Calm In The Eye Of The Hurricane: ‘Giant-Size X-Men- Storm’ Reviewed

The X-Men have had a rough year since the foundation of Krakoa. However, as the Giant-Size X-Men mini-series concludes, readers get a glimpse of perhaps the toughest situation any citizen of Krakoa has faced yet.

This epic mini-series comes to an end with this issue. It’s a mixed bag of action and plot. It comes to us from Jonathan Hickman, Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson, Ariana Maher, and Tom Muller.

The Vault’s techno organic virus has given Ororo Munroe mere days to live. Even with the resurrection protocols in place, Ororo would rather fight to live. And fight she will, because the only cure is in one of the most terrifying places on Earth- Weapon Plus’s super-facility, the World.

This is a rip-roaring action adventure without a doubt. With a ticking clock put on Storm’s life, the story immediately has a great sense of urgency, which makes even the slower scenes feel important and driven. It steps up when things go nuts the moment Storm and her team step over the World’s threshold.

However, the issue does fall short when it comes to serving its characters well. Until an internal monologue after two-thirds the way through the issue, Storm herself is mostly just a passive party in her own story. Monet, Cypher, and Warlock all get stronger character moments than she does through much of it.

Even with the flaws though, this issue looks incredible. At this point anything that Dauterman and Wilson do the art on is a must-buy. Dauterman’s characters act and emote, giving the situation a stronger sense of gravitas than the script does. He also has great layouts, with every page built to pull the readers into the action, while also directing the eye through the story. Wilson’s colors make the fantastic feel real, without taking away from the awe or surreal nature of anything on the page.

In the end, I’m glad this mini-series existed just for the fact that we got the art that we did. Each one of these stories featured next level art by a team of artists that were already incredible. The stories did fall short many times, leaning heavily on a plot point or two per issue without really having much of a narrative. However, I’m glad to have read each of them and it’s very possible that each will have a major impact on the line later on, retroactively making them stronger.

Giant-Size X-Men: Storm is available now from Marvel Comics.