1984 - 1985: Shifting Storms part II: Take These Broken Wings And Learn To Walk...

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

The mid 1980s were a time of great change for Storm. After she slowly allowed herself to become a thinking, feeling woman instead of a rigid, emotionless weather goddess, she began to experience a bit of an identity crisis. Thank goodness she still had her powers to rely on, eh?

In a way, Storm's character arc for most of the mid 80s was comparable to that of a teenager first learning that life means permant change. No one is really ready for that first taste of oftentimes maddening fluidity. Not only is everyone around you constantly changing their mind, hairstyle, goals and friends... You're also undergoing a change. Of course, the truth is, you've always been changing... It is when you actually start to notice and wonder about it that things can get worrisome.

As we detailed in our initial entry, Ororo Munroe had been slowly losing her inhibitions. All that really remained of her old, regal weather goddess identity was her trademark cape. Wolverine solved that in Uncanny X-Men I#178.

"You slashed the cape from my body without touching me."

It would be the last time during the entire 1980s that Storm wore her black and gold cape. It's a small, almost insignificant touch, but it does cement the continuing change in style and mentality she was going through. Still, even though she was definitely becoming more forceful and ruthless, the kinder and gentler aspects of Ororo's personality shone true. Even though she was initially distrustful of Rogue, she accepted her when the young woman freely risked her life and endured intense agony in order to save Colossus. 

Over the next few months, Storm would become Rogue's unofficial mentor, but that didn't mean she could do without counsel herself. Case in point, the very poignant Uncanny X-Men I#180.

"I find myself casting aside the precepts and beliefs that gave my life meaning... 

And hardly missing them once they are gone."

It's such a beautiful bit of symbolism. When we're growing up, we automatically tend to idolize our parents, thinking they have all the answers and are always right. They set the example we, sometimes subconsciously, try to emulate. But as we age, enter our teens start to think for ourselves and begin to rebel, all that changes. Father no longer knows best. And add to that the fact that her "surrogate father" of sorts now suddenly sees Ororo as a real, vibrant and attractive woman as well. That might have been in part because he'd just regained the use of his legs and Lilandra had just left Earth, but still... Storm had become an entirely different person.

But given her line of work, Ororo wants to make sure she isn't being manipulated in some way. A reasonable concern when the Shadow King was after you when you were still a child on the streets of Cairo.

So, Charles has a little looksee.

"Sometimes, I think, I fear... I... hope... I must be insane."

Ah, the insanity plea...Sometimes, when you're not quite ready to own up to what you really feel, you tend to look for loopholes: "That's not me, I didn't do that... I wasn't in control of my faculties at the time". But no, in this case all those maddening identity crisis style questions turn out to be genuine. Xavier offers to help, use his telepathy to guide her as best he can. Ororo declines, preferring to see it through on her own. In need of some company, she goes to visit her old plants which she donated to the Bronx arboretum when she redecorated her attic.

"I feared that I had lost that special rapport with the Earth, 

but on my first trip to these gardens I realized I am as aware of life as I ever was."

Which is a wonderful sentiment, but a page and a half later, we see the regal weather goddess of old brutally stomping down on a band of muggers, even summoning a little thunder and lightning to scare the living heck out of them. Her connection to the Earth might still be there, but she's no longer the goddess of old. After returning to Xavier's school, Ororo decided to resolve things with Kitty Pryde who was still furious with her because of the changes she'd undergone recently. High in the sky, the two close friends talked it out...

"I am learning things about myself I do not like... 

But I must keep learning, striving to find my true self... 

My place in the scheme of things. 

I must know who I am as. I must live my life as I see fit."

In a very powerful and moving sequence, Storm confronted Kitty with a harsh, but grown up truth. It's beyond selfish of Pryde to blame Ororo for not remaining who Kitty'd decided she should be. But that's what we all tend to do with the people we hold dear. It's much easier to love them for who we we imagine them to be than to accept them for who they are, warts and all.

But Ororo is sympathetic, even though she pointed out the hypocrisy behind Kitty's accusations. How can she be a monster for changing when Pryde herself has been reinventing herself left and right? It's a rough lesson to take to heart, but Pryde takes it in stride. In the end, Ororo got through to Kitty and they shared a teary-eyed embrace. This scene was also a very elegant way of dovetailing Storm's earlier sentiments on the subject. 

