X-Men: Red #11 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN: RED vol 2 #11
“A Storm on the Horizon”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artists: Stefano Casselli & Jacopo Camagni
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1: Storm, surrounded by grasping, needy Professor Xs with Xs for mouths.
PAGES 2-6. Storm’s date with Craig Marshall.
Craig Marshall previously appeared in issue #6, where he was introduced as a soil scientist working for NASA who had spent the last month on Arakko studying the Krakoan terraforming process. He helped to save some children during Uranos’s attack on the planet as part of the A.X.E.: Judgment Day crossover. Loolo was named in that issue; Kobb is named for the first time here. In Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #1, set in the Sins of Sinister timeline, Loolo shows up as “Loolo Marshall”, so apparently in that timeline he adopted her.
Saucier is a background character from Marauders; he’s a mutant chef, though it’s unclear whether that has anything to do with his powers. He’s been somewhat condescending about humans in the past, but either he’s toned it down a bit, or he’s just being professional here.
Arakko was terraformed in Planet-Size X-Men #1, though I can’t imagine many of you need to be told that.
“The last person I had dinner with was Doctor Doom.” In S.W.O.R.D. vol 2 #7. This seems to be the same location.
Sobunar is the Great Ring member with aquatic powers, who spawned the entire aquatic biosphere of Arakko in Planet-Size X-Men #1.
Argyre is an actual location on Mars – it’s an impact basin in the southern highlands. It’s named after an island from Greek mythology that was supposed to be made of silver.
“Fisher’s way. You can’t heal it if you don’t say the pain aloud.” The Fisher King gives a speech to this effect in issue #1, though he presents it there as a typical Arakkii attitude.
“I got my briefing from Commander Brand…” Abigail Brand consistently run down Arakko in the early issues of this series, generally presenting it as the one-dimensional place that it… well, was in a lot of previous stories. She was obviously trying to engineer conflict.
“What happened to her?” Abigail’s plans were exposed in issue #9 and she fled. She teleported to an unidentified secret location where Fisher King was inexplicably waiting for her. He appeared to be promising (or threatening) some kind of re-making of her personality. Storm is either lying about Abigail’s whereabouts or, more likely, unaware of Fisher King’s involvement.
“I was always a Night Thrasher fan myself.” The mention of Nova prompts Craig to remember Nova’s teammate in the New Warriors.
Professor X claims that he’s calling Storm for an urgent meeting but there’s no real sign in the rest of the issue that this couldn’t have waited.
“When I was young, Charles Xavier inserted himself into my life to tell me what I was not.” In Giant-Size X-Men #1, where he recruits her into the X-Men.
PAGE 7. Recap and credits. The lengthy “special thanks” credits are for the original creative teams on the comics panels used on page 16, I assume.
PAGES 8-11. Sunspot, Nova and Kobak.
Sunspot and Nova presumably need no introduction. As usual in this series, Nova is convinced that everything depends on him. He even keeps his helmet on in the hot tub, though he does claim that it’s serving a practical purpose in controlling his powers. Kobak first appeared, challenging Storm for a seat on the Great Ring, in a cameo in S.W.O.R.D. #9. He was hanging around with Sunspot in issue #1.
The Proscenium is a diplomatic hub introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy vol 6 #7 (in 2020), which served as the Guardian’s headquarters for a while. I believe this is the first mention of it being destroyed, but no doubt it’ll play into storylines over in Guardians.
“Rogue Brood.” Referring to the current X-Men / Captain Marvel storylines about Brood acting outside Broo’s control.
“Some narcissistic billionaire in a fancy suit.” Iron Man, but Sunspot pretends Nova is referring to him.
Soccer was Sunspot’s favourite sport in the early issues of New Mutants vol 1.
“Did I hear Firestar was on Krakoa now?” She’s joined the X-Men. Firestar was another member of the New Warriors, and so she has a closer connection with Nova than she does with most X-characters.
Calderak is the big lava guy who challenged Storm in S.W.O.R.D. vol 2 #8. The tournament to fill the vacant seats is prompted by the deaths and resignations of various Great Ring members in A.X.E.: Judgment Day.
Lycaon is a new character, but he’s named after a character from Greek myth who was turned into a wolf by Zeus.
Idyll, the Great Ring’s seer, was killed in issue #5.
The External Gate was created by Apocalypse as part of his efforts to make contact with Arakko in the run-up to “X of Swords”. Sunspot appears to be anticipating that Apocalypse himself might be returning.
PAGES 12-20. Storm and Professor X.
“Nurturing the crops of the people who gave me a home and support when I had neither.” In other words, what Storm was doing in Giant-Size X-Men #1 before Professor X recruited her. The flashback at the top of page 13 is a direct repeat of dialogue from that issue. The story is somewhat disdainful of the importance of the African community that Storm was living in, though Professor X does also have a point that she wasn’t achieving her potential by using her powers only on such a local level. I’ve never liked the Storm recruitment scene, which has always struck me as condescending.
“The greatest good for the greatest number.” Utilitarianism, in other words.
