Devotees of SWO Productions may remember that my absolute favorite comic book character–my favorite fictional character at all, mind you–is Jubilee of the X-Men.

I’ve written about her before, and I have reviewed so many comics that feature her. And in her history, she’s been honestly kind of everywhere. X-Books, obviously (so many different ones, from Uncanny X-Men through mini-series books like X-Tremists and Dead X-Men and X-Terminators), but also in some corners of the Marvel Universe you may not have expected to find her.

When she was a de-powered former mutant, she joined the New Warriors as Wondra. It was a terrible name and an even worse costume, but when the mutant decimation seemed to write her out, it gave fans a fix. And then, during her tenure as a vampire, she played a supporting role in, of all books, Patsy Walker: Hellcat.

She’s even had the occasional solo or team-up mini-series!

The thing is… I have all of those books. But it isn’t always enough! So I recently checked out Jubilee’s Marvel Database page and went about finding some appearances of hers I don’t have. I hopped on over to my local comic shop–New Dimensions at the Waterfront in Pittsburgh, PA–and I started rifling through some back issues, as well as a few modern comics, as well. I didn’t get everything from the database, but I found a fair few books I had never read before! Besides, that leaves some adventures for the next time I end up at the shop.

We’re going to look at what I bought today. What it is, how Jubilation Lee figures into it, and how good it is as a story. Were they worth the $3-$5 I spent per book? Let’s investigate!

Wolverine: Origins #7-9

Writer and artist: Daniel Way and Steve Dillon

Notes: For the first, but not the last, time, the Marvel Database kind of screwed me on this one, because Jubes actually first appears here in issue #6, but it didn’t tell me that. Also, this arc concludes at #10, but no comic shop I went to (I also visited Phantom Of The Attic in Monroeville, PA) had that issue. So I ended up with three issues out of a five issue arc. Oh well; I’ll keep looking for #6 and #10 some other time. Also, Steve Dillon draws Jubilee very boy-like, possibly in reference to her earliest appearances where she was sometimes confused for a boy.

Jubilee?: Minimal. I’m actually not entirely sure she has any dialogue in these issues. But, I mean, she’s THERE. This is mostly Wolverine’s inner monologue, and he thinks about her a bit, I guess. She’s very much a damsel in distress in these issues.

Story: Omega Red is looking for the Carbonadium Synthesizer so he can… synthesize some carbonadium, I suppose. Seems obvious. And he’s looking for it where a recently depowered Jubilee and Maverick are helping other mutants deal with their loss of abilities. Wolverine shows up and has a brawl with him, but Red kidnaps Jubilee and escapes. Also: Black Widow shows up. There is a lot of Wolverine backstory, and I’m guessing the shtick of this book was that each issue supplemented a modern Wolvie story with some of his history.

Generation M #2

Writer and artist: Paul Jenkins, Ramon Bachs, and John Lucas

Notes: This is actually the one that started this spree of comic buying, and I didn’t actually buy it. My uncle realized he had multiple copies of it while going through his collection and gave me one for my Wall Of Jubilee Covers. Yes, I have a wall (actually two walls now) with framed comics that feature Jubilee on the cover. It makes me happy and makes for a great backdrop when recording for the podcast or videos.

Jubilee?: She’s in about three or four pages, despite her cover feature. This is, again, someone else’s book. But she has dialogue, which is already an improvement! She is, as far as I know, not in issues #1 or #3-5. So I didn’t buy them, ha!

Story: Sally Floyd is a reporter going through a personal crisis and tragedy while uncovering clues of some mutant murders post-M-Day. At one point, Jubilee shows up and the two catch up. We are told Sally and Jubes are longtime friends, but I’d never heard of this character before in my life, so I doubt that very much. Issue #2 here ends with the revelation that the person killing former mutants must be a mutant themselves.

