Jubilee’s baby, Pt. 1

As we end our series where I update you on what Jubilee’s up to lately (finally you can sleep easy again), she’ll be embracing a role far more dangerous than bloodthirsty vampire: mother.  While raising a child may be scary, raising a child in a world where dodging explosions is how most people get their daily cardio is downright terrifying. Today and Monday, we follow her arduous path in X-Men #1-6, volume four, written by Brian Wood and drawn by Olivier Coipel & David Lopez, to explain how her newest development came to be.  Spoiler alert: it’s an “oops” baby, but not in that way, you pervert.

Note, this is the baby’s first appearance in comics.  I didn’t skip over any back story — it’s supposed to be all mysterious and confusing.  How did Jubilee end up with a child in Bulgaria?  You know how superhero powers work, they all get the ability to be in the right place at the right time.  With Jubilee in control of her vampire urges (I assume by this point since those are never mentioned), she can totally be a responsible vampire mother.  Plus, babies don’t have a lot of blood anyway.  Though I’m jumping the gun — we have to build up to Jubilee claiming the infant as her own.

I like to think Kitty Pryde said the words “oh my god” as opposed to only announcing the letters.  That girl must be in her late teens by now, not halfway through middle school.  Also, notice the accusations in Storm’s questions?  She straight up thinks Jubilee swiped a baby from some random lady.  But this child has no parents, so finders keepers, I guess.  Welcome to the X-Men, baby.

Oh, and that suspicious man following her?  He’s supervillain John Sublime, hunting his sister Arkea. She’s a technological bacteria.  I’m serious.  And she takes over bodies with her super tech powers, especially those that the X-Men would never suspect.

Arkea switches from the infant to cyborg superhero Karima Shapandar, the Omega Sentinel.  You saw Days of Future Past, you know what those sentinels can do.  I include the next page only so you can see the gorgeous picture of our vampire and her baby sleeping.  Jubilee looks like a 1970s coke dealer.  And her polka dot socks.  I love it.

As the X-Men go on the super dangerous mission of hunting down the Omega Sentinel/Arkea combo, I’d like to list off the current team roster: Storm, Rachel Grey, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, John Sublime, Jubilee, and a baby.  And why name the baby Shogo?  It’s a Japanese name (because the child’s Japanese — Jubilee herself is half-Chinese) and from an interview I found with the writer Brian Wood, it’s just a name he liked.  Why not?  You create a character, you name him or her whatever you want. Much like our pets.

Now it’s official — Jubilee’s a bona fide mother.  Don’t fret that little Shogo’s not a mutant, he’ll still be allowed to live and flourish with the X-Men.  If we’re going to get technical, Jubilee’s not a mutant anymore either and Wolverine still lets her crash at the school.  What’s a vampire among rock monsters, psychics, alien insects, and a boy named Glob Herman?

With Google coming up empty (especially considering she has no idea the child’s real name and the whole finding him next to a terrorist meteor explosion attack), Shogo will forever remain firmly in the loving hands of dear Jubilee.  On Monday, we have a bunch more updates on these two.  I won’t leave you in the dark when it comes to infant-related news.