X-Men #4
The Arkea story finished in issue #3, the “Battle for the Atom” crossover doesn’t start until issue #5 – let’s round out that first collection!
Actually, though, that’s unfair. This isn’t a filler issue; Wood could easily have strung out the Arkea arc for four issues if he’d wanted. If anything, four issues would be more common these days. Instead, this issue seems to be trying to take a moment to lay down some markers for future stories and character directions, before the big crossover comes along and subsumes everything for two months.
There are two strands to this issue, pretty much unrelated to one another. In the first, Wolverine tags along as Jubilee takes baby Shogo to visit her old stomping grounds in California. Wolverine’s not meant to be in this book’s regular cast, but evidently Wood’s willing to use other X-Men where it makes sense – and this story really does need Wolverine, given his long-established role as Jubilee’s father/mentor figure. It’s largely a case of Jubilee acting as though she’s visiting something she’s left behind, and Wolverine quietly buying up her old family home so that it’ll be there for her when she finally wants it, which is all very sweet.
It’s pretty clear that Wood is not that interested in the whole vampire thing, which is perfectly understandable since it was a terrible idea, and other writers have already done the heavy lifting to get Jubilee back into circulation. The general approach is just to treat it as her current power set, which pretty much makes sense for the character that Wood inherited. Even so, this issue tiptoes around the whole vampire thing to a remarkable extent; there’s an acknowledgement that she needs some protection to be out in the sun, but that’s literally about it, even though the theme of the story is about the life that she’s left behind and whether she can ever go back to it. These are the opening issues of a new series, officially at least, and if you’re going to bill something that way, it seems to me that these basic concepts ought to be set up somewhere. It seems particularly odd to have characters tiptoeing around a clear explanation of the vampire when they’re also devoting entire pages to reminiscing about the details of old Chris Claremont and Larry Hama stories.
Still, if you already know Jubilee’s status quo – and I guess most readers probably do – then the story’s a nice chance to see her and Wolverine back together again, and that’s a relationship Wood gets very well. And we’ve got guest art from David Lopez, who’s always good on this sort of story, and whose work is always beautiful to look at. I remain mystified by the fact that Lopez keeps cropping up on fill-ins when he so obviously ought to have a high-profile assignment, but at least this issue gains from it.
Oh yes, the other half. The rest of the team squabble while rescuing an airplane in trouble. This is the obligatory action sequence, but the real point here is to have Rachel and Storm argue about whether it would have been acceptable to kill Karima in the previous issue, and for Rachel to challenge Storm’s authority on the whole topic. I’m fine with that as a direction; Storm’s a bit of an elder statesman character, and there’s nothing wrong with having somebody else challenge that status.
As with earlier issues, though, the action sequences leave something to be desired. There’s a commendable attempt at coming up with a clever scheme to save the plane through the creative use of powers, which is precisely how these things ought to be done, but for the life of me I don’t understand what the plan actually is or how it’s supposed to work. It seems to involve using telekinesis to create a rope of some sort to… to… I guess they’re lashing the plane to the Blackbird or something, but it’s never entirely clear, I have a nagging feeling that Psylocke’s not even meant to be telekinetic at the moment (she’s such a mess of a character that even I can’t remember her status with any real confidence), and besides, making energy ropes is more a Green Lantern stunt. There’s a difference between finding a creative use for a character’s powers and just giving her different powers, and this is on the wrong side of the line.
Still, it’s a pretty issue, and a lot of the material with Wolverine and Jubilee is a welcome throwback to a much-loved relationship.
The Psylocke thing was down right terrible. Just crap.
I might get this issue since they are being cool about the Wolverine/jubilee thing. I always loved that duo.
Erm. If they have telekinetics, why don’t they just, erm, telekinetically stop the plane?
The use of Rogue’s powers bothered me at least as much as Psylocke’s*. First and most obviously, yet again we’ve got a “why is Rogue necessary” thing – in the first arc, she’d allegedly borrowed Northstar’s powers, but no reason was ever given or suggested why Northstar couldn’t just have gone himself. Secondly, if you “needed” to use her, why the hell was she leeching off Psylocke when Rachel wasn’t doing anything? And thirdly, why was it treated as if she had an active connection to Psylocke, with the more power she used the less Psylocke had at any given moment – isn’t she meant to set the amount she “borrows” as she does it, and then that’s fixed until she runs out?
*IIRC, when Fraction brought Psylocke back into UXM with the body-swap/re-swap thing, after Claremont had been using her as a telekinetic for some time, her powers were set to telepath/telekinetic and that’s never *quite* been contradicted, even if most writers are more interested in her as a telepath since that’s her classic status.
