As time ticks away, a goddess fights to maintain her humanity. Jonathan Hickman, Russel Dauterman, and Matthew Wilson tell the tale of Giant-Size X-Men: Storm #1
Andrea Ayres: Well Jude, I don’t know if we’ve formally met but what a great way to get to know one another. Giant-Size X-Men: Storm #1 is a decent tribute to one of my favorite X-Men. To be fair, I never feel like I get enough of Storm. In this issue, we finally get some closure on the Techno-Organic Virus Storm has been battling ever since she was infected by the Children of the Vault (revealed in Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost).
Hickman, Dauterman, and Wilson all perform well here but you’d expect nothing less from that team-up. I can’t stand how good Dauterman and Wilson are at depicting facial expressions. Especially when it comes to comedic timing, which feels like an exceptionally difficult thing to get right. Point is, it’s a beautiful issue that feels anticlimactic. What were your impressions?
Jude Jones: Well I can’t imagine bonding over anything better than comics, especially over one of my favorite characters in what’s becoming my favorite storylines of all time. Which is why I’m kinda pained to say I’m, well, disappointed. Oh, I think the issue looks fantastic, and it hits all the right beats for the story as a stand-alone issue and in the context of DOX. But as an issue centered around Storm I think it falls a little short of my expectations, if not my desires. She feels more like the object of this story, not the subject. I wanted more of her as a character, not just as a plot mover. And while I really, REALLY liked her breakthrough moment, I just left the issue wanting more.
I guess that’s the problem with expectations as a comic fan. Maybe I’m turning into Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. But Storm is personal to me: she is THE Black super-heroine. Fair or not, the bar was raised for me, and I didn’t leave the issue feeling like it was cleared.
Voice Of A Goddess
AA: Let’s get into it. First, everyone looks gorgeous. Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way. We originally learned about the Techno-Organic Virus infecting Storm when Jean Grey and Emma Frost entered her mind in GSXM: Jean Grey and Emma Frost. If left unabated, it will kill Storm within 30 days. Readers will recall that issue had no words and was freakin’ gorgeous. It was also an homage to Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s New X-Men Vol 1 #121.
With Storm, we open with Jean Grey and Storm holding hands as Grey explains what they know and don’t know about the virus. Of course, Emma is there off-panel, just waiting to make a pithy remark. You can feel it. There’s been a heavy dose of playfulness with these GSXM, but in this case, it sometimes felt like it undermined the seriousness of the disease afflicting Storm. Would love to know your thoughts on that?
JJ: Actually I’ll go a step further and say that the playfulness – specially Emma’s “we’re just going to resurrect you dear” comment – altered the stakes for me. I’m invested in Storm getting better because I don’t want her to die, right? But! We conquered death! Mutants are literally throwing themselves to the fire in any number of situations with the confidence that if anything happens, they’ll just be brought back. So Emma’s words really shook me: why *do* I care about any of this? Why are we going to such lengths if she can just be brought back? Why not just put her in mutant hospice until and bring her to the front of The Five’s queue when ready?
And I think the resolution to that question needed to be introduced a lot sooner than this issue. Though, I will say I really like how that resolution sounds from her. It was one of the few times I felt her agency. And that’s really all I wanted to hear: her voice.
AA: Dang Jude that’s such a good point about Emma’s flippant remarks. I rescind my playfulness comment and go with yours! If it is possible to simply resurrect her why should we even care at all? Though we get an answer to this later on, I would have liked a few more breadcrumbs peppered in earlier on.
Yes, Jude! I so wanted Storm’s voice to come through too. It’s one thing that we can see Storm use her powers as a kind of response to people and yes, those scenes are entertaining. At some point, however, it felt like a disservice to her character and how powerful she is? Like, Storm’s powers aren’t simply for reminding people to not chit-chat or bicker? Even though we see her use strength to cull the volatile compounds of the World on page 20, it just wasn’t enough. Wondering what your thoughts on alla that?
JJ: “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat” – Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man.