“My X-Men were dying… My children – and I was alone!” In Giant-Size X-Men #1 as originally published, Professor X recruits the new X-Men because the original team have been captured by Krakoa. The Deadly Genesis miniseries muddies this picture considerably, since at the very least is shows that Moira was available to him as a source of support – but it’s very hard to reconcile with the current interpretation of Krakoa and looks to have been politely consigned to We Shall Not Speak Of This Again. At any rate, Professor X’s insistence that he had no one else to turn to is clearly intended to echo his current position on Krakoa, which in turn links back to Magneto’s dying concerns about him (see below).
Magneto’s names. Magneto’s real name was originally given as Magnus, and got retconned to Erik Lehnsherr in the 90s. It was then retconned again to Max Eisenhardt in X-Men: Magneto – Testament in 2008, which (after a while) stuck. Professor X is essentially acknowledging here that he knew Magneto, who he regards as his oldest friend, under aliases which kept some degree of distance between them.
“When Magnus died, I was engaged in psychic warfare on a scale you cannot imagine.” This is true; the Krakoan psychics were locked in battle with the Eternals at the time.
“Now, I am sole captain of the ship of state.” An interesting comment given that Immortal X-Men #11 has Professor X essentially marginalised in terms of his votes on the Council. Even though he accepted this, Professor X seems to think that his symbolic value still outweighs it.
“This business with Sinister… how he infected me with his psyche…” This is the plot of “Sins of Sinister”. As of Immortal X-Men #11, Professor X is meant to be free of Sinister’s influence, and he wasn’t actually under it for very long at all in the mainstream timeline.
Magneto’s last words are basically as described by Storm. The scene is in issue #7. Magneto’s actual last words were to talk about his daughter. As Storm notes, though, he finished his speech about Charles by telling Storm to “watch him”. Whether distancing herself from him, and telling him not to come to Arakko again, really meets the spirit of that request, may be open to doubt.
Page 16 is a montage of Storm’s memories, mostly either involving her asserting her authority, or Professor X undercutting it. As best as I can figure:
- The repeated caption that reads “Those are the orders of Professor X!!” is from the cover of X-Men vol 1 #2.
- The panels of Professor X declaring that he’s giving the orders in the field, and telling Storm that he expects the X-Men to obey without hesitation, are from Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #5-6. This was part of a storyline in which Professor X, able to walk again, starts undercutting Storm as field leader. In the next panel, she accuses him of “beat[ing] your own troops into submission to ensure that you have the honour of leading them into catastrophe”.
- The panel of young Ororo being stopped with a “force bolt” by Professor X is from X-Men vol 1 #117, the flashback story where a young Professor X encounters the Shadow King. This is the first time he meets Ororo. In fairness to him, he’s trying to get his stolen wallet back.
- The panels of Ororo declaring that “you are still no more than a man” and “I am a goddess” is from Uncanny X-Men #117. Professor X isn’t in this scene at all – it’s part of Ororo losing self-control after being turned into a statue by Dr Doom.
- The “our duel is over” panel is from Uncanny X-Men #201, where Storm defeats Cyclops to become leader of the X-Men.
- The close-up of Professor X saying “Dear Lord, what I done?” is an odd choice – it’s from Uncanny X-Men #309, and it’s a flashback to Professor X reacting with horror to his own actions after he psychically stops Amelia Voght from walking out on him. The scene has nothing to do with Storm.
“Red Triangle” psychic defence protocol. Also mentioned by Abigail Brand in the previous issue.
“We came to him.” Magneto and Professor X approached Mr Sinister to assist with the Krakoan project in a flashback in Powers of X #4.
“Or a club or a spade or a heart.” Professor X is referring to the three alternate versions of Mr Sinister with their own suit symbols – Mother Righteous, Orbis Stellaris and Dr Stasis.
“Moira lost her faith and turned against us.” A somewhat generous interpretation of Moira MacTaggert’s motivations in the Krakoan project, though I suppose she did have faith in it at some point in her many lives.
“Max lost his and turned away.” When he left the Quiet Council and moved to Arakko at the start of this series.
PAGES 21-23. Sunspot and Nova arrive at the Eternal Gate.
“Blue blazes” was Nova’s standard exclamation back in the 1970s.
Jon Ironfire is the character who emerges through the portal. This is his debut in the mainstream timeline, but we’ve seen him in all three issues of Storm and the Brotherhood of Mutants. In issue #1 of that series, Storm refers to seeing him fight in the Genesis War. Ironfire duly warns everyone that “Genesis is coming”, so presumably those events play out similarly in both timelines. Genesis is the wife of Apocalypse, and the one-time ruler of Arakko.
The White Sword was one of the champions of Arakko in “X of Swords”. He led a personal army of 100 Champions who battled the demons of Amenth, and who he would resurrect each day using his omega-level healing powers. Jon is apparently the sole survivor of this group, after thousands of years of deadlock.
PAGE 24. Trailers.
