Hellions #1: (SPOILER FREE) To Hell in a Hand Basket

Zeb Wells has been handed the most chaotic, potentially unpleasant team in the history of X-Books and flexed every writing muscle at his disposal to make this book truly sing. As we move into the second phase of the “Dawn of X”, more and more the frailty of Krakoa comes into question. For those mutants whose powers by nature make them dangerous to keep around, The Hellions provides a potential solution that doesn’t entail them being thrown in the Pit of Misery alongside Victor, with the inclusion of Alex Summers/Havok giving these throw-away characters some emotional gravitas.

The artwork by Stephen Segovia is clean and efficient throughout but the biggest boon to his collaborative work on this book is the seething capacity for violence that seems to be waiting, just as the team, to be let loose. While the action in this first issue was rather limited, the moments of action here were fluid and graceful, helping to round out the promise of quality delivered by the writing.

There are a great many ways this book could be primed to fail but the largest of those is likely in how much anybody cares about these characters. Some carefully crafted moments and dialogue, however, have already gone a long way into getting fans invested in these poor outcasts. Barring a complete meltdown, I may have a new favorite X-book!