It’s been almost a year since we last talked about Jessica Jones. In that post, we looked at the then-new comic book series Jessica Jones (which is still going strong and has some fantastic writing and artwork). But if you’re reading that series or have watched the Netflix shows she’s on, you may be wondering about Jessica’s early days as a hero and her connection to the Avengers. The collection Jessica Jones: Avenger is the book you need. 

This collection includes issues of New Avengers, What If Jessica Jones Had Joined the Avengers?, a Netflix tie-in comic, and material from Amazing Spider-Man and the Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration. Obviously the general storylines jump around a bit, but the good thing is you really don’t need to know what’s going on in them to get the feel for Jessica’s character. Of course, the bits of plot you get from other series might just whet your appetite to get the full story and find those titles.

Overall though, this is a good collection of Jessica Jones stories to introduce the character. Ignoring those bigger plotlines of the various titles, it let’s you know her basic story, powers, status among other heroes and some about her relationship with Luke Cage. And it’s easy to see how it might make a lot of readers want to pick up more of her books, especially the Alias series by Brian Michael Bendis from the early 2000s.