I like the concept of the “self character” – we all have our favorites, and these are usually (by definition) our self characters, but how often do we really stop to consider
why they are our favorites and how we relate to them, much less put it into words so that others can understand?
My self character is, of course, Jubilee. She struck a chord with me immediately way back in 1989 when I first picked up an X-men comic, and she is the one who got me hooked on X-books. I guess what drew me to her so strongly was that I had shared a few of her life experiences – the very things that made her the character she is made me the person I am.
Tragedy and trauma at an early age followed by a
very hard period in life (although thankfully I was never homeless – I was spared that horror), resulting in pronounced issues with trust and abandonment. Jubes and I reacted to this in similar ways – putting up a wall of “attitude” to keep those around us at what we felt was a safe distance, only learning much later (almost too late in my case) that we needed them closer. In the end, the thing that saved her was the same thing that saved me: someone else from a traumatic background saw through the fake wall I’d put up and found someone who was hurting and in need of help and understanding, not hatred.
Wolverine (and later the X-men as a whole) did that for her (for me it was an aunt I’d met a total of twice before) – they recognized that under that often abrasive and standoffish exterior was a wounded person with a big heart, who could be
ferociously devoted to her friends. Of course now she’s grown, and she’s different from who she once was, but at her core she’s still the same big-hearted girl.
One other thing about Jubilee that impressed me was how highly she regards the sanctity of human life. In an age where killing people in comic books has become almost mundane, with seemingly every second character racking up their own body count, Jubes has never resorted to this no matter the situation. Even as a vampire (a murderous monster by definition), she has never allowed herself to kill people. That’s pretty impressive.
I love many characters, but she’s my number one. I suppose at that time I saw in Jubes a kindred spirit, and I was hooked. Fast forward 3 decades and I still am.