X years later, with Earth’s gods gone, only Ororo Munroe, the mutant god of storms, remains. She is a goddess driven mad by dark magic and grief. Now, as Storm threatens to freeze the world into a new Ice Age, Rogue leads a team of killers and legends — Gateway, Iceman, Fantomex, Spiral and Warpath. The sole mission of this Uncanny X-Force: kill Storm. Rogue Storm #1 is written by Murewa Ayodele, drawn by Roland Boschi, colored by Neeraj Menon and lettered by Travis Lanham.
Imagine, if you will, how your life would be if you did that thing.
Or didn’t do that thing.
That one, nagging decision you made that you’re sure, sure would have changed everything had you chosen differently.
Maybe you’d be happily married to her with kids; maybe going to that college would have opened up bigger doors sooner; maybe you should have said no instead of yes, or just not said anything at all.
Et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum. One can only dream.
Would you even recognize this alternative universe version of you? How much of you is a result of that fateful decision? Would you be willing to sacrifice all the connections and experiences that happened because of that choice for the unknown repercussions of another one?
Who knows? Certainly not Ayodele, for he doesn’t provide any answers in Rogue Storm #1; he barely poses any questions.
He does, however, continue his fascination with gods and gundams, seen throughout his run on the precursor Storm series. Serving as a pause for the linewide “Age of Revelation” event (and an eventual series relaunch at the event’s end), Rogue Storm (the title being both the names of the main characters and a play on the idea that Storm has gone rogue) traverses the passé, oft trodden path of broken characters traversing a dystopian future. Storm’s spirit is broken, Rogue was split in two, the world is a mess and now former friends are at odds with the fate of the world at stake.
Et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum.
We don’t really get an understanding of what changed the world in comic (or that there’s a changed world aside from the results of Storm’s emotional break). You’d need to read other comics to understand there’s a virus turning humans into mutants and mutants into monsters; that Doug Ramsey is now the scion of Apocalypse, called Revelation (Apocalypse is taken from the ancient Greek word for revelation, ergo why the back book of the Bible feels so … apocalyptic); that the X-Men have split up (they are always splitting up!); and that Storm is uncharacteristically living in solitude. The comic decides either that 1) you’ll figure it out and/or 2) nothing outside this story matters anyway. Thus we’re introduced to our motley crew, with one-line quips meant to communicate their personalities, but very little to signal all that’s changed in the world. Still, they all fight. One dies.
None leaves a real impression.
We also don’t really get an understanding of how these characters have changed from their current counterparts. Rogue is literally a different person — a clone (always a clone!) split from the original, isolated from her love, with a little less power and dealing with a lot more pain. (We actually *do* see what happens to Rogue and Remy in Unbreakable X-Men, also released today for what it’s worth. I won’t spoil the (ha!) revelation).
As for Storm, Ayodele continues a pattern of making her the object, not the subject of his work. We’re aware of her power and her anger; reaching and beating her is the goal. Yet we don’t see her why; the changes we see to her are only surface-level deep. We don’t get a revelation (ha!) of her motivations, or her pain, of what change caused her to ride a different path. One would assume that’s what the next issue is for, but one can only judge on what is, not what might be.
What we’re left with, then, are characters with a tenuous connection to their current counterparts and cool action scenes with little context given to explain the disconnect from those characters’ core personalities.
And really, for an alternate-universe story, context and characterization are the whole point. Who was this person before? What was the major change? How did this character change as a result? What vestiges of their personalities remain constant? How does that conflict between the situational changes and their core characterizations play out? A great alternate-universe story answers all these questions (not necessarily directly); this issue answers none of them.
(It also looks just fine. Boschi’s style feels purposefully raw, which, in an uncertain future makes for a good fit. Still, there’s nothing here that feels exceptional. That’s not a slight: Good is not bad, but good is not great, either).
As this is only the introductory issue, it’s very possible the missing context, emotional connections and character agency will be (ha!) revealed subsequently. It’s certainly worth your money to stick around and find out.
Still, one imagines an alternate universe where Ayodele decided to dig a little deeper and be a bit more direct.
Imagine how the comic would read if he did that thing.
One can only dream.
Buy Rogue Storm #1 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
A proud New Orleanian living in the District of Columbia, Jude Jones is a professional thinker, amateur photographer, burgeoning runner and lover of Black culture, love and life. Magneto and Cyclops (and Killmonger) were right. Learn more about Jude at SaintJudeJones.com.
