Era #11, Part 20: New X-Men: Hellions

Grade: B

The Hellions get their own limited series straight from the pages of the New X-Men. The tight-knit squad ends the school year as a dominant team in the school's Field Day exercises earning them the trophy, but they may have alienated much of their fellow students in the process. The boastful and boisterous leader, Julian Keller (Hellion) invites his team to his family home in California to spend the summer together. Sooraya Qadir (Dust), Cessily Kincaid (Mercury V), Santo Vaccarro (Rockslide), Brian Cruz (Tag), and Kevin Ford (Wither) agree, but the vacation is off to a rocky start when Julian's parents express their frustration with him and his antics. Embarrassed, Julian looks for any family secrets he could use. He finds the number of the Kingmaker who offers each of them the opportunity to live the life that they really want.

Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir share an interesting story that focuses on the New Mutants' biggest rivals. The Hellions often find themselves at odds with their peers and teachers, and they have a tendency to get into trouble and often stir the pot. They are confrontational and adversarial, but they are also teenagers still trying to find their place in the world. In selecting their ideal lives, we get a glimpse of the traumas, heartbreaks, insecurities, and dreams that shaped them, and we watch them struggle to define their real role: heroes or villains?

[6-Stars] New X-Men: Hellions (2005) #1

[6-Stars] New X-Men: Hellions (2005) #2

[6-Stars] New X-Men: Hellions (2005) #3

[6-Stars] New X-Men: Hellions (2005) #4

Collected in New X-Men: Hellions