Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Chris Bachalo
What Went Down: Let’s catch up with the captive Jubilee in Generation X. Bastion presents a battered visor to Jubilee in hopes of convincing her that Cyclops has been killed. Jubilee refuses to believe him, so Bastion leaves the cell.
Actually, the “cell” that Jubilee is locked in is a holographic projection in the middle of Bastion’s ready room. Because Jubilee has weaker psychic defenses than Professor X, Bastion is trying to make the girl emotional to weaken those defenses and discover the secrets of the X-Men. Daria, Bastion’s assistant, is disturbed by these methods and sympathetic towards Jubilee.
On the display screens, Bastion observes Jubilee’s thoughts. She flashes back to a scene in a funeral parlor just after Illyana Rasputin’s funeral. Cyclops comes over to comfort Jubilee, and explains that Wolverine was so emotional because of the recent death of his girlfriend Mariko, and because it reminded him of his foster daughter Amiko. Jubilee tells Scott that she is surprised to be having a normal conversation with the leader of the X-Men.
In the barn of the Massachusetts Academy (why is there a barn?), Artie and Leech are picking pieces of moss off of each other while Emma Frost tries scanning Banshee’s mind for the whereabouts of their students. Banshee’s cousin Black Tom has just attacked the school and covered it in plant life, so Emma is seeing if Tom mentioned anything to Banshee that might help. Surprisingly, Sean’s mind is on a flashback from Giant-Sized X-Men #1, the issue where he joined the X-Men. This gets Banshee excited as he realizes where the students must be.
Back at Bastion’s base, Jubilee spills the food that Bastion has offered her. He mentions that Bishop did the same thing before he killed him. Jubilee refuses to believe the villain, but she still flashes back to X-Men #8, where Bishop first met her and identified her as the last X-Man (even though the foot note is mislabeled Uncanny #29). Bastion decides to change tactics and shows her a projection of Wolverine being tortured by electricity. This causes Jubilee to despair until the fake Wolverine begs for help, proving to Jubilee that it isn’t real. Jubilee then goes on a rant, kicking Bastion and taunting him. Bastion’s mental defenses fail, showing Daria glimpses of his origin: a mechanical arm being covered in pink synthetic material, and Bastion emerging saying “At last.” Bastion knocks Jubilee over and leaves, frustrated. When Daria apologizes for what she saw, Bastion claims it wasn’t real. Then he tells her that they are going to capture the X-Men in Hong Kong. In her cell, Jubilee smiles despite her bloody nose.
What Else What Down: There is also a one page backup story by Jim Mahfood where Jubilee pretends to be on a cooking show and makes pancakes for Skin and her teammates.
How It Was: It’s pretty impressive that at this point in X-History poor Scott Lobdell was writing both X-Men books and Generation X. Man that guy must have been tired. Regardless, this is a pretty solid issue that shows Jubilee in a great light. Putting the light-hearted girl in an environment of physical and emotional abuse is a great way of creating drama, and Lobdell does a great job of depicting the conflict between Bastion and Jubes. Even though she’s completely trapped and restrained, Jubilee is still able to get the best of Bastion, despite all the technology and resources at his disposal. And the flashbacks Jubilee has of the X-Men are great touches, even though the scene from Illyana’s funeral doesn’t seem in continuity, although I guess the X-Men could’ve had a smaller ceremony before they had the big outdoor one in Uncanny #304.
Since I was never a regular reader of Generation X, I can’t say much for the other subplot scenes. It’s obvious that a lot of chaos is going down since Sean and Emma have lost the students, and nobody even knows that Bastion has Jubilee. But really the focus is squarely on Jubilee here.
Chris Bachalo’s art is pretty phenomenal. It manages to be cartoony and exaggerated while still conveying a wealth of tension and emotion. Whether it’s the page spread of Jubilee staring at the battered visor, or the impassive expression on Bastion’s face, the story flows really well for a narrative contained primarily to a small, dark room. Bachalo’s art does make Jubilee look a little younger than readers are used to seeing her as, but I think this enhances the story and makes you sympathize with her even more; it actually heightens both her innocence and Bastion’s complete lack of humanity.
This is a pretty great issue. It has a narrow focus, which works well to flesh out the two main characters. If you’re going to go to the trouble of reading the Operation Zero Tolerance crossover, you should hunt down this issue because it makes for good set up, and it’s better than ninety percent of the issues in the actual crossover anyways. Lobdell always seems to win when he focuses on characters and emotions, and this is just another example of that phenomenon. As for the backup, it’s really absurd and silly, but the art is fantastic. It’s a very odd tone shift after such a serious and tense story, but maybe the idea was to end the book on a high note; depending on your mood it will either put a smile on your face or leave you scratching your head.
B+
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