Written by: Greg Pak
Art by: Victor Ibanez
Published by: Marvel Comics
Like the series’ debut issue, Storm #2 is a one and done story. Whereas the first issue was about Storm illegally saving people from a tsunami, and subsequently took on the local dictator’s army. This issue doesn’t have quite that level of social commentary, or impact, but it does see Storm dealing with a potentially real world incident that other heroes in the Marvel universe wouldn’t necessarily deal with. In this issue, she stumbles upon a missing persons poster, and decides to take it upon herself to find a missing teenager. It’s a straight forward plot, and there aren’t really any curveballs to be had here, until the very end of the issue.
This issue lacks any sort of big action set pieces, swapping out the massive action scenes of the first issue for a more intimate battle between Storm and Callisto. This is a fairly suspenseful fight, but not necessarily because Callipso is an actual threat to Storm, but more because, at this point, the reader still doesn’t know what happened to the children. Plus it’s just a cool fight scene, even though it’s on a smaller scale than one would expect from a book about one of the leading members of the X-Men.
However, the purpose of this book is not to show off all the big superheroics. This book’s purpose is to perform a character analysis of Storm, breaking down her nuances, and giving the reader a better understanding of her character, while taking her to new places. In this respect, Pak succeeds. He nails Storm’s character, especially in the scenes she shares with Wolverine in this issue. But everything he does with Storm is very much in line with her character, and even those who haven’t read much of the character will likely be able to understand this. Plus, he seems to be taking her in new directions, removing a black and white sense of morality from the character, while also adding in some social commentary.
Like most elements of this issue, the social commentary in this issue is on a much smaller scale than it is in the first issue, but it still deals with the issue of disenfranchisement. It’s hard to actually discuss this without spoiling the resolution to the issue’s conflict, and considering that this is a one shot, that’s not something I want to do for those who have yet to read it. What I will say, however, is that, personally, I appreciate its conclusion. Many readers probably will as well, though it’s subtle enough that readers can choose to simply ignore it in favor of just reading a straight up superhero comic.
Anyways, Storm #2 is a good comic. It’s worrying that Pak hasn’t established an overarching character or story arc at this point, and I can see that losing the book a few readers. The one shots are cool, but if it goes another couple of issues without a connecting narrative, that will be a real bummer. For now, the directionless sense is a flaw, but it’s a somewhat excusable one this early in the series’ life. This is especially true when one takes into consideration all of the other elements of the book that are very, very strong at this point.
