Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #3 - Review/Spoilers

[JB]

The return of the Goddess.

We open with the preview pages and see the central sun of the Storm System which is also the castle of the Brotherhood. Narration is in the form of a Lodus Logos poem and calls this the last castle at its last stand.

Jon Ironfire looks out at space with his Cyclops-dog, reflecting, knowing the Queen in Red (Emma) is coming to break them. He says after the Diamond Jubilee disaster they are a shadow of their former strength and not ready. That they need hope, a symbol. Khora does not agree with his plan, that trusting Sinister to resurrect Storm is folly and against their old ways as Arakkii. Jon says they are committed now and the Arakkii New Five gather.

She's coming.



(These chimera are Sage Advisors made from the dna of Sage, Captain Britain, Artie, and Madrox. They provide "infinite information processing, communication".)

King Jon is unaware of how close she is. The ritual begins as Sinister uses his last treasure, a single vial of Hope blood, and injects it into an egg created by Old Oda. Craana the Commander gives the egg the order to live and bear life. Bloodroot the Bone-Shaper forms veins and limbs, sculpting the flesh. Genas Mind-Flayer pulls memories from Jon of their Goddess of old. Khora bathes them all in her heart's fire, creating union. (I'm listing them here because knowing Ewing we might meet them again.)



She repeats, "Ororo", asking if that is who she is. Jon kneels and says it is. She likes how it sounds and says it is good to meet him, "little cloud." Jon thanks Sinister who reminds him that she has the knowledge Jon supplied but no memories, that the Storm he knew remains dead. Sinister is about to bring up the Moira engine but alarms go off saying the enemy has been sighted.
Data page detailing the chimerae Emma has brought with her: High Summers (Cyclops, Havok, Vulcan, Living Monolight), Loud Hailer (Lodus Logos, Siryn, Frenzy, Random), Hot Claw (Feral, Thornn, Mercury, Wisdom) and the Sage Advisors.

The chimerae are horrifying and the battle is brutal. The poem tells us the survivors are few from the initial attack wave. Back on her ship, Emma steps into a diamond-shaped bath prepared by her minions. This will serve as her comfortable driver's seat as she connects to an overbody via diamond synaptic fluid. She merges her consciousness with the enormous Mistress Mold...



Crazy! Soldiers within the central sun castle pray for Ororo to protect them. Emma hears them and says they are breaking her first commandment, praying to another goddess. She lashes the castle with her giant whip and kills the guards in the flaming spires, the blow causing a "sun-quake". Ororo says they must reach the surface as it is too enclosed where they are. She can hear the sky and stars in pain. Sinister suggests they head to the center of the sun, to the Moira engines. Jon says no, that even though they owe Sinister for helping bring Ororo back, the center vault will never be opened. Sinister begrudgingly accepts this and rips the Doombot's hand off which he can now use as a gun. They battle the chimerae and lives are lost. Ororo uses wind and lightning against their foes, saying she is born to battle. She has the knowledge of what she can do thanks to Jon but not how to do it. Jon tells her to trust her instincts, trust the Storm!

Khora fires up and encircles her flames around Ororo, telling her to drink deep. The poem tells us the burning heart gave of herself all that she could give once again.

[JB]

"... while her loyal Brotherhood held fast against a sinister tide." The Brotherhood are surrounded but still they fight, Sinister alongside them. Craana and Genas are brutally killed. Though her fire is out, Khora takes the heads off some of the enemies with her knife. The poem tells us to sing for Khora, Arakko's blade, Midnight's daughter. My heart cries as Khora is killed.

Emma says it is wonderful to see Ororo again, as a newborn and out of her depth. She says the old Storm might have worried her, that she was threat, but that this newborn version is a spark of raw power without knowledge. "You haven't learned how to fight yet - never mind how to win..."

Ororo: "I haven't learned how to lose. I have not learned limit or boundaries or rules... or fear. All I know is the play of the living sky. The wind... the seasons..." The poem tells us Ororo then called the lightning home...



The enemy falls, all psychic strings finally cut. But very few have been spared, including the newborn goddess. Laying on the floor of the castle, she weakly comments that she didn't block the radiation due to lack of experience. "Maybe next time," she says. "Will... will Arakko live?" Jon covers her with a blanket and says Red Diamond reinforcements will come, Beast most likely. But that they have a chance now, that the universe has a chance. Ororo says "that's good... to live is good. But I'm not afraid... of a life... that..." Jon carries her now lifeless body and as he starts to walk away, Sinister points his gun at the back of Jon's head. The last page goes dark except for the sound effect of the gun shot.

[Taurean Sun]

This was good. Thought the storm system/ arakko will survive and thrive but but this is a gillen event afterall, at least they played the game as long as they could. My hate for sinsiter soars to ever newer heights I cant wait for us to be rid of him permanently. Yeah, and I'm ready for xmen red 11.

[StormBorn06]

It's just brilliant！Mr. Ewing respects Arakko's way and brings Ororo back magically.

[JB]

It was brutal watching the attack on the Arakkii and Khora's death really did hurt my heart. Emma was at her best as a villain, a total powerhouse that would have destroyed everything if not for the resurrection of the goddess.

Ororo was incredible and my brain still can't process what she did, using nuclear force to destroy giant Red Queen to the atomic level. When this title was first announced I felt Ewing would go bonkers with power displays and he didn't disappoint. Ororo gave the Arakki a fighting chance for the final act of this insane event. I truly hope Jon survived that blast.

Emma is now off the board so that leaves Beast and Xavier with his think tank. Then of course Mother and Rasputin.

