By the Goddess! Ororo Munroe Storm Appreciation 2024

[KLY360]

I feel like Storm being in Mars, other dimensions and etc just proves she's Osthur blessed. She constantly has more tools at her disposal to use whether it be magic, cosmic, techno energy and etc.

Think about it Oshtur is an Earth Goddess who left to explore the universe and gain more power. Which is why she ascended above godhood.

[Devaishwarya]

Visually...I hope the artist(s) keep her textured hair. It's one of the best and very appreciated changes for her in this era. I would hate if they reverted to the straight look.

[yogaflame]

I feel like Storm being in Mars, other dimensions and etc just proves she's Osthur blessed. She constantly has more tools at her disposal to use whether it be magic, cosmic, techno energy and etc.

Think about it Oshtur is an Earth Goddess who left to explore the universe and gain more power. Which is why she ascended above godhood.

That's a fair point, and with the right creative team behind it, and a sustained push from Disney/Marvel, maybe it could work. I would certainly love to read 30 some issues of that(ala Promethea). But ultimately Marvel superheroes are clustered in NYC/on Earth. That's where all the action is.

Storm off by herself has certain advantages, but it also comes with disadvantages. Classically Storm has not sold books very well in a solo situation(X-Men Red was a covert, near-solo, but it wasn't, it was still marketed under the X-Men name, and ultimately it was the weaker selling of the X-Men books, despite being by far the best). Marvel has launched series after series with Carol(Captain Marvel) for years and years now. Some in space. Some not. But really none of them worked. Having a powerful character explore the vastness of space and all that sounds amazing, but does it actually work? What is an example of such a book, led by a female character, a Black female character, that actually resonated with the public, was a great read, and was financially sustainable?

[yogaflame]

Visually...I hope the artist(s) keep her textured hair. It's one of the best and very appreciated changes for her in this era. I would hate if they reverted to the straight look.

I want micro locs for Storm in the MCU, at least in her debut! It's the perfect balance of ethnic representation and long, free flowing hair in the wind aesthetic. This fauxhawk cloud look has been fine, but I guess I'm partial to locs myself.

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[Devaishwarya]

Fair point, Yogaflame.

There is still so much to explore about Storm's history I would wishfully say have Lord Ewing (Absolutely No Body Else) do a 6-10 issues limited Immortal Storm limited series separate from her UXM role...similar to he's currently doing for Thor. Unfortunately, I get the sense that Lord and Personal Saviour Ewing wants nothing to do with the X-Office after he leaves. And I really wouldn't trust anyone else to accomplish that task. (Goddess!!! I need some creatives news about the Brevoort Era).

Yes!!! (lovelovelove) I'm very partial to locs as well in the comic books. Those would be a nice change (though not anywhere like what Momoko gave her)

[yogaflame]

Yeah, not like Momoko's!

[Harasar]

While I have loved Ewing's run with her on Mars, to me, Storm is mostly an earth goddess. Yes, she can soar on the cosmic winds with the Acanti and be one with Eternity and all that, but Ororo is a human, an African, an American, and an Earthling, first and foremost. While she was wasted with Hickman's initial launch and Duggan did nothing with her in Marauders, it did feel strange to me to see her looking into the stars and wanting to leave Earth.

It's such a shitshow here on Earth. There's so much more that needs to be done on this planet before focusing on other planets. Certainly I see the appeal for Ororo(and the writers behind her): to rebirth a world, and shape a whole new culture of ancient mutants who thrive on war(Mars was the god of war after all). But one of the central criticisms detractors of Storm point to is her leaving her post; not being there when people need her(her tribe in Kenya, the Morlocks, the X-Men/mutants to marry BP, etc). Gillen even has Emma lob this insult at her after SoS, "we needed you here, but you were off on Mars not realizing what Sinister was doing here for yearsss". And within the narrative, she wasn't wrong. Obviously it's all the writers positing things and crafting their narratives, but still, within the universe it stands. Let the Arakki people decide their own fate. Let Ororo of the Storm return to her homeworld and make things right there.

Problem is she wouldn't be able to make things right on Earth. Marvel is obsessed with the status quo and "world outside your window". So no matter how powerful a character is, or how smart they are, they aren't allowed to actually solve any world's problems. Omega mutants can terraform Mars and turn it into hospitable planet in a matter of hours, but they are not allowed to change Earth, provide fresh water, free food and energy, etc. On Earth Storm would be confined to these limitations and to mutant's status of "hated and feared minority", while on Arakko and/or in cosmos she could go wild and do anything. Personally I wouldn't mind if Storm left the x-office for some years if Ewing could continue to write her in his next books outside of x-corner. Let her explore the wider world.

[yogaflame]

I wouldn't expect her to show back up on Earth and snap her fingers and make climate change go away in one panel. The story is in the struggle. Fighting against entrenched nepotism and the exploitation of nature and humanity, even if it would be glacial in pace, I think makes for more interesting stories than flying around the vast emptiness of space to make it rain on an asteroid. The human angle is what makes for a great story. Cosmic Marvel can be a fertile ground for exploration, but name a consistently top tier cosmic book. The best selling comics are more street-level. Batman and Spider-Man. If you remove the characters so distantly from 'the world outside your window', real people, the comic buyers, can't relate. Or at least the percentage of people who can dwindles to insignificance.

