Hellions #16: Nanny Take the Wheel!

EVEN MORE secrets are exposed and Nanny takes a hit in Hellions #16, from Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia, Rain Beredo, and Ariana Maher.

Austin Gorton: Well Liz, I went and did it. Last issue I mentioned that the series seemed to be building to some kind of endpoint, and speculated that perhaps it would come to an end soon as part of the great “Inferno”-related purge/rejiggering of the X-books slated for the end of the year. And then, between last issue and Hellions #16, it was made official: our beloved Hellions will come to an end of some sort with issue #18.

Okay, I don’t actually believe I jinxed this (clearly this was in the works long before we started writing that review and I *wish* I had that kind of power), but regardless, we are now facing down the end of the series; how’d you take the news?

Liz Large: I can’t believe that you, personally, killed Hellions. The betrayal! 

Jokes aside, I’m sad but hopeful. This series has turned me into a fan of Zeb Wells/Stephen Segovia as well as a truly random assortment of characters, and I’m excited to follow everyone involved to wherever they end up. But I really need them to end up somewhere in the x-line in order to do that, so fingers crossed!

Austin: As we get closer to what we now know to be the end of the series, it has become more clear, including in Hellions #16, that Wells has a specific story to tell about the Hellions. All of the different threads he’s woven into the narrative have a definitive endpoint. Which means we should (hopefully) get a satisfying conclusion while at the same time leaving the door open for at least some of the characters he’s made us love to pop up somewhere else; the story of the Hellions may be drawing to a close, but that doesn’t the stories of all its characters have to end, too. 

Although, the way some things unfold here, it’s entirely possible some of these characters might be facing an end of sorts. Shall we dive into the here and now? 

Liz: Let’s do it! As long as I can start with an aside about how very happy I am that Segovia is back on art? If things have to end, at least they’ll end beautifully. 

Everyone is NOT Okay 

Liz: Love that a completely reasonable explanation of the opening location is “in Brooklyn, there’s a cloning facility that was formerly the property of Arcade, but after he failed at kidnapping Sinister and the Hellions, Sinister turned it into his own cloning facility, and the Hellions fought essentially their counterparts from Arakko, and then Empath made Havok blow it up, so now they’re in rubble”. I’m sorry, this book is simply too much, we need additional issues to get into everything. 

Austin: It’s WILD. To echo your comment about Segovia’s return, his presence is felt right off the bat. As Hellions #16 opens in the aftermath of Havok’s Empath-triggered blast with a series of relatively quiet character moments: Psylocke mourning the apparent death of her daughter, Havok’s shame at having lost control again, Greycrow’s fury at Empath for pushing Havok: all these beats land all the more effectively because Segovia is rendering them. But of course, it’s not all shock and awe, because you simply can’t keep a good egg down when she sees an opportunity. 

Liz: I would die for Nanny. With everyone functionally immobilized, or at least moving slowly, she’s got her chance to take down Sinister. Well, one of them, at least, because Clone Sinister is able to run off in the face of the truly terrifying Nanny. She’s got a weapon and a song, and I’m not sure which is scarier. She’s made it clear in the past that she truly loathes him for what he’s done to mutant children. She’s clearly used some of her prep time to work on something creepy. Nanny is fully about to take off his head, but the X-Men show up to ruin things. How unbelievably rude of them!

Austin: Having the X-Men show up here is appreciated—it’s a good use of them as the public-facing team, and we ARE in New York but they do absolutely ruin the fun. I wanted to hear the end of Nanny’s song!

Back on Krakoa, the aftermath of the last few issues starts to kick in. Emma Frost and Cyclops discuss the situation, with Emma affirming Havok is a hero for stopping Sinister’s illicit Chimeras. Greycrow reiterates his desire to kill Empath, and Nanny blows off poor Orphan Maker, telling him to, essentially, GTFO. Of all that, I was most struck by Emma. Did her magnanimity towards Havok read as genuine to you? Or was it just an attempt to cover for Empath based on what we later learn in this issue? 

Liz: Something I noticed about this issue (and again, made possible by the expressive art) was the disconnect between what people were saying and what they felt. When the person Emma is talking to isn’t around, it seems like she feels guilty for what she’s done to Havok and Empath. While it’s clear she did some manipulation to get them to do things. I think she really means it when she praises them both for doing hard things for noble purposes. I think her promise to Alex is sincere. Perhaps it’s a spur of the moment offer, but it doesn’t feel like a premeditated lie. His sad puppy attitude really affected her!

I was struck by Empath as well. He blows off Emma’s praise and apologies, and acts as though he doesn’t have a care beyond his physical safety. Once she’s gone, the way his expression falls really sells the idea he’s all bravado. Empath does feel some guilt for hurting his friends. 

Austin: I refuse to feel empathy for Empath (who is the worst) but, well, that four panel sequence where his facade falls gets me very, very close to it. It’s the most human and relatable he has been, well, possibly ever. Kudos to Segovia for pulling it off. Also yay, Madelyne might be coming back! Not only does this warm my Madelyne Pryor-loving heart, it’s another example of Wells bringing his story chickens home to roost as the series nears conclusion. 

