The Pulse #13

Background

Last time, Jessica Jones was kicked out of the hospital even though she was in labor. The Avengers took her to Dr. Strange's house for the delivery instead. Meanwhile, Ben Urich, on the trail of D-Man, found himself poking around in the Lower Manhattan sewer system.

Story Details

With the other Avengers (including Spidey) all watching from a distance, Dr. Strange preps Jessica for the delivery of her baby with Carol Danvers and Luke Cage nearby to comfort her. The doorbell rings and Wong answers to find an army of newspeople snapping pictures and filming as they await the birth of a super-hero baby. Crowds, holding up signs saying "Good luck", "Oh baby" and "We [heart] you Jessica", are out there too. (I'm not surprised that they found the place, since the Avengers parked their quinjet right outside but isn't Dr. Strange's location supposed to be secret? Or am I just behind the times on that?) Captain America volunteers to go out and talk to the press.

Under the city, Ben Urich has finally come face-to-face with D-Man who turns out to be a big fan of his and Daredevil. He also seems to be just a little on the wiggy side, saying to Ben "You're real... Sometimes it's hard to tell. Sorry."

Back at the impromptu press conference, Kat Farrell of the Daily Bugle interrupts Cap telling him that her paper has an exclusive agreement with Jessica to cover her baby's birth. Cap goes in to check with Jessica on this but she has no use for the Bugle after J. Jonah Jameson double-crossed the Avengers in New Avengers #15. While giving birth, she calls JJJ and tells him "I'm having my baby right now! And you're not getting the story and you damn well know why!" following up with "You're a Nazi! A Nazi man with a Nazi moustache! You hear that? You take your stupid newspaper and your Nazi moustache and you shove them both right up your stupid Nazi...!!" until stopped by a particularly painful contraction.

In the sewer, Ben discovers that D-Man, who once made the decision to live with and be the defender of homeless people, now lives alone in squalor. He asks D- Man about the pieces of jewelry he kept for himself as he thwarted some recent robberies.

Right in the middle of this D-Man business, Jessica's baby is born.

Back with D-Man, Ben finds out just how loopy he is when D-Man reveals that the baubles he has taken are actually five of the seven Infinity Gems. They're not.

Back at Doc's, Wong lets the press in and Luke Cage proudly announces, "It's a girl." The baby is cute as a bug's ear and the Daily Globe gets the exclusive. An unhappy JJJ, stuck with his usual "Spider-Man Menace" headline, refuses to run any story of the birth and grouses that the only story he got was the one about D-Man.

Later, Ben Urich leads Daredevil down into the sewer to tell D-Man that his quest for the Infinity Gems is over. "Yes, sir" says the worshipful D-Man and Daredevil takes him to the surface for a little psychiatric help.

Jessica and Luke, the happy parents, gaze lovingly at their new baby. "Will you marry me?" Luke asks. And we'll have to wait until next time to hear her answer.

General Comments

First of all, I liked it a lot, okay? I liked the fact that a baby was born in a comic book without some super-villain attacking or the child manifesting some sort of out-of-control wacko powers. I also liked that Ben Urich's quest for D- Man ended with a conversation instead of a fight; that D-Man, though disturbed, was pitiful rather than menacing; that just Daredevil's word was enough to convince D-Man to end his quest and come up into the light. On the other hand, the baby was born without some super-villain attacking and D-Man, though disturbed, turned out to be more pitiful than menacing. You know what I mean. I wouldn't have done it any other way but didn't it all feel just a little bit anti-climactic? And, in the best scene of the book, when Jessica bawls out J. Jonah Jameson on the phone, Michael Gaydos has drawn JJJ with just a regular mustache as seems to be the trend more and more these days. If Jessica is going to call him "a Nazi man with a Nazi mustache", then shouldn't Jonah be depicted with his Hitler moustache? Oh well. Whatever. What this all boils down to is that you and I have just read a comic book... a comic book!... dealing with an interracial couple having a baby and only discussing marriage after the birth. That sort of new ground is enough to give this book five webs. And D-Man's story is rather touching too.

Overall Rating

Didn't I already tell you? Five webs.