How would you spend your last days on Earth? Some people would spend their time with family. Others would take in the splendor of the planet, knowing that they’d only have so much time before they shuffle off this mortal coil. Very few would imagine having dinner with a power-mad tyrant, and yet Storm #4 uses that unusual setting to deliver the next major part of the story that Murewa Ayodele and Lucas Werneck are crafting.
Ororo Munroe thought she was in the clear: after Doctor Voodoo used his powers to halt the radiation that was destroying her body, he told her that she couldn’t use her powers for seven days. She sought refuge with the X-Men, but then Doctor Doom invited her to dinner. Knowing Doom, it isn’t long until Ororo is forced into battle – and this time, it’s not one she might walk away from.
While Ayodele’s script reveals the outcome of this dinner, it also takes a clever approach to showcasing the events that lead up to that outcome. It also shows that Ayodele knows Storm’s history; this isn’t the first time Doom and Storm have had dinner together, but it’s a moment that’s laced with foreboding, considering Doom’s new position as the Sorcerer Supreme and Ororo’s current predicament. And for anyone who’s been reading this series since the beginning, rest assured Ayodele finally pays off on a major plot thread, making sure Ororo fully earns the title of “Earth’s Mightiest Mutant”.
Marvel
Of all the X-Men books, Storm has been the most gorgeous looking thanks to Werneck’s artwork. He goes all out here, having Ororo sporting a green gown that makes her look like every bit the goddess others proclaim her to be. The same treatment is afforded to Doom; he sports a massive black cape rimmed with fur, and it’s something that only a man with his ego would be wearing.
Werneck’s standout moment, though, comes in the form of a pair of sequences that feature Ororo and her late father. Both sequences differ as one takes place in her past, the other in another realm entirely; but both make wonderful use of space and facial expressions to show the love that Ororo has for her father, and he for her. The color art from Alex Guimarães makes these sequences pop, whether it’s giving a hazy golden filter to the past or the blindingly bright lightning that appears with Ororo’s new transformation.
Storm #4 is a turning point, both for Ororo Munroe’s place in the world and for the trajectory of the series. It also marks one of the quickest deaths and rebirths in the comic book world – not that I’m complaining, as the stage is set for some truly epic storytelling from this creative team.
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