The #309 bit doesn’t directly involve Storm, but there’s a thematic connection – he’s doing the same thing to her in this scene that he did to Amelia Voght in that flashback, impulsively using his powers to try and force the other person to give him what he wants
Also probably not a coincidence that “Magneto” is the person Charles is confessing that moment of weakness to in #309
The idea that Storm wasn’t living up to her full potential and accomplish a far better good would be a lot more believable if Xavier’s sole purpose in recruiting Storm wasn’t to fight in his battles. Storm could accomplish much more, things which would actually benefit the mutant cause, by using her powers on a global level. There’s a drought? Storm will bring rain. There’s a hurricane? Storm will stop it. The same goals she was pursuing in her village but on a much larger scale. She could even have continued to help her village in the same manner. Instead, Xavier just wanted her to be a warrior.
I realize this is the world of superheroes and nothing is more important than punching an evildoer in the face, but if a writer is going to deconstruct these scenes from the 1970s, it’s hard to not make Xavier’s stance seem shallow and hollow.
The scenes with Ororo losing control after being turned into a statue are from Uncanny X-Men 147, not Uncanny X-Men 117.
I’m not sure how I feel about Storm telling Xavier he’s no longer her friend and not to come to Arakko any more. On the one hand, as the Voght scene shows, Xavier does have a history of abusing his powers.And Storm was pretty angry when Jean read her mind to find out the origin of her claustrophobia in Classic X-Men 2. On the other hand, Storm also has a history of acting badly and expecting the X-Men to follow her. She had Psylocke tamper with Havok’s memories in Uncanny 219- and a side effect resulted in Alex having nightmares that caused him to lose control of his powers and almost kill Lorna. She tried to drown her teammates to stop Mastermind in Uncanny X-Men 175, and Maddie almost dies. She stabbed Forge in Uncanny 224. Storm does seem like a hypocrite.
“Or a club or a spade or a heart.”
Wait, this is common knowledge now?
I hate to be a broken record but once again I’m reminded of how Morrison showed Xavier’s darkness not by showing how he had something going on under the surface, and how everything post Deadly Genesis has just made Xavier a dark character by having him be a shallow manipulator. And I like Ewing a lot more than basically anyone else writing on X-Men comics right now
Love the idea that Ewing is picking up on a running bit in his Contest of Champions run wherein Night Thrasher is the most badass MU hero out there.
The Great Ring of Arakko as of X-Men Red 11:
[DAWN]
1. Seat of Victory > KOBAK NEVER-HELD or FIERY CALDERAK
2. Seat of Stalemate > LYCAON
3. Seat of Loss > ORORO OF THE STORM
[DAY]
4. Seat of Above-Us > LACTUCA THE KNOWER
5. Seat of All-Around-Us > LODUS LOGOS
6. Seat of Below-Us > SOBUNAR OF THE DEPTHS
[DUSK]
7. Seat of Law > ORA SERRATA THE WITNESS
8. Seat of History > XILO THE FIRST DEFENDER
9. Seat of Dreams > (/)
[NIGHT]
10. Seat of Nowhere > SYZYA OF THE SMOKE
11. Seat of Nothing > FISHER KING
12. Seat of Nobody > SUNSPOT
[ADJUNCT]
13. Voice of Arakko > REDROOT THE FOREST
14. ARAKKO
If Magneto ever comes back, I can see him taking the Seat of Dreams.
The talk of Lodus Logos, the new Regent of Arakko, making changes to the way new members join the Great Ring makes me hopeful that we’ll eventually see similar reforms in the Quiet Council. I’ve theorized before that the QC will be dismantled at the end of FoX in favor of an elected leader, but I believe the GR will survive, albeit with some changes.
The unseen Lycaon is interesting. He is described as an Omega Wolverine, which makes him sound like a Lupine. I’ve noticed before that Syzya of the Smoke seems to be a Neyaphem, something Magneto made note of in XMR 6. I think Ewing is going for a take where groups like the Lupine, the Cheyarafim and the Neyaphem were actually different mutant tribes in Okkara. When Okkara fell and a majority of Okkarans were trapped in Amenth, the surviving minority on Earth dispersed themselves across the globe. Mutants like Romulus and Azazel mythologized their own groups to exaggerate their importance.
So “blue blazes” is classic Nova, but “By Glorp” or whatever is new, right?
There’s been an awful lot of surprising Storm-bashing here lately.
@Michael: There are some serious false equivalencies you’re drawing between Storm “acting badly” (what does this even mean?) and Xavier’s long, well-documented history active, intentional manipulation and abuse.
In UXM #224, an already de-powered Storm (at the hands of Forge if you’ll recall) was tricked by the Adversary (masquerading as Forge’s shaman mentor, Naze) into believing that Forge was being controlled by Adversary himself.
In UXM #175, the whole team is being manipulated by Mastermind into believing that Dark Phoenix has returned. They even attack Cyclops at one point believing he was DF. It’s not until Cyclops gets shot and Wolverine and Rogue (who has absorbed Xavier’s telepathy) are able to verify that DF isn’t actually present but that Mastermind is, so I understand why Storm chose a massive AOE attack to end the illusion right then and there as soon as Wolverine informed her. You can argue it unnecessarily endangered the whole team (and I would agree), but they were already a leader down as a result of the whole arguably more dangerous charade with Mastermind, and nobody–including Wolverine–could even trust their own senses, so Storm’s choice wasn’t illogical or “acting badly” as you seem to be characterizing it.