The other big confrontation we get in the wake of the Chimera explosions is between fellow captains Psylocke and Cyclops. Psylocke isn’t just grieving her daughter, she’s pissed at the Council’s involvement in the Hellions. Specifically the way she was kept in the dark about that involvement. The Council’s continued protection of Sinister despite, well, all previous issues of this series aren’t helping either. It’s doubtful Psylocke will walk right out of the X-universe (we know she’s a player in Inferno) but this sure seems like the end of her time with the Hellions, doesn’t it? 

Liz: She really makes it clear that she wants to cut all ties with them. In a scene straight out of a film starring a kid and their animal buddy, she chases him away for his own good and tells him to get away. It’s sad! Her argument with Cyclops really makes a lot of things clear. It’s about disrespect and distrust, and she’s right to be furious. Psylocke was, she thought, becoming a trusted member of Krakoa. The Council clearly didn’t actually think she could do it. By not giving her the full picture put her in a dangerous position. 

Do we think Emma was working under some sort of Council authority? It’s really not clear to me how much individual leeway they have. It’s clear Sinister isn’t supposed to make clones of himself but is there a law against anything Emma did? There’s not even a law against murdering mutant kids! I can’t assume that asking Empath to manipulate Havok is a crime.

Austin: Well, the fun thing about having only a few laws that are either super broad or highly specific, is that it leaves a lot of gray area for “not great, but not technically illegal” actions. It seems like the whole “Hellions endeavor”—whether Emma is acting unilaterally or on orders from the council—falls into that very large gray area. One law that is very clear is “murder no man.” It’s a law Greycrow is fully prepared to break in order to take out Empath. Greycrow doesn’t want to just take him out in his current form. He wants to destroy all his backup information as well to make him “permanently” dead. He doesn’t seem to care that, as Wild Child reminds him, he’ll be thrown into the Hole for it. 

Liz: This makes the idea of Psylocke leaving even more sad! You know what makes me mad instead of sad? The mere existence of Hank McCoy in this comic. He’s sure talking a lot of shit for someone who’s been pretty awful over the last twenty-plus years of comics. Emma has done some underhanded things, here, unquestionably. It’s not Hank’s place to be offended by Emma’s actions.

Austin: The amount of chutzpah present in that data page is a wonder to behold. 

“And You Chose the Egg!” 

Austin: Meanwhile, Nanny is getting over her failed attempt to kill Mister Sinister with a little quality family time. Not with Orphan Maker, mind, but her little green robot Right baby. This is the closest thing this series has had to a running subplot. In Hellions #16 closing pages, it shifts firmly into the realm of A-plot. We learn the creepy goggled Right scientist from previous issues is none other than Nanny’s ex-husband, “Harold”. The fact that her ship was compromised is something readers knew, so the tension here was palpable. Yet for all that, the extent to which Harold overwhelmed Nanny was nevertheless shocking. How angry were you seeing our beloved little egg lady so casually tossed about her own ship? 

Liz: I was shocked. Objectively, I knew that Nanny had some skeletons in her closet. But I didn’t truly understand what that would mean. This man knows who she was before she became Nanny: a woman named Eleanor, with a husband but no egg. He says that she chose to leave him, and basically calls her crazy for choosing the way she did. (Um, sir, we can all see you and trust me that the egg was a better choice.) It’s really awful to watch him tear her down like this!

Austin: It’s definitely hard to see. For all that Nanny has gone through in this series (including dying), she’s had an air of invulnerability about her. Seeing her violated in her private sanctum like this shatters that. Yet, what pushes her to the brink is when Harold takes control of the ship with the intent to crash it into the Krakoan nursery, killing all the mutant babies. I’m not sure I knew there was a nursery on Krakoa before this. We do know, however, that protecting mutant babies is Nanny’s Entire Thing. So Nanny takes the only action she can: blow up her own ship with her inside. It’s so in character it becomes inevitable the moment Harold announces his intention. The speed with which events escalated from “mew mew” to “flaming wreckage raining down from the sky” was genuinely surprising.

Liz: While Nanny would 100% come back from this sort of explosion, it’s still a great moment of her following through with her constant code of protecting mutant children. She’s willing to sacrifice everything she has: potentially her life and egg, her ship. Especially as the ship is the only place she could completely control. While the ship may have been compromised, there’s definitely no way she can hide a baby anywhere else on Krakoa.

Her rage is clearly affecting her when she encounters Orphan-Maker. That doesn’t excuse her actions. He charges into an explosion to rescue her, only to have his concern met with a slap. Poor Peter.

Austin: In an issue filled with sad moments, this might have been the saddest of all, when poor “first born” Peter just wants to help his nanny (who he just saw get blasted out of an exploding ship) and he’s immediately and violently rejected. The final data page, which also serves as the issue’s cliffhanger ending, is chilling. Whatever Peter is going to do next, it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for the poor kid.

Liz: There’s been some set up for Orphan-Maker to have some sort of incident for most of this series. There’s a power inside of him that can cause world-ending destruction. And events have felt even more on-edge since he was brought back as more. Nanny’s quote that closes out the issue is unsettling: “In my sorrow, I broke the boy. But I had no idea what he’d do.” It doesn’t sound good for our Hellions!

X-Traneous Thoughts

• Krakoan reads FINE STORY
• This issue’s cover is an homage to Cable’s first appearance in New Mutants #87.
• “Harold” and “Eleanor” are the perfect names for Nanny and her husband. 

Austin Gorton

Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton

Liz Large

Liz Large is a copywriter with a lot of opinions on mutants.