X-Men: The Hellfire GALA #1 Reviews & DISCUSSION!!

[Factor]

Is Moria MacTaggart a different character? LOL
From now on I’m assuming the real Moira McTaggert is just chilling in Scotland away from all this drama.

[Exodus]

I'm really disappointed in the new team.

Havok, Forge, and Firestar are so bland and forgettable. They have clearly chosen for story purposes, so we can at least hope that Gerry Duggan actually will do something with them and they will not have the same fate at Rogue and Sunfire in Season 1 or Iceman and Bishop in Marauders.

But they should have been replaced by Monet, Northstar, and by another newcomer. Those two would have made this team perfect in my eyes.

I like that the X-Men feel more connected now to Krakoa's politics. I hope the story will progress a little fast now in season 2 and we will not get pointless villain after pointless villain months after months.

Moira is already the most annoying villain in a decade. Uff, so bad....can someone please put the character out of her misery?! Turning one of the few human allies of the X-Men into a caricature is such a crime. It was one thing to retcon her into one of the architects of Krakoa but this?!?!?! I absolutely hate it with a passion.

[ericng]

I think that means that Magik is leaving New Mutants title in the next arc.

No wonder she is giving up her Limbo throne to Madelyne. I wonder who will replace her in the New Mutants.

[Kingdom X]

I was irritated by this issue.

Anka and Dauterman's art was lovely, it's a shame they didn't draw the entire issue.

I liked seeing a glimpse of Bishop's war college. I wish this was an ongoing, as Bishop isn't really doing anything of value over in Marauders.

Tony Stark is an annoying little shit, and he can stay out of my X-books, thanks.

Feilong just shows up, because what even is security? Krakoa sure doesn't seem to know. The fact that Orchis was so easily able to infiltrate and plant some kind of to be revealed weapon is irritating and frustrating instead of being a plot point that I'm looking forward to.

This version of Moira is terrible. It's such a shame that the character was given a reinvigorating new origin by Hickman, only to have all that potential squandered so she can be a one dimensional villain. I don't want to read about this character anymore, definitely not following that subplot into Spider-Man.

Sigh, the vote. This was such a shitshow. Half the cast doesn't even want to be there, and apparently someone nominating someone else is enough to sway everyone else into voting for them. I don't believe for a second that Emma would care about how Firestar feels about her, especially not enough for her to nominate Jones to the X-men. And I don't believe that Emma backing her nomination would be enough to convince all the other mutants to vote for her. Forge only being here because of some subplot with the QC, because apparently that's the only way Scott can keep tabs on him? Havok only being there as a troll to Scott, and again why would people vote for him just because Forge dropped his name? Especially after the infamous M-word speech, he would be a hard sell to the general mutant populace. Bobby only joining the cast because Firestar is there and so she can have an ally is dumb. I would rather Duggan use another character and give someone that spotlight, than for Bobby to be used like this. Magik felt like a complete afterthought. This was definitely not the way to endear me to this team and get me to pick up the next year of Duggan's X-Men.

Yeah I agree with all of this ESPECIALLY the vote. Making a big stink about how Scott may be voted off was dumb. Magik being on the team is frankly just undercutting the character work already being done in NM, which ALREADY was being undercut by Wells getting Madelyne back. The whole thing was just a messy free for all that no where seemed to resemble the equitable and democratic process that Scott and Jean were to be advocating for at the beginning of the issue. We’ve talked at length about how this team lacks diversity in other threads, but to learn that there aren’t even good “in-universe” reasons for the team to look like this actually makes it twice as bad.

[Omega Alpha]

This issue was pretty underwhelming to be honest.

I was irritated by this issue.

Anka and Dauterman's art was lovely, it's a shame they didn't draw the entire issue.

The flashback conversation with Jean and Scott at the beginning of the issue was an interesting reveal. But I'm unclear on whether they are giving up on democratizing the QC and instead focusing on the X-Men, or if that is their ultimate goal with the team. I'm divided on the latter idea, because while I agree the QC should be elected representatives, I'm not really interested in seeing the X-Men come into conflict with the QC, or any kind of "civil war" between the two.

I don't like how Duggan writes Scott. I don't believe that this is the same character who would do anything for the mutant cause. The reaction to what Xavier and Magneto did to Reed in particular doesn't work for me. Neither he nor Emma would have a problem with that imo.

At this point so many characters know about Moira that they should just let everyone know, it's just kind of silly to try to present it as a secret.

I liked seeing a glimpse of Bishop's war college. I wish this was an ongoing, as Bishop isn't really doing anything of value over in Marauders.