I’m sure if you wanted to, you could probably dig up some examples of Storm not being very savory or making bad decisions. Okay, fine. However, to put them even remotely in the same magnitude with his literal decades’ worth of active manipulation (especially in light of HoXPoX/Deadly Genesis)? I don’t buy it. The dude tried to mentally assault her without her consent because he’s a nosy, self-righteous asshole, and he’s supposedly her friend…I’d tell him to not come to my house, either.
Again, Storm is gloriously self-important and hypocritical when judging Xavier. Gotta love how she underscores how accurate Xavier’s first speech to her was, even though it looks condescending with no context. The original story, it is good to remember, provides that context with Ororo’s own reply in the following panel.
Were she not African, Ororo would by now be a perfect example of the White Savior trope. She just can’t behave in any way that does not reaffirm her own protagonism. The end result is making Xavier even more justified in his judgement than he was back in 1979 – and reestablishing that this version of Ororo is the one with a serious deficit of self-criticism, going back to at least Uncanny #201 back in the mid 1980s.
In some ways, Storm is even more insufferable a character than Wolverine. This issue fully acknowledges that and runs with it to the breaking point. There is a huge fall coming her way, and it will be painful and ugly.
Yes, but the same thing can be said about Xavier. You see the cover to the upcoming Fall of X issue for Immortal X-Men with Xavier on his knees and it gives you a sense of glee to see this man brought low. Seriously, a lot of the appeal of the Krakoa-era is that mutants are the villains, but yet the stories go on completely unaware of this change. It’s been interesting, although almost unintentional.
Anyway, yes, Xavier taking a moral highground with any character after House/Powers shows his unwavering hubris and egoism. This is a guy who plotted everything involving the creation of Krakoa in secret (making a deal with Sinister), setting up a Plato’s Republic-style dictatorship for Krakoa…but that wasn’t bad enough because he was keeping Moira’s agenda and existence a secret the entire time. It was then revealed that Moira was actually plotting to wipe out all mutants…whoops!
Is anyone expected to seriously trust this person?
Storm has been one of the most sympathetic characters through this whole period. Can she come across as haughty and self-important? Yes, but when your contemporaries are a bunch of mutant supremacist nationalists who feel that anything they do is acceptable due to the fact that they had been persecuted in the past, Storm certainly sounds closer to a voice of reason.
Yeah, I think in Storm’s place, it’s entirely reasonable to be deeply suspicious about his recruiting of her. Was it all part of some secret plot to get his hooks into her? No (unless further retcons come), but at this point… why should she believe that? With everything they’ve retconned Xavier into, it’s a pretty obvious thought. And all the denials in the world are useless when he’s still acting as if he was completely right and still the center of the story. Wanting to yell at him, and looking into everything he’s done with some paranoia seems reasonable.
That doesn’t mean that I think Storm’s behaving great either. I think of her right now as the workaholic who is burning out and just failing to be diplomatic anymore. She’s sick of peoples’ crap and lashing out. It’s not healthy and she desperately needs a vacation, but instead she’s doubling down that everything will break without her.
They’re both behaving badly, but I feel like Storm’s the more understandable one.
@Luis Dantas: Storm hasn’t been self-critical since the ’80s? Are we reading the same X-Men: Red run? Red exists because Storm, in her hubris, challenged and defeated Nameless for their seat on the Great Ring, which is how the Arakki ended up with a foreign national as their unelected representative in the first place–which she publicly acknowledged as a mistake, and has been actively working to right the wrong.
And Storm being of African descent makes all the difference in the world. Creating an imaginary world where Storm is white and then slagging off said illusory figure of being white savior…isn’t a real argument.
Without jumping to conclusions, I feel obligated to point out that the false equivalencies being drawn between her behavior vs Xavier’s, combined with some the whataboutism nature of these arguments is alarming to me, because those are common racist/sexist tactics of conservative arguments. (I mean–we’re talking about how Xavier has express intent to mentally assault a friend in order to harvest information from her AGAINST HER WILL…and the counterargument is, “What about that time where Storm acted badly?!” or, “She deserved xyz from 1979!” Just, wow.)
So, in the spirit of the benefit of the doubt: Is the driver behind these criticisms because you all actually believe Storm’s “crimes” or behavior are equal to or even worse than Xavier’s? (This would be a bad and wrong take, but you’re allowed to be wrong.) Do you all just find her annoying because she’s consistently written as haughty and arrogant? Or something else?
Yeah I don’t have any more sympathy for Storm than I do Xavier.
She has a history of inserting herself as a God/Queen to marginalized groups she knows nothing about.
She wants nothing more than to be worshipped.
At least not how’s she currently written.
It’s an interesting flaw in a complex character, but in her current Twitter Icon role it just makes her seem like an asshole.
Krakoa makes everyone an arrogant prick evidently.
I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but the Red Triangle protocol comes from USAvengers, as a throwaway anti-psychic trick with no particular explanation. Of course, Ewing throws nothing away.
