Meet Your New X-Men In X-Men: The Hellfire Gala #1

A tumultuous year comes to an end with a party and more tumultuous events in X-Men: The Hellfire Gala#1 written by Gerry Duggan, drawn by Kris Anka, Russell Dauterman, Mateo Lolli, and CF Villa, colors by Rain Beredo, Frank Martin, Matt Milla, and Matt Wilson, and letters by Cory Petit.

Tony Thornley: Chris! Welcome back to X-Men! I’m excited to talk about the issue with you! It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since the first Gala.

Chris Eddleman: Well Tony, it’s turned into an annual tradition, this X-Men vote. However, we’ve been less spoiled for our roster than we were last year so somehow it feels even longer. We’ve changed from a full trades worth of story to a mere oversized one-shot, and I’m honestly looking forward to the format change. Let’s see if the soiree lives up to my champagne tastes.

Secrets And Lies

Tony: The issue has an interesting kick off, picking up with Scott and Jean a year ago, and then immediately after the events of X-Men #12 (which unfortunately real life got in the way of our write-up for the issue). In the first page, they’re talking about how the election may go, while the second is about the fallout of the Daily Bugle expose published in #12. Obviously it’s meant to give us the idea that the “elected X-Men” experiment was successful.

First of all, I’m happy to see Kris Anka back on interiors. He’s changed his style slightly since the last time I saw him do interiors, so it threw me a little, but this opening sequence really looked great thanks to him. I’m not sure which color artist was working with him (I’m guessing Milla or Wilson) but the colors compliment the line work really well.

Now whether the election was successful or not, I don’t think the second page actually followed up on at all. Instead Duggan just jumps straight to “Well, the secret’s out! Hope the Council doesn’t fire us!” What did you think of it?

Chris: Starting with mirrored pages is always a neat way to get a sucker like me into a story, so I’ve got to give it to the crew on that one. I’ve been curious how the news of mutant immortality was going to affect the world at large, so it’s interesting that this year’s Gala follows up on that. It seems like so far, every year focuses on one big event in mutantdom, with last year’s being the terraforming of Mars into Arakko. Cyclops and Jean Grey having big talks before ummm….ahem [Ed. note: sex], feels more Cyclops than anything I’ve ever read. Cyclops being the Boy Scout who let the secret slip is certainly on-brand but, it’s interesting how the Council is demonized for keeping it a secret while Cyclops simply let it go without telling anyone. I really like the political angle of Jean and Cyclops considering votes, and honestly I think X-Men should do more of it. 

Tony: Yeah, phase 1 of Krakoa was so political, and it almost seems like X-Men was built to not include that part of it. I would love to see the title have more of that creep in, because it feels so intrinsic to the Krakoa era. It also makes a story and series that’s felt partially isolated from the rest of the line also make a connection that it wasn’t getting.

I love how it begins to filter through Krakoa from there. Bishop and Magik discover it mid-training exercise (love the New X-Men kids as the psychically projected Avengers). I had a lot of fun with this scene, even if I was confused for a minute.

Chris: So I think Krakoa has been menaced or invaded enough by human-based superhero teams to account for this kind of training. It’s kind of a trust but verify exercise for our X-Men, especially after the Trial of Magneto situation. This scene was kind of a neat little fake-out for just a moment, especially considering the actual Avengers come in peace mere pages later. Perhaps we’re prejudging the humans, Tony?

Tony: It definitely seems that way. At least at first. (We’ll get to that in a minute.)

I loved how each of the kids took a role; Glob as Cap, Armor as the Hulkbuster Armor, Gentle as Hulk… It’s very fun, but it surprised me that they’d have Surge drill for defending against an Avengers team all on her own. Seems like something that would require a full team, even if it is kids. That’s kind of beside the point though, because this scene is mostly there to set-up Bishop- as Captain Commander- learning about the Daily Bugle story. From there, the shit hits the fan- Emma, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Orchis and the Quiet Council all learn in rapid succession.

Did any of the reactions we got here surprise you?

Chris: I think I was surprised that Clea was involved at all but, otherwise, we’re kind of keeping in character from last year’s Gala. Honestly. “Last year’s Gala” felt a little bit like the tone for a bit of this book. We get lots of celebrity bits, we get some fancy costumes, and we get people reacting to yet another mutant “bombshell” but this was one we already knew. Heck even Mr. Fantastic remained ticked off at Magneto and Xavier for taking that mutant gene knowledge. It wasn’t bad in and of itself but, it kind of reminded me how slowly the story moved since the last Gala. But regardless, there’s some fun moments, such as Emma and Scott having a reunion/apology tour. Did this work for you?

