Ororo Munroe: Storm Appreciation 2020

[chief12d]

I can't imagine reading this and think hickman doesnt like ororo, like honestly im sorry but I can accept criticism to the structure of the series and the book itself, but let's not create a bias that isn't there.

Ororo hasn;t had a positive showing like this in the x-books in YEARS, even if it's a low bar I consider this issue a prime example of storm at her very best , ever since the ressurection ceremony I felt that his storm was very good, grasping at all aspects of her character, showing her as comptent, powerfull and charismatic.

And now in the meta context of his current run, she just defeated one of the most insidious and dangerous manifestations of the mutant nemesis aka technology, she pretty much spit on the concept of inevitable defeat at the hands of machines, even if in a more self contained way.

"we always lose" well not ororo and not the people she choses besides her.

I think he likes Storm, I just don’t think he loves her in the way he clearly does Magneto or Apocalypse. Which is perfectly fine, plenty of characters that I like but wouldn’t put anywhere near my top fives. He seems to have a good enough capture on her voice but overall I don’t think it’s this substantive or compelling investment in her personality/role (other than her embracing her godhead in a single sentence).

Which is fine. What’s more important than writers having favorites is that they’re professional. Hickman may not love Storm but he has no issue working with people who do like Vita and Dauterman. He’s not threatened by the role she could play in Dawn of X and seems to be working with them to elevate and showcase the character. He’s giving her the space to be prominently used under them which is more than can be said for most X-writers, so I count Hickman as someone in Storm’s corner.

[Kingdom X]

Personally...those "articles" should always be read with a pinch of salt, as they're just one opinion usually based off of preconceived expectations, that may or may not ring true to someone else reading the issue. (It doesn't ring true to me)

Oh I totally agree that it was just opinions, but some of the points brought up were interesting. I personally find myself in the middle of both camps in that I found the issue really entertaining but I'm always down for more of her voice.

[GuiltyPleasure]

Review https://comic-watch.com/comic-book-r...in-the-machine


First of all, the art was absolutely beautiful. Dauterman’s art is truly delightful. It’s nice to see women with distinctive features, in comics — especially Storm, who is often absolutely whitewashed. Storm, Emma, Jean and Monet all look like individuals. All though they’re all terribly beautiful, they don’t all look like the exact same Platonic Ideal white woman who’s been given slightly-different skin tones, and that’s something that should be absolutely standard and not at all praiseworthy. Yet, in comics, this is a perishingly rare quality for an artist to have. So, yes, I will praise Dauterman excessively for doing his job.

Beyond that, the landscapes were impeccable. The World looks like an impressionist painting that was put down on paper while the artist was on five tabs of acid, and that’s exactly what you want for a micro-universe developed in what is essentially a teapot. Visually, this story was a pleasure to read.

From the perspective of the writing, Hickman is an extremely limited artist. There are, perhaps, ten characters (out of the entire X-Men pantheon) who he can write with any sense of believability. He is a misogynist who can only write women when they are submissive or in the traditional ‘bitch’ vein. It takes what amounts to a miracle for him to write nuanced characters like Jean or Storm with any believability. That miracle occurred, in this issue. Jean shows compassion, but she isn’t a housefrau banished to the land of rubber gloves and male service. Storm is very firm about who she is, and what she wants (it was nice to see Hickman address why, exactly, this matters when she could just be resurrected: it’s important, to her, that she fight to remain who she is) and she gives one of her patented Goddess Speeches without coming across as ridiculous.

Hickman has always written Emma and Monet well (even if he only tends to hit one note for them) and having Money describe Cypher as ‘the Bambi of the X-Men’ was absolutely perfect.

In short, this issue was very enjoyable. The resolution seemed a little easy, and I don’t really see how this will define her story for ‘years to come’ unless Storm’s story turns out to be based in her resistance to resurrection. If that’s the case, the next couple of years could be extremely interesting.

[butterflykyss]

Review https://comic-watch.com/comic-book-r...in-the-machine


First of all, the art was absolutely beautiful. Dauterman’s art is truly delightful. It’s nice to see women with distinctive features, in comics — especially Storm, who is often absolutely whitewashed. Storm, Emma, Jean and Monet all look like individuals. All though they’re all terribly beautiful, they don’t all look like the exact same Platonic Ideal white woman who’s been given slightly-different skin tones, and that’s something that should be absolutely standard and not at all praiseworthy. Yet, in comics, this is a perishingly rare quality for an artist to have. So, yes, I will praise Dauterman excessively for doing his job.

