- July 26, 2023
Hellfire Gala 2023 #1 Reviews
Written by: Gerry Duggan
Art by: Adam Kubert, Luciano Vecchio, Matteo Lolli, Russel Dauterman, Javier Pina, R.B. Silva, Joshua Cassara, Kris Anka, Pepe Larraz
Coloring by: Rain Beredo, Ceci De La Cruz, Matthew Wilson, Erick Arciniega, Marte Garcia
Lettering by: Virtual Calligraphy
Editing by: Lauren Amaro, Jordan D. White
The first Hellfire Gala had the stakes and the politics and world-shattering changes that set a high bar for its sequels. Its main weakness was that it happened over many confusing crossover issues that were a bit challenging to follow. The second Hellfire Gala was succinct in one issue but crammed too much into one story. Even as clumped together as it was, I couldn’t help but feel like it was missing a bit of politics and the heft of the original. The Hellfire Gala of 2023 was so close to being the best yet.
There’s the politics of mutantkind trying to rebuild its relationship with the human race, the world-changing stakes of Orchis crashing the party, and the new status quo over the horizon. There’s just one little problem…
Solicits kind of ruined the ending of the book. I’m going to hint at major spoilers for this issue, so if you want to go in blind, I’ll be short and succinct here. This is another banger of a one-shot. It doesn’t play it safe, it takes big swings and pays off a lot of what the last several years have been building up to for the X-Men books. You cannot miss this issue if you’re a fan of the X-Men, and even if you haven’t liked where this era has been going… well, I guess you can dance for joy with Orchis, you monsters. It’s well worth the premium price and has more heft than last year’s special.
If you want to hear me talk about the one pretty fatal flaw of this issue that keeps it from being better than the first Hellfire Gala, stop watching now. Spoilers in 1, 2, 3, 4… 5.
HEAVY SPOILER WARNING
Solicits spoil that mutantdom isn’t dead. While the main story leaves a possibility open for some of mutantdom to survive under Mother Righteous’s control, the solicits for future issues, particularly Realm of X, confirm that this isn’t the end. We did not witness the second coming of E for Extinction. Knowing this deflated the book’s ending a lot for me.
Sure, did I think all mutantdom was going to die like that? With all of those named characters? No, but I would have liked to believe it for more than a few seconds. This isn’t to say there aren’t a ton of stakes left after this issue. I’m sweating bullets for my favorite characters… but the ending leaves a stale taste in my mouth. It just sucks that it was nearly a 10/10 issue, and probably would be if the marketing machine wasn’t this comics’ own worst enemy.
So that being said, this issue is fantastic, go read it. If you feel a little cheated by the ending, you’re not alone, but I think it where the story is going will make up for it. This may not be the paradise the X-Men that they wanted anymore, but it’s still a story that we only get once in a lifetime.
Thank You For Reading! Pick the Hellfire Gala 2023 Issue!
There wasn’t as long a pause between issue this time, hooray! That being said, life remains busy and probably isn’t going to stop being busy, that’s my new motto! If you liked this review, please like and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the blog.