Best of the X: Hellions?!?

As the new X-line started to take shape in the wake of Jonathan Hickman's landmark “House of X/Powers of X” series, there were multiple titles that piqued my curiosity.

The main “X-Men” title, of course, seemed to be where the biggest chunks of this new era would unfold, even if the cover of issue 1 included just the extended Summers family (Vulcan?!? Why?) and Wolverine. Neither that format nor that cast came to be, though it certainly had some interesting moments.

“Excalibur?” I'm a sucker for international teams. And this one has Gambit and Rogue? And Apocalypse is a good guy? Hmmm.

Real life intervened, and I didn't end up buying any of them out of the gate, but thanks to Hoopla, Marvel Unlimited and X-Lapsed (have I mentioned X-Lapsed?), I have been following along with the entire line. As it predictably expanded, I found “X-Factor's” concept of a team investigating mutant deaths before the resurrections are greenlit intriguing and “Way of X” promised to delve into the questions many of us were asking but few of the books were exploring.

Others didn't catch my eye, and the one that probably caused the biggest shrug of my shoulders was “Hellions.”

First of all, I'm bugged by the way comics seem to toss the word hell around, like it's a cool or funny thing and not eternal punishment and separation from God (Not that it's only comics. And if I'm honest, I probably don't give the word the weight I'm suggesting it should have either).

Second, that roster? Yawn.

Havok I've always thought was kind of cool, but Nanny and Orphan Maker? I had read maybe two comics with them, and while the concepts are of the bizarre, only-in-comics nature I usually appreciate, I'd never clamored for more.

Wild Child? Other than his Age of Apocalypse stint as Sabretooth's Mini-Me, has anyone ever found him interesting?

Empath? Well, he's one of the original Hellions. But empathy ain't telepathy. Pass.

Greycrow? A legacy Marauder, but I still can't tell you what his mutant power is. If I had to guess, it would be having guns. Who wants to read about a generic mass murderer whose name was (understandably) changed to something even more vague?

Kwannon? I didn't get why somebody thought it was a good idea to put Psylocke's former body (and its original occupant) front and center in one series (“Fallen Angels”), let alone try to do it again.

And all these folks would be operating under the “leadership” of Mr. Sinister, who I thought stopped being relevant shortly after the '90s ended.

I was reading all the books on Unlimited, so I might as well give it a try, but, as you can see, I wasn't remotely optimistic. I can't remember if I knew from the start it carried a parental advisory, but that isn't a trait that makes me think, “Ooh, this will be fun.”

(Some spoilers follow, mainly for the first six issues. I tried to be vague the rest of the way.)

The concept was that since all mutants get a second chance on Krakoa (except maybe Omega Red), there would be some problematic citizens. Outside of Havok and Kwannon (she's Psylocke now that Betsy Braddock's Captain Britain), the rest of the group fit the bill. Krakoan amnesty is ripe for storytelling potential, but some of the bumps in the road have been skipped over to get to higher concepts.

There's even a mystery as to why Havok is on the team as they're sent on their first mission: to destroy Sinister's old Marauder-cloning facility under the orphanage where Cyclops and Havok grew up. I wasn't hooked immediately. It looked like we were going to get a gorefest with killers killing worse killers and facing off against a foe who excited me almost as much as the team itself – the Goblyn Queen (errant Jean Grey clone Madelyne Pryor).

But by issue 4 (spoiler alert) – when Maddie begged Havok to let people know she was real and not just a carbon copy of Jean and the Quiet Council passed on resurrecting her because they already had a redheaded telepath in an awkward love triangle – I realized this book was something special.

The next two issues were the highlights of the meandering “X of Swords” crossover, as Sinister led his team to try to end the main battle before it could start. I'll skip further context because that was a complex crossover and maybe I still don't understand it all. Suffice it to say, the Hellions' mission was a spectacular failure and half of them were killed quickly by Tarn the Uncaring and his Locus Vile, a fittingly named group in Shyguy masks that I would have dismissed as intentionally stomach-turning gimmicks had someone besides Zeb Wells been writing them. And even they weren't the real threat as Sinister wiped out the surviving members of his team to cover up his true motive for the quest.

Death on Krakoa, of course, is even less permanent than elsewhere in comics, and the team was soon back, battling the anti-mutant religious extremist Right and wading right into the issues HoX/PoX brought up about the threat posed to mutantkind by intelligent machines.

Meanwhile, Greycrow was becoming a surprise favorite, a veteran who seemed to genuinely care for his killer comrades in the Marauders and was now growing fond of most of his Hellion teammates. Unlike Sinister and Apocalypse, who gained power on Krakoa because of their influence and abilities, rather than any real desire to change, Greycrow seemed to want to be a better man. And a hard-to-follow plotline from “Fallen Angels” carried over as Sinister held a powerful bargaining chip over Psylocke.

“Hellions” dealt more with the fallout of “X of Swords” than some other titles, with several members who died in the demonic realm of Amenth coming back different. The three-part “Funny Games” storyline tested my patience a little, but the darker aspects fit the story and Wells still managed to thread plenty of appropriately dark humor through it. And it too touched on one of the big mysteries set up in HoX/PoX.

Following the obligatory Hellfire Gala crossover, “Hellions” entered the stretch run over the last six issues, tying in pretty much every plotline explored in the first 12.

When Marvel announced the book was ending at 18, it wasn't really a surprise. We comic fans have become almost conditioned to expect things to end before they hit issue 25, especially titles featuring more obscure characters.

This comic was as dark as its cast and subject matter, unfailingly funny, suspenseful, emotional and at times gut-wrenching. Wells appears to be leaving the X-fold to take over “Amazing Spider-Man,” and I'm inclined to give that a shot. “Hellions” #18 wrapped up almost all the storylines he laid out, while also setting up threads another writer, or eventually Wells himself, can follow up on.

I wouldn't be surprised if Peter Parker crosses paths with Psylocke and Greycrow on a Krakoan mission or romantic getaway. In fact, I'll be a little disappointed if he doesn't.