Written by Greg Pak
Drawn by Scott Hepburn and David Baldeon
Inked by Scott Hepburn and Jordi Tarragona
Colored by Rachelle Rosenberg
Published by Marvel Comics

PREVIOUSLY: STORM #2

Another late review, I know. But before I get into my thoughts about this issue my friend Samax Amen has written an interesting article about this series, which I encourage you (yes YOU) to read:

My Concerns About STORM and 4 Things Marvel Should Do About It

Okay, read it? Great. Now moving along. Greg Oak slows things down a bit this issue, as there’s not much “action,” it’s primarily a character story. This issue opens with Storm at the X-Men where she’s informed by The Beast that she’s been invited to Kenya, which is the nation Storm was raised in. I have to say that revisiting this history of Storm at first set off some red flags in my head, as I never cared for this particular origin. Basically, to recap, Storm was leaving in Kenya where she was worshipped as a Goddess, due to her mutant powers. Then one day Professor X shows up and invites her to come to America to join his superhero team and she immediately accepts, and that’s that. That always seemed odd to me. She’s a Goddess in Africa, bringing rain to much-needed crops, but gives that all up because some bald White man shows up? Uh huh, yeah, that makes sense.

But I digress.

Anyway, Storm gets to Kenya and discovers that they’ve been suffering from a long major drought, but lo and behold who is there to help? Her old boyfriend Forge (he’s a mutant with the power to build great technological devices). He’s been working on a solar powered device to bring water to the nation, and needs Storm’s help with it. During the course of the issue Storm and Forge talk about their past relationship and problems. There’s some discussion about the limits of Storm’s powers and why she can’t just create tons of rain to save the nation. And there is conflict in the form of a native Kenyan who doesn’t trust Forge’s motives, as he’s just the latest in a long line of foreigners who have come to Africa claiming to want to help. I know I’m not making this sound very exciting, like I said there’s not much action in here, but the story flows naturally and the discussions raise some thought-provoking issues of nature, technology, and Colonialism. So I enjoyed reading.

The fill-in art team of Scott Hepburn and David Baldeon do a beautiful job here. I daresay that I prefer their art over that of regular artist Victor Ibanez. Once again, this issue ends with a To Be Continued line, yet this story is self-contained and complete. A great job all around.

STORM #3