[Mercury]

Ewing is undeniably brilliant, and I love most of what he has done with Ororo, but I also wince at him making her need help to achieve feats. (It drives me batty when they do that with Jean, too.) A few issues back, when battling Vulcan, she couldn't make it rain on her own, which I frame as her making a decision to be a team player rather than actually being incapable (and no one can change my mind on that!). Last issue, she needed help to create the wormhole and died afterward, and we get a variation of that here. As far as I'm concerned, Ororo shouldn't have needed Khora's help or died this time around, especially because she was young and, as the issue suggests, unhindered by her memories and self-imposed limitations. This was the perfect opportunity to show her at her unbridled best. The first assist and death while creating the wormhole were somewhat forgivable and understandable because she was much older. Here? Not so much.

I think my hate for Sinister and boredom with this event is definitely influencing my opinion. At least it's almost over.

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

This was a 7/10.

While I loved this ISSUE, it was the weakest one. However, there was some amazing moments in this issue today. One of them was Emma Frost with her Giant Voltron Suit LOL.

I really enjoyed Storm, especially when she knows that she had no experience, but was still able to lay the smack down. And it's good to see Old Woman Khora again i'm glad she's still kicking until she wasn't lol. I hate Sinister such a coward to shoot Jon in the back of the Head.

Anyway, this was Good, not the strongest but still good.

[Braxxer]

Oh Emma won’t have easy time after sos ends and they get their memories back

[JB]

Oh Emma won’t have easy time after sos ends and they get their memories back

It's gonna be an entire mess and I can't wait. We still have Xavier acting a fool coming up in SoS: Dominion.

[Kingdom X]

Ewing is undeniably brilliant, and I love most of what he has done with Ororo, but I also wince at him making her need help to achieve feats. (It drives me batty when they do that with Jean, too.) A few issues back, when battling Vulcan, she couldn't make it rain on her own, which I frame as her making a decision to be a team player rather than actually being incapable (and no one can change my mind on that!). Last issue, she needed help to create the wormhole and died afterward, and we get a variation of that here. As far as I'm concerned, Ororo shouldn't have needed Khora's help or died this time around, especially because she was young and, as the issue suggests, unhindered by her memories and self-imposed limitations. This was the perfect opportunity to show her at her unbridled best. The first assist and death while creating the wormhole were somewhat forgivable and understandable because she was much older. Here? Not so much.

I think my hate for Sinister and boredom with this event is definitely influencing my opinion. At least it's almost over.

I’ve personally been fine with the assists because it plays into the overall themes of Red, BUT I do think this version of Storm should have survived. Can you imagine the issue ending with Ironfire dying for this new young Storm and having a full circle moment where she decides to honor him and Arrakko in the same way they’ve been honoring her?

I’m with you for the hate for Sinister, because how tf did he survive that entire battle with a finger gun? It’s full on plot convenience. I’m really hoping that as one of the main players of this event somehow Storm directly gets her memories from the SoS timeline because she truly invested so much into it. Alas this isn’t Ewing’s event and you can tell this issue suffered from being a middle chapter.

[Sutekh]

Oh Emma won’t have easy time after sos ends and they get their memories back

Emma's gonna be like, "Please, a giant diamond robot with a whip? That was so Sinister and not me..."

[Diammandis]

The giant diamond emma voltron having a corset on is making me giggle way too much…her sinister gene was def in the forefront when designing that kaiju.

Now that the red diamond empire is basically gone i know Magik and Xavier are going to go through hell and try to take reign of that power that Emma lost.

[Master of Sound]

I really HATE the art of this chapter. What a crappy artist is this. yikes.

[Diammandis]

I also agree with the sentiment that Storm should have survived but it’s whatever she displayed great power and went out with a bang. Her and Emma both gagged me so thats all that matters in the end.

Jon presumably dying by Sinisters hands sucks, but its not surprising in the slightest, you cant let a snake in your garden and expect it not to bite you.

My only really small complaint, which really isnt a complaint is that I wish we saw Emma use her powers as the Cyttorak a tad bit more.

[Grunty]

The giant diamond emma voltron having a corset on is making me giggle way too much…her sinister gene was def in the forefront when designing that kaiju.

Now that the red diamond empire is basically gone i know Magik and Xavier are going to go through hell and try to take reign of that power that Emma lost.

That thing is neither Voltron nor a Kaiju.

Voltron refers to a specific giant humanoid robot piloted by 5 heros which is assembled from 5 smaller animal themed robots. It's therefor the name of a singular specific example of such a machine.

Calling any kind of giant piloted robot "a voltron" is akin to calling any cruise liner a Titanic, any space ship in Star Wars a Millenium Falcon or any female super hero a Wonderwoman.

Of course the first example of something new often gets to become the term frequently re-used for it. Like how the battleship Dreadnought became synonymus for a whole generation of battleship and in sci-fi is frequently re-used to refer to "big scary type of super warship". So given how Voltron was a breakout series for giant piloted super hero robot anime in the USA, it's to be expected that some would use Voltron as noun. Same for the series Gundam. But it still doesn't feel right when one is aware that it's a very specific vehicle.

Meanwhile Kaiju refers specifically to giant organic monsters, not purely robotic machines. Infact giant robots are often the primary tool of humans to fight Kaiju in such media (see Pacific Rim).

It's no problem for me, but i just wanted to point that out for fun.

Also Emma's giant robot sure is uninspired in design and function as far as giant robots go. Heck The Iron Giant has more style than that thing.

Storm should have used her power to create elctromagnetism and pull together metal from all over the system to create a giant humanoid mech of her own, one that looks like a mixture of an african war god with elements of Magneto's helmet, held together by cosmic clouds and lightning and solar winds as a cape, before using a minature star as javeline. Just to show her what creative mech design with super powers looks like.