Synopsis
New Avengers (2005 series) #47 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
We have a framing flashback set 'weeks' ago soon after Danielle Cage was born. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are sharing a small apartment, and this is the 1st time Luke's changed Dani's nappy, or experienced baby poo. He does *not* know what to do with a baby and still calls her 'it'. Jess advises him to tell the baby a story to get her used to his voice. He proposes describing the 1st day they met, but she says she's already done that (in Pulse #14). So he switches to when he fell in love with her. She suggests that *was* when they 1st met. He protests that's when *she* fell in love with *him* but he wasn't so easy, and he continues with his tale.
The embedded fb starts with Cage 'moving' a rich person's limo out of the way of an emergency fire truck. The man is supposed to be Donald Trump and threatens to sue. Jessica Jones applauds from the pavement. This is only the 2nd time they met and it's been a while. She's started the Alias Investigations PI firm and he's come to hire her to find his dad who's hiding from him. James Lucas is ashamed of him because he believes he went to jail for selling heroin to kids and he murdered someone. He was falsely accused of the 1st and did go to prison for it but was later exonerated. Dad thinks he killed Iron Fist which can't be true because he's still alive. He's also embarrassed about Luke's old superhero life as Power Man, Hero For Hire, and probably thinks it's just a cover for continuing bad stuff. Luke's brother, James Lucas Jr, keeps moving them around to hide from him. (Remember that Luke Cage's birth name is Carl Lucas.)
Jessica suggests that if they don't want to see him then maybe he should let it lie, but Luke says he's *got* to make it right between them. She says she's flattered that he thought of her for the job, but he has to admit that he tried Dakota North 1st (in the Cage series) and also tried to find Jessica Drew but now he's here. She reluctantly takes the job.
Much later (after her Alias series and starting to work for The Pulse) Cage is about to raid a Yakuza place in Hell's Kitchen with Daredevil, Iron Fist and Spider-Man when he gets a mobile call from Jones to say she's found his dad. The heroes carry out the raid (in DD(1998)#59-60) and then he goes with Jess to Atlanta, Georgia where dad is living as James Geary. Jess goes to the door alone and meets the man's new wife who won't let her in. She says he blames Carl/Luke for the deaths of his mother Esther and James Jr. But he does follow reports of Carl's activities. She's tried to persuade him to reconcile with his surviving son but unsuccessfully. Then Cage makes his presence known and sees his dad in the background. But the man just walks away. And the woman closes the door while saying that maybe he'll come round 1 day.
Later our duo share takeaway coffees and find things to laugh about.
Now in the framing fb Jess tries to reassure Luke that he'll be a good father. But she has to admit that they can do nearly everything right but 1 wrong thing can screw it all up. He suggests maybe they should stop all the superheroing. But she reminds him that they can show Danielle a marvellous world.
Now in the present in Central Park at the end of Secret Invasion (in #8) all the humans who had been replaced by Skrulls have been freed, and Jessica has seen that 1 of them is the Avengers' butler Edwin Jarvis. And she realises she's left baby Danielle with a Skrull version. She panics and flies off to Avengers Tower. Ms Marvel picks up Luke and flies after her. They get there to find a scene of devastation and Jarvis and the baby gone.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Danielle Cage, James Lucas.