X-Lapsed, Episode 302 – Hellions #18 (2022)
X-Lapsed, Episode Three Hundred Two
Hellions #18 (February, 2022)
“The Losing End”
Writer – Zeb Wells
Art – Ze Carlos & Stephen Segovia
Colors – Rain Beredo
Letters – VC’s Ariana Maher
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Hickman
Edits – Basso, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $4.99
On-Sale: December 8, 2021
A most bittersweet day in the neighborhood, as we bid farewell to one of the greatest comic series’ I’ve read in… maybe a decade?
We wrap up our stint with the Hellions… and writer, Zeb Wells truly lives up to his name, by making your humble host WELL up on more than one occasion during the reading! This was a truly special book… that I would suggest any and all X-Fans need in their lives. As always… if you ain’t reading Hellions, read Hellions!
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The All-New, All-Different chrisisoninfiniteearths.com
The loss of Hellions is a sad day for the X-Lapsed community. By far it has been the most consistently excellent HOXPOXDOXROXSOX book. There was actual alchemy on the page. Imagine going back to when I read Fallen Angels and telling me that I would feel genuine emotion about Kwannon, I would have thought you were insane. But I did. I cared. I care about her future and her relationship with Grey Crow. I want her daughter to be resurrected now that the rules have changed. How did they do that?
It really all comes down to great writing. Zeb Wells has done a phenomenal job with this book. I think I mentioned when I reviewed Hellions 17 that I had gone back and reread the entire series. I would recommend a reread to all your listeners. It works even better read as a whole and unlike many books it doesn’t stop being itself during the crossover with Echs of Tens. It was also really well drawn from the first page to the last page. I personally preferred the fill-ins by Carmen Canero but there is no doubt that Stephen Segovia is a master of body language and facial expression. The art is a large part of what made me care for this team.
Outstanding.
I hope the council scenes in this issue do lead into Immortal X-Men if only because back references might lead people to pick up the collections or read Hellions on Unlimited and I feel like this deserves to be remembered. In Episode 300 you were talking about recommended X-reading and I know I already gave you loads of recommendations but I need to add Hellions to that list.
Thanks again for such a great podcast and community.
D
Scalphunter was the only reason I was interested in this book when it first started. I’ve been hoping for years that another writer was going to follow up on the scene a bit after the end of Manifest Destiny where the X-Men were getting revenge and [I think it was] Nightcrawler tracked down Greycrow only to find him working as a short order cook trying to put all of the supervillain and Sinister stuff behind him. Usually when there’s a scene (or sometimes even a whole miniseries) dedicated to a character making a change it is ignored and we see the character right back to doing what they’ve always done, but I always liked that scene and hoped subsequent writers liked it too.