The X-Axis, 13 February 2005
Part 3 of 7: JUBILEE #5

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We now depart from the "endangered species" theme in favour of the actually extinct.  Jubilee draws to a close with issue #6, rounding off a book that Marvel would retroactively like to claim as a miniseries.

This is unlikely to fool anyone.  Jubilee #6 is a classic example of something we haven't seen in a while - a shameless deck-clearing exercise as a cancelled book struggles to tie up all its loose ends.  Rather than leaving Jubilee's new status quo in place, Kirkman pretty much blows it all up and then has Wolverine take her back home to the X-Men.  End of book.

It's not particularly satisfying.  The big explosion gives it the superficial feel of a resolution, but in fact there's a lot of stuff just hanging unresolved.  The subplot about the two teachers having an affair is quietly ignored; Shane is packed away before his relationship with Jubilee can go anywhere; Hope's back story is hastily explained, without even really identifying who the villains are; Meg inexplicably gets a boyfriend for no real reason other than to try and give her some closure.  And even in the final issue, poor Jubilee contributes almost nothing other than to stand around while other characters do all the work.

It's hard to know quite what this book was meant to be achieving.  It's a bizarre hybrid title in which the lead spent most of her time in generic high school stories, while much more intriguing things seemed to be happening at the margins.  A title based around the idea that Jubilee doesn't have any adventures.  Very odd.

A footnote in X-Men history, likely to be forgotten within a few months save for comic book trivia quizzes.

Rating: C+

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Copyright 2005 Paul O'Brien.  This web site is a work of critical comment and review. All characters and publications referred to, and artwork reproduced, are ™ and © their respective owners.
 

JUBILEE #6
Marvel Comics
April 2005
$2.99 US / $4.25 CAN

"If This Be The End"
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Casey Jones
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Colourists:
Transparency Digital
Editor: Cory Sedlmeier

LINKS
Marvel Comics
Robert Kirkman