Hellions #1 is out March 25, 2020. — **Hellions #1** is out March 25, 2020.

By Zack Quaintance — I had been looking forward to the newest X-Men comic — Hellions #1 — since the book was first announced, and in a way, I feel like I’m still looking forward to it. Don’t get me wrong, I read the comic this morning, but Hellions #1 had a lot of setup to do. So much so that it felt like one of those first issues that doesn’t really get our plot moving, instead having a team-building checklist to accomplish before it can introduce storytelling elements like character motivations, dilemmas, threats, and larger goals.

That said, Hellions #1 is still an entertaining read. Stephen Segovia’s artwork is up there with some of the best in the Dawn of X era, colored here wonderfully by David Curiel. There’s really a Krakoa color palette that seems to have developed in these books (please don’t ask me to describe it even a little bit past that), and Curiel nails it here. Segovia’s linework is also clean and stylish, excelling especially when asked to depict action sequences (and this book is certainly heavy on those).

Writer Zeb Wells, meanwhile, is a creator I’ve praised quite a bit for his work on the miniseries Ant-Man, which is among my favorite Marvel Comics of 2020 (so far). In that book, Wells has shown himself to be a relentlessly clever writer with a more than capable grasp of the inherent absurdity of decades-old stories about super-powered people in tight clothing. His humor is a bit restrained here, which is fitting, given that to a one the new X-Men comics are far more serious than something like Ant-Man. It does show through at times, especially in his writing of Sinister. In this new Dawn of X era, no writer has nailed the Sassy Sinister tone (created by Kieron Gillen and perfected by Jonathan Hickman) as well as Wells, except of course for Hickman himself. He also hints at being able to write some funny dialogue for the misfits assembled here, once we get to know them all a bit better.

And that brings me to what I still think is the biggest strength of this comic — the concept. To put it reductively, Hellions is basically the Dawn of X era’s answer to DC’s long-running Suicide Squad. It’s a group of misfits who have broken the paradisiacal Krakoa’s rules, but not so severely or blatantly that they’ve had to be thrown in the pit of exile (where to date only Sabertooth resides). They’re not that bad. But they are threatening and problematic in less blatant ways. Empath, for example, is a sociopath who has never learned to get along with others because from a young age he’s had the ability to manipulate moods, which makes him a very annoying problem — and so he’s put on the Hellions team. Every character on this team has a similar circumstance, except for Sinister (who has gleefully volunteered to manage them) and Kwannon, who has been brought on to head-kick any who threaten to go all the way rogue here.

While as I noted above, Wells and co. have quite a bit of team assembling and explaining to do in this first issue, making it feel a bit more like a #0 than a #1, they do it all in entertaining fashion with great artwork. There are hints throughout of budding relationship dynamics that stand to be interesting (and also fodder for Wells’ jokes), and there is an excellent grasp of X-Men continuity, alluding often to things like The Mutant Massacre storyline that befell the original Morlocks (and I think was ultimately Gambit’s fault, although that doesn’t really get brought up here and also might have been retconned during the years I wasn’t paying the X-Men any attention). But I liked it all the same, and am excited to come back next month (provided we’ve figured out the coronavirus-related distribution challenges by then)

Overall: Wells and co. have quite a bit of team assembling and explaining to do in this first issue, making it feel a bit more like a #0 than a #1, but they do it all in entertaining fashion with great artwork. I am excited for what is to come from this title. 7.0/10

Hellions #1
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Stephen Segovia
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Solicit: BAD IS THE NEW GOOD! When Krakoa opened their doors to all mutants and forgave all past crimes, they might have known they'd have to accept some of their worst foes into the fold... but they didn't plan for what to do with them. Not to worry-Mister Sinister knows what to do with the troublemakers. Meet his new Hellions: Scalphunter, Wild Child, Empath, Nanny, Orphanmaker, Psylocke...and Havok?! Under Sinister's direction, they are sure to become productive members of mutant society.

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.