Wolverine and the X-Men #35
It’s the conclusion to the Hellfire Saga for the Jean Grey Academy, though it wasn’t necessarily a planned field trip of sorts, nothing like a blown out fight between crazy teenagers bent on taking over the world tests better.
Writer: Jason Aaron| Artists: Nick Bradshaw, Walden Wong, & Laura Martin
Cover: Nick Bradshaw & Matt Milla | Publisher: Marvel
For a fairly mild build up, this final part of the Hellfire Saga arc certainly seems to hold up in action, intensity, drama, and romance. But it’s kind of all over the place. There are some really good things and some less good things.
We’ll start with the less good things to end on a more positive note later. There are some really dynamic characters in the series, in fact there’s a lot of them, so the problem becomes keeping them all in check. There’s a mystery as to what’s gotten Husk to act so crazy lately, but there’s such a thing as too much mysterious crazy. The only one who pulls of crazy well is Wilhelmina but she is verifiably insane. And it’s poor Toad who’s always been shafted and now he has to deal with a crazy girlfriend. It’s just a lot to handle and it’s not the smoothest of plot devices to be put into place. Kind of like the romance that’s meant to be set up between Quentin and Idie. Especially in this issue, yes there’s been a build up between the two especially during the Hellfire Saga, but Idie’s always been a little cold-shouldered towards Quentin and now she’s thrown herself at him (maybe that’s what happens when you put a 14 year old in the Black Queen’s outfit) and despite Aaron clearly wanting to make this relationship a thing, it feels a little forced and thrust upon us.
Other characters though make changes this issue that feel more familiar, either expected of them, or even if a surprise, it’s a pleasant one that doesn’t feel forced but certainly a new direction that a character needs to take. This mostly comes from the villains who seem to steal the spotlight, which is a-okay because it’s certainly why the issue seems more dynamic than other recent issues.
It seems redundant every issue to say that Bradshaw’s art is always solid, but it’s being said anyways. There are a lot of panels full of action, and it’s action that doesn’t become sloppy at any point either. Each page is incredibly entertaining to look at and Bradshaw is a near perfect artist for a title like this.
It seems like the end of the Hellfire Saga has set into motion a lot of things Aaron wants to accomplish/plans to accomplish, Toad is kind of finding his backbone, Husk is on the road to recovery, Quentin and Idie are now in a relationship, Wolverine is apparently better tempered, and we’re starting to get glimpses from a much beloved character (this is the best part of the issue, and even if you didn’t like any other part of it, this character makes it worth the price okay). It’s lost a little bit of footing along the way, but post Hellfire, it looks like Aaron is about to gain some better ground again.
Writer: Jason Aaron| Artists: Nick Bradshaw, Walden Wong, & Laura Martin
Cover: Nick Bradshaw & Matt Milla | Publisher: Marvel
For a fairly mild build up, this final part of the Hellfire Saga arc certainly seems to hold up in action, intensity, drama, and romance. But it’s kind of all over the place. There are some really good things and some less good things.
We’ll start with the less good things to end on a more positive note later. There are some really dynamic characters in the series, in fact there’s a lot of them, so the problem becomes keeping them all in check. There’s a mystery as to what’s gotten Husk to act so crazy lately, but there’s such a thing as too much mysterious crazy. The only one who pulls of crazy well is Wilhelmina but she is verifiably insane. And it’s poor Toad who’s always been shafted and now he has to deal with a crazy girlfriend. It’s just a lot to handle and it’s not the smoothest of plot devices to be put into place. Kind of like the romance that’s meant to be set up between Quentin and Idie. Especially in this issue, yes there’s been a build up between the two especially during the Hellfire Saga, but Idie’s always been a little cold-shouldered towards Quentin and now she’s thrown herself at him (maybe that’s what happens when you put a 14 year old in the Black Queen’s outfit) and despite Aaron clearly wanting to make this relationship a thing, it feels a little forced and thrust upon us.
Other characters though make changes this issue that feel more familiar, either expected of them, or even if a surprise, it’s a pleasant one that doesn’t feel forced but certainly a new direction that a character needs to take. This mostly comes from the villains who seem to steal the spotlight, which is a-okay because it’s certainly why the issue seems more dynamic than other recent issues.
It seems redundant every issue to say that Bradshaw’s art is always solid, but it’s being said anyways. There are a lot of panels full of action, and it’s action that doesn’t become sloppy at any point either. Each page is incredibly entertaining to look at and Bradshaw is a near perfect artist for a title like this.
It seems like the end of the Hellfire Saga has set into motion a lot of things Aaron wants to accomplish/plans to accomplish, Toad is kind of finding his backbone, Husk is on the road to recovery, Quentin and Idie are now in a relationship, Wolverine is apparently better tempered, and we’re starting to get glimpses from a much beloved character (this is the best part of the issue, and even if you didn’t like any other part of it, this character makes it worth the price okay). It’s lost a little bit of footing along the way, but post Hellfire, it looks like Aaron is about to gain some better ground again.
A Look Inside
