Hellions #1
Marvel Comics
Written by: Zeb Wells
Art by: Stephen Segovia
Colors by: David Curiel
Lettering by: VC’s Cory Petit
PURCHASE HERE
The mutant island of Krakoa is a sanctuary for all mutants. The leadership body, the Quiet Council, includes X-men villains Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister sitting side by side with Charles Xavier, Jean Grey, Storm, and Magneto. Traditional evil rests elbow to elbow with the traditional good of mutant society. Taking the good with the bad, is a societal balance, a balance that Krakoa and writer Zeb Wells is attempting to find in the pages of Hellions.
The spectrum of X-men titles has provided avenues for various branches of mutant interactions, Marauders and X-Force each provide darker avenues for mutant action. But much of this action is still heroic in nature, Hellions asks the question: what to do with unstable mutants and those unable to control their nature? The question is valuable for any society and it provides a thought provoking canvas for writer Zeb Wells to explore. While much of the first issue sets up the characters, Wells provide each room to question and develop.
One of the successes of the current Krakoa arc is how each series writer is reaching across X-men history to find unique teams that explore and expose complex dynamics. This is very true for the team Wells has constructed for this newest version of Hellions. Many of the characters have ties back to a previous version of the Hellions and more importantly to Mr. Sinister. Sinister is the member of the Quiet Council that proposes the idea of giving the group of outcasts a purpose, to use their chaos for mutantkind. The true nature of Sinister’s intentions is left unsaid, but given that Hickman’s Powers of X series alluded to Mr. Sinister’s future, readers should look forward to twists and turns throughout the series.
Stephen Segovia’s artwork fits well with the style Leinil Francis Yu has created on the core X-men series. Segovia’s art and David Curiel’s colors create a sense of menace and discomfort with each character and the setting of this team. That sense of discomfort is appropriate given the volatile nature of the character and the historic actions of Mr. Sinister. Segovia and Curiel communicate a sense of dread and resignation through the facial expressions and body language by the normally heroic Havok, who finds himself assigned to this team.
As a first issue there is more stage setting than revealing character development, but the setting, premise, and composition of Hellions provides a voice for an unexplored segment of Krakoa’s society.