Beyond that, the landscapes were impeccable. The World looks like an impressionist painting that was put down on paper while the artist was on five tabs of acid, and that’s exactly what you want for a micro-universe developed in what is essentially a teapot. Visually, this story was a pleasure to read.

From the perspective of the writing, Hickman is an extremely limited artist. There are, perhaps, ten characters (out of the entire X-Men pantheon) who he can write with any sense of believability. He is a misogynist who can only write women when they are submissive or in the traditional ‘bitch’ vein. It takes what amounts to a miracle for him to write nuanced characters like Jean or Storm with any believability. That miracle occurred, in this issue. Jean shows compassion, but she isn’t a housefrau banished to the land of rubber gloves and male service. Storm is very firm about who she is, and what she wants (it was nice to see Hickman address why, exactly, this matters when she could just be resurrected: it’s important, to her, that she fight to remain who she is) and she gives one of her patented Goddess Speeches without coming across as ridiculous.

Hickman has always written Emma and Monet well (even if he only tends to hit one note for them) and having Money describe Cypher as ‘the Bambi of the X-Men’ was absolutely perfect.

In short, this issue was very enjoyable. The resolution seemed a little easy, and I don’t really see how this will define her story for ‘years to come’ unless Storm’s story turns out to be based in her resistance to resurrection. If that’s the case, the next couple of years could be extremely interesting.

some are speculating that the sentient being forming will eventually be a storm clone. doesn't sound interesting to me but hey lol

[GuiltyPleasure]

Oh, I did enjoy this review. https://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/20...-but-im-tired/

With every crackle of thunder, every bolt of lightning, and every wind-gusted strand of hair, Russell Dauterman expresses how important Storm is to him. I wish I could say I felt the same about how Jonathan Hickman has been writing Storm.

Following up on Emma Frost and Jean Grey’s psychic journey to rescue their friend/frenemy, Storm is now awake and learning the bad news: she has been infected with a machine virus that’s left her with 30 days to live. Worse, Jean says consoling her, there’s nothing more anyone can do for her because all of the brilliant minds on Krakoa have turned up blank. Emma, in her coldly dismissive way, suggests that it shouldn’t matter since Storm can simply be resurrected, perhaps with some of Emma’s recommended alterations, but Storm isn’t yet all about that resurrection life just because she’s about to die.

The Giant-Size X-Men stories follow the Marvel Method of storytelling wherein the artist is given the broad strokes of a story, allowing them to shape it as much as the writer as they plot out panels and placements, with the words added in later. GSX: Storm holds to this format, but in earlier interviews, Dauterman explains that much of the plot here was already clearly defined by Hickman, leaving little room for Dauterman to interject story elements. He did suggest adding Monet to the mix, which turns out to be very helpful, because, despite “every genius on the island” taking a crack it, Monet apparently wasn’t consulted. Thankfully, she did hear about Storm’s predicament and shows up a few pages in with a deus ex machina for Storm’s machina problem. Monet then gathers Doug, who also wasn’t consulted on a technovirus issue for some strange reason….

But let’s back up. Like I said, the story opens with Jean consoling Storm, informing her of her fate and the efforts that have been made to help her. The implication here is that Storm has played no active role in these efforts, not even being there to get the answers first hand. She’s basically sitting in a waiting room to hear what her prognosis is. And she just accepts it, aside from the scowl aimed at Emma’s insensitivity, Storm’s just like, oh well, I guess that’s it then about this whole situation.

Because if there’s one thing we know about Storm, she always gives up and takes what fate gives her, especially when it comes to situations of lifedeath. Yes, I am being sarcastic, but I am not the least bit surprised by this portrayal of Storm. Though the story moves on to give her her triumphant conquering the odds moments, the beginning pages, the previous issue, and Storm’s overall role in House of X/Powers of X and now Dawn of X continues to leave me heaving a deep sigh of resignation. I keep hearing a promise that Hickman has Big PlansTM for Storm, with this machine virus plotline being part of them, but I have yet to see anything that makes me excited to find out what those plans are.