Tony: Some worked better than others. Clea’s panicked conversation with Emma was a little strange (no pun intended) but I think art-wise it was one of the high points of the issue (I think that was on Lolli, but it might have been Villa). Otherwise, all the secrets and political maneuvering was fun. I’m going to be interested to follow the Iron Man and Mister Fantastic stories, to see how it finally pays off. I wish we knew what Reed whispered to Charles last year to go with this. That revelation would have been fantastic to include here (again, no pun intended).

But the best by far was Scott and Emma’s dance (except for the extremely too “ain’t I clever” Banshee panel). This felt like it was a long time coming- both in Emma and Scott reconnecting and in Scott learning all these secrets- no?

Chris: Yeah, we haven’t had too much Emma and Scott so it was nice for them to get a little scene together. We’re also shown that despite her inability to trust too many people, she still trusts her Cyclops (and by extension, Jean I assume). Plus, this means that the democratically elected “good guy” has the skinny on the morally dubious council, which is a nice set up for things later. “Nice set up for things later” is kind of the tagline for this issue, as we also find out that Synch can’t use his powers too often to grab from people far away, as it rapidly ages his body. In a world with resurrections, this feels like low stakes but, I’m sure it’s a mechanism to keep him a little less godlike. Not sure how I feel about my barely written about (till now) St Louis native Synch getting a nerf right after his big glow-up, to be honest. I don’t love character nerfs as storytelling techniques, especially for barely used marginalized characters but, if Synch gets a good story, then I suppose that’s what matters. 

Tony: Agreed. This is a cautiously optimistic sort of plotline, just like most of the developments we get here.

The Long Game

Chris: So ORCHIS seems to have developed a new trio, with Moira defecting from the Krakoan secret council to form one with our dear Dr. Stasis as well as billionaire Feilong. It’s interesting that Devo, Nimrod, and Omega Sentinel are nowhere to be seen but these are the most RECENT X-Men villains so let’s simply go with. As evidenced in the FCBD special, Moira will be mentally inhabiting Mary Jane Watson’s body to go to said event. I initially had some issues with moustache twirling Moira but, I honestly have to admit I liked her devious self here a bit, and frankly an evil and good (less evil?) pair of Sinisters makes for a fun time. I can’t complain about the new villains. They really hint at some devious stuff happening at the Gala, which we can certainly discuss below. Moira is also referenced as a clairvoyant of their own (Moira means Destiny) but, I think the other two don’t seem to know her full story. Moira also seems so sure of her knowledge, which as we know from Inferno, was ultimately her downfall. But, anyway, the scheme. How about it Tony?

Tony: First of all, I’m so glad the “Moira is going to skin MJ like she did Banshee” hint from the FCBD special was a fake-out. Over the top villainy is great, but pairing it with sadistic violence can be a bit much. Knowing that she’s doing this without murder makes me much more excited to see what unfolds. I’m kind of halfsies on whether I like what happens next.

MJ arrives at the Gala and seems to be acting pretty normal. But then Cypher notices her tapping her glass in a particular rhythm. And she ignores Spider-Man, aka her ex-husband. Then Moira-Jane proceeds to hunt down Proteus and… Chris are you as confused as I am about what happened next?

Chris: So it seems as though Moira’s big plan was to come to the Gala, surreptitiously, in order to tell her son that he was simply a tool that she created and that she didn’t actually love him. Now, the revision of Moira and Proteus from a sexual assault story and evil baby (yikes) to a bit of tricky eugenics has been a bit wobbly at the very least, and what’s done is done on that front. But, this being the payoff of the ORCHIS scheming seemed a little odd to me. If there was something else done at the Gala (as Stasis’s silent scene later possibly hinted at), the art and writing certainly didn’t depict that. So as read, Moira was merely trying to set off Proteus again, but she was thwarted by his NEW family, the Five. So yeah, Tony. A bit confused. But that being said, I love a found family. And if they’re trying to remind us that even with the cracks in the firmament, Krakoa is still about family, I can get behind that.

Tony: I liked that. The Five really need a book of their own, and I wish X-Factor was still around for that reason alone.

I’m kind of wondering if Spider-Man’s intervention was the reason we didn’t Moira plant her gizmo. I get how protective Peter is, and Logan stepping in to prevent it from escalating was a great plot device. But also, we’re now going to be waiting for resolution to that until Amazing Spidey #9- aka late August/early September… I’m glad Zeb is continuing to work closely with the X-Line and Peter’s relationship with mutants is one of my favorite things about the shared Marvel universe, but that feels like some bad scheduling.

