Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates, Review | Tagged:

Wednesday Comics Reviews: Wolverine And Jubilee #1 and Morning Glories #6

Published Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:20:16 -0600

Last updated Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:26:35 -0600

Jubilee is a vampire. She doesn't have her firework powers anymore, but that's okay 'cos she's got vampire powers. And she's in an X-Men prison as a result, on an island off the coast of the USA. Oh, it's all really rather Guantanamo isn't it? Just without the orange jumpsuits and playing of Michael Bolton CDs day in, day out. Bit anti-neocon that. And now they're letting her out, trying to monitor her behaviour, to treat her condition, to maintain her balance. But you know it will never work. Bit anti-liberal that, isn't it?

Wolverine And Jubilee #1 does an amazing job at creating a series of scenes that vary in location and space, one after another. Well written and drawn, we move from cell to gym to psych ward to island rock to nightclub to containers. Each have their different degrees of enclosure and freedom and that balance seems to be the central theme of the book. To what degree is liberty traded against security, especially when it involves very individual freedoms. X-Men books have always been strong at their thematic core, it's a pleasure when they take on other themes of the human condition with as much success. And for those of us who remember picking up Jubilee's first Silvestri/Claremont appearance all those years ago, there's a memorable flashback to that as well.

The vampire theme has been used to express everything from rape to love before, but tghis seems to be the first time I've read it as a metaphor for adulthood and adult responsibility – usually it's an excuse for someone to stay forever young, not age.

Wolverine and Jubilee is the kind of title that could be easily dismissed. But writer Kathryn Immonen continues her strong reputation from the recent Moving Pictures, and Phil Noto shows off jut how well a location can affect a story.

Morning Glories by Nick Spencer, Joe Eisma and Rodin Esquejo plays the opposite tricking, getting as much as they possibly can from one location. The book has been compared to Lost before, but this issue goes all out.

We are in the school with a mysterious amazing glowing object.

We are introduced to a new character, her story told in flashback.

There is a mysterious unseen character. When we see their face, it's someone we know but weren't expecting.

There's a frankly unrealistic and unbelievable London pub in which a scene is set.

The whole thing seems to be taking place in a different time period to what we expect but we only realise that at the end.

Locke is now a smoke monster. Okay, I lied about that bit.

Which means this is a bit of a break for Morning Glories, we're not getting the continuation of the story we've been following quite as much. Which mean, yes, it's full of intrigue, ideas and mystery, but I wanted the story to continue from where it left off. And that's the annoyance I always got with Lost as well, when it went on an annoying divergence. And yes I know, it will always fit it but seriously, I went out of my way for this, I was looking forward to the book, and we get the story about someone I won't care about enough for another year or so, probably?

And yes, Daniel, that means you.

Oh go on then, I'll be back for another issue. If only to see the implications of the last page. Oh bloody hell, now I'm going to have to read the whole thing again with this new information aren't I?

Oh and congrats on the execution on the unseen character thing. Something comics can do very well – and this does it very well.

Comics from Orbital Comics of London, England.