Back in Uncanny X-Men I#114, she gave Cyclops a bit of tough love.

"If you wanted only to preserve the Jean-that-was, like a fly in amber, 

perhaps what you felt for her wasn't love at all."

The weather goddess is wise... in all things, except her own heart. It took over 75 issues for Storm to listen to her own advice and realize she's no fly in amber either. But if you're finally willing to entertain the idea of changing, the unanswerable question is: what will you become? Luckily for Ororo, her work as leader of the X-Men answered a very large part of that query.

And then the first Secret Wars happened... During the course of the war, Storm began to notice Xavier undermining her leadership. Perhaps in part due to the scope of the stakes, the professor started to act like the unreasonable taskmaster he was during the early Stan Lee/Jack Kirby days. Ororo was willing to entertain her mentor, but when Charles casually passed her by and sent Cyclops out to lead an away mission in Secret Wars I#6, Storm sprang into action.

" I am the leader of the X-men... Not Cyclops and not you!"

Xavier defused the situation, perhaps with a bit of mental coercion. But the idea of having the professor around on missions, ordering everyone around telepathically, began to wear on Storm. In all aspects, a telepath would be far more useful and versatile as team leader.

"I must admit, the professor makes a superb leader (...) But is his desire to lead... his automatic assumption of command... a reflection of my performance? Am I not good enough?!"

Oh, the verbose soliloquys one can deliver while hovering in mid-air trying to douse a firestorm... 

For a few months, Claremont played up the alleged tensions between Storm and Xavier, no doubt paying lipservice to Secret Wars which was still going on by the time these issues of Uncanny X-Men came out. The drama always felt a bit forced, the professor and Storm respected each other and Charles had long since accepted the X-Men weren't teens anymore, in constant need of his supervision... Heck, that's what the New Mutants were there for. 

But Charles usurping her command was the least of Storm's worries, as we'd see in the climax of September 1984's Uncanny X-Men I#185.

Concerned with the threat posed by the Dire Wraiths, the American government had reached out to mutant inventor Forge to come up with weapons to fight and defeat the alien menace. When Forge came up with a power neutralizing gun, Henry Peter Gyrich realized it would also work on mutants. Taking the prototype, Gyrich was determined to use it on Rogue, who had only recently raided the SHIELD Helicarrier. Not willing to let go of his creations before they were thoroughly tested, Forge attempted to stop Gyrich from firing at Rogue... only to hit Storm instead.

Now powerless, she was taken to the Aerie, the luxurious skyscraper home of Forge in Dallas. The inventor wanted to make things up to the innocent victim of his genius. Storm was in no mood to be cared for, pampered or doted on. She was in deep mourning over the loss of an essential part of herself.

"This is not life, Forge. Merely existence... a shadow of what was. 

To believe otherwise is but the cruelest of deceptions."

Well, one thing that came from this tragedy: now we know Ororo's tendency for overwrought exposition isn't a mutant power. But despite their thorny start, it soon became apparent there was an undeniable attraction between her and Forge. In the smart, smooth and subtle double-sized Uncanny X-Men I#186 the creative team of Chris Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith told the story of young love between old, scarred souls tormented by their own demons. And even though love blossomed, it all fell apart when Storm overheard a call Forge had with government officials. She'd learned her new beau was responsible for the weapon that mutilated her. Furious, she walked out on him. 

Storm returned to the X-Men (after a verrrrry long, three issue adventure that saw Ororo teaming up with Forge, his old mentor Nazé and the summoned X-Men to fight off the Dire Wraith threat). Without her powers, she'd decided she had no reason to remain with the X-Men. In fact, Nightcrawler had already replaced her as team leader, but Kurt was insecure and convinced he didn't have one *bamf*ing chance... as seen in this scene from Uncanny X-men I#188. 

"Do it as a favor to me. I need you by my side, this last time more than ever"

Oh man, did Charles get it wrong with Kurt... If you need your now powerless, defrocked and traumatized teammate to hold your hand during a meeting you requested yourself with people you've known for years... worry.

Storm wasn't intending to stick around anyway. She was planning to take a sea cruise that would return to her native continent: Africa. There, she would try and reconnect with the woman she'd once been. Unfortunately, even as the X-Men were throwing Ororo a good-bye party, all of New York briefly changed into a Hyborean citystate, courtesy of the recently revived demon priest Kulan Gath. Even without powers, she proved crucial in defeating him and restoring everyone to normal. That still didn't convince her to stay, but even in Africa she ran into problems...

