Is Storm able to carry her own solo ongoing for multiple years? Why not before?

[The Lame Ugly Looking Joke]

Wolverine deadpool cable and Gambit could. Storm is great but I don't see her going past 12.

What qualities does Gambit have that Storm doesn't in terms of supporting an ongoing?

I wish I knew of a black woman writer who would sell in this market and have a good grasp of Ororo, but I don't know her.

Eve Ewing?

Could she? probably.

But she's a female. And a black female at that. It's going to be 10x harder for her to carry a solo and you need a STRONG creative team behind her and a strong promotional push.

You have any creative team in mind that can do this?

Depends on how you define "solo". If you mean a book similar to X-Men Red where she is surrounded by a strong supporting cast and worthwhile villains, then yeah she can. If you mean her running around doing solo adventures like the Hulk or Wolverine then no.

The latter.

Why do you feel she could fall short of doing so?

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Why has she not done so beforehand? What has prevented her from managing to do so before?

For those that think she can, what qualities unique to her do you feel enable to carry her own book long-term?

If you feel she CAN'T carry her own book long-term, what changes do you feel need to be made to the character in order for her to be able to do so?

The X-men are built as an ensemble so any solo would need that character to have a life and a focus outside of their role in the X-men.

So i think Storm and any other character would need that to work as a solo lead.

In hindsight, her time on Arrako with the council in X-men red wouldve been the perfect time for a Storm solo. With a few tweaks X-men Red couldve been a Storm solo to me.

[Nyssane]

Do you have a particular creative team in mind?

I personally want to see Stephanie Williams take on Storm, cuz her Nubia minis for DC were amazing. Pair her with an A-list artist and I could see it being a hit.

[Uncanny X-Man]

If I were Marvel... we already have an amazing writer with Gail Simone penning the Uncanny X-Men relaunch. I think she would do wonders on a Storm solo as well and would also underscore the book's importance with it being written by one of the new core X-writers. Pair her up with someone like Nicola Scott or Jen Bartel and watch Ororo SOAR.

[Odd Rödney]

Yes, she can. She just needs a strong creative team and a cohesive vision. Her last few solos have been unremarkable, and unremarkable won't sell for a female-led solo title sadly. But look at how beloved X-Men Red has been with Storm at the forefront.

Came here to say pretty much this exact thing. So thank you Nyssane.

It's totally possible. You don't need to change her powers. There is nothing inherent about her character that makes this impossible. It comes down to the fact that Marvel don't have the stones (or simply don't want to invest enough money) to put an appropriate creative team together that could handle the scope of a project with her at the center for a long period.

[skyvolt2000]

What qualities does Gambit have that Storm doesn't in terms of supporting an ongoing?

Gambit has over 60 solo issues.
Gambit is at vol 6.
Gambit had minis and solos within 1993-2023 period. He went 4, 2, 3. 7 and 10 years between them. His 17 issue run finished at 16187 in orders.

Gambit was never used to badmouth a certain King of Wakanda.

Storm 11 was at 12676. Issue 4 was below 20K.

Now the Storm mini leading to the wedding was at 22K in its final issue.
Then when we got an ongoing much like with Cyborg-what was it going to be about? All those LITTLE things that should have been done to build up a character were not done with Storm heading into the 2000s.

Al Ewing did that in X-Men Red. Even Coates did it in Black Panther.

The time for a Storm solo was when she got MARRIED. What would that look like on the X-Men side? She was in Black Panther and Fantastic Four for a time. Even if it was just a mini.
Heck a mini could have been done after the annulment. A 4 mini of her defining herself, being with family and so on.

Why do you feel she could fall short of doing so?

Lets look at Falcon for an example.

One of the things we saw with Falcon was he got that spotlight issue in Avengers or we saw him in Marvel Comics Present type books, he got one shots, back up stories in Cap America and other books.

Then we saw him co-lead Cap America and in Cap America and Falcon by Priest that was suppose to lead to a Falcon solo by Priest.

You saw consistent work on Falcon at some level before he became Cap America. When he did-we got a one shot, a mini series and 2 ongoing.