A New Team With New Secrets

Chris: Tony we’ve got a brand new team of X-Men, and instead of the little plot device we got throughout last year’s run of revealing how each person won their vote, we get the whole shebang all at once, partially assisted by new mutant pal (but not actually a mutant), the Scarlet Witch. Tony, it’s a brand new roster brought to us by Dauterman’s finale art. What do you think?

Tony: I really wish I liked this scene more. Outside of two details, this scene really fell flat for me. So without further ado, the new line-up is:

• Cyclops
• Jean Grey
• Synch
• Firestar
• Forge
• Havok
• Iceman
• Magik

I’m excited to see Everett stick around, and there’s some very interesting plot set-up for Angelica and Forge within the issue. Otherwise… I’m pretty whelmed by this line-up. I’m okay with Iceman and Magik- they’re borderline A-listers, they make sense. Scott and Jean were givens. But Havok is just kind of boring to me. What did you think?

Chris: I kind of love Havok’s story since the Krakoa era started, so I’m cautiously optimistic that maybe we can get some cool stuff out of him. I like the Summers Boys on one team, personally. Otherwise, Firestar is usually as interesting as wet cardboard but, her former affiliation with the Avengers makes for some very interesting possible drama. Other sources of drama that you’re looking forward to?

Tony: I agree with you about Angelica- and the idea that she doesn’t really like Krakoa as a concept is SO interesting to me. It’ll be interesting to see how that develops.

Bobby deserves to be an A-list character. I still think they’ve made some missteps in handling him since the end of the Bendis era until now and this is a really good chance to see him continue to grow up.

I am very excited to see what’s up with Forge. I don’t think we’ve seen him in the field consistently since what… the Howard Mackie X-Factor? [Ed. note: This is Cable & X-Force erasure] I got the distinct feeling that he’s going to be Chuck’s source on the team, in the same way Angelica will be for Stark. Also, I’m a few issues behind on X-Force but do you know if Project Blackbox was mentioned or foreshadowed there before Charles and Forge talked about it here?

Chris: I am likewise behind but I seem to recall it being mentioned prior. [Ed. note: I’m not behind and don’t remember it] Forge is always a little bit morally dubious when fun gadgets are at stake, so it’s cool to see that aspect of him. I think the change from “everyone is a delightful team player” to some of these divided loyalties will hopefully make for some fun story, especially given how ho-hum the roster feels to me in a vacuum.

Tony: Yeah, definitely. I really only had two final thoughts about the roster. The first is curiosity about whether any of the previous team will still be cast members without being team members. I’m thinking specifically of Sunfire’s plot that was setup with his relationship with Arakko and potentially rescuing Redroot in Otherworld. We also haven’t completely gotten resolution on Synch and Wolverine, though I am glad that it looks like Everett is beginning to move on, realizing that Laura is not his Laura.

Lastly, I’m really disappointed that Northstar didn’t even get an appearance after the heavy foreshadowing that he’d be a member in this line-up in a couple issues throughout the year. That makes it feel like a dangling plot thread, so I wonder if it was an intentional change in direction or just a fun little tease during year 1 to play up the idea of the election.

So short summary from me- I think this book is worth picking up for some great art, and some interesting set-up (especially if you’re reading Immortal, X-Men or, yes, Amazing Spider-Man). As a story of its own though, I think it fell a bit short. How about you?

Chris: The art was definitely fun, even though in my eyes the varied colorists didn’t do the book any cohesive favors even if the art itself did the job. I found the story fell flat a little bit for me with Moira’s Bad Mom moments. Otherwise, a lot of it was simply fallout from big reveals that already happened and infomation being spread around. I find that kind of exposition doesn’t make for the most engaging kind of storytelling. With that being said, the issue was pretty good fun with the Hellfire moments we now come to expect, even if we didn’t have the Rashoman style branching narrative that we got last year. Definitely a good jumping-on point for X-Fans to likely set up the next year, at the very least.

X-Traneous Thoughts

• With Laura and Lorna leaving the team, I’m a little disappointed that snack watch and coffee watch are ending.
• Emma’s line about Scott &%^&-ing her is A+. Best line of the issue.
• Runner-up for second-best line of the issue is Havok’s ONLY line- spitting out his champagne when Forge nominated him.
• Leading directly into AXE, which is coming out….holy crap next week. Big gulf between that and finding out what happens to Spidey/MJ.
• Eddie from Iron Maiden is here and that is a gift.

Chris Eddleman

Chris Eddleman is a biologist and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.

Tony Thornley

Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.