Instead, I see a Storm that leaves me feeling exhausted. Thankfully, I can count on Dauterman, with the help of Matthew Wilson’s colours, to ensure that Storm looks like the African-American goddess she is, but the writing of the character has left me wanting so much more. Her appearances of late have been fleeting. She most often seems to be marched out to display her powers at opportune moments as a plot device or serve as a momentary counterpoint or support to other, more prominent characters, like Kate Pryde and Emma Frost in Marauders. She carries no major story arcs herself in the main series and hardly plays an active roll in this one that is supposed to be centred on her due to this machine virus. She was a damsel in distress in the Emma and Jean GSX that focused on the telepaths’ relationship. Here, I had to stop myself from counting how many panels she actually got to appear in an issue given her name. Having resigned herself to sitting around hoping, Storm doesn’t get up until Monet takes the lead, and, as the issue description reads, it’s Fantomex who — in relation to his own GSX story — gathers the rest of the team to find a cure, not Storm taking her fate into her own hands.

That cure takes them to a high-tech laboratory called the World, a place where Gravity Fall‘s Bill Cipher likely owns a summer home. Somewhere along the way, Storm gets tired of letting everyone else take the reins. “Follow my lead,” she commands, then promptly vanishes from the battle for two pages, save for a tiny pic of her in the corner. She returns to douse the World in wind and lightening in a stunning display of her abilities, which is all she gets to do these days. A goddess reduced to providing special effects.

Thus far, GSX books have not impressed me, save for a few moments here and there, and Emma and Jean’s issue, which featured the kind of character beats, relationship play, and depth that made me fall in love with mutants through Chris Claremont’s Classic X-Men stories. Given that Dauterman apparently had a greater role in shaping the Emma and Jean story and the characterizations, I feel like I should be giving him most of the credit for making their issue as enjoyable as it was, despite my frustration over Storm’s role within it — or lack thereof. Those kind of deep character moments are what I was expecting from GSX. The Storm issue briefly attempts this, with some moments of introspection where Storm says words that imply that she’s taking back her agency. In a few pithy lines, I was drawn back to moments like an emaciated Jean stubbornly telling a celestial entity that she didn’t want to die, or Storm taking a leap of faith and pure joy from a cliff when her powers are returned. But there really wasn’t any build-up to that moment of goddess returned here. Not when we started with a very atypical Storm who doesn’t seem to want to put in any more effort than the people writing her.

Aaaand then the story about Storm promptly flips back to focus on Fantomex and Doug and their important decisions and discoveries instead.

Storm's face is covered in a machine virus patterns. "Did it work?" she asks

No, not really.

[butterflykyss]

Oh, I did enjoy this review. https://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/20...-but-im-tired/

With every crackle of thunder, every bolt of lightning, and every wind-gusted strand of hair, Russell Dauterman expresses how important Storm is to him. I wish I could say I felt the same about how Jonathan Hickman has been writing Storm.

Following up on Emma Frost and Jean Grey’s psychic journey to rescue their friend/frenemy, Storm is now awake and learning the bad news: she has been infected with a machine virus that’s left her with 30 days to live. Worse, Jean says consoling her, there’s nothing more anyone can do for her because all of the brilliant minds on Krakoa have turned up blank. Emma, in her coldly dismissive way, suggests that it shouldn’t matter since Storm can simply be resurrected, perhaps with some of Emma’s recommended alterations, but Storm isn’t yet all about that resurrection life just because she’s about to die.

The Giant-Size X-Men stories follow the Marvel Method of storytelling wherein the artist is given the broad strokes of a story, allowing them to shape it as much as the writer as they plot out panels and placements, with the words added in later. GSX: Storm holds to this format, but in earlier interviews, Dauterman explains that much of the plot here was already clearly defined by Hickman, leaving little room for Dauterman to interject story elements. He did suggest adding Monet to the mix, which turns out to be very helpful, because, despite “every genius on the island” taking a crack it, Monet apparently wasn’t consulted. Thankfully, she did hear about Storm’s predicament and shows up a few pages in with a deus ex machina for Storm’s machina problem. Monet then gathers Doug, who also wasn’t consulted on a technovirus issue for some strange reason….

But let’s back up. Like I said, the story opens with Jean consoling Storm, informing her of her fate and the efforts that have been made to help her. The implication here is that Storm has played no active role in these efforts, not even being there to get the answers first hand. She’s basically sitting in a waiting room to hear what her prognosis is. And she just accepts it, aside from the scowl aimed at Emma’s insensitivity, Storm’s just like, oh well, I guess that’s it then about this whole situation.