Heck you saw it with Harley. Someone was ALWAYS doing that WORK. No matter how big or how small-someone was working.

I wish I knew of a black woman writer who would sell in this market and have a good grasp of Ororo, but I don't know her.

That black woman writer doesn't exist. Not for Marvel or DC.

Eve Ewing?

You won't get past issue 12.

She soured too many folks with Photon. Covid derailed her Champion run. Ironheart was fine and had SUPPORT from the Gators. Yes they endorsed the book and called out folks to support it.

Black Panther going 10 issues is NOT her fault. John Ridley and Coates and Will Moss burned all goodwill on Black Panther.

And her run was too much of a slow burn that would have worked better as a OGN and probably wouldn't have that rushed Care Bears 2 ending.

[Rift]

Storm's powers are not overly complex.

She is an Atmokinetic, possessing the psionic ability to control the energies that create weather. However, since the Planet X-Men storyline, Storm just makes her own weather now. What makes her an Omega is that her powers are not limited to Earth alone. She can utilize them in any environment, and they adapt to the surroundings she finds herself in. Add on the fact that she knows Magic makes her very OP then she already is.

That's a lot of words I don't want to read. "Move stuff with mind" is much easier for people to comprehend, and easier for writers to write about.

They should overhaul her personality a bit too, tbh. Make her more bold, confident and outspoken than she is now. She cares about others, but focus more on her being a boss with attitude. A strong, distinct character with good traits, but also a personality that can lead to conflict with others.

[Alan2099]

What qualities does Gambit have that Storm doesn't in terms of supporting an ongoing?

Gambit has a mysterious past. It gives a lot more plot hooks.

Gambit tend to be more of a loner. He's more likely to try to handle things himself than to draw in the rest of the X-men.

Gambit is a very physical character with a fairly low powerset. It's easier to put him bad situations and have him fight people. Godlike powers are a lot harder to write for. Even character that do opperate on godllike levels (Superman and Thor for example) tend to do a lot of punching stuff.

Storm is at a weird level where he can throw out attacks that can hurt top level foes, but if she gets punched in the face by a normal person, he can be knocked down. It's hard to find other enemies that work at that level.

[Nyssane]

I'm surprised to see so many folks wrapped up in the "Storm is too powerful" camp. Deadpool and Wolverine can literally heal being decapitated yet have long-running solos.

[Android 17]

I'm surprised to see so many folks wrapped up in the "Storm is too powerful" camp. Deadpool and Wolverine can literally heal being decapitated yet have long-running solos.

The more I read some of these responses, the more I realize the problem isn't Storm, it's people's lack of imagination.

[Alan2099]

I'm surprised to see so many folks wrapped up in the "Storm is too powerful" camp. Deadpool and Wolverine can literally heal being decapitated yet have long-running solos.

If you stab Wolverine or Deadpool, they get to look hurt for a minutes and then keep fighting. If you stab Storm, she dies.
If Sabretooth jumps out, Wolverine and Deadpool get to have a knock down dirty fight for a while. Storm either dies or hits Sabretooth twice with lighting then has a hurricane blow him to Swahili.

[Nyssane]

The more I read some of these responses, the more I realize the problem isn't Storm, it's people's lack of imagination.

For. Real. It's bonkers.

If you stab Wolverine or Deadpool, they get to look hurt for a minutes and then keep fighting. If you stab Storm, she dies.
If Sabretooth jumps out, Wolverine and Deadpool get to have a knock down dirty fight for a while. Storm either dies or hits Sabretooth twice with lighting then has a hurricane blow him to Swahili.

All of that applies to Gambit too.

[Sutekh]

Well, Storm actually does have a dedicated setting. It's Kenya.

The Country where her African Princess and Magical roots come from.

It's often overlooked, but Storm is indeed a Princess, similar to how Diana is the Princess of Themyscira. Storm is a Princess of Kenya through her mother, N'Daré, who was a tribal Princess and High Priestess.

