This is something that I’ve been thinking about for some time, and honestly, something that I believe should be done. However, questions remain; primarily: how do you redeem and rebuild a character that has been so utterly dumped on in recent memory. I see three possible outcomes for Hellion at Marvel’s current rate: 1) Julian rises above all adversity and becomes a hero; 2) Julian is beaten down so far that he becomes a villain of large proportions; 3) They do nothing and he fades into obscurity.

Ironically, as a very big Hellion fan (the depths of which I have finally admitted), I want NONE of the above to occur. Why? Because none of them would do him justice. Let’s think this through, shall we? Julian starts as a womanizer (detention for unbuttoning Emma’s blouse, anyone?), an instigator, an arrogant jerk, and near Magneto-ideological ideas (remember his speech when the FBI took Wither?). People will point to these exact things and say: why does ANYONE like Keller? When he was this person? Only a few. But, there was something that was added that was the redeeming quality: the fact that he would do practically anything for his friends.

This willingness is displayed when he goes after Wither, when he calls on family contacts in homeland security so he and his friends can get to his parents’ place, when he flips out when Brian dies, and several times with Laura. This was just the tip of making his character something more than the ‘arrogant jerk.’ Through the course of Childhood’s end and the New X-Men series, he continued down this line. He was growing as a character. He was still arrogant, yes. He still had a temper, yes. But he grew more ready to help his friends, easing out a bit of his ‘I’m awesome, everyone else sucks’ juvenile attitude. His attraction and silent relationship with Laura seemed to help this process. As he seemed to give her humanity to a degree, she seemed to calm him. A great pair. One I am very upset was shattered—but more on that later.

Additionally, let’s touch on the Kingmaker storyline. Julian’s wish was to be a hero. Was this out of a desire for the limelight, or some deep-seated need to want to be not only important, but a good guy? I feel it is the latter. Dipping into Hellion’s psychology, I believe that the brash, bully, arrogant exterior is due to insecurity over the way his family treated him, and being just… well, a kid about his parents being so rich and everyone else’s being so poor in comparison. In short: the guy never grew up! His time with the X-Men, though, was shaping that. Then… he lost his hands. And his mind, as well, apparently.

After the loss of his hands, we got to see emo Julian. While the handicap is understandably going to cause a great deal of mental trauma, Julian reacted rather… insanely. And for a very long period of time. Yes, I understand his frustration and pain. And the one person who I think he needed there the most (Laura) up and vanished on him. In his mind, I don’t think he really had anyone. He watched people moan and complain about their losses, comforting one another. X-Men treat death as a revolving door, but his hands are forever gone. Yeah. Bitterness. Then, let’s add that whenever someone tries to help him, he feels it is patronizing and gets pissed. He was hurt. Drastically. I personally believe, that if Laura were there for this, he would not have fallen down that slope. I don’t blame Laura, I blame the writers on this front. From Julian’s perspective, he lost his parents (they moved and abandoned him without telling him), his hands, the X-Men already abandoned him once (when he woke up in the hotel room), and now the girl he was finally admitting to himself that he loved… just vanishes when he needs her the most. Is it any surprise he killed someone? The boy had nothing left to lose. There was no further down he could hit, in his mind.

Then, we get the Liu treatment in X-23. Stalker Julian. Be with me or I will make snarky remarks and yell at you until you agree to be with me. Or leave. And, Laura left. Are we surprised? Honestly, I’m not.

So… the natural question is: how does Julian Keller get ‘fixed?’ The answer is simple: we break him completely. This might sound odd coming from someone who just said how much Hellion was thrown under the bus and complained about it. And, really, what else can be done to drag him down even further? The answers to these questions are very simple and are a classical part of redemption stories. Julian must be broken in spirit. He must be shown, full force, what path he has chosen and what it has cost him. And it must be shown that it was all –his- choice. He must be forced to admit to the issues, or at least see that there was another way. Then, once he is at the bottom, and the alcoholic termed ‘moment of clarity’ hits… well, then Julian can start to climb back.

