UNCANNY X-MEN #303: Going Through the Motions

Jubilee copes with loss

Originally Published August 1993

We begin in the Professor's Ready Room, where, despite being off-limits, Jubilee is taking a moment to sulk. Jean arrives to lend a sympathetic ear, but Jubes sums it up thusly: life stinks.

The troubles began a mere six hours earlier, as Jubilee reflects. While the rest of the X-Men were off on missions to Texas and Japan, she was left behind at the mansion with Moira and the Professor, trying to keep Illyana's spirits up...

...with assistance from an animatronic sex doll resembling Kitty Pryde.

Jubilee is a little put off by Kitty's and Illyana's friendship, and Jean explains it all by giving us the full backstory on Illyana, for the benefit of those of us who haven't been writing detailed descriptions of every X-Men comic for the last 7 years. Seriously, it may seem like it's just there to eat up pages but it truly was necessary in 1993.

Jubilee continues to reflect, now turning to Xavier in hopes of any glimmer of hope, and getting nothing. She feels for the guy, as he appears to be taking it hard.

As Jubilee reluctantly bonds with Kitty over Illyana, the medical drama continues as the Little Snowflake's condition worsens. Soon, she falls unconscious and Xavier can only outfit her with a device designed to maintain her in a kind of status -- thus dooming her to a life in a coma. He and Moira debate the issue.

While this is going on, Jubilee finds herself surprised to be in the caregiver role, looking after what remains of Illyana's hope and innocence.

She watches over her, and reads to her from Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl, but before long it's clear things are not getting better...

By the time the X-Men return, with Colossus (and presumably Forge, whom they were hoping would invent some kind of fix-Illyana machine), it's too late.

And now, Jubilee finally allows herself to shed tears, while Jean Grey -- who knows a thing or two about death -- consoles her that while we come into the world alone and leave it the same way, what we do in between, sharing time with others, is what makes life worth living.

Further Thoughts:

Comics are a tricky medium. More often than not, the stories told and the emotions expressed within them are broad and only applicable to our day to day lives in distant, symbolic ways: the struggle of good vs. evil, the inspiration to stand up for something, etc. This broadness has been more, or less, the case over the years, but at a high ebb in 1993 when the X-Men mostly existed as images to sell pizza parties, action figures, and video games. There are some ways in which their existence as icons chafes against the genuine emotion of the story being told. Guest artist Richard Bennett couldn't help but render Jean in the typically exploitative hard-bodied, rippling-detailed form that was standard for comic book females of the time (even more lurid than Andy Kubert or Jim Lee, if such a thing is possible.) And Kitty, who was already off-model in the previous issue (strangely, considering John Romita Jr. drew her for years) gets it even worse despite being in civilian clothes.

Now is not the time for Jean Grey's thong, it what I'm getting at

But despite that, he does manage to capture the sensitivity of the moment with pacing: 1993 X-Men comics were usually all flash and action, quickly passing panels or high splashes. In this case, the artist takes the correct route of arranging the story mostly in airy, open spaces that emphasize how small the characters are feeling and how big the emotions they are struggling with, where time seems to pass in painful moments that take an eternity. So while I might not like the style, I can praise the execution.

Lobdell uses a light touch with the dialogue and the narration. It was a wise choice to frame this issue through Jubilee, who puts on a brave, carefree front 99% of the time, but is sensitive inside. It's easy to stereotype her as the wise-cracking mall baby, but that's shown to just be one aspect of her personality. It's not emphasized as much as it should have been, but she did lose her parents at a young age and could have been shows drawing on that experience in this. I was also charmed by the one-sided rivalry between Jubes and Kitty -- Jubilee was introduced as sort of the next-generation Kitty, the Kid X-Man who is capable but has a lot to learn, this time with a hip 90's attitude; and it all centers around Illyana, who certainly had a journey, but was fundamentally a character who was able to regain the lost innocence of childhood only to have it torn away again.

Putting the X-Men up against an unstoppable virus is definitely an interesting story choice, and it makes all the sense in the world to do what might cheekily be called a "Very Special Issue" about it. This issue could have gone so wrong tonally, but it works, it absolutely does. The build, the dread, the hopelessness, the desire to do anything to stop what's coming, even down to the debate over end-of-life care. There was some serious work put into this issue and I commend it, I admire it.

This issue should resonate with anyone who has ever lost anyone, and it makes the X-Men one of the most relevant comics on the racks in 1993. It's good to remember that my favourite mutants have retained their humanity, while also usually being buff and sexy action heroes blasting their way across the page. There's always more time for that, but you don't always get enough of this.