Writer: Greg Pak; Artists: A. Barrionuevo, T. Palmer, R. Redmond / Marvel Comics
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day.
Him: Those Storm comics…yes or nah?
Me: They are a little slow, but I like that. I have time to wander through each issue.
Then Pak and crew brought me Issue #8 and made me a liar. Damn, this is anything but a slow issue. It opens with Storm destroying a senator’s house and ends with…well, we’ll get to that.
If anything, this issue could be subtitled “Consequences” as the repercussions of Storm’s previous actions all swirl together and come to fruition here. Storm herself is aware that she has some responsibility to bear for all of the messes she finds herself cleaning up. She uses the word Consequences many times. The first, when she’s talking about how short-sighted the FBI is in trying to blow her out of the sky:
Storm has always been one of the adults of the X-Men pantheon. No whining. No blaming. Just getting it done and leaving it better than when she found it. She exhibits that same attitude here. After using the FBI to scare some information out of the senator, Storm is off to San Francisco to find the guy who framed her for downing the senator’s plane: Davis Harmon of the Eaglestar Arms Company. San Francisco is like New York City in that it has a few iconic skyline shots. Once you see the picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, you know exactly where you are. You are also waiting for someone to knock that bridge over or blow it up. After all, this is a comic book, destruction is mandatory.
Once she finds Harmon, he does us a favor and explains all of the plot (or does he?).
And there’s that word again, Consequences. But coming from him, the word doesn’t bother Storm. She accepts her responsibilities, but not those foisted on her by other people. There’s no admission of guilt with him, no weakness. While she knows what she’s done, she doesn’t waiver in her convictions.
I’m not going to spoil the epic Golden Gate Bridge scene that goes down. Just know it is huge and amazing and that Storm single-handedly saves the day and wraps it up with a rainbow. Now that’s the thing — single-handedly — that’s why this comic at times feels leisurely. Storm is on her own most of the time and there are few other characters to take up her air. It is all about her, with room for her to stretch and grow and be free. That sense of freedom is another of the themes in the series, and you can see it in the images, their scope and motion.
But finally, even that freedom has some limits. Storm has to make peace with the FBI, perhaps making a new ally in Agent Robertson. They definitely share a moment:
Happy ending? Yeah, read the last page and you’ll know, there’s never any rest for our Goddess Storm. There’s a surprise waiting for her, and I’m sure it isn’t someone she wants to see again.
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