Tony Stark is an annoying little shit, and he can stay out of my X-books, thanks.

Feilong just shows up, because what even is security? Krakoa sure doesn't seem to know. The fact that Orchis was so easily able to infiltrate and plant some kind of to be revealed weapon is irritating and frustrating instead of being a plot point that I'm looking forward to.

This version of Moira is terrible. It's such a shame that the character was given a reinvigorating new origin by Hickman, only to have all that potential squandered so she can be a one dimensional villain. I don't want to read about this character anymore, definitely not following that subplot into Spider-Man.

Sigh, the vote. This was such a shitshow. Half the cast doesn't even want to be there, and apparently someone nominating someone else is enough to sway everyone else into voting for them. I don't believe for a second that Emma would care about how Firestar feels about her, especially not enough for her to nominate Jones to the X-men. And I don't believe that Emma backing her nomination would be enough to convince all the other mutants to vote for her. Forge only being here because of some subplot with the QC, because apparently that's the only way Scott can keep tabs on him? Havok only being there as a troll to Scott, and again why would people vote for him just because Forge dropped his name? Especially after the infamous M-word speech, he would be a hard sell to the general mutant populace. Bobby only joining the cast because Firestar is there and so she can have an ally is dumb. I would rather Duggan use another character and give someone that spotlight, than for Bobby to be used like this. Magik felt like a complete afterthought. This was definitely not the way to endear me to this team and get me to pick up the next year of Duggan's X-Men.

Agree with all this, specially the Moira part. The X-men writers post-Inferno are writing SINISTER as more subtle and nuanced than Moira.

Jean and Emma are all over John Hamm, and he's one of Jean's "hall passes." (Someone she can sleep with and Cyclops would be fine with.) I'm assuming he'll be playing Cyclops in the MCU, and the joke here is that they look the same.

Considering Hamm is past 50, not really.

[JB]

Well, Xavier was also in the Illuminati so it might be a case of them feeling betrayed that Charles did it to them.

Agreed and I also see them as all playing an odd chess game, what with Stark wanting to meet with Richards offline and telling Firestar to call him if she feels anything shady goes on while on the X-Men. None of them like secrets unless they're in on them.

[lefthanded]

This issue really leaned into the political machination side of things, which is pretty interesting.

Getting teases about the potential machinations of Orchis humans, the civilian humans, Tony Stark - Reed Richards is great.

Captain America's speech is a little on the nose but well keeping in line with his character. Emma Frost feeling isolated but learning she still has allies is a good micro-story to tell within this big event.

[Exodus]

Jon Hamm is still a thing? lol such a weird celebrity cameo. I feel like the only people lusting for this guy are straight cis dudes in their 50s who have watched Mad Men for its historical accurate depiction of gender relations............

[gonnagiveittoya]

Yeah with the Proteus stuff there is now absolutely nothing connecting pre Hickman Moira and current day psychotic robot supervillain Moira. She's just another villain who wants the mutants dead.

[gonnagiveittoya]

Hamm was going to play Mr. Sinister for a while. Reportedly he even shot a thing for the New Mutants movie.

[JB]

Yeah with the Proteus stuff there is now absolutely nothing connecting pre Hickman Moira and current day psychotic robot supervillain Moira. She's just another villain who wants the mutants dead.

Agreed. I can't stand this Moira at all.

[BobbysWorld]

Tbh, Moira has gone so ridiculous that at this point I've half-convinced myself that maybe she IS playing the long con and going over the top to convince Orchis she's with them and bring them down on the inside, since she doesn't trust Xavier, Magneto or the rest of Krakoa to get the job done. (I don't actually think that's where they're going with her, its just honestly easier to read her and get through her scenes when I pretend that's the real subtext, instead of trying to take it all at face value. hfaklhfslahflka)

[Jackraow21]

I kind of love Moira’s heel turn. The X-men always need more villains. She’s proving to be a pretty good one.

[Omega Alpha]

Jon Hamm is still a thing? lol such a weird celebrity cameo. I feel like the only people lusting for this guy are straight cis dudes in their 50s who have watched Mad Men for its historical accurate depiction of gender relations............

Jon Hamm is a talented actor who is in the biggest movie of 2022, makes as much sense as anyone to use him there.

Also, reading his IMDB page, he apparently voiced Iron Man in the MODOK show, this is probably the reason he was the celebrity selected.

[gonnagiveittoya]

Even her wanting to "cure" the mutants was at least interesting: saving mutantkind by turning them into humans. But now she's just like a regular psycho AI