I'd love to see Ororo and Roberto and whomever else they want to bring in to do something more grounded. Something between X-Treme X-Men and X-Corporation. Global reach, big superheroics and underground infiltration. Economic takeovers and political maneuvering. Sure Storm can summon the power of a galactic core, but it's more interesting to me when she screws with someone's nervous system or takes their breath away. Even more interesting when she uses her clever mind and deep heart to win over her enemies. Too powerful, too epic, too big in scale and you lose something.

If Disney just flips the script and says: we're doing a Storm solo and it's going to have carte blanche and the best artists and writers on it, and we're committed to having this go at least 5-10 years, okay, great, let's get the whole buffet: firmly establish the lore of her mother's, N'Dare's, culture, have Ororo get initiated into the secrets of their lineage, have her deep dive with Ashake and Ayesha, add more ancestors, explore their magic, explore Osthur/Ma'at, see their Atlantean era explored, have the Acanti come and visit again, have her go on a deep galactic adventure with them, go to M'rin's dimension, team ups with Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Ghost Rider, Dr. Voodoo, Blade, Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Thor, Loki, Arkon, Wolverine, the FF, the Avengers, etc, etc. If Disney/Marvel supports it with great talent, it could work and be awesome. I just am not sure that's realistic.... but I would happily be proven wrong in this case.

[butterflykyss]

Ewing, and Hickman, by putting her on Mars/Arakko did what I personally wanted to see as a fan: give ororo her own piece of the MU outside of being an xmen. What's great and also unfortunate is that as this era is coming to an end, we finally saw her embrace her ancestry and even now, via RoM, have stories around this. It's a step by the xoffices towards giving arguably their most popular female character, the Wonder Woman style treatment.

That said, I've been hearing whispers that don't leave me encouraged that this is the direction breevort is looking to take ororo. aside from the promotional art where we see her in her 90s costume and the x-mansion, let's just say other characters are seemingly going to have more influence based upon these whispers I heard.

I'm thankful for where Ewing finally took the character, as a fan who has always fought for her to be shown more favorably by the xoffices, overall the krakoan era has been great for ororo. However, as I cautioned those many moons ago everything we've seen is great but if the next writer or editor, in this case, doesn't have the same vision for the character it will all be for naught.

the one thing, that still gives me hope even with these whispers from the wind I've heard, breevort allowed Coates to use storm at a time when the xoffices were treating her in a very awful light. When Guggenheim was having her take naps as well as orders from Kitty, Coates was allowed to really take the character to new heights we had never before seen post her annulled marriage. All of that said, it gives me hope collectively - both breevorts work with Coates, as well as the canonical efforts by Hickman and Ewing - that this new era will be a continuation of this theme even if ororo is not on Arakko anymore.

[KLY360]

Coates really opened up the doors for Al to walk through for Modern Storm

Like if we need a Storm series diving in her divinity, magical heritage, and omega-level mutant abilities it's them.

[Sunny]

Visually...I hope the artist(s) keep her textured hair. It's one of the best and very appreciated changes for her in this era. I would hate if they reverted to the straight look.

This is definitely what I'm hoping for as well.

[butterflykyss]

Coates really opened up the doors for Al to walk through for Modern Storm

Like if we need a Storm series diving in her divinity, magical heritage, and omega-level mutant abilities it's them.

exactly. I will forever thank him for changing the trajectory of the character.

and that would be awesome if Ewing or Coates could do an immortal storm book. like I would be in heaven.

[YouKnowItMakesSense]

Coates really opened up the doors for Al to walk through for Modern Storm

Like if we need a Storm series diving in her divinity, magical heritage, and omega-level mutant abilities it's them.

I've felt since Claremont that she needs to get more focus on the mystical aspect of her heritage. Chris was a great guy at dropping hints on things while doing nothing with them despite being on a series over a decade lol I think a cool thing to do would be to have her and Ilyana go dimension hopping in some way.

[OG Storm]

I've felt since Claremont that she needs to get more focus on the mystical aspect of her heritage. Chris was a great guy at dropping hints on things while doing nothing with them despite being on a series over a decade lol I think a cool thing to do would be to have her and Ilyana go dimension hopping in some way.

I agree with this. He built the world all the other writers play in. But he never jumped in too deep with examining all the aspects of her heritage.

As you all know I am no fan of coates. His writing was bad. In a lot of ways I feel like he dropped the ball when it comes to storm never really explaining what his retcons meant or doing nothing but using her for her powers without showing the impact of his storytelling on her. Ewing is the total opposite. There is actual craft in his work. There is so much metaphor and depth.

[yogaflame]

Coates may have been the one to start calling Ororo a goddess again in earnest, but I agree, he did not put any effort into exploring that goddess-ness for Ororo to any degree, even though he had her in his books over the course of a couple of years. She was more like a 'deus ex machina' ultimate weapon for the big battles, or some sort of prize for T'Challa to capture, within his narrative.