when Alias, Marvel’s first title in the Marvel MAX series, was set to star Spider-Woman, aka Jessica Drew? Remember how Jessica Jones didn’t even exist until writer Brian Michael Bendis needed a much better replacement?
Back when Alias was first being thought up, Bendis originally had both a totally different story for the comic, as well as starring Jessica Drew because of her hair. Wait, what?
I was at one time toying with doing Jessica Drew because she has the best hair of any superhero in comics, but this book is entirely different than what that idea was to be.
-Brian Michael Bendis, Powers #11
Okay, so apparently he loves Spider-Woman’s hair. But that still doesn’t explain how different his first version of Alias was. Bendis does offer some clues though, claiming that the development process changed his Spider-Woman title into what we know today as Alias, and that Drew’s placement in said title was an “urban legend”. Supposedly, it wasn’t until he was a ways down the road developing the comic into something Marvel could sell, he had already created the Jessica Jones character, giving her her own personality and character growth arc.
Originally, Alias was going to star Jessica Drew, but it became something else entirely. Which is good, because had we used Jessica, it would have been off continuity and bad storytelling.
Think about this though: had he actually pushed for Spider-Woman to be in Alias, rather than making up a completely new character (who also has ties to pretty much everyone in the 616 universe), we definitely wouldn’t have seen Killgrave, aka Purple Man, at his worst. We wouldn’t have seen Luke Cage become a father, or have to track down a rogue Skrull after an alien invasion. All of this is, of course, not mentioning how we wouldn’t have had an unnecessary character shoehorned into the Ultimate Marvel universe either, but I think we would’ve thanked Bendis for that one.
What do you think about the twists in the development of Alias? Let me know, either in the comments below or with a tweet through that widget on the left. Better yet, like the Comic Books vs The World Facebook page, and subscribe to the official Youtube channel to keep up with all the latest on Comic Books vs The World. Keep coming back for more of Jessica Jones Month!
Comic Books vs The World 