The Gang Gets Sinister on Sinister in Hellions #14

It’s time to see things get worse in Hellions #14, from Zeb Wells, Rogê Antônio, Rain Beredo, and Ariana Maher.  

Austin Gorton: The Locus Vile is in the house, and it’s “chickens coming home to roost time” for Mister Sinister (“chickens”, in this case, being a bevy of Sinister clones and a good chunk of his most potent secrets).

Liz Large: Keeping with the farm theme, WHAT a harvest this is. My skin is clear and my crops are watered.  We’re getting payoff on some long-simmering plots, and I cannot wait to see what’s in store. 

Austin: There is some big, big stuff that goes back to the start of the Krakoa Era in play here; what say we get to it? 

“Fate has made a liar of me again”

Liz: This issue starts with a Council meeting on Arakko (the planet formerly known as Mars). I’m retreading what everyone has said since X of Swords, but I still can’t get over how neat the new mutant characters look. I love Xilo’s inchworm with a crown style the most, but every one of them just looks so interesting. 

Austin: First of all, “the planet formerly known as Mars”; this era of X-Men is WILD! 

Secondly, yes, this is yet another group of great-looking new mutants. Even Tarn, whom we’ve seen before, seems wholly unique, yet also of a piece with his colleagues. We also learn here that he is basically the Mister Sinister of his council, in that he snarks his way through the meetings and makes bald-faced lies (that everyone recognizes as lies). The near-smash cut from Tarn promising to leave Krakoa alone to him breaking the promise five panels later is on par with some of the series’ best bits of Sinister-related comedy. 

Liz: Are you even a mutant organization if you don’t have at least one barely-tolerated former enemy hanging around, participating? I love this parallel. This book looks the reader right in the eye and says, “I hope you like Sinister because we will add a new Sinister every arc, whether you want us to or not.” Tarn just needs a cape. 

Austin: From there, we jump back to Bar Sinister and the showdown between the Hellions and the Locus Vile, with half the Hellions wondering what the hell is even going on, while the other half find their blood simmering with inexplicable rage towards the Arakko mutants. In the middle is the resurrected Sinister clone, who attempts (poorly) to broker peace. The art in this issue had similar issues as the last one. That said, the repeated panel construction of Nanny, Wild Child, and Orphan Maker as their blood rage takes over, wonderfully builds the tension just before exploding.

Liz: As enjoyable as it’s been to watch the team stumble their way through things, things are starting to unravel for Sinister. Neither Sinister is as in control as they want to be. Main Sinister’s plots could be ruined by anyone learning the truth. Clone Sinister has an inflated sense of his value to Tarn, especially now that they’ve found the original. Are our three resurrected mutants about to save the day for everyone? 

Welcome to the Slaughterhouse 

Austin: It sure seems that way at first, as the trio of Hellions who came back different leap into action, savagely attacking the Locus Vile, all while Sinister and Clone Sinister provide running commentary like the world’s wackiest (and bluest) ESPN analysts. Then we are lead to a data page. One that spells out “more” in the resurrected Hellions as an evolutionary response to their deaths by the mutants of Amenth. It appears to turn the tide. Empath is WAY into it, but Tarn appears and throws a wrinkle into the mix. 

Did this payoff to the “MORE Nanny” business work for you, or would you have liked, well, more? 

Liz: I think this was a really, really great way to go here. I’m not a biologist, but I’ve read many comic books, so I feel like I’ve heard about science. The idea of combining the resurrection process with the ability to evolve past the mistakes that led to death? Top-tier comics science. I love it wholeheartedly. This is something someone like Sinister misuses. It’s also something that seems like it could be handy for, say, a group of mutants constantly fighting and losing. If harnessed and controlled, it’s a complete game-changer. What did you think?

Austin: I mean, would I have liked a twelve-issue maxi-series featuring Nanny hurling expletives while flying through the air before gouging out people’s eyes? Sure. But this is still pretty satisfying, both answering the question while also creating some exciting implications for future stories. When Tarn takes all the “more” away from Wild Child, it was surprisingly sad. Something about the confidence being “more” had given him, along with Greycrow asking him if he was alright just before Tarn appeared, made the sight of him returning to his earlier, cowering form all the more affecting.

Liz: You’re right. One of Wild Child’s biggest fears is being weak, as we saw when Arcade and Mastermind were tormenting him. Seeming him revert is tough. A silver lining is that Psylocke and Greycrow will be there for him. This puts him miles ahead of where he was when he started. Still, though, this hurts. Nothing good ever happens to Kyle, and it’s not enjoyable to watch (unlike when bad things happen to Empath).