[Oh, and IIRC, Wood said in an interview that he wanted to reset Jubilee to “normal” and it got vetoed.]
Giving Psylocke telekinesis was always something of a mistake, in the same way that giving someone like Hawkeye eye beams would be — it’s a power set that renders her skill set irrelevant. So it’s no surprise that over the last few years, as she moved back into the spotlight (in X-Force), they’ve quietly shifted focus back to telepathy.
The result was that this issue read weird on that front; it was suddenly: “Oh yeah, and she’s still a super-powerful telekinetic, watch this!”
That said, the Wolverine and Jubilee stuff was a delight. I remember, about ten years ago, when Jubilee had pretty much vanished from comics and Kitty Pryde had just come back to the main books with writers like Whedon and Bendis talking about how they grew up with her, telling myself that one day my generation, who grew up with the cartoon, would be the ones running the asylum and then it would be her turn to shine.
It appears our day has come.
Good point about the vampirism. To some extent it’s not that much different from any other somewhat dangerous mutant power, and just about everyone has had that issue.
As this team are old friends with relationships dating back to the Claremont era, it’s reasonable they trust Jubilee implicitly and that no one has said “are we absolutely sure it’s a good idea for a vampire to be raising a kid?”
But it might be reasonable for someone else to bring it up.
That said, has Storm and Kitty ever commented about Jubilee’s condition? Both had less than pleasant close encounters with Dracula back when.
But Will, wasn’t Jubilee one of the least memorable parts about the cartoon? I grew up with it as well and I don’t have any fond memories of her because of it. In the cartoon and when they shoved her on the Blue Team in the comics she could best be described as a backup sidekick.
I can forgive writers like Bendis and Whedon gushing about Kitty pride because Kitty was an important part of some memorable stories, but can you really say the same thing about Jubilee?
And that’s an honest question 🙂 I can’t, but that might be because I came in at the start of the Blue/Gold split and never read Generation X.
Jubilee’s one of those characters people have fond memories of, but can never really explain why.
If the CBR X-books forum existed 20 years ago, she’d be what Pixie is to them now.
Action mechanics aside: I love the conflict between Rachel and Ororo, particularly on a symbolic level. Since assuming leadership after besting Cyclops (Xavier’s stand in son) in a fight, Storm seems to represent merit, achievement, etc. Rachel is inherited privilege, both the daughter of a legendary character (and namesake of the current school) and a literal knock off the character from after Phoenix was killed. Anyone else read it in this light?
Jubilee is great because she’s a sort of reluctant superhero. Her powers don’t make her a freak, and thus she’s rarely that gloomy, but she’s skeptical about getting involved with the types of conventions found in X-Men stories.
She also knows she could one day be super powerful, but she kind of looks at her powers as a joke, as useless spectacle that she has little interest in using or developing.
There’s always been tons of ground for character exploration with her. Does she embrace superheroing? Does she take responsibility for her homosuperiority? Does she try to get along with her team members? Does she give up out of cynicism? Does she give up out of fear?
She was a character people could identify with because she treated the conventions of her genre with the same skepticism we might.
Reboot: In my opinion explaining a character’s purpose from a tactical point of view is wrong. I haven’t read the comic, but presumably she’s included because she’s one of the most well-rounded characters in the X-Men brand. She’d have to be the most realised and consistent *female* character by a long run. Since superhero comics are big on fight scenes, superpower sets are important, but in any strong story they should be secondary to what the character adds to the plot.
To anyone wondering why there are those of us with found memories of Jubilee, read the Larry Hama run on Wolverine. I think essentials vol 2-4 cover her time as sidekick.
Si: But this lineup makes no sense as a permanent team anyway, which they’re suddenly trying to sell us on after the ever-popular “only ship in the quadrant” excuse for the first arc. Every single one of them is on an X-team already – in several cases, multiple teams – and given the depth of X-Men at the JGS* you can’t pull the “well, they’re stuck together” routine.
And that isn’t an excuse for writing characters’ powers badly. If Rogue’s current powerset (which, as I said, was messed up in this issue) is so inconvenient, they need to either change it or write her in a way that fits her more limited power availability. And certainly not involving offhand mentions of characters who she’s “borrowed” the powers of for a mission.
*And wasn’t Psylocke effectively banned from the school in UXForce #1?
Nobody’s referencing Iceman’s story from Astonishing X-Men, you think the current incarnation of Uncanny X-Force is deemed worthy enough to impact the status quo of any character in another book?
Jubilee is the one that saved Wolverine from the Reavers, which was a fairly strong introduction. She worked well as a sidekick to Wolverine.
