Hellions #16: Stray Dogs

This issue was, very obviously, setting up for the upcoming relaunch/reset that will be affecting all of the books after the upcoming Lives/Deaths of Wolverine. Wells is neatly tying off every loose and dangling string whilst cranking up the emotional stakes of this complex, entangling story. 

It’s unsurprising that an author who is so focused on crafting densely wrought, believable characters would allow us to feel the full emotional weight of the previous issue, granting us insight into how everyone is handling the aftermath. The highpoints, for me, were the snapshots we got of Kwannon, Empath, and Nanny. God knows that I never expected to feel anything approaching affection for that scrambled little psycho, but here we are. 

Psylocke’s self-directed rage is distilled from the dregs of her grief. Her scene with Scott (and her almost equal rage at the council) nicely sets up her arc in Inferno. Like Mystique, she is missing someone who is unlikely to be brought back.

Stephen Segovia exhibited his tremendous talent throughout the issue, but his handling of Empath as his cold, psychotic mask slips (revealing something very different beneath) after his discussion with Emma, his eyes melting into grief and fear, was equal parts chilling and astonishing to see. 

As for Nanny, it’s impossible to overstate what a surprise her journey has been. Her mixture of absolutely abysmal parenting and deep dedication to ‘her’ children is complex (both in terms of the psychology of the character and also in the narrative itself) and this issue made me root for her and curse her almost in the same breath.

I would like to briefly talk about the color work in this issue. Rain Beredo did something masterful, that it would be a mistake to overlook. In the very beginning, when we see the Hellions embedded amidst the rubble of Sinister’s lab, the background is almost monochromatic. All browns and greys. The characters really pop in this scene, they are symbolically lifted out and made perceptively more real by their distinctive shades. Their very human reality is contrasted again when the X-Men show up. Scott and his cohorts are clothed in almost a nimbus of lights, separating these very public heroes from the Hellions as dramatically as angels are divided from mankind in the paintings of Giotto. This was very skillfully done and I would be absolutely remiss not to mention it. 

I would be worried about slipping into hyperbole when praising this story, but the book’s so good that it honestly deserves it. I am absolutely in love with these murderous underdogs.