I believe that White Sword will be back sooner or later since after all he is supposedly an External , according to both Genesis and Summoner , maybe even the first External older than Selene (which is why maybe why she never mentioned him to Gideon in that Cable story where he came back from the dead , because he’s able to hide his presence from her since he’s older than her and thus more powerful )
If anything, I think that the issues published since Sons of Sinister portray a Xavier that goes a bit too far in displaying humility. He has been doubting himself very often as of late.
It was him who decided that the four Sinisterized council members needed a weekend in the Pit. It is he who has shown any evidence of reconsidering his own judgment of people (mainly Legion). And implicitly he has also refused to raise objections to the apparently unilateral and poorly documented decisions of Nightcrawler and Storm of establishing proxy votes for themselves in just about the most precarious way conceivable, without even a second witness to their decisions. One is reminded of Triple Talaq.
Meanwhile, I find myself wondering if Black Panther would have put up with how regal Storm has apparently convinced herself that she is entitled to be.
For some reason while reading this, I thought about the mysterious Red Dominion and think that it is likely that it is the ascended hive mind of Arakko’s population. It would explain the color (the title is X-men Red) and be an excuse to remove them and terraformed Mars from the active books before they meet the same fate as the Neo.
Now maybe someone will say “Dominions don’t work that way” and they’d probably be right, but I think it would be an elegant way of removing the pieces from the board. We’d never see them again until someone thinks that the way to show their latest cosmic level threat is to have it destroy all the Dominions. I read that will happen in one of Destiny’s diaries.
To clarify, I agree that what Xavier did to Storm was inexcusable and creepy, given his past history. Bur it would nice if we had some consistency as to how seriously invading someone’s mind was treated on Krakoa. Since we have the Cuckoos suffering no consequences for forcing someone who insulted him to punch himself in the face, Synch getting a slap on the wrist for altering Ben Urich’s memories (to be fair, he was GENUINELY remorseful), Emma suffering no consequences for her manipulations of Alex during Hellions and now Storm refusing to be Xavier’s friend for trying to READ his mind. It would have worked much better if, for example, we saw Storm agitating for harsher punishment for Synch or Emma. Storm is still justified in cutting Xavier out of her life for his behavior. (I’m on the side of telepathy should ALWAYS be treated seriously.)
Saucier implies the existence of mutants called Saucy and Sauciest.
I’ll get my coat.
Storm does tend to go off the deep end when stressed. Nearly drowning the team to capture Mastermind, wiping Havok’s mind while the team was on the run from the Marauders, authorizing Wolverine to maim the Marauders if he found any, stabbing Forge to rid the world of the Adversary…
These were all justifiable actions in the moment, no doubt. But her solutions tend to become more extreme and murder-y when the stakes are high. That used to differentiate her and Cyclops as leaders. He was Mr. Cool and Repressed, and she actually felt stress.
To be clear, I don’t think that makes her the same as Xavier who clearly likes to play mind games with his students as far back as the Thomas/Adams years (when we learn he faked his death). I just think it puts her past actions in some context.
She is not the same as Xavier. She is unhinged. Xavier is not.
No. Just cold, calculating, and amoral; while at the same time coupling his personality with a saviour complex.
I’m not going to say that Storm isn’t sometimes arrogant or that she makes mistakes, but… “wants… to be worshipped,” “entitled,” “… White Savior trope?!?!?” Are you kidding me?
Storm has tried to make herself an equal member of the Arakki society, not superior. She even demoted herself in the Great Ring and refused resurrection. She asked permission to join them in battle. Storm is pointedly not taking over or disregarding their culture. She acknowledges mistakes and tries to set things right. I can’t remember if it’s been said on-panel, but Storm failing the Morlocks seems to inform her taking a different approach with the Arakki. Ororo is approaching her role in their society far differently than the paternalistic Xavier or the reprehensible Abigail Brand.
Imagine the scenario in X-Men Red 11, but reversed- Storm interrupts Xavier on his downtime and demands to speak with him about Magneto. She demands Xavier tell her Magneto’s last words. Xavier won’t because they were private, so Storm blasts him with a lightning bolt to make him talk… this whole exchange feels out of character for Storm, but it made sense with Xavier as the arrogant aggressor. The two characters are not the same, and Storm has every right to tell Xavier off after that violation.
Did we read the same issue? Xavier is absolutely unhinged — he’s shouting orders at her and declaring he’ll take information from her by force because he’s SAD ABOUT HIS FRIEND. He’s not particularly hinged at the minute, the man is spiralling out.
That said, I absolutely sympathize with them both here. Regardless of everything he’s done in his life, Xavier is reeling from the fresh, recent loss of his closest friend and is totally alienated from anything that would give him solace. He doesn’t trust himself, and his students don’t trust him either. This is a sad and painful place to be in. But that doesn’t give him an entitlement to Storm’s emotional support and time, and he can’t bully it out of her. He tried to use force to take what he wanted from her and failed. She is not required to be kind to someone becoming personally abusive to her (and while some people find empathy towards someone in a situation like this to be a saintlike virtue, it also gets people killed.)
I don’t think Storm presented herself as the best she could be here, but this is a very human and very familiar interaction to a lot of people, and if you’ve never encountered a man screaming for sympathy and understanding while also disrespecting you and threatening to escalate with force (which is what “taking someone’s memories” with power IS), I hope you never have to.
