The first thing that readers will notice about Storm #1 is its subtitle: “Grand Opening”. I don’t think the creative team of Murewa Ayodele and Lucas Werneck could have picked a better name; not only does it sum up Ororo Munroe’s newfound mission to be a hero for all, but it also is a mission statement for the title as a whole. Whenever you think of Storm, whether it’s her appearances in X-Men ’97 or classic X-Men stories like The Dark Phoenix Saga, “grand” is the best word to describe Ororo.
That extends to the story in Storm #1, which showcases how Ororo deals with membership in the Avengers, saving a city from a hurricane with her mutant powers, and then dealing with the fallout of that rescue. It’s a lot for a debut issue, but it never feels overwhelming. In fact, the story leaps between past and present, setting up a new challenge for Ororo – and hinting at a far grander destiny for her.
I have to give Ayodele major props for how he writes Ororo. He acknowledges her history within the first few pages, from her tenure with the X-Men to her regal status in Wakanda and Arrako. But he also shows that for all of her prestige and power, she’s still human – before a major speech, she takes the time to exhale and inhale, showing that she’s nervous about addressing big crowds. The major draw of the X-Men is that their powers aren’t the draw, their humanity is; Storm #1 is one of the few new X-titles (other than Phoenix and Uncanny X-Men) that keeps that in mind.
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Ayodele also brings the same mythical approach that he employed in Akogun: Brutalizer of Gods, as most of the captions are told in the third person. It gives the impression that he’s sitting at a campfire and telling us a big mythic story, which is the perfect fit for Storm. After all, she was worshipped as a Goddess once, so shouldn’t she have a comic that takes the same kind of big swings you’d see in a myth?
But who really brings the epic to this story is Werneck. Werneck’s no stranger to the X-Men, having illustrated Immortal X-Men and Fall of the House of X, and he keeps that same epic edge. Every page has a “big” image, whether it’s Storm using her powers to direct a tornado away from the innocent or her standing in front of a massive crowd in Atlanta. So do colorists Alex Guimares and Fer Sifuentes-Sijo; every time Ororo summons a bolt of lightning, the page lights up with sheer white energy, creating a moment that’s awe inspiring, if not a little terrifying.
The best piece of art comes when Ororo is shown in her full costume. Werneck keeps the cloudy atmosphere that’s defined Ororo’s hair, along with the same flowing cape and the regal elements from her Krakoa-age comic. Guimares and Sifuentes-Sijo bathe the background in glowing golden light, creating a beautiful image that is worth the cover price alone. Storm #1 is a big, bold comic that is the kind of story you’d expect from Ororo Munroe, and if the last page is any indication, the best is yet to come.
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