Wolverine and the X-Men #30
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Pasqual Ferry w/ Pepe Larra & Salva Espin
Colors by James Campbell
Review by Joey Braccino
The Hellfire Saga kicks off with a high-octane prologue issue! Rachel Grey and Wolverine hit the NYC Hellfire Club (the strip joint) hard!!! Beast seeks help for the savage Broo in the most unlikeliest of space places!!! Those naughty Hellfire brats continue their recruitment drive, this time with the help of a most terrifying flame-monster and (GASP!!!) an inside-mutant at the Jean Grey School!!! And Quentin Quire cracks the mystery surrounding Idie’s departure for the Hellfire Academy!!! All that and MORE!
Jason Aaron is really hitting his stride with Wolverine & The X-Men right now. After about half a year’s worth of Avengers Vs. X-Men tie-ins sucked the momentum out of the critically acclaimed series, Aaron has finally returned Wolverine and the mutants at the Jean Grey School to the “Strangest Heroes of All!” types of stories that really makes this side of the X-Universe tick. While Bendis is busy doing the mainstream “Feared & Hated” stories and Wood has picked up the “Family” angle over in X-Men #1, Jason Aaron is relishing the opportunity to tell the strange adventures that only a school full of strange mutants could go on. What other comic splits their time between Earth’s orbit, a school for teenaged mutants, and the secret academic headquarters of a cadre of supergenius, supeviolent prepuscent supervillains? Only Wolverine & The X-Men.
Oh, and Quentin Quire wears a new “_____ was right” shirt this week. Keep your eyes out!
Pasqual Ferry’s sci-fi aesthetic is the perfect fit for the strange tales of Wolverine & The X-Men. I still maintain that Nick Bradshaw has been the best artist this series has seen over its nearly three-year run so far, so it’s fortunate that Pasqual Ferry’s style closely mirrors the figurework and characterization of Bradshaw’s. The primary difference between the artwork in Ferry’s issue and Bradshaw’s work on the series is James Campbell’s color palette, actually. Whereas Bradshaw’s colorist usually accent the cartoon and exaggerated elements of Bradshaw’s characterwork with vibrant, solid washes, Campbell accentuates Ferry’s sci-fi feel with softer, more saturated blues and reds. It’s a fascinating visual experience, and Ferry’s Quentin Quire is exceptional.
Verdict
Buy! A new (and highly-anticipated) storyline begins for Marvel’s “Strangest Heroes of All!” The Hellfire Saga promises to be a (not-so-)nice, long bit of comics storytelling for Wolverine and the Jean Grey School. The threads teased in this prologue alone have been built up to over the course of the entire run, so jump on now and join the fun!
