X-Men: Hellfire Gala ’23

I originally meant to have this up to follow my review of “Immortal X-Men” vol. 3… but it just slipped my mind the following week.  Much as I’d like to say that’s not a mark against the overall quality of this one-shot, written by Gerry Duggan and illustrated by ten talented artists, it kind of is.  Where that volume of “Immortal” still read quite well even though I knew what was coming and some of the details of “Fall of X,” this installment of the “Hellfire Gala” feels like it would’ve read a lot better had I decided to pick it up when it came out.

That’s because this is one big issue where the X-Men, and mutantkind in general, lose and lose big.  There are hints of struggle, but this year’s “Hellfire Gala” is all about putting Marvel’s Merry Mutants on the back foot once again as Orchis’ well-laid plans finally come to fruition.  I realize this is a necessary narrative step as we move to the final stage of the Krakoan Era – the darkness before the dawn, if you will – but it’s all handled with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.  Things are going to be bad for all mutants, especially for all of the ones that were apparently marched off into non-existence.

The problem with a move like that is a) it falls into the category of “too monstrous” which b) has the effect of making it seem like an obvious fake-out that c) just tries the reader’s patience rather than gets them invested.  What fun or interesting bits here are fleeting – the debut of the new X-Men roster and its subsequent dismantling, Doctor Stasis and Omega Sentinel’s dancing entrance, Firestar’s backdoor insertion into Orchis, the last-page stinger involving Kate Pryde – and they’re not enough to get me to recommend that you pick this up on your own.  Not even with the likes of Adam Kubert, Pepe Larraz, Russell Dauterman, R.B. Silva, Valerio Schiti and more contributing stellar work to these pages.

In short, I’m glad I read this for “free” via Marvel Unlimited.  I can’t say that being able to read comics I didn’t enjoy that are important to ongoing stories I’m following without having to pay for them on an individual basis is a great selling point, but it’s what happened here.  At least the comics that are coming after this one, from Duggan, Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, Simon Spurrier, and more, look to be more interesting to read than this one.