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Storm #1
Book Released: 22 February 2006
Review posted: 02 April 2006
Writer: Eric Jerome Dickey
Artist: David Yardin
Ink: Jay Leisten
Colors: Matt Milla
Publisher: Marvel Comics
4.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by John Daniels
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As a young African girl, Ororo has to endure many challenges and obstacles to survive as an orphan. As she learns her trade from a teacher who shows her the ways of thievery and lock picking, Ororo deals with the peer pressure from her community of orphaned colleagues. When she is accused of not pulling her weight while the group steals items, and not taking the risks needed to maintain their abundance of goods, she is left in a bad position.
Eric Jerome Dickey writes the story, which reveals the origin of the defining qualities that endear Storm to X-Men readers, especially her presence of strength and graciousness. Dickey puts her through her paces, yet Ororo’s biggest challenge may be more difficult than she realizes. While in the market square, she steals a camera from a hunter on a dare; now she must contend with the ruthless hunter’s two desires: the return of his camera, and making an example out of Ororo. Ororo is definitely in trouble, wondering if her friends will help her or perhaps betray her.
David Yardin’s pencils distinctively characterize the emotions of the characters, especially the aggressive hunter as he searches for Ororo. While the hunter questions a local in exchange for information, the local mocks him with a phony dialect (thanks to Dickey’s realistic script). After the hunter bargains off his Rolex watch, he realizes that the local is mocking him and kills him for it. Yardin nicely illustrates the anger building inside the hunter, showcasing his need for revenge on the child with the blue eyes and white hair. The inking by Jay Leisten enhances Yardins’s pencils, especially during suspenseful scenes such as when the hunter kills his own scout, simply because he reminded the hunter that he got the camera as a gift from his father. Yardin and Leisten capture the hate and the desperation of the characters equally well.
This is the first issue of six in the miniseries, which touches on the first meeting of T’challa and Ororo. As you gaze upon the cover so beautifully illustrated by Mike Mayhew you notice Storm (Ororo) and T’challa (Black Panther) sitting in a tree with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance on the African plains, foreshadowing things to come. The caption on the cover that reads “Prelude to the Wedding of the Century” suggests that this is a story about love and could be the start of the courtship leading to a major Marvel wedding. Readers who remember the wedding of Sue Storm and Reed Richards know that Marvel weddings are big deals, and it’s been a long time since two of their big name heroes got married. Nevertheless, this issue is not what you expect, and leaves you thinking that the best is yet to come!
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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