Giant-Size X-Men: Storm REVIEW!9/20/2020
Before reading Giant-Size X-Men: Storm, there are a few single comics issues I'd recommend reading. Giant-Size Jean Grey and Emma Frost, Giant Size Fantomex, and a general knowledge of the happenings of Dawn of X will definitely be useful in this issue making sense to a reader.
At this point, it should be nor surprise that I'm a fan of Johnathon Hickman's writing, especially for Dawn of X. He's taken the same old characters we've known and loved for decades, and given them all new character aspects to explore, and a new status quo to watch them keep up with. In this Giant-Size X-Men: Storm one-shot, Hickman is doing some of his best writing. The story is the third part of the saga of Ororo Munroe, who, as we discovered during Giant-Size Jean Grey and Emma Frost, is dying. The Giant Size X-Men: Fantomex one-shot, in turn, explored not only Fantomex's history, but tied in to the Storm situation at the end of the issue. Now, with her own one-shot, we get to find some answers on her situation. The issue starts with Ororo sitting with Jean and Emma, discussing what they’ve found to be her health situation. As it turns out, she's infected with a techno-organic virus, but not one that the mutants have ever encountered before. Due to that complication, the X-Men have no idea how to heal her. The first question the reader comes up with is the same that is expressed now by Emma Frost--why doesn't Storm just let her body die, and get resurrected by The Five? Not only would that solve the virus, it would allow her to come back to life as her best possible self, as many of her fellow mutants have chosen to do. Russel Dauterman's art and Matthew Wilson's coloring are already reminiscent of that from the Giant-Size Jean and Emma, where the two telepaths silently communicated their way through their friend's consciousness. At Emma's suggestion, Dauterman draws a delightful panel of Jean looking absolutely horrified at the notion. Storm is characterized throughout the issue as solemn, but also strong willed, smart, and incredibly powerful. She shuts down the brief argument between her two friends, but the question of "why" Ororo wants to heal her dying body still remains. A potential solution is brought in by fellow mutants Monet St Claire and Doug Ramsey, AKA Douglock. Doug is bonded with Warlock, which we discovered a number of X-Men issues ago. It's an entertaining running joke between Douglock, Hickman, and the reader, that Warlock and Doug's bond isn't just the arm we see him sporting. Warlock is fully sentient, and has the ability to reveal himself outside of Doug's body, at their will. While Warlock was a member of the New Mutants, he isn't actually a mutant himself, which is where their concern for this secret comes from. It remains to be seen if Douglock will revel themselves fully to their friends. With this new help, the team of Monet, Douglock, and Storm head off to find a cure. To get where they want to go, the team picks up an AIM scientist, who made a deal with Fantomex to betray his company for lots of cash. With this new character, we get some fun, light insights into life of AIM soldiers. In comics, AIM workers are usually viewed as disposable pawns, who likely joined up with the company out of hatred and a need for power. This particular scientist, however, is betraying AIM because he feels he was tricked into joining their group, anyway. He says he spent ten years getting doctorates, just to get "tricked by shiny toys and a mail order bride." With this in mind, the scientist takes them to The World, a place seen in Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force, and more recently in that Fantomex one-shot. Outside the structure, we encounter Fantomex for the first time in the issue. Fantomex has been written brilliantly in his brief Dawn of X appearances, with the perfect combination of humor and brains. This issue pairs with Giant-Size X-Men: Fantomex superbly, with that issue offering a lot of insight into The World, Fantomex's origins, and his connections to this strange place. Fantomex is a French super-spy and rogue-type, with three brains, and his particular personality shines clear in this issue. Upon the team entering, we see that The World is an unbelievable place, full of mysterious scientific anomalies and all manner of inventions to manipulate them. Dauterman offers crisp, clean art to pair with Wilson's "spacey" coloring. Together, the World that they draw is eye catching, original, and completely unique. Inside, the group finds themselves fighting their way through an oddly shaped battle of all manner of creatures. Warlock even has a moment to shine when he turns himself into a bonded body-armor for Douglas. This wasn't noted by the rest of the team, but makes me hope Douglock will get to announce themselves properly soon. While fighting their way to the center of The World, Storm saves the team more than once from the bizarre creatures around them. Even seriously sick and dying, Ororo is one of the most powerful mutants alive. Finding the artificial atmosphere of The World highly volatile, Storm is able to sweep away the remaining threats, but not before collapsing herself. Upon her fall, Monet takes a moment to address the AIM scientist who broke them inside. Ned, as Monet refers to him, turns out to be an expert in accidental techno-organic life--an apparent recurring problem in The World, and one that he built a solution for. The machine separates machine arts from organic matter, so the idea is that it will rid Storm's body of the virus. As she goes through the process, Storm considers the question we are all asking. If mutants can be resurrected at anytime, why does she care so much about being healed, instead of giving in, letting the virus take her life, and being reborn? To answer, Hickman offers a few lines of new-poetic prose about Ororo’s views on life. Life, she narrates, is not something to be taken for granted, especially when it seems so easy to replicate. What is life, if you can have as many lives as you want or need? She argues that not fighting for every breath would give life no meaning or purpose. In doing everything she can to save her own life, Storm is proving what we all already know—that she is the strongest of the X-Men, and that is not something to be taken for granted. Remember, Ororo Munroe was the one who fought to rule to community of underground mutants, the Morlocks. She fought Scott Summers, Cyclops, to be leader of the team, and won easily. She is an important figure to all mutants, being seen as each of their mother, sister, and friend, in turn. For this reason, she is the one to welcome and reintroduce all reborn mutants back into Krakoan life, after resurrection. It doesn’t seem to be an official position in the Krakoan hierarchy, but it is an intensely meaningful one nonetheless. To say that she is iconic, in this world or the 616, is a massive understatement. The machine does its job, and Ororo comes out stronger than ever. She reminds herself who she is, and what she is--a goddess, one who wants to live. Bursting forth from the machine at full power, Storm destroys the oncoming threats of The World. Ned, the AIM scientist, takes care of "bottling" the virus, now trapped inside the extraction machine. There, in the World, it will remain. So will Ned, it seems, as he can't turn down the opportunity to explore a place of so much intense scientific discovery. Fantomex, as in his one-shot, tries one more time to convince his brother to leave The World with them, and he again declines. At the end of the issue, Douglock has a few secret words with the containment bubble holding Storm’s techno-organic virus. He stares at it hard, before addressing it directly. He says he knows what it is—that it gave itself away with the false energy signature it used. After a beat, it responds, in an unknown alien language. Surprisingly, Doug smiles at it, back to his jovial self. Yes, he confirms, I’ll see you soon. To me, this looks like a new threat to the X-Men, one that maybe Doug Ramsey hasn’t fully come to understand. With Warlock seeming to feel more comfortable being "out and about" on missions, maybe the two will reveal themselves to Krakoa soon enough. The addition of the AIM scientist, Ned, was a ton of fun, and I’m glad he didn’t have to die. His characterization itself was entertaining enough, and gave a lot of insight into the guys and gals who become AIM canon fodder, and how they got there. Since he stays in The World, hopefully we’ll be seeing more of him in the future. Ororo Munroe is back on top, where she deserves to be. The next notable event featuring Storm will be X of Swords, which starts this coming week, September 23rd, with X of Swords: Creation. She's nothing less than iconic, and I'm thrilled that Johnathon Hickman and his team have given such an excellent spotlight. Make sure to check out the amazing variants by Jen Bartel and Alex Ross!
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