Like the man is being drawn shouting “I AM NOT ASKING” with spittle coming out of his mouth, those hinges are rusty af
If we are going by what is actually on the pages, there isn’t really a lot of wiggle room to justify Ororo. She is deeply judgmental even towards her own date, takes for granted that she must be right and worth listening to at all times, and explicitly justifies herself by her hurt pride from her very first interaction with Xavier back at least ten years prior.
And yes, she shows full White Savior behavior, down to being the recent arrival that somehow expects the existing culture to submit to her expectations and initiatives for some unsaid reason.
That is just how it is.
Xavier shouting “I AM NOT ASKING” with spittle coming out of his mouth is, in fact, actually on the pages.
@Luis Dantas: she’s not expecting any culture to submit, that’s the whole point of a big chunk of X-Men Red. She’s joining, not ruling. Ewing and company haven’t been subtle about that point.
Additionally, her interactions with her date are all friendly, with her asking more questions than anything else. The narration about him being “the most ordinary man [she’s] ever been on a date with” is possibly accurate, considering her dating history includes the king of Wakanda and a mutant capable of inventing just about anything. At no point does she say or think anything negative about him.
I’m in the middle of a Ewing reread, and can thus report that he was using “red triangle” back when Sunspot was leader of an Avengers / A.I.M. team.
I don’t think the 4 suits of Sinister are *common* knowledge, but I do think that the Quiet Council all know. My read of Immortal #11 is that the “film” they watch is essentially identical to the content that we read in Sins of Sinister.
I think it’s telling how Storm and Sunspot are spending their leisure time. Storm wants to talk to an essential ordinary guy who did something straightforwardly heroic. Kids were in danger, he saved them, that’s it. She doesn’t subscribe to Xavier’s utilitarian view of the world, she doesn’t need to spend time with the most influential person she can. When she sees evil, or innocents at risk, that’s where she’s headed. Craig reflects that. He’s the sort of person she wants to spend time with.
Roberto, conversely, is building a relationship with Nova, who is powerful and influential on the intergalactic stage, name-dropping the New Warriors to butter him up. But also spending time with Kobak, a potential new ally in the Great Ring. Storm wanted a break from politics. Roberto doesn’t stop.
I’m wondering when Storm’s decision to declare herself the Voice of Sol will fully blow back on her. She’s walked back her Regent of Mars stuff, but making herself the representative of billions without asking anyone, and with no allies to speak of, is unlikely to end well. Her granting proxy vote to Colossus is the obvious time bomb, but don’t forget that she’s left holding the bag for all of Brand’s schemes.
“Storm could accomplish much more, things which would actually benefit the mutant cause, by using her powers on a global level. There’s a drought? Storm will bring rain. There’s a hurricane? Storm will stop it. The same goals she was pursuing in her village but on a much larger scale. She could even have continued to help her village in the same manner. Instead, Xavier just wanted her to be a warrior.”
Mind you, there’s an in-story line of reasoning for why Storm doesn’t do exactly what you’re describing: because the weather works like a system in relative equilibrium, it’s been argued that if she were to do just that (i.e., correct all catastrophes according to human necessity), it would only engender a number of other harmful consequences, beyond her control.
Or, more simply: the bountiful system she kept the village in Kenya in would depend on creating scarcity elsewhere, by definition. Hence her not functioning like a sort of perpetual weather monitor and mediator.
Also, more simply and to the point, it would make for dire storytelling: what’s the conflict if she is a benevolent humanitarian whose actions hold no negative consequence?
“I hate to be a broken record but once again I’m reminded of how Morrison showed Xavier’s darkness not by showing how he had something going on under the surface, and how everything post Deadly Genesis has just made Xavier a dark character by having him be a shallow manipulator. And I like Ewing a lot more than basically anyone else writing on X-Men comics right now.”
Generally, I’d agree. But I think attributing a heel turn of sorts to Xavier because of Deadly Genesis, specifically, is a bit of a misreading.
Didn’t Xavier deliberately allow the X-Men to believe he was dead, when he was in fact off planet dealing with his own foe? Didn’t he deliberately suppress Jean’s latent telepathic powers, to protect her after the Annie incident? Wasn’t he sexually and romantically involved with Gabrielle Haller, a patient of his, which he aided in a time of crisis?
Even the Vought example speaks to this: there’s plenty of suggestions that Xavier is morally righteous and arrogant in terms of longer term continuity, often willing to bend rules (including those of consent) according to his own seemingly impeccable moral compass.
I would agree that not all writers have handled this with the nuance it deserves – Mike Carey being an excellent exception to the rule. But in 96, Mark Waid was already digging into the first issues of the X-Men (and Xavier’s very adult infatuation with very teenage Jean) as a sign of the contradictions Xavier himself never articulated, nor allowed to become apparent.
Oops. Quite a few new posts in this mix.
Luis Dantas:
I cannot possibly fathom how describing a black character as suffering from white saviour complex is anything other than outright obliviously racist. You do understand this isn’t a mere question of semantics, and that “white” signifies in a very concrete historical capacity, I imagine…?