Kenya is a real place. Asgard and Themiscrya are not. You can do things (like have Atlantis get conquered by Attuma or Wakanda devastated by a flood) that would be, at best, a bit tone-deaf, to do to a real place, where real people live. (And, let's face it, bad things tend to happen to places where heroes hang their hats... Attilan survived 5000 years on some island, before Black Bolt became king, and it's been forced to relocate three times and completely destroyed at least twice, and that's small potatoes to what happens to places like Asgard, that actually have a hero who appears more than as a guest-star in Fantastic Four books...)

As for a black woman comic writer who might do some interesting things with Storm, and *has* recently had a comic (Far Sector) sell 'in this market,' NK Jemison comes to mind. I've read a few of her books, which involved some geokinetics who could start and stop planet-altering earthquakes (and do other stuff by tapping the kinetic energy of shifting tectonic plates), so she's not unskilled at dealing with characters capable of some pretty beefy feats of power, as well!

[The Lame Ugly Looking Joke]

I personally want to see Stephanie Williams take on Storm, cuz her Nubia minis for DC were amazing. Pair her with an A-list artist and I could see it being a hit.

How are the sales on Williams' books?

Gambit has over 60 solo issues.
Gambit is at vol 6.
Gambit had minis and solos within 1993-2023 period. He went 4, 2, 3. 7 and 10 years between them. His 17 issue run finished at 16187 in orders.

Gambit was never used to badmouth a certain King of Wakanda.

Storm 11 was at 12676. Issue 4 was below 20K.

Now the Storm mini leading to the wedding was at 22K in its final issue.
Then when we got an ongoing much like with Cyborg-what was it going to be about? All those LITTLE things that should have been done to build up a character were not done with Storm heading into the 2000s.

Al Ewing did that in X-Men Red. Even Coates did it in Black Panther.

The time for a Storm solo was when she got MARRIED. What would that look like on the X-Men side? She was in Black Panther and Fantastic Four for a time. Even if it was just a mini.
Heck a mini could have been done after the annulment. A 4 mini of her defining herself, being with family and so on.

So would you say that X-Men Red has done enough character work and character building for Storm to support her own ongoing?

Lets look at Falcon for an example.

One of the things we saw with Falcon was he got that spotlight issue in Avengers or we saw him in Marvel Comics Present type books, he got one shots, back up stories in Cap America and other books.

Then we saw him co-lead Cap America and in Cap America and Falcon by Priest that was suppose to lead to a Falcon solo by Priest.

You saw consistent work on Falcon at some level before he became Cap America. When he did-we got a one shot, a mini series and 2 ongoing.

Heck you saw it with Harley. Someone was ALWAYS doing that WORK. No matter how big or how small-someone was working.

So, are you saying that Storm should be built up in Avengers books?

You won't get past issue 12.

She soured too many folks with Photon. Covid derailed her Champion run. Ironheart was fine and had SUPPORT from the Gators. Yes they endorsed the book and called out folks to support it.

Black Panther going 10 issues is NOT her fault. John Ridley and Coates and Will Moss burned all goodwill on Black Panther.

And her run was too much of a slow burn that would have worked better as a OGN and probably wouldn't have that rushed Care Bears 2 ending.

Any female writer, period, who can manage this?

Gambit has a mysterious past. It gives a lot more plot hooks.

Gambit tend to be more of a loner. He's more likely to try to handle things himself than to draw in the rest of the X-men.

Gambit is a very physical character with a fairly low powerset. It's easier to put him bad situations and have him fight people. Godlike powers are a lot harder to write for. Even character that do opperate on godllike levels (Superman and Thor for example) tend to do a lot of punching stuff.

Storm is at a weird level where he can throw out attacks that can hurt top level foes, but if she gets punched in the face by a normal person, he can be knocked down. It's hard to find other enemies that work at that level.

Could at least the mysterious past (potentially undiscovered aspects?) and loner qualities also be transferred onto Ororo?

[Colossus1980]

For me reading these responses makes me think readers are not up to date with the reality of the comic industry. Readership is shrinking, it's too expensive, too much competition for the dollar in this high inflation economy, and most young kids just don't want to read and buy in the numbers the comic industry actually needs.