Sunday, January 4, 2009

Review : X-Men Worlds Apart #3

Despite certain misgivings in the past about Christ Yost's writing (some Messiah Complex fluff) I am seriously enjoying his Storm mini-series. Granted, Storm is perhaps my favorite X-Man and therefore I always enjoy reading about her, but some writers leave her flat despite having a multilayered character with a deep past. However Yost is doing her justice, making her human without sacrificing any of her strength, and in fact connecting the two characteristics with insight.

Best line: "I half expected all of New York to worship me on my arrival. Perhaps more than half."

The Goddess aspect of her history is mentioned anytime she pops up, but often the integral transition for her of being worshiped in Kenya to being an unknown black lady with weird hair in Westchester is overlooked. Yost has her acknowledge her past hubris, and ties it to her newfound role as an internationally recognized Queen. How can this woman NOT have a huge ego? But she is full of doubt and is deeply dismayed by the Shadow King's efforts to ruin everything she holds dear (the perfect villain, by the way, not only for Storm in general but as a foil in a 4-issue arc) at least until she declares "Enough self pity" and calls down her trademark lightning to end the fight.

Finally she asserts her rule over Wakanda, a role I was worried would maintain riddled with detractors and Wakandans undermining her (like the Doraj Milaje--which is undoubtedly not pronounced the way it sounds in my head.)

The long-distance battle with a possessed Cyclops is just icing on the cake. Even Nezhno is shaping up to be a promising X-character. Let it be known that I would buy anything Storm was in, and support Yost at the helm of it. Perhaps Marvel will let him continue to write stories for her until he surpasses Claremont in his grasp on her psyche and personality.

On a side note, if I had started this blog years ago, I would have bemoaned the casting choice of Halle Berry in the stinkfests known as the X-Men movies (save, maybe, X2.) That frail nothing? Ororo deserves Angela Basset, and nothing less.

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