Yes, there is plenty to be said about Ororo acting on brash impulse, being passionately reactive, and sometimes losing control over her emotional responses. It’s also something that’s long been dealt with as a flaw the character is aware of, to some extent, and attempts to attenuate for. The whole premise of her powers tying into her emotions only works to emphasize this.
Ororo is arrogant, and indulges people’s faith in her far too much. But to call her unhinged for refusing to be mentally intruded upon, already having been so (during the date), under the false pretence of an emergency… I mean, what?!
Not to speak of the fact that Ororo is literally descended from either colonized or enslaved black populations, and starts out this whole ordeal living in a village in Kenya.
Whereas Xavier is a rich white propertarian and intellectual whose argument boils down to Ororo being unreflective of her decisions, and holding an implicit duty to help others – within the specific limits of his dream, and his project. And yes, this power dynamic holds even as she departs of her own Accord.
To compare this vantage point to Storm’s relationship to Arakko as a whole is hopefully misguided. She is establishing a tricky position of potential authority amidst a mass refugee population from another dimension whose lives are fundamentally independent of her own, and whose respect she seems to earn (to an extent) through co-habitation and dialogue. Her primary Terran peers being a Holocaust survivor and a black Brazilian emigrant.
I mean, really, come on…
@Salome H- Also, in X-Men 4-5, he tricked the X-Men into thinking he lost his powers. And he lied to the New Mutants about Karma being dead, with the result that she spent months as a captive of the Shadow King.
@Alexx Kayy- technically the Quiet Council doesn’t know about the 4 suits. They know about Stasis and they know that Sinister spoke of other Sinisters- plural, so they’d have do be pretty dense not to work out that the other Sinisters are hearts and spades. It’s not clear if they know that Stellaris is the Spades Sinister- they know Stellaris helped Destiny steal the Moiras and Zsen told Cable that when she painted him she saw Aces of Spades, so if they spoke to Zsen or Cable they should be able to work it out. Obviously, none of them except maybe Shaw and Destiny know that Mother Righteous is the Hearts Sinister.
@Luis captures what’s been bugging me about Storm lately. Her total self regard. In fandom, it’s like she can do no wrong. But she’s not too far removed from Xavier herself at this point… It’s a great bit of character work and most interesting Storm has been in years! I’m looking forward to the other shoe to drop.
@KelvinGreen oh, sauce off
… my laughing smiley wasn’t included! 🙂 A light-hearted response now reads aggressively. Agh!
@Salome H: not to mention knowingly enslaving a sentient creature, the AI that became Danger. In addition to being a horrible act, it resulted in the death of a student in Astonishing X-Men. Xavier has continuously done whatever he wants in the service of his dream, regardless of consequences.
I know this is tangential to the discussion at hand, but I can’t stop thinking about it.
Manipulation may be the best summation of Xavier’s leadership style. I mean, his idea of combatting anti-mutant prejudice was acting as a human expert about mutants and disguising his students as superheroes. Duplicity is built right in. It’s no surprise that we keep uncovering his prior machinations.
Cyclops was always prone to repression as a survivor of multiple childhood traumas, so buying into Xavier’s schemes without much thought came naturally to him. His first duty is to the ideals baked into Xavier’s dream because his self-worth is derived from doing good and getting approval from others. Those good feelings keep the demons at bay.
By the time Storm becomes team leader, the old way of things is starting to blow up. Threats to mutant existence are becoming both more numerous and more lethal (e.g., Marauders, Nimrod, Forge’s depowering gun). Her ruthless leadership style is a direct response to the scale of the menace the X-Men face. She struggles to fill a role that is enormously difficult, changing her in ways she didn’t think possible.
While Storm may not always be up to the task, she doesn’t have the ability to disguise her stress the way Xavier and Scott both do. Instead of burying secrets or repressing her feelings, she wears them quite openly as a mohawk and punk outfit.
Xavier: duplicitous, manipulative
Cyclops: repressed, loyal, focused
Storm: pragmatic, ruthless, stretched thin
For some reason the “His name was Max” line really rubbed me the wrong way; I felt like it was implying Storm had some deeper understanding of who Magneto was than Xavier did, even though Xavier was probably the one man who knew Magneto better than anyone else on Earth. Their decades-long friendship-enmity-friendship was almost certainly the longest and most intimate relationship of Magneto’s life.
I may be reading too much into it, but it felt of a piece with Ewing’s generally adulatory portrayal of Storm throughout this series, where she’s this perfect, wonderful, invincible goddess who can do no wrong – even the main obstacle Storm faces here, that she’s spread too thin, is sort of a complaint that there’s not enough Storm in the universe; that ideally there should be two Storms, or three, or as many Storms as it takes. It’s very boring to see everyone else in this series portrayed as thorns in Ororo’s divine side.
