The Hellfire Gala — Marvel’s most glamorous and, at the same time, reliably dangerous annual mutant tradition — is back this July with X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1. The giant-sized one-shot serves as both a capstone to the past year of X-Men storytelling and a launchpad for what’s coming next.
The setup sounds really fun: when an iconic mutant power player is murdered at a masquerade hosted by Sebastian Shaw, Wolverine and Jubilee find themselves investigating a locked-room mystery with dire consequences for all of mutantkind. Everyone at the Gala is a suspect, and the party isn’t over yet. The issue will also reveal the formation of an all-new Hellfire Club, setting up major developments in the X-Men titles.
The creative roster is a who’s who of the current X-Men creators. Writers include Jed MacKay (X-Men), Gail Simone (Uncanny X-Men), Eve L. Ewing (X-Men United), Saladin Ahmed (Wolverine) and Erica Schultz (Rogue), with art by Tony Daniel, Luciano Vecchio, Federica Mancin and others.
Most importantly, the murder mystery won’t get in the way of the fashion, which has become a big part of these specials. Vecchio, who led design duties on last year’s X-Men: Hellfire Vigil, returns with a full set of masquerade looks that push the concept even further.
“This time around, it’s a masquerade, so the challenge was to come up with looks that divert from each character’s classic iconography to reflect their mask’s theme,” he said. “The dress code is a callback to classic Hellfire Club attire, so there’s 18th-century fashion mixed with corsets and leather gear, but mixing up the gendering of those elements, resulting in something elegant and sexy.”
Vecchio drew the main cover, shown above, while R.B. Silva did a varaint:
X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1 will arrive July 22.