X-Lapsed, Episode 175 – Hellions #10 (2021)
X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Seventy-Five
Hellions #10 (May, 2021)
“Funny Games Part II: Hitbox”
Writer – Zeb Wells
Art – Stephen Segovia
Colors – David Curiel
Letters – VC’s Ariana Maher
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Hickman
Edits – Amaro, Basso, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $3.99
On-Sale: March 3, 2021
In today’s x-tra size milestone episode, we find out what Arcade and that elf from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special had in common. Hint: It has to do with teeth!
Also: Our titular Hellions face off against their deepest, darkest desires… and maybe grind up on a robot manikin or two. I promise this is a book worth reading… and, hopefully an episode worth hearing.
All that and some great and thought-provoking listener mail!
Thanks to everyone for their support over these last one hundred and seventy-five episodes!
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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
Hellions always hits acertain level of competence, the characters are well presented and the dialogue works but I've struggled to enjoy this arc. I really do not like the current version of Arcade. It is pretty clear that when Claremont and Byrne invented him they were looking to create a Marvel version of the Joker. Throughout Claremont's run he was always childish and often extremely murderous but never sadistic. Since Avengers Arena he seems to be following the same trajectory as the actual Joker. I don't want to see him pulling teeth. I particularly disliked the implication that Arcade would be using Miss Locke as a sex robot. This seems like a complete misunderstanding of their relationship. When she was alive Arcade and Miss Locke were shown as two friends who enjoyed playing games together and there was absolutely no sexual chemistry between them. In fact Claremont strongly suggested that Arcade was gay. He also implied that Miss Locke was romantically interested in Courtney Ross during the early Excalibur run. If you really want Arcade to be sexing his robots go for something crazy like one of the Looney Tunes take-offs from that Marvel Comics Presents Excalibur story.
Of course the character work was on point, I definitely feel like Kwannon's story is coming to a head. I do hope her appearances in Excalibur don't derail this Hellions storyline. I'm glad that Madelyne Pryor is still a part of this book even after her death and lack of resurrection. I'm fascinated to see where this goes. We know there is another Inferno coming. Could Alex be a key part of it.
Onto the discussion of ranking the Reign of X books. I would have to put 4 books at the top – Marauders, X-Factor, New Mutants and Hellions. I have to read them on the day they come out and I always get something out of them.
Second tier would be Cable and SWORD. I quite enjoy reading both of them but I'm happy to wait for Unlimited as I don't feel invested in the characters or situations as much. I don't get upset if I spot a spoiler before reading them.
Third tier is specially reserved for X-Men. Some of the very best and some of the very worst issues have been in X-Men. Sometimes reading it feels like a punishment and sometimes it is an absolute joy. X-Men is the book which I buy when it sounds interesting and I skip at other times and wait for Unlimited. Basically I'm buying all the Mystique issues.
4th tier is the "I don't care anymore" tier where we place Excalibur. It features a great Rogue and I enjoy that weirdo Jamie Braddock more than I probably should but I'm just finding it tiresome. I do not know how these stories are inspiring Marcus To to produce such wonderful artwork. Life has been quite full-on for me recently and I just don't have any patience left to give the benefit of the doubt anymore.
Finally we come to the bottom tier which is reserved for the Benjamin Percy books. I just don't like X-Force or Wolverine. Ultimately they are covering territory that isn't for me. I have never been that interested in violent black-ops style stories. I generally prefer lighter and funner stories. Even though it's at the bottom I have to acknowledge that there are often moments or ideas that I enjoy in these stories so I would not want to say they're at the bottom because I don't like Benjamin Percy's writing. He's just being employed to create a book that isn't for me.
Ultimately this is probably the strongest line-up of X-books that I can remember. There is nothing bad enough to rank alongside the likes of Fallen Angels and the art teams are consistently excellent. My tiers are definitely top heavy.
Anyway until Miss Locke gets resurrected when they discover that high camp is a mutant power, make mine X-Lapsed!