INDEPENDENT COMICS: Painkiller Jane

Independent Comics in the media

Painkiller Jane is an American-Canadian science fiction and action television series based on the comic book character of the same name. Airing on the Sci Fi Channel in the US starting April 13, 2007 and Global in Canada, it starred Kristanna Loken as the titular character. On August 15, 2007, it was canceled after one season of 22 episodes.

PLOT:
The series stars Loken as Jane Vasco, the titular character. She begins as a DEA agent, where in the course of her work she encounters Andre McBride (Rob Stewart), who is the leader of a team of agents working for an unspecified government agency. The team is based in a disused subway station named Deckard Street. She is forced to join the team after she probes "too far" into their operations. It is then revealed that the team's mission is to identify and neutralize "neuros" — "neurological aberrants" — human mutants with supernormal mental powers. Dialogue in the pilot states there are dozens of variations, and the reasons neuros use their abilities vary. It is then theorized that the aberrations interfere with the brain's ability to distinguish right from wrong. During the pilot episode, Vasco discovers that she, too, has superhuman abilities — supernormal regenerative powers bordering on invulnerability. This is realized when she is pushed through a forty story window to her apparent death, only to later revive and then recover completely. However, she still feels the pain of her injuries before they heal. The team's doctor, Seth Carpenter, identifies her abilities as not like those of the neuros they track, but "something else."