X-Men: Hellfire Gala ’22

The first “Hellfire Gala” was a very satisfying event.  It had a unique structure where all of the currently running X-titles showed the event from their cast’s perspective, while the “Planet-Sized X-Men” one-shot provided the unifying centerpiece for the storyline.  Better still was that it also provided a major change to the status quo of the line as the X-Men terraformed Mars in less than a day and renamed it Arrako to serve as the mutant base of power in the Solar System and the home for all the Arakki mutants.  It also set up the “Trial of Magneto” storyline… but other than that, the event was huge success.  Which means that this year’s Gala has a lot to live up to.

It doesn’t, really, mainly because it’s not really trying.  Perhaps realizing that terraforming and annexing a whole planet is a hard thing to top, Duggan treats the oversized issue like an extra issue  of his “X-Men” series, while also introducing some new story elements for the line as a whole.  This means we get big things like seeing Cyclops dealing with the fallout of his decision to make mutant resurrection public, Emma filling in her former paramour on what went down in “Inferno,” and a certain robotic gatecrasher leading to the issue’s only major tie-in (in “Amazing Spider-Man #9) as well as offering some setup for the “A.X.E.” event.  There are also little things like Mister Fantastic revealing that he was partially mindwiped by Xavier to Iron Man, and the latter asking Firestar to keep her eyes open for anything she thinks the Avengers should know.  A new X-Men team is also chosen, one which will be rife with drama if for no other reason than it has both Cyclops and Havok for the first time in… forever?

While there’s no big “Planet-Sized” event here, all the events in this comic make it worth reading for dedicated X-fans such as myself.  Is it delivered in a way that’s actually good?  Duggan’s handle on the characters remains solid and a lot of the issues raised here could result in good stories down the line.  That doesn’t change the fact that this is effectively an oversized issue of setup that asks for your patience in waiting for payoff down the line.  I will say that it does make me want to check out the “Amazing Spider-Man” tie-in and the “A.X.E.” business at the end is quite good.  There’s also quality art to be had from the likes of Kris Anka, C.F. Villa, Matteo Lolli, and Russell Dauterman throughout the issue.  So yeah, I’d say it’s worth a read… especially if you’ve got a subscription to Marvel Unlimited and are able to read it there for “free” like I was.