Storm’s been putting Ororo Munroe through a lot since it launched: not only is she juggling a lot by joining the Avengers and continuing mutant outreach, but she’s slowly dying. In Storm #3, she gets a little bit of a reprieve as Doctor Voodoo manages to remove the radiation from her cells…but the catch is that Ororo can’t use her powers for seven days. This leads her to reconnect with Rogue’s team of X-Men, and revisit her bonds with her family.
This leads to an issue that’s a celebration of the best thing about the X-Men: they’re a found family. Murewa Ayodele even highlights this in the narration, and in Ororo’s interactions with the rest of the X-Men. Rogue bursts into their house, assuming a intruder, but the minute she sees Ororo she flies in for a hug. The moment I didn’t see coming involves Storm and Wolverine sparring with each other, and the surprising turn it takes. (Granted, there’s a lot of history between the two, but it might be surprising to newer readers.)
Ayodele also manages to touch on events in other Marvel comics in a way that builds on Storm‘s storyline. In addition to the cast of Uncanny X-Men showing up, the ending teases a meeting between Ororo and Doctor Doom, aka the New Sorcerer Supreme. That this issue is titled “Impending Doom” all but confirmed Doom’s presence. But to Ayodele’s credit, he folds these events into his script without making you feel like you have to pick up another book.
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Storm #3 also looks immensely gorgeous thanks to Lucas Werneck and Alex Guimares. Werneck continues to showcase how stunning Ororo is, whether she’s in her full costume or simple workout gear. Werneck has also made it an art, if you’ll pardon the pun, of displaying the pure majesty of the X-Men’s powers. One page not only displays Wolverine’s keen senses, but his Adamantium claws, and when Rogue thinks her new students are in danger she takes off in a whirl of green and black.
That sense of awe carries over into the scenes with Brother Voodoo. A large part of that is due to his lair, which features the glowing green ghost of his brother Daniel, and how Travis Lanham shapes his word balloons – they’re jet black, scraggly, and filled with white lettering, which is a hint to readers about his supernatural abilities.
Storm #3 isn’t just a gorgeous looking book, but a key example of the bonds the X-Men share. With Ororo and Doom’s meeting looming on the horizon, and her life as well, it also serves as the proverbial calm before the storm.
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