While I’m not the biggest fan of the X-Men, I do enjoy them (Colossus is my favorite if you’re wondering) and I appreciate their place in popular culture and the comic book landscape. I’ve genuinely enjoyed the current era of the X-Men which–for those of you who might not know–saw the X-Men create their own nation on the island mutant state of Krakoa and not only flourish, but thrive with their own art, culture, and a newfound sense of geopolitical and intergalactic power.
However, long time readers of the X-Men comics may remember the last time the mutants had their own nation state on Magneto’s old home of Genosha and how badly it ended and unfortunately, it looks like history is going to repeat itself in the worst possible way in this year’s event: “X-Men: Hellfire Gala” #1
Written by Gerry Duggan and Jonathan HickmanCover by: Phil Noto
Illustrated by Adam Kubert,Luciano Vecchio, Matteo Lolli, Russell Dauterman, Javier Pina, R.B Silvia, Joshua Cassara, Kris Anka, Pepe Larraz, and Valerio Schiti
Colored by Rain Beredo, Ceci de la Cruz, Matthew Wilson, Erick Arciniega, and Marte Gracia
Lettered by Virtual Calligraphy
THE FALL OF X BEGINS HERE! The Hellfire Gala is always the biggest event of the season…but this year’s will change everything for Krakoa. What is meant to be mutantkind’s biggest night becomes their biggest nightmare as the Fall of X begins! All your favorite X-Men are going to be left reeling after this one – shocking revelations, stunning betrayals, horrifying tragedy, impossible deaths…and of course the most glamorous looks of the year, all in one CANNOT-MISS package!
Rated T+
The Hellfire Gala is an absolutely massive party that the sovereign nation of Krakoa has held every year since its foundation. It’s been an event for humans, heroes, and mutants to mingle, drink, discuss the way of things, and stare at some of the most lavish and well designed ballroom formal wear ever created. It’s also an opportunity for mutantkind to display their power and it usually ends with some massive revelation. One year, mutantkind announced they were terraforming Mars for their personal colonization. Another year, Krakoa’s greatest secret was leaked for all the world to learn.
This year, it looks like death has come to paradise as the nation of Krakoa is threatened by longtime enemies, and quite a few people that were previously thought of as friends.
Naturally, spoilers will be minimized in this review but let’s just say that after the events of this comic, things are bad…really bad.
The first thing that grabs the reader’s attention is that “X-Men: Hellfire Gala” #1 is that it’s really long since it’s over 70 pages and could easily fall under the category of a short graphic novel. As a result, it’s easy to think that a book with that much space would wind up bloated and almost unreadable, but long time X-Men writer Gerry Duggan does a splendid job and tells a great story. Duggan does a great job of opening the story on a positive note. There are some pretty cool revelations about important characters, the party is going well, and a new team of X-Men is elected and formed. However, Duggan ramps up the pace and intensity of the story really fast as death literally falls from the sky and lays Krakoa to waste in what seems to be a matter of minutes. A lot of important people die, and they do not die well. Even then, it wouldn’t be so bad since Krakoa is capable of resurrection technology and it’s home to some of the most powerful individuals in the Marvel Universe, but Duggen crafts a scenario where everything falls apart and some of the most powerful mutants on the planet are forced to turn against their own kind. It is a sudden, violent, and terrifying ordeal that leaves a little bit of hope for the reader to cling onto, but for now the mutants are on the ropes and all seems lost.
If “X-Men: Hellfire Gala” #1 has any problems, it’s only really because X-Men lore is long, complicated, and deeply ingrained to the Marvel Universe. It’s not really that much of a problem since Duggan is a great comic book writer who knows how to tell an entertaining story to people who might be in the dark, but anyone who might want to get the maximum amount of enjoyment out of this book might want to do some research into what’s been going on with the X-Men over the last couple of years.
Continued belowWith a book as big and as important as “X-Men: Hellfire Gala” #1 it would make sense that Marvel would pull out all the stops in getting the artwork done, and if the credits page is anything to go by, the artistic talent on display here is massive. The book has ten credited artists and six colorists and they have all come together to create a book that uses the same artistic style that Marvel has used in most of its X-Men books over the past couple of years. To be clear, this is by no means a bad thing since it helps maintain story continuity, but it would be interesting to see what the fantastic talent on this book could do if they didn’t have an editorial mandate.
WIth that being said, the art team on “X-Men: Hellfire Gala” #1 has still created a gorgeous book. For starters, the costumes are gorgeous and it’s clear that the creators had a lot of fun coming up with the designs. On a technical and artistic note, the artists play around with panel layouts and formatting so different parts of the book have different styles. A highlight of the comic is how the book transitions from neat, orderly panel layouts with creative overlays when things are calm and normal to jagged and chaotic layouts once the violence starts. Also, there are some incredible moments where we get to see just how powerful some of the most popular mutants are and now devastating mutant warfare can be, which makes the moments where they lose all the more sad and tragic.
“X-Men: Hellfire Gala” #1 sees the Krakoan Age shaken to its very core as long time enemies manage to attack the core of mutant culture and power, and they even manage to sway long time friends to their side. It isn’t necessarily the end for mutantkind, but it’s the kind of attack that shakes people to their core and leaves scars that will probably never heal properly.
Final Verdict: 9.3- If this is the end of an era, then it is a beautifully drawn, incredibly violent, and absolutely gut wrenching end to one of the most interesting and unique X-Men storylines ever written.