REVIEW: Hellions #9 – This Fucking Guy… Again

a pair of shiny white shoes. Who do they belong to??

Back in December, I wrote about how some characters just stick in your craw. You love to hate them. They’re absolutely vile, but you love when they show up, because goddamn, the story is going to be good. They’re going to do something absolutely wretched and it’s going to be a blast. That month I wrote about that because Cameron Hodge showed up, and here we are two months later another villain on my list of “These fucking guys” shows up in Hellions #9, but I again won’t reveal that until the end of this review.

Hellions #9

David Curiel (colors), Romulo  Fajardo, Jr. (cover), Ariana Maher (letters), Tom Muller (design), Stephen Segovia (art and cover), Zeb Wells (writer)
Marvel Comics
February 3, 2021

This review contains spoilers for Hellions #9.

Mastermind Holding A Missing Poster of Sinister Holding a Missing Poster of Mastermind ad nauseum - Hellions #9 cover

The issue opens with Mastermind and Sinister, and while Mastermind is almost a “This fuckin guy,” he hasn’t realized his full potential to make you scream that sentence every time he shows up, he certainly is working on it. This issue’s introduction specifically is getting him close to that, as he poisons Sinister, to put his plans in place. One thing I do have to wonder though is how the fuck Mastermind got through the resurrection queue so damn fast. He may not be the pinnacle of villains yet, but he’s certainly hated by enough people on Krakoa that I can’t imagine him getting fast-tracked. How is he back when people like John Proudstar and Jean Grey’s niece and nephew aren’t? The dialogue between Sinister and Mastermind is absolutely wonderful, and there is a sliminess to both men that just seeps through the words that Wells puts to the page.

One thing that’s interesting about the Hellions is that the purpose of the team was ostensibly therapy, and for the most part, it seems to be working. But not in the way that the Council expected it to, more in that the team is finding comradery with each other over how much they despise Sinister. Most of the team clearly would rather let the man rot, but sadly they have a job to do, and they follow along.

There’s still stuff to be dug into with the Arakko resurrections as well, as this issue gives us our first glimpse of the “sharper” version of Orphan Maker. Of course, sharper for Orphan Maker is just a bratty teenager, but I have to admit, I actually deeply love that. I look forward to seeing this continue to play out, as Orphan Maker gets more and more rebellious.

Throughout the issue, it’s clear that something else is at play, because not only is something off with Sage but also when the team arrives in New York, Mastermind starts playing with their perceptions. The shifting mindscape that Mastermind puts to use is unsettling and off-putting, for both the reader and for the characters. By design, nobody knows what is real and what isn’t as he begins to play with their heads.

But Mastermind isn’t working alone, and only one man in the Marvel universe is this good at playing games. The last two pages do a slow reveal of the mastermind behind Mastermind, starting with very distinct shoes and a golden cane tip, panning up to reveal… This fucking guy. Arcade, Miss Locke and an imprisoned Sinister - Hellions #9

 

 

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Cori McCreery

Cori McCreery

Cori is a life long comic nerd residing in Northern California. A life long Supergirl and DC Comics fan, she is the DC Comics Beat Reporter for Women Write About Comics.

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