Storm #1: Lightning clashes, a new mother cries…

The former regent of Arakko, queen of Wakanda, and leader of the X-Men, and the newest Avenger is back in her very own ongoing by Murewa Ayodele and Lukas Werneck, and Marvel seems primed to put their marketing behind one of its most popular female characters in its roster, launching it by having it written by one of comics big up and coming writers, and has art from one of Marvel’s Stormbreakers, hoping that this book will be a success on their part.

Murewa Ayodele is a relatively unknown author to me, so I came in with this a skeptical optimism because Storm has been such a beloved character over the last 50 years, becoming one of, if not the most recognizable black character in comics, that there’s a level of quality that is to be expected when it comes to storylines involving her. She’s one of the most powerful mutants in the world, who has been portrayed as a goddess, a queen of a highly advanced Afrofuturistic country, as well as the regent of an entire species, who terraformed Mars, and laid claim to an entire solar system, it’s hard to tell stories that are smaller and more intimate, but that’s what Ayodele is doing, and it’s so well done.

Ayodele’s story starts with Storm setting up shop in her mutant sanctuary in Atlanta, who is currently running for a congressional seat after going to Oklahoma with Frenzy, who saves an entire town from an exploding nuclear power plant, as well as a reactor that was built with alien technology, which set off a media storm all over the country, propelling her popularity across the nation. As her popularity rises, Ayodele’s positioning Ororo to become a major political force in the Marvel universe will provide some different opportunities and character avenues to explore, and it’ll be interesting to see this play out in a capes and cowls kind of comics. That’s not including that last page surprise! Can’t wait to see how the fandom reacts to that little tease for upcoming issues.

Marvel was able to snag Lukas Werneck and lock him down for art duties, and I consider this a bit of a coup. Werneck has really risen in the ranks of hotshot artists, even being counted as one of their 2023 class of Stormbreakers, along with other breakout stars like C.F. Villa, Martin Coccolo, and Jan Bazaldua, started getting high profile gigs, like 2022’s Trial of Magneto, as well as Immortal X-Men, with superstar writer Kieron Gillen, so seeing him placed on this book really speaks to how bad they want this to succeed. Especially with so few titles that feature people of color as the leads, and a woman to boot, it’s truly awesome to see this effort on Marvel’s part.

Werneck’s art here is quite beautiful to look at. Storm is powerful, statuesque, and awe inspiring. Frenzy is strong, beautiful, and fierce. These two black women invoke such strong feelings of agency, and importance in this world that they’re building for themselves. Even when faced with a family who belong to ORCHIS, they still save them from the destruction of the nuclear reactor accident. You can see Frenzy’s disgust, as well as Storm’s empathy. Werneck’s also creating a beautiful world in Storm’s sanctuary, to give solace to those who are in need of a warm hand to help them up, instead of pushing them down. It’s issues like this that reminds me of why I love comics.