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| Front cover of Marvel Comics' TPB Storm volume 2 - Bring the Thunder |
Score (out of 5 Capes)
When Storm interacts with others, be they students in her school or strangers on the street, she shines as a brilliantly relatable character, balancing power and compassion. These tales could benefit from more focus on this side and less on the standard-fare mutant stories, which come across as disjointed and wanting to be more gory.
My Review
We are reminded throughout the tales collected in this book that Storm is or has been a thief, a leader, a queen, a teacher and headmistress, even a goddess. So many ingredients, so much history, so many expectations. Writer Greg Pak seems to choose a different one of those descriptions as the centerpiece of each story.
In the opening three-part story, Storm heads home from Las Vegas after a decidedly mixed encounter with old friend Yukio (see volume 1 for that story). But when her plane is hijacked by agents from Eaglestar International, a sketchy organization led by Davis Harmon, can she overcome some anti-mutant bigotry and save the plane and everyone on it, including a US senator?
After great exertion, she does manage to carry the damaged plane across the continent, only to be framed and arrested for the very attack she fought off. It leads to confrontations, first with the lying senator then with the evil brain behind the whole affair.
It is an intense story, one with a few hints of Storm's power to relate to people but more focused on her awesome weather powers. More goddess than anything in this arc.
The thief side takes centre stage in the standalone #9. She must team with Gambit to try and retrieve a magical artifact before one of Gambit's biggest and most dangerous rivals does. Pak delivers a lighter tale, filled with sweet moments, clever nods to great heist and archaeological movies, and some self-reflection.
The final arc in this volume, which wrapped up the ongoing series at a very limited 11 issues, puts Storm's headmistress role at the fore. The return of Kenji, a mutant thought dead, is what drives this plot forward. Is he sweet? innocent? dangerous? Does he blame her for what he suffered before? Can she protect her school and her students? At what cost?
Storm really rocks the tight black leather and punk-rock hairdo. Lead artist Al Barrionuevo gives her a strong look throughout his chapters, with the shaved head and long, silver-white mohawk cut whipping in the constant breeze that follows her, her don't-mess-with-me vibe has a beautifully regal undertone.
Barrionuevo's pencil work through the first four and a half chapters of this trade paperback collection is one of the highlights of the series. His pages are filled with drama and emotion, power and dynamism. Storm's power of weather manipulation, with its potential to get lost amidst clouds and whirlwinds, gets solid treatment in his hands.
When Victor Ibanez takes over for the final two issues, the shift in style is immediately noticeable; Storm appears softer, not as strong, and the horror-infused storyline of #10-11 could stand to be a couple notches darker to truly sell us on the action.
Overall, this series suffers from a main character whose limits of her power seem to change every issue or two, as does her personality and motivation. This immensely powerful mutant, with a long history of leadership with all its hard decisions, deserves better.
What I loved
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| Storm and Gambit play Indiana Jones in issue #9 |
Issue #9, a standalone story in which Storm teams with Gambit to find a magical artifact, is the most fun of the chapters in this book. The light, easy banter between the two old friends is spot-on and the plentiful nods to Indiana Jones movies, especially the first one, are delightful.
While it does nothing to grow or stretch any of the characters, it is an appreciated reprieve, a fun break between the harsh brutality of the first arc and the horror-inspired gore of the final arc.
What I didn't love
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| Storm stops a tidal wave from destroying a bridge in #8 |
Writer Greg Pak seems unable to decide just how powerful Storm can be. The elements of weather are at her command, but how local or vast, how short or long a duration, are those powers? The answer seems to change to suit his narrative needs.
At the climax of the first story arc, Storm must manipulate hundreds of cubic miles of atmosphere and stratosphere to focus the sun's rays and generate enough heat to instantly evaporate an entire tidal wave of water, mere seconds before it destroys this bridge. She handles this incredible feat without breaking a sweat.
Yet, a couple issues earlier, she struggled to keep a single airplane aloft for five hours. Sure, it is a heavy object, and she must exercise her powers over a longer time. But the wings of the plane are engineered to produce loft. She did not need to carry it; merely give it enough forward momentum for the physics to produce enough lift to assist her efforts. But the story is more dramatic if she collapses from sheer exhaustion over this effort.
Related Reviews
Astonishing X-Men volume 9 (2012), also by Greg Pak
Quick Reference Details
Writers: Greg Pak
Artists: Al Barrionuevo (#6-10), Victor Ibanez (#10-11), Neil Edwards (#9-11)
Published By: Marvel Comics
Published When: July 21, 2015
Parental Rating: Teen+
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| Back cover of Marvel Comics' TPB Storm volume 2 - Bring the Thunder |
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