Customer Reviews

Astonishing X-Men: Storm (Book Market Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, it should be understood that Storm is Marvel comics' premier Super-Heroine, period!

Popular novelist Eric Jerome Dickey, known for his best-selling African-American fiction novels, writes the definitive origin story for "Storm".

Born of a Kenyan tribal princess and an African-American photojournalist, Ororo Munroe lived in New York City and Cairo before losing her parents in the aftermath of a terrorist conflict. Forced to live as a vagabond for the next several years, the story opens shortly after Ororo has hit puberty, and her mutant powers begin to manifest. She is currently living with a band of child thieves, mentored by the anonymous Teacher. One fateful day, she snatches the camera of an "American", who turns out to be a South African game hunter. She is nearly caught, but an accidental use of her powers allows her to escape. Intrigued, the hunter realizes that she is a mutant, and instantly becomes obsessed with capturing her. Further conflict develops when the hunter calls in his brother for support, the incredibly strong (and brutal) Andreas, aka the Bull.

An observer soon drawn into the conflict is a young man around Ororo's age. He is Prince T'Challa of Wakanda: the only African nation to never have been conquered by an outside force, and whose deposits of the precious mineral vibranium are coveted by men throughout the world. He is on his `walkabout', a coming-of-age ritual where he is to discover the outside world and find out what it means to be a man.

The two adolescents are instantly intrigued with each other, and thus begins their journey into friendship, love, and mortal danger that will carry into their adult lives.

Dickey's prose captures Storm's personality quite well, delving into the psyche of a girl discovering her womanhood. There is an excellent balance of action and character development. Throughout the story there are several dramatic observations about both African and African-American culture, the legacy of colonialism and modern-day problems in Africa.

David Yardin's art is well-suited for this story, the black characters in particular look realistically ethnic, a common concern in comic-book art. The writer and artist should team up for another story, soon. This has the potential to be turned into a movie, perhaps an X-Men prequel.

This graphic novel is Wonderful! I bought it at the atlanta airport bookstore, and read it on the plane. It pulls one into the plight of Ororo(storm) and her need to survive in a very realisticly cruel setting of Africa.

Not many women would admit to loving comics but I do!

As an artist and black woman, Dickey has done a great job of telling her story.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SECOND ONE.

Not sure what's worse: the complete rewriting of the story to where T'Challa saves Storm (when it's been the other way around since the 1980s), or the explicit, detailed storm of a 16-year-old boy making love to a 12-year-old girl. Absolutely terrible.

This book was absolutely great. I have always been a fan of Marvel Comics X-men and a advid reader of Eric Jerome Dickey. OMG!!!! I loved this book and hope to see more. Amazing!!!!!

I love superheros and Eric Jerome Dickey books so to have the two put together is amazing.

I hadn't read a comic book since I was in the 10th grade, but reading this one made one of Dickey's books come alive! This should be turned into a movie. I look forward to reading another comic book from him.

I have the original series in the 6 different comic books, but having them in one book is great. If you love X-men, romance and a deep story, this is the book for you!

Great seeing black love in comic book form. The plot could have been a little deeper, but I'm not complaining much. If they added twenty more pages, maybe they could have fleshed out some of the flat characters (ex. all the white guys). Nevertheless, the art was stunning. I couldn't put it down.

I acutally brought this comic book for a friend of mine who is in love with Eric Jerome Dickey!!!. He loved it!! So it's a good buy-

I tell y'all I have not read a book like this since I was a kid. I am not a fan of Eric's. However, I discovered that he had collaborated with some illustrators. They did the artwork and he wrote the story.

I had fun reading it.

Tthis collected miniseries, which retroactively creates a teenage romance for the two heroes, feels forced. Sure, Marvel had to build a foundation for the highly publicized wedding of these two characters, but -- just like the ongoing Democratic primaries -- it seems like an awkward attempt to play the race card and lure black voters -- I mean, readers -- to its side.

Marvel gives its intentions away on the back cover, touting this as the "untold love story between Marvel's two pre-eminent black superheroes." The fact that they're both black seems to be sufficient motivation for them to fall in love, right?

The choice of romance novelist Eric Jerome Dickey to write the script is a fair indication where this story is going. Sure, there's action, but it's contrived and kind of dumb. The villains are pure cardboard, with flimsy motivations both for their unrelenting pursuit of Ororo and for their casual approach to murder among friends and foes alike. These bad guys are ridiculous.

On the plus side, artwork by David Yardin (with an assist by Lan Medina) is excellent. Otherwise, this book is mostly for people who were swept away by the romance of Ororo and T'Challa's sudden nuptials and want a romantic backstory to support it.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(net) editor

The art in this volume was very good. I would like to read more by these artists. Eric Jerome Dickey should stick to bad novels and stay away from bad graphic novels.