It was kind of interesting how, while she was filling a former Kitty Pryde position, she didn’t follow the same path. For example, Jubilee never became a martial arts master. Some of this was likely because she wasn’t a writer favorite the way that Kitty was, though.
She was doing quite well to me until she faced the fate of any junior cast of the X-Men, being demoted to a kids-team book. Events mostly went downhill from there, with her largely either being forgotten or written into stories where fans would rather she had been forgotten (like her stint as Wondra).
I don’t know, I like Jubilee as a character in ways that I don’t like Kitty Pryde, even though I started reading with Kitty around. Jubilee just seemed interesting, while Kitty ranged from bland to becoming sick of her and the focus that she received. Jubilee seemed to have more potential as well, though it was largely ignored or mishandled. Heck, I even feel Jubilee would work as a future romantic partner for Wolverine. Something about her made me feel that she could hold her own against him without writer intervention.
Jubilee was the viewpoint character of the 90s X-Men cartoon, and that cartoon is a big reason why a lot of us are here. So yeah, there’s that strong soft spot for the character in people who started on X-Men twenty years ago.
I felt that Logan’s voice was way off. Not that he said or did anything out of character, but the manner in which he spoke with Jubilee seemed too gentle. Wolverine treats people he respects with a bit of gruffness, not with a shoulder to cry on.
I like the merit/privilege interpretation Joseph had for the Storm/Rachel debate. I did not read it that way; more as naive idealistic youth v. cynical entrenched authority. In both regards, I gave winning points to Storm; but I’m rethinking that now. I think “the rebellious one” might fit Rachel well, especially if she is written to be responsibly rebellious (unlike her early appearances where her rebelliousness was reckless and unethical).
In contrast, I’m not sure about a “cynical” Storm who has lost touch with the ethical values of the X-Men. We’ve already got Cyclops off the rails; can’t one X-Leader stay centered and moral? (That’s not to say she was wrong in the Archea situation; only that she was closer to the edge).
on psylocke: i remember that after fraction brought her back, psylocke was still explicitely telekinetic. i dont recall that ever being changed. but then, i dont think she used telekinesis even once during her stint on remenders uncanny x-force. i dont think weve seen her flying in a very long time (which is something she could do, back when claremont first gave her telekinetic powers), and i think weve even seen her being carried through the air by archangel a couple of times.
i actually like woods current take on her powers. having telekinetic powers like jean grey wouldnt make much sense for a hand-to-hand combatant. by having her telekinesis behave “green lantern like” allows writers to have her use both her telekinesis and her ninja skills. and besides, it kind of has a precedent in her “psi-katana”.
Along similar lines, is Psylocke still supposed to be precognitive?
D. – totally agree about Wolverine’s voice, it bugged me a lot too. Way more touchy-feely than you’d expect, even coming from Headmaster Logan.
And add me to the Jubilee > Kitty Pryde camp
The Jubilee/Wolverine stuff was nice, but I agree with the others: dear lord, that plane sequence was horrendous on a number of levels. Between this and how Rogue was handled in earlier issues, I’m really worried Woods is missing core concepts on his hero’s power sets.
@ Taibak: Not only could the telekinetics have arguably stopped the plane, Storm herself should’ve been able to do it no problem. We’ve seen her use her winds to stop/save planes time and time again.
I’m also not thrilled about the Storm/Rachel argument here. First off, Storm as leader? She’s the one who’s the most experienced and has the best leadership roles… and this is on a team that also has Rogue (led a team), Kitty (currently a headmistress), and Psylocke (de facto leader over in UXF). Rachel’s really the only one who DOESN’T have a claim, and if everyone else is fine with it, should sit down and shut up. And it seems strange for Rachel to be the one pushing for the “ethical” grounds, given her background.
Also didn’t like Rogue as the reckless power junkie here. She’s much more grounded than that these days.
Storm spent a chunk of time being worshipped as a goddess while Rachel spent a chunk of time enslaved, dehumanized, and forced to hunt down her own kind with brands on her face, so I have trouble seeing them as representing merit and privilege, respectively (sure Storm’s been through the wringer a couple of times, but Rachel’s definitely had a crappier life overall) but even so, there are literally two people in the world with a better resume for leading the X-Men than Storm and one of them is currently a fugitive for killing the other one. And even if Storm wasn’t the most qualified person for the job, time and place, Rachel. Time and place.
And if it was really necessary to have Rogue doing the telekinetic stuff, wouldn’t it have made more sense say neither Rachel nor Betsy was strong enough to catch the plane and have Rogue absorb both their powers to combine their strength?
The plane rescue in this issue actually made the train rescue in the first issue make sense, in that I realized that this team uses Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition skills challenge rules.
