Happy Sunday, dear reader! Last night’s Dark heARTs opening was a spectacular array of amazing people, art and fashion! I love the way folks really got into the spirit of the show and came dressed to the nines. There were a lot of photographers at the event, so I expect to see images come trickling in the next couple of days and I will be sure to share them with you!
I was very happy to exhibit six of my new art pieces and a plethora of new Sacred Superhero candles, but the thing I was most excited about was the debut of Swankety Swank’s brand new ‘zine, SwankSpeak! In this issue, I have a full page comic of Galaxy Runway (spinning out of Princess Witch Boy), a column and an interview with gibbous fashion house! There’s also great photography by Earth L. Goodwin, and a fun and informative article by Oliver Lowe on Steampunk! Consider ordering an issue or a subscription. I think you’ll find it a great read!
Now regarding Ororo Munroe, an installment of Brian Cronin’s Comic Book Legends Revealed (#246 on Comic Book Resources) was brought to my attention because it features Barry Windsor-Smith and Storm Anyone who claims to be a Storm fan needs to check this out!
Ok, so you read that CBR article, right? Wasn’t that artwork simply awesome?! Marvel was foolish to turn down that story. I think it would have been great to have a Lifedeath trilogy. What a shame. At least BWS was able to get it published under a different character and we can buy the comic as Adastra in Africa. But we all really know it’s Storm.
Page 20 of Uncanny X-Men #20 showcases Barry Windsor-Smith’s depiction of Storm, Dazzler, Rogue and even Psylocke. This was around the time that the entity Malice (of the Marauders) was a threat.
I have no idea which issue of Uncanny X-Men this is from, but I wanted to share this art by Lee Weeks and Klaus Janson. It’s a funny page to me because it seems like Storm and Wolverine’s dialogue has been reversed. Usually it’s Logan that wants to be push people to their limits and Storm is more likely to give folks a break. It’s also humorous to see Logan smoking before Joe Quesada’s smoking ban. Lee Weeks is a great artist (as if you didn’t know).
I found this Munroe family tree on UncannyX-Men.net, which is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the X-Men. Originally, Storm was simply an orphan whose parents died in the Suez Canal war (this was later retconned because placing the attack on a specific date made Storm too old for sliding Marvel time). Most of this family tree was created by Reginald Hudlin when he took over Black Panther and shoehorned Storm into the title. I preferred Storm not having all of these relatives all of a sudden. It seems forced and heavy-handed (much like her marriage to Black Panther), and takes away her orphan status which I believe is a core component to the character.
This is Storm’s origin. This is the tragedy that is at the core of the character, the incident that will always haunt her and is the cause of her claustrophobia. Adding long lost relatives simply cheapens this story. Artwork by legend John Romita.
This page is from Dazzler #1, page 9 and is drawn by John Romita, Jr. Many comics showed the X-Men in the Danger Room when they guest-starred. It was the most expedient way to show the characters’ personalities and powers before they interacted with the titular character.
