Storm #1 Review: The Making of a Hero, Long Overdue

The thing about Storm stories is that you’re never really sure which Storm it’s going to be about. Will it be the god, the thief, the punk, the queen, the X-Man, the Avenger? Storm’s ever-shifting identity and role in the Marvel Universe is front-and-center in Storm #1 from writer Murewa Ayodele, artist Lucas Wreneck, colorists Alex Guimarães & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, and letter Travis Lanham, visualized with Ororo contemplating a virtual wardrobe of her past looks for bygone eras. Storm #1 ultimately does more to cement Storm’s position as a solo superhero than perhaps any past effort by drawing on various aspects from her past lives, setting up a potentially exciting series to come.

Though framed around the “Grand Opening” of the Storm Sanctuary, Ororo’s new airborne headquarters hovering above Atlanta, most of Storm #1’s action occurs in flashback to Oklahoma City one week prior, when Storm and Frenzy worked to save residents from an apparent meltdown at a local nuclear power plant. The truth is much more complicated and could poison all of the goodwill from the human community that Storm and Frenzy earned with their rescue efforts, leaving Storm with a weighty choice over whether to embrace the truth or spare mutants the additional prejudice it may bring upon them.

Arguably, Storm has never been fashioned so firmly in the mold of a superhero than she is in Storm #1. Werneck makes excellent use of background landscapes to frame the disaster in Oklahoma City as truly cataclysmic, bleeding out of frame as if to subsume that action within. Panels of Storm and Frenzy keeping the chaos at bay or finding civilians are shown from the point of view of someone looking up at them as they seemingly descend from on high, a godlike framing further emphasized by Storm’s new home among the clouds, an opulent abode that’s a far cry from the comparatively spartan culture of Arakko, where she previously resided.

This sequence wouldn’t feel out of place in a Superman story, the powerful but compassionate hero saving anyone they can without question or qualification before returning to their remote, personal sanctum. It all works well as a reflection of Storm’s magnanimity and conviction. Yet, some moments emphasize Storm’s frailty as well, such as when a wayward piece of splintered wood moving at high speed, detritus that would bounce off a Kryptonian’s torso, pierces Ororo’s chest. There’s another sign of Storm’s mortality that may act as a ticking clock in the story going forward.

While Storm has relatively little dialogue for this being her new solo series’ debut, the creative team’s vision of who she is comes through nonetheless. She is a being of near-godlike power with distinctly human empathy, one who isn’t afraid to leverage the grandiosity she is uniquely capable of wielding. She’s a hero who will do the right thing until it hurts, who values hard truth over convenient lies, and who may be destined for even greater things than even she could imagine.

Rather than shying away from Storm’s complex, sometimes conflicting history, Storm #1 embraces it all and comes away with a strong sense of purpose. The issue also lays down several potential complications in Storm’s life and while it is hard to see now how they’ll coalesce into a satisfying and coherent narrative, the strength of this debut issue has earned the creative team some space to make their point. At a time when new superhero comics often struggle to justify their existence, Storm #1 creates the framework to position Storm as a leading superheroine she perhaps should have become a long time. Here’s hoping they can build on this strong start. 

Published by Marvel

On October 2, 2024

Written by Murewa Ayodele

Art by Lucas Wreneck

Colors by Alex Guimarães & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo

Letters by Travis Lanham

Cover by Mateus Manhanini