Uncanny X-Men #403-406

Writer and artist: Joe Casey, Aaron Lopresti, and Mark Morales

Notes: One thing I wanted to avoid was buying random issues of Uncanny X-Men or X-Men that showed up on the database that would possibly drop me in the middle of a story with minimal actual Jubilee contained within. This was probably an error I’ll look to rectify next time I go Jubecita fishing. But I ended up with these four issues because they seemed like a neat little mini-series of Jubilee action! Oh, and this book has a link to the previous one: They both feature Stacey X! And wow, did she have a fall from grace. Glad she isn’t my favorite character.

Jubilee?: Not much, argh! This was regrettable. I mean, she’s in it, especially in the first issue, but hardly in anything you could consider a featured role. The Marvel Database totally made this one sound like it was going to have her have some prominence, but that’s not the case. It’s just a story for the then-current Uncanny X-Men team.

Story: With anti-mutant sentiment running extremely high (when isn’t it in these comics, man?), Banshee has adopted a very militaristic approach to quelling such feelings. He has formed his own team of mutants to go after antagonizers, and he doesn’t mind that some of his followers are former Brotherhood and Freedom Force. Jubilee, Husk, and Monet join his organization to keep an eye on him and keep him rational. The X-Men get involved and fights break out all over.

X-Men Volume 3 #27

Writer and artist: Victor Gischler, Jorge Molina, Salva Espin, and Lorenzo Ruggiero

Notes: AGAIN it seems I was lied to by the Marvel database, because this story starts in at least X-Men #26, so I am missing some content here. The artists really go all-in on Jubes’ vampirism and draw her as a monster here.

Jubilee?: Finally, some quality Jubilation content! This issue features her pretty prominently.

Story: This takes place during the era where Jubilee was a vampire, and it is lead into in presumably the previous issue by the X-Men finding their wayward teammate. She has allied with The Forgiven–a group of vampires who refuse to feed on humans and whom I have seen and heard about in other books I own–when some mercenaries show up to kill their leader. Fights break out all over, with Jubilee having the central struggle, against a masked assassin who does not speak. Jubilee displays some katana fighting skills I never knew she had and sends him packing. Then she opts to stay with The Forgiven for a while.

Uncanny X-Men Volume ? #23-24

Writer: Gail Simone and David Marquez

Notes: These are two of the modern comics I bought at this past comic shop trip. They just released! I bought two different iterations of #24 because it had TWO different variant covers that feature Jubilation. At least one of which will end up on my Jubilee wall.

Jubilee?: Yes! Rogue and Gambit are the central characters of Simone’s X-run, but I appreciate her respect for Jubilee and making her a part of this relatively small team of mutants.

Story: First of all, there is a weird side story running throughout this arc where some of the X-Men’s recent wards are listening to a Western story told by their landlord or something? It’s strange. But with the X-Men gaining love and acclaim in New Orleans, Elsa Bloodstone’s league of monsters show up saying THEY want to run Louisiana. So we get Mutants Vs Monsters, notably featuring Jubilee facing off with Morbius. He tries to tempt her back into the vampire fold, but through two issues, she isn’t having it.

DC KO: Green Lantern – Galactic Slam

Writer and artist: Jeremy Adams, Cian Tormey, and Pat Boutin

Notes: One of these things is not like the others! I also bought this comic while I was shopping because Kyle Rayner is also in my top 5 or so favorite comic book characters of all time.

Jubilee?: Not in a DC Comic, unfortunately.

Story: Kyle Rayner, Superboy, and a few other heroes are fending off the hordes of Apokolips when Kyle gets pushed through a Boom Tube. He ends up in a traveling wrestling dimension and teams up with Omega Bam Man. Together they defend Omega’s title, find out some stuff about Omega’s history, and then return to Earth to continue the struggle. ALSO, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, it’s revealed that Kyle can once again access the White Lantern powers! Take that, Venditti. Now that I know this, someone get me writing a Kyle book, STAT.

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So this was fun. I already want to go back to the shop and buy even more books now. Maybe by the time this is published, I’ll have done so! Look forward to that!

Until next time… take care!