Because if there’s one thing we know about Storm, she always gives up and takes what fate gives her, especially when it comes to situations of lifedeath. Yes, I am being sarcastic, but I am not the least bit surprised by this portrayal of Storm. Though the story moves on to give her her triumphant conquering the odds moments, the beginning pages, the previous issue, and Storm’s overall role in House of X/Powers of X and now Dawn of X continues to leave me heaving a deep sigh of resignation. I keep hearing a promise that Hickman has Big PlansTM for Storm, with this machine virus plotline being part of them, but I have yet to see anything that makes me excited to find out what those plans are.

Instead, I see a Storm that leaves me feeling exhausted. Thankfully, I can count on Dauterman, with the help of Matthew Wilson’s colours, to ensure that Storm looks like the African-American goddess she is, but the writing of the character has left me wanting so much more. Her appearances of late have been fleeting. She most often seems to be marched out to display her powers at opportune moments as a plot device or serve as a momentary counterpoint or support to other, more prominent characters, like Kate Pryde and Emma Frost in Marauders. She carries no major story arcs herself in the main series and hardly plays an active roll in this one that is supposed to be centred on her due to this machine virus. She was a damsel in distress in the Emma and Jean GSX that focused on the telepaths’ relationship. Here, I had to stop myself from counting how many panels she actually got to appear in an issue given her name. Having resigned herself to sitting around hoping, Storm doesn’t get up until Monet takes the lead, and, as the issue description reads, it’s Fantomex who — in relation to his own GSX story — gathers the rest of the team to find a cure, not Storm taking her fate into her own hands.

That cure takes them to a high-tech laboratory called the World, a place where Gravity Fall‘s Bill Cipher likely owns a summer home. Somewhere along the way, Storm gets tired of letting everyone else take the reins. “Follow my lead,” she commands, then promptly vanishes from the battle for two pages, save for a tiny pic of her in the corner. She returns to douse the World in wind and lightening in a stunning display of her abilities, which is all she gets to do these days. A goddess reduced to providing special effects.

Thus far, GSX books have not impressed me, save for a few moments here and there, and Emma and Jean’s issue, which featured the kind of character beats, relationship play, and depth that made me fall in love with mutants through Chris Claremont’s Classic X-Men stories. Given that Dauterman apparently had a greater role in shaping the Emma and Jean story and the characterizations, I feel like I should be giving him most of the credit for making their issue as enjoyable as it was, despite my frustration over Storm’s role within it — or lack thereof. Those kind of deep character moments are what I was expecting from GSX. The Storm issue briefly attempts this, with some moments of introspection where Storm says words that imply that she’s taking back her agency. In a few pithy lines, I was drawn back to moments like an emaciated Jean stubbornly telling a celestial entity that she didn’t want to die, or Storm taking a leap of faith and pure joy from a cliff when her powers are returned. But there really wasn’t any build-up to that moment of goddess returned here. Not when we started with a very atypical Storm who doesn’t seem to want to put in any more effort than the people writing her.

Aaaand then the story about Storm promptly flips back to focus on Fantomex and Doug and their important decisions and discoveries instead.

Storm's face is covered in a machine virus patterns. "Did it work?" she asks

No, not really.

doesn't seem this reviewer enjoyed the issue lol

[GuiltyPleasure]

doesn't seem this reviewer enjoyed the issue lol

Nope, it doesn't. I think she raised valid points about the writing and visuals. Overall, I had very similar thoughts when I read the issue. You also raised some of her points about Ororo's portrayal in other posts and long before this issue dropped.

[metalclouds]

some are speculating that the sentient being forming will eventually be a storm clone. doesn't sound interesting to me but hey lol

you see that tweet with the Model walking in slow motion dressed as Storm went viral again? I always run into you on twitter and tell you i'll see you back on the forum lol. I didn't see you in the tweet

[Kingdom X]

Review https://comic-watch.com/comic-book-r...in-the-machine


First of all, the art was absolutely beautiful. Dauterman’s art is truly delightful. It’s nice to see women with distinctive features, in comics — especially Storm, who is often absolutely whitewashed. Storm, Emma, Jean and Monet all look like individuals. All though they’re all terribly beautiful, they don’t all look like the exact same Platonic Ideal white woman who’s been given slightly-different skin tones, and that’s something that should be absolutely standard and not at all praiseworthy. Yet, in comics, this is a perishingly rare quality for an artist to have. So, yes, I will praise Dauterman excessively for doing his job.

