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

[Odd Rödney]

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

100%

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.

Storm could hit Sabertooth with lightning from 50 miles up in the sky. He wouldn't even see it coming. He'd deserve it too.

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.

You're not wrong, especially about kids not buying comics. It's all people in their 40s at my LCS.

[Sin Nick]

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.

Wolverine's "power" or powerset isn't even half of the reason he sells. It's more of what Cyclops says in the 1st X-Men movie... his "way with people" or personality if you will. I liken comics to wrestling or movies. The audience doesn't care if you're some great in-ring technician if your promo skills are lacking. Or another example, I'm willing to bet a biopic film about Dennis Rodman would probably do better at the box office than say Michael Jordan because folks would probably find his life story more interesting.

[Ra-El]

Yes, she could. I think most of the main x-characters can, by main I mean, Jean, Rogue, Iceman, Cyclops, Psylocke, etc.

The key thing is to manage expectation by both Marvel and the fans. If they expect her solo to sell as well as Wolverine or Spider-Man than she will get cancelled in a year, but if they aim to have it selling in the level of Scarlet Witch or Doctor Strange it could last for a while.

[butterflykyss]

That's not gonna work. Themyscira is a fictional setting, Kenya isn't.

the xmen were housed in non-fictional seeting for years, that is the united states. this point doesn't make sense.

[Kingdom X]

Her solo can probably last for about 25 issues if it gets a hot writer/artist duo. But I don't think it's possible to make Storm a consistently successful solo character at this point.

Atp who is other than Spider-Man, Wolverine, and maaaaaybe Thor and/ or Hulk? When’s the last time that Iron Man (aka the breakout start of the MCU) had a series longer than 25 issues before relaunching? Captain Marvel finally managed to get a 50 issue series under Kelly Thompson, but that was after numerous failed relaunches with the character.

Atp what sticks at Marvel has very little to do with quality or character potential, because the market is so bad.

[Zoks]

The latter.

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

The question in the poll is not asking some thing else that needs to be answered: Why would she solo? She has the same problem Jean and Cyclops have. She's too important as a member of the X-Men. She isn't in a situation where she'd be doing side work like Gambit or Wolverine, or have trust issues like the Hulk. If she is going to fight villains that are perceivable as a threat to her it has to be in a situation where she cannot call on the rest of the team. Otherwise why would she not be able to call over Jean, Emma, Forge for some tech support, or any of the other power hitters on the team? For that to be plausible, the writers would have to take her off the table from being used on any of the teams, even in the huge multi-book events. We already saw how bad that was when she was married to Black Panther. Compare that to X-Men Red, where she had a good reason to not help the X-Men in their counterattack against Orchis in the main story line: she was cleaning up the mess they made on Arrako. She's still readily available for the wrap up in the upcoming books.

Maybe somebody else could come up with a reasonable pitch for her to go "solo". But as far as I can see it's either she is not available as a team member anymore, which would be bad for the overall franchise, or whatever she is doing would end up being a monthly Storm: guest starring random X-Men member, which at that point would make more sense as a team book.

[Psy-lock]

the xmen were housed in non-fictional seeting for years, that is the united states. this point doesn't make sense.

American writers can write about US, obviously. How are they supposed to write about Kenya from a native's POV when most of them can't find it on a map?

[Android 17]

American writers can write about US, obviously. How are they supposed to write about Kenya from a native's POV when most of them can't find it on a map?

You act as if Kenya is in Shangri-La. Millions of people go back and forth to Nairobi, you treat it as you would any other major city and be creative.

[The Lame Ugly Looking Joke]

The question in the poll is not asking some thing else that needs to be answered: Why would she solo? She has the same problem Jean and Cyclops have. She's too important as a member of the X-Men. She isn't in a situation where she'd be doing side work like Gambit or Wolverine, or have trust issues like the Hulk. If she is going to fight villains that are perceivable as a threat to her it has to be in a situation where she cannot call on the rest of the team. Otherwise why would she not be able to call over Jean, Emma, Forge for some tech support, or any of the other power hitters on the team? For that to be plausible, the writers would have to take her off the table from being used on any of the teams, even in the huge multi-book events. We already saw how bad that was when she was married to Black Panther. Compare that to X-Men Red, where she had a good reason to not help the X-Men in their counterattack against Orchis in the main story line: she was cleaning up the mess they made on Arrako. She's still readily available for the wrap up in the upcoming books.

Maybe somebody else could come up with a reasonable pitch for her to go "solo". But as far as I can see it's either she is not available as a team member anymore, which would be bad for the overall franchise, or whatever she is doing would end up being a monthly Storm: guest starring random X-Men member, which at that point would make more sense as a team book.

But isn't Wolverine just as important to the franchise, if not more so?

Also, doesn't Wolverine have the same access to other X-Men in his solo stories as Storm potentially would?

[Zoks]

But isn't Wolverine just as important to the franchise, if not more so?

Also, doesn't Wolverine have the same access to other X-Men in his solo stories as Storm potentially would?

For motivation for his solos, Wolverine has a checkered past, a history of not being 100% team friendly, and a belief that he should be doing the "dirty" jobs the rest of the team should not be involved in. He also has a limited power set so he can have a much larger rogues gallery that is justifiable for him to solo while remain entertaining for a reading audience. So for Storm to go "solo" like Wolverine she would need adversaries where she doesn't want the rest of the X-men involved and firmly believes she is enough to solo despite being actual threats to her life. Both of these are stretches on their own.

[Zero Hunter]

It is not like Marvel hasn't tested the waters many times already. If any of those previous minis/series had sold really well she would have an ongoing now. They didn't. People keep trying to downplay the power issue but that is a key reason she can't carry a book. Someone like Wolverine or Gambit you can throw many different types of baddies at them. From low level thugs to powerhouses. With Strom you can't. You can't throw a Tiger Shark at her because he blasts him with lightning and the fights over. Same with most villains. With Storm and how ridiculous they have made her powers she has to fight planet level foes to even make sense and you can't do that over and over and over. It gets stale very quick. That is the main Storm problem.

[Zoks]

It is not like Marvel hasn't tested the waters many times already. If any of those previous minis/series had sold really well she would have an ongoing now. They didn't. People keep trying to downplay the power issue but that is a key reason she can't carry a book. Someone like Wolverine or Gambit you can throw many different types of baddies at them. From low level thugs to powerhouses. With Strom you can't. You can't throw a Tiger Shark at her because he blasts him with lightning and the fights over. Same with most villains. With Storm and how ridiculous they have made her powers she has to fight planet level foes to even make sense and you can't do that over and over and over. It gets stale very quick. That is the main Storm problem.

The writers can give her the kind of villains that are worth her time, but like I said earlier there is no justification for her to solo them unless she isn't on the team anymore. She's part of the X-Men, not the Avengers.

[Doom'nGloom]

What would the core theme of a potential Storm solo be? Like the main idea that the character and the book is based on, the idea that defines it. For Spider-man it's responsibility, for the F4 it's family so what about Storm?

[Magnetic]

Storms solo depends on tptb. They keep other failing solo alive if they love the character.

[JB]

What would the core theme of a potential Storm solo be? Like the main idea that the character and the book is based on, the idea that defines it. For Spider-man it's responsibility, for the F4 it's family so what about Storm?

I really like the avatar of life aspect Ewing has been exploring in ROM. How she helped Magneto “see”, etc. She brings life to things, people, planets and I think that’s something that can be played with in a big way.

And I don’t have an issue with big powers because it works with Thor. Especially if her backdrop is Arakko they can create all kinds of galactic foes for her. I just don’t think you can simply slip Storm back into a regular team after what Ewing has done with her.