Storm #1 (1996)

“Sunburst and Snowblind”
Writer: Warren Ellis
Pencils: Terry Dodson

After her introduction in 1975, Storm became fairly significant to the X-Men. She’s incredibly powerful, has a commanding presence, and even has a cool code-name. She’d been with the team, almost continuously, since her debut, so why did it take until 1996 for such a iconic X-Woman to receive her own FIRST ISSUE?

Well, probably because she went through a lot of character development in “Uncanny X-men”. She had the obligatory “origin flashback” story in 1976 and issue #102, where her rather eventful backstory was established (born in Harlem, she moved to Egypt as a newborn, landed a bad case of claustrophobia when her house was bombed and she was orphaned in the Suez War, lived as a pick-pocket, then wandered to Central Africa where she became a “goddess”). With almost 20 years in the title, after that, she also lost/regained her powers, met/fell in love with Forge, had fever dreams that explored her INNER TURMOIL, was de-aged, became leader of the X-men AND the Morlocks, and even got a haircut. That’s not to mention the usual X-Men shenanigans of fighting aliens, facing wacky villains (including no less than DR. DOOM), a stint as the “Goddess of Thunder”, going to other dimensions and realities…you get the idea. Quite the loaded resume’.

At times it seemed like the title should’ve been titled “Storm, featuring the Uncanny X-Men”. The long-standing fan rumor/belief was that longtime X-Men writer Chris Claremont considered Storm one of his favorites, and it showed. It wasn’t a bad thing, because Storm was a pillar of the team/title. Indeed, even today, the character of “Storm” is usually included in most translations of the X-Men, whether it be movies, cartoons, alternate realities, etc. In short, there wasn’t a strong reason for giving her a spin off mini-series, since she had been in the spotlight for about 20 years. “X-Men” seemed like home base for Storm and you couldn’t have one without the other.

When you consider who had landed a solo series or mini-series by 1996 (like “Nightwatch”…. waitasec….NIGHTWATCH?!), it did seem unfair that such an iconic hero like Storm had never had her own series. So surely they have a groundbreaking story in mind, right? Maybe even something like her teammate, Wolverine, had in 1982? Or at least a cool villain?!

Not surprisingly, this story begins as a follow-up from recent events in “Uncanny X-Men”, where Storm was confronted by the Morlock offspring group, Gene Nation (not to be confused with “Raider Nation” or “Cenation”…but equally as insignificant). During that fight, Storm crossed the Unofficial Superhero Morality Line, as she had to kill Gene Nation’s leader, Marrow, by cutting out her heart! Shortly after that, the Morlock/Gene Nation tunnels were flooded by Mikhail Rasputin, Colossus’s long lost (mostly) EVIL brother. Yeah… we’re getting a LOT of backstory for a FIRST ISSUE.

So as we open this story, Storm is in the vacant sewers of the Morlocks, feeling remorseful over recent events. She considers herself a failed leader, as her inactions caused the Morlocks to become nearly extinct (she took over leadership of the Morlocks, circa 1983, when she defeated their old leader Calisto in a one-on-one fight). Having to kill Marrow wasn’t easy, either. There’s also another significant crisis, as her bangs also appear to be out-of-control.

Cable, the ultimate 90’s “bad-*ss” Marvel mutant, is around. Because…reasons. Maybe? Anyways, he uses his laptop (whoa!) and tells Strom about the “Ceremony of Light”, which the Morlocks used to commemorate the dead.

To help ease her guilt and INNER TURMOIL, Storm goes to Morlocks tunnels, performs the ceremony…and is then zapped away to a weird dimension. However– again, for whatever reason– Cable had been following her and found a dead body, as he thinks Storm is dead! Apparently, Cable doesn’t understand the world of Super Heroes, nor has he ever read a comic book, because nobody is ever “dead”. Still, he gets an entire page dedicated to this:

It’s supposed to be a big Plot Element… but even characters in this exact issue (Cyclops and Jean Grey) aren’t buying and have no real concern that Storm is dead.

That’s the end of the FIRST ISSUE… but since this is only a 4 issue mini-series, there’s no harm in filling in the remaining blanks. Storm was teleported to a weird dimension called simply “The Hill” where everything was based on Darwinism. It’s teased that X-Men Big Bad Guy, Apocalypse, might be behind this. I mean, that’d be a fitting foil for a longtime X-Man (Woman), right? Nope. Instead, the bad guy behind this whole thing was… Mikhail Rasputin. Yup. You’d think he’d be more suited for a mini-series centered around his bro, Colossus… but I guess there IS the Morlock/Gene Nation connection. Still, I don’t feel bad saying it’s kind of a rip-off to have Storm facing HIM in her mini-series. If I remember correctly, they were trying to push Gene Nation (and Marrow) as Big Deals, around this time.

When the series concluded–shocker– Storm wasn’t dead. Marrow was revealed to be alive, because she had two hearts. Mikhail Rasputin teleported to wherever. Calisto got knocked around, around. Storm came to terms with her guilt and grief…and , perhaps most significantly, even got another new haircut:

Those bangs are still out of control….

Not the greatest story, as it didn’t really quite give us the “character study”, mixed with action, that we had in 1982’s Wolverine. There’s not really much emotion, because with the dimension-hopping gimmick, you know Storm isn’t dead and will be back. Add in the fact that her teammates simply give a shrug at the news of her death. Yet I don’t think Storm, the character, suffered for this. She kept trucking along in the X-titles, with no worse for wear. This series didn’t hurt Storm, but it certainly didn’t help her.

Summary: A brooding Storm goes to the sewers, get zapped to different dimension. Cable the nitwit thinks she’s dead.
Cover Price: 2.95
Rating: .65