Origin
Alana Jobson. Alana had been a woman with great troubles in her life. Early in her life she was witness to the robbery of her father, but Spider-Man intervened and saved her father. This made Alana a huge fan of Spider-man, and in high school she even seemed to have a crush on him. She tried to set an example to him and do the best she could. Soon though, Alana found out she was different then most girls her age, she had feelings for other girls, but tried to hide it from others. She tried to get involved with a girlfriend she went to the cinema with, but that girl refused her. In Alana’s adult life she became a social worker, trying to help people. Unfortunately, all the misery and frustrations of the work she did and her shame for her sexual preferences soon took it’s toll on her. She was pulled over for drunk driving. After that, Alana knew she had hit rock bottom and that things had to change.
Creation
Alana Jobson was created by Dan Slot, Phil Jimenez and Steve McNiven and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man issue 546 (2008). Although the superhero-identity of Jackpot already first appeared in Free Comic Book Day 2007, it was later revealed that thát initial appearance was actually Sara Ehret (Jackpot). Alana only took over as Jackpot in the superhero’s second appearance.
Major Story Arcs
Becoming a superhero
Alana seemed to have hit rock bottom until she met Sara Ehret, a superhero named Jackpot, registered by the government. This Sara wanted to end her superhero career and was looking for someone to take the identity. First Alana and Sara became friends, with Alana developing a crush on her, but later on Sara told Alana she wanted to stop the superhero business and asked her if she wanted to take over her identity. Alana happily accepted and became Jackpot. Alana however did not have superpowers of her own and needed to use drugs to let her be the heroin she wanted to be. Spider-Man first met Jackpot when Alana used the identity. She had numerous adventures with Spider-man, even trying to arrest him in their second encounter.
After Spider-Man kept asking Alana (as Jackpot) what her real name was, she told him it was “Sara Ehret” (because the Jackpot identity was registered on that name by the government). This name, of course, turned out to be a fake secret identity. Spider-Man went to the address he found in the phone-book, and met Sara Ehret, who didn’t look anything like the Jackpot he met. Sara had short hair and tells Spider-Man that she is not the hero Jackpot.
Sometime later, Spider-Man, being really curious, tests a coffee cup with Jackpot’s fingerprints on it, it was then revealed that the fingerprints belonged to Alana. Spider-Man visits Alana’s house and finds lots of drugs in her drawer. Alana (as Jackpot) then comes home and starts taking her costumes off and Spider-Man sees her back with lots of bloodstains. When Alana notices Spider-Man in her apartment they first battle, but soon after she tells Spider-Man how Alana took over the Jackpot identity from Sara after she decided to quit the superhero business. She also told him that, to have powers, she took a number of drugs including Mutant Growth Hormones. Spider-Man tells her to quit and leaves her to think.
Alana hower doesn’t stop and fights the good fight, even protecting the Daily Bugle staff from Skrulls during the Secret Invasion crossover.
Death
Alana later fought side by side with Spider-Man, fighting a villain named Blindside that had the ability to blind people with just a touch. Blindside touched Alana causing her to go blind but Spider-Man gave her an anti-dote that stopped the effects. Alana and Spider-Man soon defeated the villain, but soon afterwards something went wrong with Alana. She crashed to the ground seemingly unconscious. Spider-man tried First Aid on her, but Alana died anyway. Not fully understanding what had happened, Spider-Man took Alana’s body to Reed Richards to find out what caused her death. Reed Richards told him that the poison that was released from Blindside killed her, her body just couldn’t take on more drugs, she had an overdose and died. After the incident, Spider-man brings Alana’s Jackpot costume to Sara telling her to continue Alana’s work and tells her that “‘With great power, there must also come great responsibility”.
The afterlife
Alana died of an overdose, but somehow wakes up in a bar, with a bartender standing at the other side. She tells him her whole story. Her regrets in life, her hopes, her dreams (her origin is actually shown here, after she died) and how everything now seems to be over. The bartender tells her it’s her time to go, and she shouldn’t worry. She stands up from her bar-stool and walks out of the door, looking back one last time smiling and saying, with pride, “My name is Alana”. She then closes the door and seemed to go to a better place.