Inferno #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I initially gave this issue three stars, but, upon reflection, I decided to upgrade it to four stars, because Hopeless really delivers a kick-ass surprise here.  (As expected, we don't get a happy ending.)

The issue starts exactly where we left the team last issue, contemplating Sinister's offer of help to take down Illyana.  Sinister has used Tabitha's DNA to create clones but mixed said DNA with demon DNA:  he now has his own demonic Boom Boom Army.  Combined with Colossus' control of the Soulsword, you have a moment here where you think that the team might just win.  But, then, it all goes to hell.  Seeing the chance to avenge the years that she spent as Sinister's puppet, Madelyne uses her telepathy to have one of the Boom Booms incinerate him with a plasma bomb.  His death frees the Boom Booms from his control, and they systematically start killing X-Men, starting with Havok.  To make matters worse, Illyana appears with her own demon horde, after N'astirh told her about the gathering of her enemies in the sewer.  The X-Men are quickly overwhelmed, and Colossus makes his way to Illyana, with Domino and Tabitha in tow.  Illyana frequently reverts to her childhood self to prevent Pete from killing her, but Domino throws herself into the mix, convincing Peter to do the deed to save her.  (Good call, Dom.  Seriously.)  With the X-Men all dead, the trio leaves the domain as its completely overwhelmed by demons.  Madelyne steals the Hellfire spewing from Darkchilde's body, completing her takeover of the domain.

This entire series has been a solidly told story that answers all the questions that we had at the start.  For example, Madelyne does take over the domain, explaining why she was in charge at the start of "Secret Wars" #1.  Moreover, it's the sort of dark ending that I want more authors to embrace.  I mean, Hopeless kills off all the X-Men and the domain falls to a bad guy.  It may not affect the larger "Secret Wars" plot, but I'd call it one of the better tie-in series.

**** (four of five stars)

Inferno #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

The "next issue" box at the end of this issue tells us that everything gets worse...much worse.  Honestly, it could've well been the tag line for this issue as well.  (It makes you wonder just how bad things are going to get.)

Illyana has so thoroughly taken over the Outer Boroughs that Dr. Strange arrives and offers her the Baronship of Inferno.  (This guest appearance may confirm that the events of this series all happen before "Secret Wars" #1, where we saw Madelyne in charge of Inferno.  It's clearly not happening simultaneously with the main title, since Dr. Strange has been dead for a full issue at this point.)  Meanwhile, in his search for Illyana, Colossus and his team stumble upon the X-Men as they're battling N'astirh and his forces.  They manage to defeat them, but it doesn't exactly improve their situation:  no one has any idea how to defeat Illyana.  Enter Mr. Sinister, revealed to be the person that saved Tabitha and sent her to track down Colossus and his team in the first place.  Sinister has a plan, and it's pretty clear that the X-Men are going to have to work with him if they want to have a hope of defeating Illyana.

Hopeless really does a great job of playing against the usual "in our darkest hour" tropes here.  First, Jean is committed to trying to get Scott to lead the X-Men in escaping New York, and she seems the only reasonable person of the lot.  Instead, Scott tries to rally the troops to take the fight to Illyana, but N'astirh interrupts his monologue.  Plus, when Colossus apologizes to Scott for not listening to him, Scott doesn't accept it; he places the blame squarely on Colossus and confirms that he was right.  

As I've said in other reviews, the best part of "Secret Wars" is the authors' ability to tell stories that don't have happy endings.  This series continues to be a great example of that.  If everything gets worse next issue, "happy" isn't likely going to describe the ending.

*** (three of five stars)

Inferno #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Hopeless wastes no time taking matters from bad to worse here.  Illyana uses her dragonized Nightcrawler to teleport to the X-Men's side of the wall, stranding Colossus and his team in Limbo.  She makes short work of the X-Men that greet her on the battlefield, and the Magic and Science Teams leave their bunker to come help.  They think that it's safe to do so because they have wards that keep Illyana from entering, but they realize too late that they're not prepared for Nightcrawler.  She takes out Beast and Dr. Strange, disabling the wall and sending her demon hordes across the river.  It's plusungood.  Making it doubleplusungood, Mr. Sinister is revealed to be the mysterious man in a laboratory.  He's clearly got some sort of scheme, so it's probably all going to get worse for the X-Men.  Surprise, I know.

*** (three of five stars)

Inferno #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Hopeless delivers another solid installment here.  It hasn't got much to do with the larger "Secret Wars" story, but I'm totally fine with that, since it presents enough plot twists to keep the reader happy.

