In part 2 of The HellFire Saga, Wolverine ended the issue with a lead. Using the bamfs he was able to track down one of The Hellfire Club’s members and finally felt he would have a lead into the Club itself. This issue kicks off not caring about that at all. In fact the majority of this issue is about Idie. On a side note the large bouts of humor that have been sprinkled throughout the first two issues has been toned down a little in this one. They still exist but the seriousness of the student’s predicament has finally slightly kicked in.
We follow Idie’s thought process as she observes the Academy and how it differs from Wolverine’s school. While she is slowly moving closer to Kade Kilgore, the club’s Black King we also get quite a few cutaways of Toad doing his best to escape the Academy and save Quentin Quire in the process. For how much of this mess is on Toad giving into his lust for Paige and betraying the X-Men in the process, it’s quite gratifying to see him actually remember that he was once a fighter.
As Toad tries to save Quentin and remind Paige that she isn’t evil (clearly there is some kind of mind control going on there) we return to Idie who has finally met with the Black King. He offers her what he believes is his most prized possession to give – the role of the Black Queen (Jean Gray being the most notable Black Queen in the past.)
Idie appears tempted to accept the role and finally damning herself as this was a distinct possibility following her inner monologue. The reason she was actually there, though, wins out as Kade Kilgore in an off key moment admits that he is the one that shot Broo.
Oops. Now you’ve gone and pissed off Idie whose mentally been saying how this entire time spent here she’s been learning to kill. While she starts to fight Kade, we also are made aware of a fun little part with Krakoa.
Krakoa is the X-Men’s home’s first line of defense as it’s the land itself which is a giant mutant. It seemingly remembers where the Hellfire Club caused it to mutate and suddenly rises up in an awesome shot and starts to take the X-Men to their tormentors. Krakoa reminds me of a giant Treeant from Lord of the Rings and between you and me that’s how I imagine he’s walking.
The issue closes with Kilgore’s fate unknown but Idie steps in at the end, wearing the Black Queen outfit to help save Quentin and Toad before mentioning that they should all get out of there. At this point, Quentin mentally professes that he’s in love with Idie and you have to wonder if it was a spur of the moment thought or if he actually feels that way as it’s been something they could have been hinting at for quite some time.
There’s only 2 issues left in this story arc that’s been building since the beginning of the run and so far I’ve been happy with the direction it’s been going. Will it hold up throughout the entire run? I’m not sure but so far so good!
WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN #33
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Nick Bradshaw