"You are the windrider, the goddess... ORORO! You have returned!!"

First things first: the people Storm's holding a gun on are a group of wealthy Westerners out on safari, ready to kill some animals and ride roughshot over the veldt. When they tried to take advantage of the lone woman running the local bush station, Ororo stepped in and forced them away.

But isn't it a bit odd that Storm chose to return to Africa to find out who she really was? After all, it was there that she assumed the all-consuming act of pretending to be an emotionless elemental deity. Why would she want to return to that figurative cage, especially now that she no longer had the mutant powers to back up that comforting, self-serving lie?

She didn't have long to ponder this, because in Uncanny X-Men I#196, the hunters she'd previously scared off returned for a little vengeance...

"No... How could you shoot so noble a beast... NO!"

Make your own, topical Cecil the lion/dentist joke here, folks... 

The silver maned lion was part of an aborted storyline Chris Claremont had planned for Storm. It was supposed to be an omen, just like the mistlike image of her mother N'dare Ororo encountered on the boat ride over. Back in Uncanny X-Men I#160, Claremont had introduced an alternate reality version of Storm who had pretty much lost her mutant elemental powers, but was now a powerful sorceror.

"As I grew older (...) I turned to the other half of my heritage: sorcery"

To his credit, Claremont did his best to set up this new turn for Storm... He even used New Mutants I#32 to introduce Ashake, an ancient Egyptian ancestor of Ororo's who was also a potent mage. In the end, nothing came of it... Even though you'd have to be able to pull a rabbit out of your hat to survive a bullet to the head. But Storm survived, leading into perhaps *the* defining issue of the 1980s: Uncanny X-Men I#198, or Life-Death II: From The Heart of Darkness.

Barry Windsor-Smith rejoined Chris Claremont to tell Storm's redemption story. Lost when she found out she was a false goddess, adrift after succumbing to all emotions and looking for purpose without her powers and the X-Men, this is when Ororo Munroe started to rise again. Stumbling through the desert in the midst of a sandstorm, Storm found a cave where she sat down to rest. Delirious from exposure and her headwound, the hallucinations came...

"Ororo, my dear child. You have always been afraid. Why do you think I took you from your nest and forced you to fly? You were safe there... Had you remained, you would have remained an infant."

Tormented by cruel visions of her loved ones mockingly tempting her to lay down and die, Ororo nevertheless persevered. She went out into the storm again, mercilessly buffeted by the elements she could once control with a mere thought. If there was a trace of hubris left, it got sandblasted away in that hellish ordeal. In the midst of the sandstorm, Ororo discovered a crashed bus. On board, a young, pregnant woman named Shani who is in desperate need of help.

Freely giving of herself, even if she had little else to offer than the shelter of her body, Ororo made sure Shani reached her village. If nothing else, this marked her true heroism. First, she refused to give in to fear and doubt, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds and then to stand ready and fight for someone in need. She didn't need her mutant powers, the X-Men's aid or the illusion she was a goddess in order to matter. 

She was even crucial when Shani went into labor and needed help.

"I hear my son crying within me. He's scared, Ororo.
He doesn't want to die! He wants to be born!"

And born he was. 

Thanks to Ororo giving the child some much needed mouth to mouth resuscitation, the villagers could welcome their newest member. This also meant the village elder Mjnari decided he had to honor a cruel but necessary tradition: since their food supplies could only support a certain number of people, whenever a new life entered the world the oldest one had to go. Storm watched as the elder willed himself to death on a nearby mountain top. Soon afterwards, she suddenly felt overcome with a new sense of purpose.

"I have no powers. My body cannot fly, but I no longer mind.  

For in my heart and soul... where it truly matters... I soar higher than the stars!"

It's hard not to be moved by so powerful and sincere a message, even if it's slightly schmaltzy. Ororo would remain in Africa, acting as a bridge between the old ways and the new, as well as between humanity and its mutant children. In a way, she had reclaimed, nay, earned her old position as "goddess", but now she was a living, breathing and feeling woman instead of an artificial edifice. 

In part III of Shifting Storms, we'll see how long she holds on to that job...

Posted in: 1980s Comics