Summer is going to be hell for the faculty and students of the Jean Grey School in a brand new Wolverine and the X-Men arc by Jason Aaron. The Hellfire Saga is about ignite with a huge gathering of classic and new villains. Artist Nick Bradshaw returns to the book with these incredible preview pages and covers. Writer Jason Aaron and X-Editor Nick Lowe explain how the story ties into the recent past and launches into the X-Men’s 50th Anniversary.
“It feels good to get here. It’s been building for quite awhile, since Schism, even before issue #1 of Wolverine & The X-Men. The character arcs of kids like Idie and Quentin Quire, plus oddball characters like Toad and Husk, they all come to a head here,” Jason Aaron tells Marvel.com.
From the Hellfire Club to invading Brood to a space casino to the Savage Land, Aaron has created some outrageous scenarios for Logan and the kids to survive but get ready to be astonished again as the writer claims,”this is the craziest arc we’ve ever done, and if you read Wolverine & The X-Men, you know that’s a bold claim.”
Kade Kilgore has been obsessed with destroying Logan and his school and now he has the ultimate weapon to make him more infuriated than ever!
“The Hellfire Club has begun their own school, pulling in students from the Jean Grey School and elsewhere, recruiting super villains as teachers to show these kids how to be the biggest bad asses ever,” says Aaron.
Mystique, Sabretooth, Sauron, Dog Logan, Mondo, Master Pandemonium and The Philistine (a new character) are the staff of the Hellfire Academy and Aaron teases “the villains of the Hellfire Saga were chosen very particularly.”
“The Philistine has a strong tie to X-Men history that you’ll learn about in the Hellfire Saga,” teases Editor Nick Lowe, “As much as the Dark Angel Saga shook up Uncanny X-Force, this shakes up Wolverine & The X-Men.”
“There’s a big surprise at the very end of this arc that sets up a big story to come later this year,” adds Aaron.
Logan’s role as headmaster has always been in question and now he’ll face betrayals from within the student body.
“Whether or not he’s in over his head is something that’s always on Wolverine’s mind. Once he has students willfully defecting and joining the Hellfire Academy, it weighs on him. That’s a big part of issue #31,” said Aaron, “If Wolverine is doing a good job and if the school is successful is always a theme of the book.”
The new arc appears to be a final judgment on Wolverine’s decision in Schism.
“For Wolverine, the Jean Grey School was never about building a wall between these kids and the world, it was about giving them a chance to be something other than soldiers. He never wanted to keep them sequestered. It’s about giving them the chance to do whatever they want, X-Man or accountant,” said Aaron.
Along with the sinister staff Aaron says to expect an all-new version of the Hellions.
“The new Hellions are not nice people by any stretch. There’s one character who looks like she has porcelain white skin, but it’s a shell, because she’s made of bugs. And she’s not the character I’m most disgusted by. They haunt my dreams.” add Lowe.
Brian Michael Bendis has been using Raven, Victor and Mastermind against the All-New X-Men.
“There are absolutely ties to what Mystique and Sabretooth are doing here and what they’re doing in All-New X-Men. There is a master plan. At our last summit, we talked a lot about Sabretooth and Mystique. They are becoming power players,” teases Lowe.
As if the Hellfire kids aren’t enough trouble, Kid Omega has driven Logan mad and questioned his authority at the school over and over.
“One of the whole questions of the story is about whether Quentin will be a hero or a villain. There’s a big role for him in this arc. Is he as bad a guy as he pretends to be? By the end of this arc we’ll begin to have an answer,” declares Aaron.
A special prologue for the Hellfire Saga is in Wolverine & The X-Men #30 on May 29th, then the arc begins with issue #31 on June 12th.
Keep scrolling for more preview art by Bradshaw from Wolverine and the X-Men #31, #32 including a staff member that sure looks like a female version of Mojo?
By Editor