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| Lightening Strikes for Storm #1 |
Marvel has just released the next series in their line of mighty female titles. Grek Pak is back with the X-Men since his work on X-treme X-men wound up in 2013. Pak delivers us Storm as a strong African woman and mutant leader. It is not surprising Marvel has chosen this self-titled series to continue to show strides in diversifying its titles range.
As far as the story goes, it was a quick jaunt to set up the on-going series. The material covered does well to introduce the main character, but besides this, there is only a small supporting cast made up of fellow X-Man Hank (Beast) McCoy and Creep, a student at the Jean Grey School for High Learning. It is anticipated that more characters released through this series will have stronger links to Storm than other aspects of the X-Men community of comics.
The issue has swift pace due to the average number of panels per page, though it doesn't quite lift the action sequences out in the book in a noticeable way. This is also due to the character-driven dialogue which focuses on the often contradictory characteristics Storm exhibits.
Storm is a noble, fierce woman not to be trifled with, as evident in her ability to drive back a Tsunami during this issue. However, Storm is also confrontational and proud. You get the sense here that Pak is exploring how best to reveal these various facets of Storm's personality to the best effect. He does this well by contrasting Storm's emotional outburst towards the student Creep as her Headmistress, with Storm's compassion and understanding showing by the end of the book.The art by Victor Ibanez captures a certain gritty mood that is apparent on the first few pages, but drops seamlessly to the background by the book's end. It isn't in-your-face art, but in this manner it doesn't detract from the story either. The colors by Ruth Redmond adds a grounded and earthy feeling to this issue. They also help bring a sombre mood to the story, which seems to match the emotions portrayed throughout.
Storm #1 delivers what it needs to as the beginning of the series. The story is centered on establishing the lead character and setting a platform from which to launch the first arc. This seems like a nice lead into the series and there is a sense much more may be delivered as it continues. It would be great to see this title expand and cross-over with further character interaction from other X-titles. The potential is there, the delivery is fine, not a bad read to wind down the week with, but let us know what you think in the comments below.
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