Beyond that, the landscapes were impeccable. The World looks like an impressionist painting that was put down on paper while the artist was on five tabs of acid, and that’s exactly what you want for a micro-universe developed in what is essentially a teapot. Visually, this story was a pleasure to read.

From the perspective of the writing, Hickman is an extremely limited artist. There are, perhaps, ten characters (out of the entire X-Men pantheon) who he can write with any sense of believability. He is a misogynist who can only write women when they are submissive or in the traditional ‘bitch’ vein. It takes what amounts to a miracle for him to write nuanced characters like Jean or Storm with any believability. That miracle occurred, in this issue. Jean shows compassion, but she isn’t a housefrau banished to the land of rubber gloves and male service. Storm is very firm about who she is, and what she wants (it was nice to see Hickman address why, exactly, this matters when she could just be resurrected: it’s important, to her, that she fight to remain who she is) and she gives one of her patented Goddess Speeches without coming across as ridiculous.

Hickman has always written Emma and Monet well (even if he only tends to hit one note for them) and having Money describe Cypher as ‘the Bambi of the X-Men’ was absolutely perfect.

In short, this issue was very enjoyable. The resolution seemed a little easy, and I don’t really see how this will define her story for ‘years to come’ unless Storm’s story turns out to be based in her resistance to resurrection. If that’s the case, the next couple of years could be extremely interesting.

Having Storm be resistant to resurrection is such a weird take cause she’s literally the certified hypewoman for everyone else’s resurrection’s

[Micabe]

Having Storm be resistant to resurrection is such a weird take cause she’s literally the certified hypewoman for everyone else’s resurrection’s

Is there a fan theory as to why wouldn't Ororo be subject to Krakoan resurrection?

[butterflykyss]

Nope, it doesn't. I think she raised valid points about the writing and visuals. Overall, I had very similar thoughts when I read the issue. You also raised some of her points about Ororo's portrayal in other posts and long before this issue dropped.

I dont even remembered what I said lol.


I will say I would have loved this story a billion times more had she used the machine and it didn't work only for her to fly into the sky calling on the bright lady for help to then transform fully elemental emerging free from the virus. but we will see where this all takes her. hopefully somewhere that gives her a greater prominence with the mu.

[loke13]

Hard disagree with the Hickman misogyny claim. I can understand not liking the white Hickman right certain female characters but then you can also make the same claim for his male characters he usually writes them as being arrogant / narcissist with a genius complex.

[butterflykyss]

you see that tweet with the Model walking in slow motion dressed as Storm went viral again? I always run into you on twitter and tell you i'll see you back on the forum lol. I didn't see you in the tweet

lmfao oh so you are tge mystery person lolol that's funny!!!! I didn't know which forum u was talking about lol. I didn't see the tweet but as long as our gurl storm us getting viral moments im good.

[Ferro]

Having Storm be resistant to resurrection is such a weird take cause she’s literally the certified hypewoman for everyone else’s resurrection’s

that's why she know's it's importance, a life must be worthy even if you can be ressurected whats the point if you don't fight for it yourself as well? Everyone that she has been harboring the ressurections died fighting to the last moment, would it be respectfull if she gave up on a disease when she can fight back?

Her life is precious, even if she can return doesn't make it any less so.

Whatever happens in the world, it's an active development agaist the children of te vault, information and allies, all those things are important in a larger scheme of things that Ororo spearheaded, to me a power display was what i sorta wanted, but reminding everyone of what an important figure and leader ororo is and the strenght of her character is just as important, in my opinion.

[Ferro]

Also I don't think she left behind a clone, but she did leave something that she will one day have to deal with, i have a theory that had she given up whatever that was would have grown fully into an actual evil clone, completly overtaking her, but now whatever it is it's probably a type of inteligence that has been affected by her but isn't what the children of the vault wanted from this infection, whatever it becomes either good or bad it's a very interesting mystery that involves Storm..

If it's a villain, then she has a new nemesis to combat, if it's benevolent then she has something new related to her powers, win win.

I apreciate when certain characters are tied up before hand to relevant stories, just like how excalibur issue tied soooo many conections that are now paying off.