And what about Julian and Laura? As much as I love them together… it can’t be. Not now. Laura needs to experience more of a normal life and Julian needs to put himself back together. Ideally, I would see them as friends… then –slowly- rekindle the attraction and a love between them. Once both can fully appreciate it and have ‘grown up’ in their own ways, I feel that this would be an extraordinarily strong bond.

And, that, my friends, is how I feel we could reconstruct Hellion.

Which breaks my black little heart, John.

It's rather sad, too, as Julian could be a very stand-out character. I know marvel, for some reason, has really bad luck with teen teams sticking around, but with the right story behind it, Julian could be used to great effect in such a book.

Indeed. I'm still pissed about X-23 #16-19. Just... gah. What a terrible characterization. A Laura fan I know and I had a discussion. I think a very LARGE portion of those issues was completely out of character for Julian.

She disagrees to an extent.

But, honestly... he tries to tell her that he wants her back in his life. Kisses her... then goes completely bonkers on her when she says they are done. Which, by the way, is, imo, against the direction Laura was going before her solo series. Take a look at her telling him she missed him after the X-Force revelation came out.

Meh. Impotent rant, I know... but they have such great characters they just dropped after the attempted Young X-Men run (which was mediocre at best, I think) with the imposter Summers.

gah. I hate my old IE browser at work. Can't even 'quote' posts--and I have to manually line break with HTML code, or the whole thing comes off as one huge paragraph.

Anyway

I haven't read the entire run of Laura's book. I only read #19 originally, and for me... it was a double whammy. I read about Rogue shacking up with Magneto after Gambit placed his cards on the table... then this break-up. One-two punch, really.

But, I'm working on a Julian piece and needed to get all the specifics on it. Just... Julian really felt like he was one step away from trying to go Ike and Tina on Laura. Which just... infuriated me. The ONLY thing I liked about the issues was the art. I felt like Julian was just... screwed in those issues.

I'll see about getting the others for the series digital to take a look. This is just irritating to see and read. The chemistry amoung Hellion Squad was awesome, even after they just merged with Nori's people. The development of the group felt natural. Then... WHAMMY.

They nuked a great thing.

Still, I firmly believe it could be turned around with minimal effort. All it would take would be two arcs or so and things could be back on track... but it is doubtful it will ever happen.

But we will see. *plots*

@John Valentine
"New X-Men by Kyle and Yost is one of my favourite X-Book runs ever. I loved the initial focus on Hellion and his development in that time period. I think he really came into his own. I hoped he'd become one of the few teen X-Men to transcend his original team, like Cannonball, and Chamber to a lesser extent. I mean, he has all the makings of a great character; he's powerful, but a very complex character with great potential for heroism as well as villainy."

This.

110% this. All the characters worked so well together in a team dynamic and I really think they could have been their own solid team.

Pixie just... meh.

Julian totally needs to find out about teenaged Jean Grey being at the school. He and Kid Omega could both try to win her over. Heh.

*laughs* That would be... hilarious.

@snyderman567 said:

He should just die

Thanks for the input.

@DurararaFTW said:

Well, Wolverine and Beast just selected the most worrisome cases at the school. Quire, Broo, Oya, Genesis, Glob Herman and the new kids were it. Which i guess means Hellion did manage to get himself right offscreen.

I totally think Hellion should be on this team (instead of the three new kids with no personalities).

Having these kids to look out for (which is what he does, when he's written well) could give him a sense of purpose that he's been missing since his accident and help him feel good about himself again.

I don't think she should be on that team for any stretch of time. I also think that team is a bad idea. It's like putting a bunch of convicts on the same team and thinking that somehow, being around other people just like them that they're going to become better people all of a sudden. It makes no sense at all to me.

... ugh. Wind Dancer.