Betrayal hurts. Whether it’s the people you trust to lead you, your significant other, or your own flesh and blood, having someone who you’re supposed to trust hurt you is a special kind of pain. Rogue Storm #2 is all about that pain, as Ororo Munroe comes face-to-face with a blind Gambit who wants to know what she did to Rogue Red. Flashbacks dive deeper into Ororo’s supposed “madness”, and the fallout of the Uncanny X-Force’s mission to kill her.
Since half of the book takes place in the present day of Age of Revelation‘s timeline, it’s safe to say that the mission failed. Why it failed is the real hook, and ties back into the themes of betrayal that I mentioned before. On top of that, Ororo takes Gambit to task for the way he abandoned Rogue Red over Rogue Green; between this series and Unbreakable X-Men, the Age of Revelation is putting Rogue and Gambit fans through it.
I do love that Rogue Storm #2’s big reveal ties back into the overlapping story of godhood that Murewa Ayodele is crafting in his Storm run. Anyone who’s read up on mythology knows that, despite all their power, gods share a lot in common with humans. They love, they betray, they lie. In the case of the god that’s invaded Storm’s life and led her to her current state, it turns out that some deities can also take on the role of a serial killer.
Roland Boschi matches the wild swings that Ayodele’s script takes, delivering some eye-grabbing imagery. The opening pages feature Ororo looking at a pair of brass knuckles before forming a globe of air over them and then stuffing that globe in her mouth. The flashback sequences deliver plenty of carnage; limbs and heads are hacked off, with blood spraying into the air Mortal Kombat style. Ororo is also accompanied by the ghost of Daniel Drumm, Doctor Voodoo’s brother; his spectral green hue makes him the standout in every scene, courtesy of Neeraj Menon’s excellent color work.
Marvel
The real star of the show is Travis Lanham’s lettering. Every action gets its own unique sound effect; arrows “fly” through the air, a blade “slices” with blood red lettering, and an explosion goes off with the words “Obliterate!” Lanham also extends the same courtesy to characters’ speech bubbles, with Daniel Drumm’s words having the same ghostly hue as his body and the god who torments Ororo speaking in a script with letters that are sharp as blades.
For all the good stuff that Rogue Storm #2 brings to the table, it also feels like some of the story is missing, and it highlights the one issue I have with the Age of Revelation tie-ins; some of them feel like they needed five issues rather than three to flesh out this world fully. Regardless, Rogue Storm #2 brings a compelling story about betrayal and the weight of godhood to the table, and it’s set the stage for a confrontation that only Storm could win.
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