Hellions #6

History

The Hellions ongoing series launched in March 2020 as part of Marvel's Dawn of X publishing initiative, conceived by writer Zeb Wells and series artist Stephen Segovia as a companion to Jonathan Hickman's Krakoa-era X-Men architecture. Wells's stated intent was to interrogate the social contradictions baked into Krakoa's utopia — specifically what a mutant nation does with its most destructive members. For issue #6, the penciling duties shifted from Segovia to Carmen Carnero, who had already contributed to issue #5; colorist David Curiel and letterer Ariana Maher remained consistent from the start of the series. The issue landed as chapter 18 of the thirty-five-part X of Swords crossover, edited by Mark Basso under editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski. The complete series, including this issue, was later collected in the Hellions by Zeb Wells hardcover omnibus (ISBN 9781302933722), which gathers all eighteen issues.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Tarn the Uncaring — Omega-Level mutant/daemon hybrid and genomic mage of Arakko — created by Zeb Wells and Carmen Carnero.
• First team appearance of the Locus Vile, Tarn's cadre of gene-sculpted Arakkii mutants, whose named members introduced here include Hex Butcher, Sick Bird, Mudgear the Recanter, Mother Rapture, and Amino Fetus.
• Chapter 18 of the 35-part X of Swords crossover event (2020); published November 18, 2020 with a January 2021 cover date.
• Written by Zeb Wells; interior art by Carmen Carnero (filling in for series regular Stephen Segovia); colors by David Curiel; letters by Ariana Maher; cover by Stephen Segovia and Rain Beredo; variant covers by InHyuk Lee and David Nakayama.
• Sinister's true motive for the Arakko mission is revealed in this issue: he used the team as cover to harvest Arakkii mutant DNA for his genetic library, deploying mechanical drones to collect samples from Tarn and the Locus Vile.
• Multiple Hellions — including Nanny, Orphan-Maker, Wild Child, and a Sinister clone — are killed by the Locus Vile; Sinister then murders the surviving team members (Psylocke, Greycrow, Havok, and Empath) after they return through the Krakoan gate to suppress knowledge of his scheme.
• Tarn and the Locus Vile became recurring antagonists in the Hellions series, returning in issue #14 and beyond, and Tarn later appeared prominently in X-Men: Red.
• Hellions #5 and #6 are the series's two X of Swords chapters and were collected together in the X of Swords omnibus alongside issues from X-Men, Excalibur, Marauders, X-Force, New Mutants, Wolverine, and Cable.

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Variants (3)