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| Storm #8 cover by Stephanie Hans |
The longer this series goes, the better it is getting.
This is a strong issue and a satisfying way to see Storm close out this chapter of her series.
Greg Pak is writing an incredibly strong character and has found a voice for
Storm that lets him own the story to a degree only glimpsed at earlier in the series. With the maturity of the character, the art provides some flourishes of imaginative creativity.
First and foremost, the cover by Stephanie Hans is electric. Since she came onto the series as the cover artist, it has been a joyous experience to pick this comic up each month from my local comic book store and pause for a moment to take in the cover. I am sucked into each issue by its cover, which always portrays a sense of the story within and draws me into it.
There is a lot of action in this issue, which helps drive a conclusion to the arc and bring resolution to the main character. The story, although centered on Storm, must also deal with some background characters such as other X-Men and the requisite bad guy before we can move on. Despite this, we see some powerful use of Storm's mutant abilities to manipulate the elements, and the grandiose nature of these abilities is captured by stunning art from Al Barrionuevo, Tim Palmer, and Ruth Redmond.
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| Protestors demand action to help Storm |
Barrionuevo and Palmer continue to match the form seen in previous issues. I did notice a couple of instances where Storm's facial expressions or those of background characters did not really match up with their spoken words in the same panel. This is a minor issue, however; in general, the art got stronger the further into the issue you read. Redmond's colors and textures were certainly an example of this, as the final few pages of Storm's battle to save the Golden Gate Bridge and the bystanders on it depicted some great work. The changing nature of the weather and the colors to illustrate the severity of the situation and Storm's ability to control the outcome of the elemental power at play here was impressive.
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| No-one can stop Storm |
This is a solid solo X-Men series about Storm, and in this issue, it doesn't pretend to do anything other than speak for this character. Pak is channeling the voice of the character and leaving the support cast and story to mold around Storm. In doing this, Pak achieves an important distinction between this series and other X-Men books, which are so concerned with the group dynamics.
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| Storm must dig deep to safe the day |
There is no plainer way to say it:
Storm #8 is an excellent story to wrap up this arc of the series. We know from current solicits that the series will continue at least up to the beginning of Secret Wars, but I wonder if there is room for this series much longer than that. The character and stories can be stretched, but are there enough sales numbers? With Marvel's focus on female-driven series in other parts of their universe,
Storm could fall the way of
She-Hulk. That would be a shame, but that's the comics industry, where consumers get the ultimate say on the state of the play for all ongoing series.
As always, we want to hear what you thought of this issue and the close of this arc, so make sure to leave a comment below. What do you think of the cover? Did this close out the arc in a satisfying way? Hit us up with your thoughts, or head over to
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