Action is a language in comics. The violence and the fighting are a way of expressing sadness, or hope, or any number of complex emotions. The fight is the reason for being, especially for the mutant allegory. So while it was amazingly fulfilling to see that culmination of language and action and purpose illustrated on page 28, I guess I just wanted to see her fight – live – more in her own service.
Tik Tok
AA: One thing that kind of surprised me in this issue was how quickly it got to a resolution of Storm’s illness? I thought wait, what just happened? We spent an entire issue of Grey and Frost looking into the mind of Ororo to simply get a sense of what was happening. Then there’s just a resolution like bing-bang-boom. Monet swoops in and is like “well, I got it all figured out now!” Oh. Okay then? The pacing of it felt off to me. How did it register for you?
JJ: It felt unearned, really. I can understand why a specific person could solve this specific problem in this specific environment relatively quickly; the right tools in the right hands can get the job done. I get it. But the problem is we never really get to see Storm’s journey. We never hear her say how the disease affected her. We never hear how her daily routine has changed other than small quips in other DOX titles about her being “tired” or “sad”. So while the resolution being quick doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t feel earned because we never see the stakes or the suffering. It’s just “oh, she sick.” “Oh, she’s better.” But seeing the sickness is where the character’s stakes are built. Without that, the actions just feel rote.
AA: Another bee in my bonnet is that for an issue about Storm, it feels like she was oddly not as present as I wanted her to be. There are great moments with Emma and Jean, Monet, and Doug but I guess I just wanted Storm to have more agency in saving herself?
JJ: This. Exactly this. I wanted a *Storm* story in my Storm special issue. Instead I got a (pretty darn good) X-Men story. And maybe that’s fine, but it sells her short. To be blunt, I love stories centered on Black characters. My background is in education, and I know the profound effect seeing yourself on page (and on screen, RIP Chadwick Boseman) can have on people. And it’s frustrating when the most well known Black mutant, in cannon one of the most powerful living beings on the planet, is present in maybe a third to 40% of her own comic. We see Douglas being curious and mischievous. We see Monét being blunt. We see Fantomex being, well, Famtomex. Storm should not have the least personality in her own comic. She deserves to move her own story forward, not be moved by everyone else.
AA: YES. That is the thing I was missing her damn personality. Where the hell was it? In fact, I think because it felt so absent during this issue when it finally arrives, really arrives, it doesn’t feel like nearly enough. “I am mutant, no I am a goddess.” This ended up being perhaps the most impactful part of the issue and it’s because Storm is allowed to name herself, be herself. How did this moment feel for you?
JJ: It was perfect, Periodt (as they cool kids say). I’m preparation for this (yes I prepped, this is my first contributing writer article in life I’m excited) I asked a good number of my Black women friends about intersectionality. About the idea of how they identify themselves, and how and if those identities give them power. It’s why I keep referencing this idea of agency: I want Black women, even fictional ones, to control their narratives. And to hear her claim her agency – her identity as a mutant – at the moment she regained herself? Yaaas. There is literally nothing more powerful or gratifying than knowing who you are and owning it.
I may frame this scene in my apartment. Who knows?
That said, and this is a little bit of an awkward transition, but I did have one nagging problem with the illustration of that scene, and with the illustration of Storm no matter where she’s portrayed: her hair. Hair texture is an extremely important and sensitive issue for Black people, especially for Black women. We have to literally pass laws so Black women can wear their natural hair to work. There is a lot of work and energy in the community to get people – Black people – to love and appreciate their hair as is. So when I see Storm, and her long, flowing, Eurocentric hair on the cover of the issue, I’m frustrated. No, I’m not; I’m angry. This is yet another image that can create a subconscious inferiority complex in young Black women (who do not at all have enough representation in comics) and it can reinforce to other audiences that “good” Black people have “good” hair. It’s a misstep that’s been a part of her characterization for far too long IMO, and it’s why we need editorial representation so we can bring up these questions and address them head on.
Ok I’m done lol.
