From Variety:
“Twilight” screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg plans to adapt an edgy female Marvel character for her next TV project. Rosenberg is the writer and exec producer on “AKA Jessica Jones,” which is in development for fall 2011 at ABC. Although ABC is also in the early stages of an “Incredible Hulk” redux, the deal for “AKA Jessica Jones” is close enough (though not yet fully signed) that it will likely be Marvel Television’s first official project for the Alphabet net.
Part of Marvel’s Max line of more mature comicbook titles, the character is a superhero (“Jewel”) who winds up with post-traumatic stress disorder and gets out of that biz. Jessica, now in her early 30s, decides to keep far away from others gifted with superpowers and to open her own detective agency. But once she settles down, she realizes she still has a drive to help people — and finds herself assisting other superheroes.
Insiders said Rosenberg was drawn to Jessica Jones because the character is unlike most female leading roles on network TV: deeply flawed but with a biting sense of humor.
Brian Michael Bendis, who created the character and the comicbook series on which the series is based (along with Michael Gaydos), is a consultant. Bendis and Gaydos’ comicbook series, which launched in November 2001, was titled “Alias” — but ABC obviously can’t use that title, given the completely unrelated Jennifer Garner series of that name.
Skitch Commentary: I am a huge fan of Bendis’s Alias, but I am not sure this can really work as a TV show.
I also wonder if there will be rights’ issues. What I loved about Alias was that it gave us a different take on the Marvel universe, but essentially it was still the Marvel universe. Will Jessica be taking on a case for Captain America…or will it be “Shield-Man?”
Disney and Marvel have been very aggressive with getting their products made into TV shows, with this, Hulk, and Cloak and Dagger. I just hope they will all be good.
Also remember, this might not happen at all. About this time last year, it was guaranteed David Tennant would be appearing in a new NBC called “Rex Is Not Your Lawyer.” Things change in the entertainment industry very quickly.
This also happens quite a bit with comic properties. Deadman, Starman, Sandman and Batman come to mind as shows that were supposed to get by fell through. Maybe Marvel will be more successful.