I didn’t take it as, “I knew him better than you” so much as I did her telling Charles that he’s insisting on his definition of who Magneto is — his friend Erik — instead of the one Magneto was using, “Max.” Of course, it’s extra confusing because Charles ALREADY went from calling the man Magnus to Erik so it’s not like Charles is inflexible with names, he’s probably not used to the Max name. Neither am I tbh
Granted, Prof X has his fair share of dodgy on-screen moments, but I struggle to think of
Bah, stupid tablet! I was trying to say that I struggle to think of another character whose core concept has been so thoroughly changed by events that happened off-panel, only to come up again years later. Not knowing his best friends real name because it didn’t exist at the time he thought he was using it is the very least of things.
It seems what Storm opponents really want to say is that they find her occasional arrogance and self-bloviating to be insufferable, perhaps as equal to Xavier’s. In isolation I have no problem with this, but I’d challenge all of you to contrast Storm–a Black woman–to her contemporaries in this arena: Dr. Doom, Namor, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Strange, Thor, Xavier, etc. For those other white, cis-gender male characters, their arrogance is a feature, not a bug; something that is celebrated and even memed. And frankly, I’ve personally never seen anyone online trash those guys (okay, maybe Reed) like I’m seeing Storm get trashed here.
Ask yourselves: How does Storm actually compare to all of them? Is she really equal to them or worse? Or is there an element of gender and racial bias that isn’t being acknowledged here? I have to conclude the latter at this point based on how people are engaging in this discussion in such an intellectually disingenuous way (i.e., ignore the slew of thoughtful counterarguments that have been presented and double down on their stance). It’s one thing if you just don’t like her or that regal brand of self-importance (I get it, different strokes; I love Storm and even I have to sigh sometimes when cishet white writers overly indulge in this); it’s another argument entirely to conflate your personal dislike of a character and then state, without evidence, that all her crimes are somehow proportionate to Xavier’s.
Something else to consider: Over the course of Storm’s entire publication history, I can only find evidence that she has been written under the care of a Black writer exactly ONE TIME by Eric Jerome Dickey in the Astonishing X-Men: Storm mini (which is about her marriage with Black Panther)–which I’ve never seen referenced as a major touchstone in Storm’s c development. That means, for better or worse, white male writers have been steering this ship for over four decades, all of whom had a hand shaping her best and worst (e.g., tired and narrow mammy and magical negro stereotypes) tendencies. I hope this changes someday. Storm isn’t a perfect character, but she’s the most important female icon and high-profile woman of color in the Marvel pantheon, so colored folk are going to take what we’ve got.
@Paul: Something I don’t think that has come up between IXM #11 and XMR #11 annotations is UXM #305: The issue where Storm, after stealing a CD containing an anti-Magneto armor prototype for Xavier, challenges Xavier about whether or not he psionically influenced her to join the X-Men all those years ago. Clearly indicates that their relationship has been somewhat contentious for years, and once we take Xavier’s pattern of abuse and manipulation into account, her reaction to him in this week’s Red is more than appropriate: https://t.ly/YWuY
@Thom H.: Manifesting stress during times of duress while in a position of leadership isn’t a deficit, just like always presenting as cool and relaxed isn’t necessarily indicative of strength. I point this out because women in leadership positions are consistently criticized for being more empathetic or demonstrative with their emotions in these situations whereas men might otherwise be celebrated for their “passion.”
Re: Max vs Erik: In light of the identity and preferred names themes that have run through New Mutants, Excalibur, and Marauders (specifically w/ Kate) these last few years, I also had the same read as Mathias X: This is now my preferred name, please respect my autonomy and start calling me this.
I really don’t like the number of name changes Magneto has, but they also attach so much dramatic Holocaust-based weight to the names that I guess it also feels weird for the writers to neglect them. Still, I can’t call him Max. I just can’t.
I give Xavier a pass on the Erik/Max thing because Magneto going by Max is new. I think the name change was used in the story to point out that Storm knew Magneto better recently, and has come to know him in his current state while Xavier has not. I thought Magneto going by Max (post-WWII) started in X-Men Red 1, I don’t remember him using that name in the modern era before that.
Dwayne McDuffie wrote for Storm during his year on Fantastic Four, and she turns up a bit in Black Panther under Priest and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ but yes, not exactly character-defining appearances of hers (though McDuffie does get in a few cracks about people asking if that’s her “real hair”).
@Thom H: You’ve inadvertently made me realize that what Scott desperately needs is a mohawk and punk outfit as a stress outlet rebranding. All of his earlier stress-rebellion attempted badass turns failed because he was not cool enough and now he needs to take a page from Storm.
I will accept him taking and modifying Age of Apocalypse Cyclops’s hairstyle into a horsehawk.
@CitizenBane- yeah, it’s pretty glaring the differences between Ewing’s and Gillen’s interpretations of Storm. Ewing’s Storm is as perfect as you say- she even outwits Destiny. Gillen on the other hand makes it clear that was part of Destiny’s plan. And once the universe is reset Storm makes all the wrong decisions- she thanks Mother Righteous, her decision to ban the 4 Council members from voting plays into the hands of Mikhail and Mother Righteous and finally hands over her proxy to Colossus without realizing he’s mind controlled. In short, Gillen’s Storm gets everything wrong from start to finish and the only reason she doesn’t end up like Margali is Mother Righteous doesn’t want to blow her cover yet.