Also, yes, I would like the ultraviolent Nanny maxi, please.

Hooray

Austin: Then, we get our next big payoff. Wild Child is metaphorically neutered. To express his apparent control over the situation even further, Tarn restores the memories of the rest of the Hellions. This blows open Sinister’s secret since their return at the end of “X of Swords”.

The symmetry is elegant. It covered up his acquisition of Tarn’s genetic work on the Locus Vile that Sinister slaughtered half his team. Now, it is Tarn himself exposing the action. Sinister tries to weasel out of it, only to be delightfully undercut by his clone. The damage is done. Havok, the sweet boy, is confused, Greycrow is pissed, and even Psylocke seems to have had enough.

Liz: This sequence is excellent. Tarn rips the memory out of Sinister as Sinister tries to smug his way out of consequences. It’s so satisfying to see the truth come out. There’s no ambiguity here. The team isn’t hesitating to believe it; it’s settled. The team is finally going to take Sinister down. It even seems like Tarn is giving the situation his blessing. Alas, Sinister has a plan for nearly every situation. In this case, it’s a surprise birthday party. 

Austin: It’s time for the attack of Sinister’s clones, as he releases all his stored doppelgangers at once, an act Tarn calls “beautiful sacrilege”. This is another moment where it feels like the art lets down the story a bit. As the mass attack on Tarn and the Locus Vile counterattack, it’s a bit underwhelming in its presentation. The action renders blandly in medium-depth shots (hardly beautiful sacrilege). The near-constant escalation of Hellions #14 continues as the fight rages. Sinister wins his errant clone back to his side with one word: Chimera. 

Liz: This is an intriguing development. It feels like ages we last heard about chimeras during “Powers of X”. These mutants were created through a combination of different mutants’ DNA during Moira’s ninth life. As far as I know, they haven’t existed in our timeline yet. We got a lot of details about the previous lifetime’s chimeras. One of which is a flashing neon warning sign—Sinister included flaws in them as a prelude to turning traitor. What do you think all of this means?

Austin: When you’ve got a series starring Mister Sinister, you can expect the subject of chimeras, one of his more notable House of X/Powers of X contributions, to come up. I never expected them to surface in Hellions #14, in the middle of this fight springing from a seemingly unrelated matter. It makes me wonder if there’s a reason for that: the Locus Vile are essentially creations of Tarn, who is a kind of Arakkoian Sinister.

Are the Vile his chimeras? If so, what does that mean for Sinister’s (presumably) future creations? The idea of Sinister turning traitor is hardly new. Perhaps this experience is what prompts the inclusion of the flaws? Cut off from his team; his betrayals exposed, Sinister has no one to rely on but himself.

The series has had 14 issues to bring up the chimeras. Why now? Is their creation what Hellions has been building towards? Maybe it’s just another log thrown on to keep the proverbial fire burning for a bit longer?

Liz: It did seem to come out of nowhere—but at the same time, all the ingredients were here. Sinister is sketchy. He’s operating cloning facilities and has control over a group of mutants. Mutants who happen to have memory gaps caused by their frequent deaths, and a telepath who is in his debt. Why wouldn’t he be experimenting on them? Let’s say he’s cut off from his earlier supplies of genetic materials—he’s got a pretty good variety of powers to work with, even if it’s the store brand version of some of them. I’m not privy to the inner workings of Wells’ mind, but I don’t think we can completely rule out the idea that it is part of a plan.

Austin: Agreed. That is where we leave things. Sinister(s) running off to a secret location to hide from Tarn, a location implied to be the same where Psylocke’s daughter resides. This pisses off Psylocke even further and leaves the team behind to deal with the fallout of Sinister(s) actions.

Liz: Psylocke, I love you, but please call in some assistance. There’s gotta be a dozen other telepaths on the island who would be willing to help you out here.

X-Traneous Thoughts

• Krakoan reads: BITTER BETRAYAL 
• “Are his grenades forfeit?”
• “Praise Tarn.” / “@#$% TARN!”
• I cannot think about PoX without getting annoyed that Moira tried to do something less than ten times (without controlling a single variable!) and decided it was impossible. It took me more than ten tries to plug my phone into the charger today, but I don’t claim it’s impossible!

Austin Gorton

Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton

Liz Large

Liz Large is a copywriter with a lot of opinions on mutants.