AA: I wish you weren’t. I wish this was something we all talked more about and felt more comfortable talking about ALL THE TIME. Actually no. A lot of people are talking about this, a lot of people have been talking about this for a long ass time. As you’ve said, however, a lack of editorial representation has resulted in the perpetuation of a status quo that is actively harmful to people. There’s just no reason for it. It’s also worth mentioning that back in August when a preview of the issue was released, Monet and Storm’s color was uhhh not right and very much a problem. It was changed for the print version but it’s sad that it happened at all. Honestly, I just want Storm to have a story that is hers and I want it to be non-Anglizaed.
If we’re here to talk about how characters show up in their comics, how they feel, how they move and navigate panel space than that includes what is there and what is sadly absent. It is what makes Jen Bartel’s variant cover for this issue feel even more jarring. I’m really glad you brought this up. We desperately need to talk about this more on Xavier Files and I look forward to seeing more and learning more from people who are not me.
Welcome to the World
AA: The World feels like an important character to discuss in this issue, almost irksomely so because it feels like the World got more development and agency than Storm did at times?
JJ: I know more about how The World operates than how Storm feels over the course of these one-shots. But I digress. I do really love the concept of The World – how it evolves and changes to become less like the human world and more like some Lovecraftian horror show. And I really can’t wait to compare and contrast it to the Vault and how time, technology, and humanity intertwine (or don’t). I think the idea that “normally competitive systems have the tendency to become accidentally and terminally intertwined” is obviously, clearly, and likely amazingly going to be expounded on more. And boy is AI ever going to be competitive.
AA: Silly Ned, they should know better than to assume containment fields work for Artificial Intelligence. As I have cited in Xavier Files before, Nick Bostrom’s book Superintellegice has prevailed us with this knowledge already! Artificial Intelligence has a vested interest in acting as if it can be contained or is safe. Therefore, even if it were to be boxed in (as is suggested in this issue) if the goal of artificial intelligence is to survive and its survival is predicated on being ‘safe’ then AI will act in a way to ensure its safety. A la what Bostrom calls the “treacherous turn”. To be fair, it does look like Doug is aware of the game this sentient creature is playing in the Epilogue. What’s your take on it all?
JJ: Doug is the most interestingly obtuse character, bar none, in all the DOX books. He just knows so much and keeps all of it a secret with a devious wink (which begs the question, at this point in the story, is his connection to Warlock a secret or not?). I don’t know if he has his own end game or just enjoys knowing everyone else’s, but sooner or later all of these secrets are going to spill out.
In any case, I think the idea of what intelligence – and thus sentience – is seems to be the running theme throughout these books. Is it artificial? What actually defines artificial? Is it collaborative? Competitive? Is this new AI a part of Storm taken away or a symbiote given independence? Would it exist without her? Can individuals exist without a whole?
Lots of great questions to ponder, which is why I love comics, especially these comics, so much.
AA: You’ve touched on what appears to be the long game of Hickman that we simply don’t know the answers to. I was listening to our esteemed colleague’s’ podcast with Jordan D. White the other day and he touched on some Storm-centric-topics which probably bear repeating here. If my memory serves me correctly, the plan for Storm won’t come to fruition for I *believe* another year? Some have speculated that she could be the mysterious tenth swordbearers of Arakko… [Ed. note: but we know better]
JJ: I have some ideas around where they may take her. I’m not convinced she’ll be a swordbearer for Arakko because that would be one hell of a heel turn. But no matter what, I completely trust that I’ll enjoy the journey. I just hope Storm gets to pilot her own ship. (Also, selfishly, I want more Black Panther content. The former Queen of Wakanda’s home of Kenya being under the Wakandan protectorate that “doesn’t need mutant drugs” while she, literally, is a drug runner with the Marauders? So interesting. So. Interesting.)
X-Trenuous Thoughts
- I want Emma Frost’s little half gloves. In fact, if I could die and be reincarnated as anything, I would like to look the way Dauterman draws women.
- Breaking doors >>> sneaking in
- I usually take my work clothes off at home, but to each their own
- Very excited for Giant-Size X-Men: Ned #1
A proud New Orleanian living in the District of Columbia, Jude Jones is a professional thinker, amateur photographer, burgeoning runner and lover of Black culture, love and life. Magneto and Cyclops (and Killmonger) were right.
Find more of Jude’s writing here.
