The clouds roll in over the horizon. A faint rumble. The wind whips and tears mercilessly. A brilliant flash. A pause, calm and tranquil before a clap of thunder rolls in and the heavens open. It’s time. “Storm” is here.
Written by Greg Pak
Illustrated by Victor Ibanez
On a mission to foster goodwill and safeguard the mutant race’s continued existence in her own way, Storm will travel the globe, confronting man and mutant, god and monster and everything in between.
It’s a pretty agreed upon fact among comic book fans that the X-Men have always and still do represent anyone who has ever felt different in their life, anyone who has ever felt discrimination and oppression for who they are. Since their inception during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America to their revival during the 70s as a whole generation grows up to feel persecuted by their own government to the dizzying heights of their popularity in the 90s during the AIDS crisis, it’s hard not to see the ebb and flow of the X-Men’s popularity be linked to the feeling of each new generation discovering a team about accepting them as who they are. That’s why, I think, we’ve seen a new renaissance in the X-Men as we are in the middle of a new generation feeling like our parents have left us a ruined world and told us to fix and our response has been to look inwards and find new ways to express ourselves. That’s why the core message of the X-Men has always hit home to me: no matter how you are or what you’re like, there will always be a place somewhere were you will feel at home.
This is a message that’s really tapped into here. At long last, the wait is over and we finally have our hands on “Storm” #1 by Greg Pak and Victor Ibanez and let me tell you, this is a highlight of my time here. Much like “Magneto”, “Nightcrawler” and “Cyclops” before her, “Storm” #1 exists as both a spin-off to her roles in the current X-books as well as a side story, showing what she does and who she is when she’s not being a part of that time. With that, Pak and Ibanez have perhaps chose the best possible #1 they could, as it exists as a one-and-done storyline that gives you everything you need to know about Storm, who she is and an idea of where the series will be taking her. This is smart because it lets everyone who opens this book come to it on a level playing field. Whether you have followed Storm through every appearance since “Giant Size X-Men” #1 or you just randomly decided to pick up the book based on the cover, the book treats both cases and and anything in between as exactly the same. You don’t need an extensive knowledge of continuity in order to access this book, you just have to want to enjoy the ride.
This is because Greg Pak is very, very good at what he does. This isn’t Pak’s first foray into the world of X-Men by any means, but since his turn on “Batman/Superman” and “Action Comics” it seems like everyone has finally caught around to thinking that “Hey, this guy’s pretty good.” And he is pretty good. Even from the first page it is clear that Pak not only understands Storm as a character, but that she is important to him. It’s that feeling of reverence in the writing when a writer finally gets to tell that one story of their favourite character they’ve had inside them all along. One of the key aspects to the writing which Pak keeps bringing to the fore is the idea of Storm as a goddess, and he keeps bringing it to the fore in order to nix it by repeatedly showing Ororo as a person; laughing and smiling in relief at having saved an entire village from danger, it immediately gives the reader a sense of connection to the character. This is all a part of how the first issue is constructed as a character piece. Instead of using the first issue to set up the overarching plot right off the bat, Pak’s writing focuses on exploring who Storm is as a person by how she reacts to the events of the first issue – like a militia forcing a village from their homes or a homesick student lashing out at bullies – and using that to build a relationship between character and reader.
Continued belowIt’s not just Greg Pak that makes this issue a joy to read, though, as Victor Ibanez pulls out all the stops to astound on every page. When you have a book centered around a character like Storm, it helps to have an artist on board who can create landscapes and weather patterns that feel like a snapshot of reality. That’s, thankfully, exactly what Marvel did by bringing Victor Ibanez on board. From the opening vistas of a coastal village on the verge of being torn apart by a tsunami to a cafeteria overrun by fungi to the simple panel shots of Storm among the clouds, Ibanez’s artwork is simply gorgeous. The sense of realism in the landscapes and world of the book, juxtaposes nicely against the fantastic nature of having a woman who can control the weather. Just as Pak used his focused his writing on establishing the, for lack of a better word, humanity of the character, there’s a clear effort on Ibanez’s part to continue that in the artwork with a focus on having at least one panel per page to show her emotions through her expressions in the art. From the power of commanding a ferocious storm to the joyous celebration of life to anger and betrayal and relief and understanding, Victor Ibanez is perhaps the best choice for this book in his use of character expressions to evoke the emotions of the writing in the character themselves.
I was very excited for this book. Greg Pak is a writer I love and trust and seeing him tackle characters that mean a lot to so many, but who are often neglected in the grand scheme of things (his work with Doctor Strange was second to none) like Storm is why I haven’t given up hope on comics. Thankfully, sometimes, that excitement pays off as Pak and Ibanez clearly put their all into this issue, allowing it to stand as a one-off introduction to the character for new readers and a long letter to her legacy for established readers. This could very easily have existed as a successful one-shot, but the fact that Pak and Ibanez get to keep doing this every month makes me thankful for small miracles.
Final Verdict: 9.7 – There is no one I wouldn’t recommend this issue to, it is the promising start of what could be Marvel’s next big surprise hit.