First, we've got the Goblin Queen's straightforward offer of allegiance to Colossus:  he rescues Illyana, she gets to rule Limbo.  To help make that a possibility, she provides Colossus with the Soulsword.  To be honest, I didn't totally get this part.  Illyana apparently left behind the Soulsword after a battle, but I don't understand why she didn't return to retrieve it.  After all, Madelyne admits that neither she nor Alex could move it.  Are we supposed to believe that Illyana just left it out there, like a toy rusting in the rain?  Moreover, if Madelyne didn't move it, how does she transport it to Peter?  She claims Peter called it, but she also states that she and Alex somehow "seized the opportunity" of Illyana leaving it in the first place.  In other words, it's a bit of a mess.  But, I guess that we just have to go with it.  At any rate, Peter takes up the Soulsword and they all storm the Empire State Building, where Illyana is waiting with Nightcrawler, who she mutated into a dragon.  Meanwhile, one of the goblins has dragged a dying Boomer to an underground laboratory to feed her to his mysterious master (likely to be Mr. Sinister).

Again, this issue isn't perfect, but it does really feel like a logical extension of the "Inferno" cross-over event, if the X-Men failed to stop the invasion.  Since we know that Alex eventually takes over the domain from Madelyne, I'm intrigued to see how we get there.  Add to the mix a young Cable talking about guns with Domino and I'm a happy camper.

*** (three of five stars)

Inferno #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I was more than a little skeptical of all these "Battleworld" tie-in issues, since it seemed impossible that the authors were going to be able to replicate the magic of the original events.  But, Hopeless really delivers here.

First, the premise is great.  In this world, the X-Men failed to stop N'astirh from invading Earth, and Limbo successfully took over Manhattan.  The X-Men patrol the outer boroughs to keep out the demonic hordes, but Colossus has extracted from Scott a promise to allow him and a team of X-Men to storm the Empire State Building every year in an attempt to save Illyana (since she's "trapped" in Limbo).

But, unlike a lot of premises, Hopeless really manages to fulfill its potential.  He uses it to remind us of Colossus' persistently single-minded focus on white-knighting Illyana.  Hopeless makes it clear that Colossus waits all year for the day when he's allowed to try to save her and that he would sacrifice virtually anyone to achieve this goal.  For example, he essentially ignored Domino all year long as she tried to develop a strategy with him for the fifth invasion and he barely blinks when N'astirh paralyzes Scott during the fourth one.  Moreover, Hopeless reminds us of Colossus' inability to see Illyana for who she truly is.  When he finally makes his way into Limbo in that fourth invasion, Colossus discovers that Illyana has completely surrendered herself to her Darkchilde persona.  She corrupts his arm into an unusable appendage and seemingly traps him in his steel form.  However, he refuses to accept that and remains focused on the fifth invasion.

However, it all begins to break into pieces for Colossus in this fifth invasion.  Scott, now using Professor X's hoverchair, refuses to allow Colossus a team this year.  Colossus demands permission to go, despite Scott pointing out the obvious costs that the two of them paid.  Boomer, Domino, and Nightcrawler agree to go with him, acknowledging that it's the last attempt.  In short order, a demon kills Boomer and Nightcrawler gets captured.  Domino is saved only by the timely intervention of the Goblin Queen and Prince.  I have to say, their appearance is really exhilarating.  If you're reading the main title, you know that Alex eventually takes over Inferno from Madeleine, and so I was waiting for them to appear all issue.  (That said, Scott calls himself the baron of this domain earlier in the issue, so it seems like we may be dealing in the distant past here, before Madeleine took over the domain from Scott.) The mind boggles at what Colossus and the two of them will do as a team, given how mentally unstable they all are.

All that said, we're still left with some larger questions about "Secret Wars," such as why Doom's construction of Battleworld summoned up alternate histories based on past events.  Moreover, this issue raises an entirely new question.  We see Dr. Strange as one of the magicians working to help Colossus in preparation for the fifth invasion, but it's unclear if it's the same Dr. Strange that serves as Battleworld's de facto ruler, as we've seen in the main series.  But, it seems clear that Marvel will eventually answer these questions.  In the meantime, I'm pleasantly surprised to be enjoying the opportunity to explore these alternate realities, a promise that DC's "Convergence" made but never fulfilled.  So far, so good for Marvel.

*** (three of five stars)