For those not familiar: in a D&D4e skills challenge, the players are presented with a situation they need to resolve, and they then take turns saying how they’re going to use one of their character’s skills to move the group closer to their goal, and then they roll a die to see if it works; if the group gets a certain predetermined number of successful rolls before a predetermined number of failed ones, they succeed. Which can lead to things like a group getting past a locked door without anyone even trying to pick the lock because they successfully examined the door for traps, climbed it to look for a key on top of the frame, encouraged the rest of the group to do their best, and determined that there were no hidden passageways that would let you go around the door.
In other words, you just do things until you’ve done enough things, and then the situation resolves itself.
“there are literally two people in the world with a better resume for leading the X-Men than Storm and one of them is currently a fugitive for killing the other one.”
Yeah, but since she wasn’t the breakout movie and cartoon character, we got WATXM instead. Schism would have made so much more sense if it had been Cyclops vs. Storm, but marketing trumps story logic these days, I guess.
Woods’ series is still enjoyable…but he doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on the powers and skills his characters have. And some of the characters seem a bit…off. Seriously, a plane is crashing and you have 2 telekinetics and someone who can control the weather and the best option is…a tk rope? Dafuk?
I’m trying really hard to like this book because I like Brian Wood’s voice, and his run over on Ultimate is in my opinion one of the best X-Men stories since Morrison finished his work on New X-Men. But that said he’s aspiring to write a team action book, and the action stories in this book have made consistantly zero sense.
I think a part of that is because he’s determined to write a team book, so logically he needs them to function as a team to solve problems.
But at the same time he wants them to do classic superhero rescue work, trains and planes and sooner or later we’ll probably get the x-men saving people from earthquakes and terrorism and stuff. Low key classic superheroing without villains, as bookends to the action stuff. I like that, since the X-Men are the largest superhero group, and there surely can’t be enough supervillain attacks per week for them to be able to justify their existance just fighting villains full time.
But he’s picked a terrible team to do that kind of thing with. This is a power stacked team. Not as overpowered as the Extinction Team from Uncanny, but still pretty overpowered. There’s no reason for them to work together to save people from an out of control plane. Rachel could just fix everything herself–mind link to Kitty for aerospace engineering knowledge, and use her telekinesis to fix the plane instantly and send it on its way. Or Rachel or Rachel + Rogue could just set the plane down.
With the train in the first arc, you have the same problem. Rachel fixes it, or Kitty phases it. The rest of the team is superfluous.
There’s basically no circumstance, short of Apocalypse coming back from the dead and attacking the playground while Jubilee is taking her kid for a walk, where the full team working together is required.
I don’t really see how Rogue’s status quo is usable either. If she was treated to permanently have Northstar/Frenzy’s powers than that would be one thing (pushing credulity, but still would make sense from a team dynamic perspective). But having her just borrow powers from Psylocke/Rachel/Storm/Kitty is just pointless. There’s nothing she could do that they couldn’t do better themselves. I guess she could absorb everyone’s powers at once, but that would make her a broken character pretty quickly (Rogue with just Rachel and Kitty’s powers would be basically unbeatable, let alone adding in Storm)
I thought the way Rogue was used in X-Men: Legacy made more sense. She could save the day by borrowing powers from students and using them more effectively because of her experience.
But here – it’s hard to believe that Rogue can use the powers of her teammates any better than they can, because they are the most seasoned mutants around.
ZZZ> there are literally two people in the world with a better resume for leading the X-Men than Storm and one of them is currently a fugitive for killing the other one.
You say that, but look at the evidence – the trajectory of Storm’s main tenure as leader (i.e., most of the time from immediately post-Phoenix to the X-Men/X-Factor merger) basically amounts to them running away a lot, while achieving nothing in the bigger picture and getting the whole team killed at least once. And then doing much the same thing again with her splinter team in X-Treme X-Men, without getting anywhere near their stated goal.
Pretty sure they died to achieve something in the bigger picture. Like saving all of reality or some such.
I loved fast talking, floor sliding Jubilee in the 3-parter with Jim Lee and Psylocke’s new body intro. There’s that panel where she’s sliding through the legs of, errr, members of the hand or Madarin’s guard. That too me was Jubilee forever after, with a mix of the spunky girl always looking and waiting for her boobs to catch up to Psylocke’s.
@Chaos — That was a great arc. I loved the China-doll makeup Mandarin put on Jubilee. You could tell Jim Lee was having fun with the stereotypes/conventions of his own culture.
@errant — while it’s true that the FOTM “death” was for the greater good, it doesn’t undo the fact that the team really suffered under Storm’s leadership from very early on. Storm is my favorite X-Leader because of her commitment to the “dream.” But she kinda failed pretty badly.