Here Comes The Rain Again: Reviewing ‘Storm’ #1

Earth’s mightiest mutant is ready to blow even further into the spotlight, taking the very world by Storm. Once More, Ororo Munroe soars onto comic book stands with Storm #1, the latest solo series for the character.

The introductory chapter comes from Murewa Ayodele, Lucas Warneck, Alex Guimarães, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, and Travis Lanham.

Once upon a time (okay just a handful of months ago), I wrote a whole piece about how I was taking a break from the X-Men. While that has remained primarily true, there was a mention in there that it would be inevitable that despite my overall disinterest in the From The Ashes offerings, there would be some book that would catch my attention.

As soon as they announced the new Storm series and its creative team and focus, I knew that this would be that book. Hence why, despite my “I’m out!” proclamations, I emailed my editor and fellow X-reviewers (one of which hilariously saw this coming) right away to be the one to review this. Funnily enough there is another on my docket to review coming in the new year that I was not expecting to want to cover (Deadpool & Wolverine), this one seemed a slam dunk.

Just when I thought I was out, they found a way to pull me back in.

Yet, not as much as I thought they might have.

There is much to like about this opening chapter of the new series. Storm is a true force of nature, really working to save lives and help the world. Ayodele gives her a new purpose, outside of the Avengers, and a position that is meant to inspire amongst the world. Hell, we even get a version of Frenzy guest starring that is far closer to the Frenzy we knew for years compared to the jokey version over in X-Factor currently.

At the same time, there are some pretty big flaws showing their face here.

All that position stuff is for naught because Storm’s “good heart” leads to a revelation that smashes all her work aside and reheats more mutant hatreds. Sure, it was the right thing to do, but the fact that this is the plan for the character at the start is tiresome. Just like most of this line, the work is being done to just demolish any gains that were made in the previous era, putting mutants back down at the bottom of the hill when it comes to bypassing their hateful oppressors.

Throughout the issue, Storm is more of a figure than a character. All of the stuff about her is outside narration. Be it a seeming reporter or some faceless nameless narrator (perhaps it is tied to the random celestial being reveal at the end) just telling us about her and what she’s doing. We get no real feeling or elaboration from Storm herself, compared to what we saw of her for five years of the Krakoa era.

Look, I’m tired of comparing stuff to the Krakoa era, but we were eating good, no matter what portions of the internet will try to claim. I also don’t want to pit creators against each other, but in a way I was kind of hoping for more from a Black writer, than we got from a White writer. Again, it’s not bad, but it most definitely not all that it could and should be.

Let’s talk visuals, cause at least that will make me feel better.

All that story beat stuff aside, it’s a gorgeous book to behold. I’m glad that Werneck is still connected to the X-side of things, because the man knows how to draw them and their particular flavor well.

Storm feels larger than life on the page, even when the story is meant to make her feel small, because Werneck draws figures with such joy and passion. Emotion is just bursting to get out at all times, and they move through the set pieces with ease and fluidity. Things popping off the page with a realness that can tangibly be felt with each page turn.

Imagine what we would be getting if the direction for the character matched the artwork’s power.

Guimarães and Sifuentes-Sujo combine to create a pretty seamlessly executed color palette. Choosing to take as sort of muted more natural approach in most cases, that allows the more fantastical or important bits resonate with vibrancy. While keeping the spaces around them grounded in a way, more relatable to the world outside our window.

Even the flashback pages with the disaster sapping so much life and color from things, there is a power behind the choices. Showcasing a starker palette which allows the devastation to resonate even more, as the things we know should be there are gone. As the captions note, the natural world has been destroyed, seemingly from something of human construction (at least before the whole alien tech and emerging mutant reveals).

On various pages, it’s Storm that takes the focus, as the other colors around her step back from her regal presence. Until the end where things shift up once she drops the proverbial bomb to the crowd.

My quibbles with the chosen focus of the words aside, the presentation is solid. Lanham captures a lot of emotions and tones with how the letters are displayed. Letting things shift and play so that the volume or intent or even more clear with each word. Love a good use of words bursting beyond their confining boxes or bubbles with some color thrown in. Just the type of visual flair that gives comics their unique great flavoring.

Storm #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.