Uncanny X-Men #147 (Jul 81): Rogue Storm!Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Dave Cockrum & Josef Rubenstein, artists; Glynis, colorist; Orz, letterer; Louis Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, ed-in-chief;
Starting Line Up: Storm, Angel, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite (DNA)
Guest Star: Cyclops
Synopsis: Nightcrawler teleported himself two miles above Doctor Doom's castle. He wasn't sure how far below the ground he was beneath the castle, so he teleported as far as he could straight up. He's falling, but thanks to the raging storm, he catches an updraft to slow his falling, then teleports directly above a lake. He heads back to the castle to save the rest of the X-Men. Inside, Arcade laughs at Doom over Nightcrawler's escape. Doom orders his guards to seach. Doom worries that the Hellish storm might be Storm's doing, but can't figure out how since he's nothing more than a living statue now. At the NORAD center in Colorado, they become very frightened of the storm. Back in a guard tower, two guards are taken out by Nightcrawler. He descends into the castle to find the X-Men. Colossus thinks he's figured out the solution to his cell. The lasers are blasting the large rocks the approx size of Colossus, but are letting the small rocks approx the size of Piotr Rasputin go by. He takes the risk by changing to his human form and diving below the lasers. It works. When he gets by them, he turns back to Colossus and smashes his way out. Angel also believes he figured out his solution. His lasers arn't firing in a random pattern, but a highly advanced one. He manages to fly through it and escape. He's swept up by the water escaping from Colossus' cell. Wolverine is going to mad he starts having flash backs. He recalls the time he almost killed James Hudson (Vindicator) and his wife when they were his friends. Hudson talked Wolverine out of his rage and got him to use his intellect. He realises that's what he needs to go now, so when he hits a wall, he slashes it before it can throw him, and he does it to every wall after that until the zero gravity cuts out and he's free. He makes his way to Doom who sends "Storm" after him, but Wolverine instantly detects it's not her and destroys the robot. Doom isn't as easy to tackle. But Nightcrawler sneaks in and they get the upper hand. Wolverine holds his claws to Doom's face and makes him release Storm. He gives Nightcrawler an orb that will turn Storm back to normal. It works, but Doom uses the distraction to blast them. Storm, however, is anything but normal. She's totally freaked out, lashing out, and no longer listening to reason. Colossus arrives and saves everyone but smashing the floor so they fall out of harm's way. Colossus tries to talk sense into Storm, but she blasts him. Angel arrives and does nothing. Colossus again tries to talk to Storm and says she's facing the extremity of her powers just like Phoenix did. This snaps Storm back to reality. She then tries to calm the raging storm, but it uses the extent of her power and she collapses. The rest of the X-Men prevent Arcade from escaping. Storm asks again for Arcade's release and the promise Doom will never bother him again. Doom agrees as long as Arcade appologizes. He reluctantly does. Doom appologizes to Storm and explains he reacted to the X-Men attacking his castle first without provocation. Storm says they leave with a clean slate and the next move is Doom's. On a familiar Carribean island, Cyclops and Aleytys (spelling changed again, so fuck it... It's Lee from now on) awake and find a gigantic city on an island a mile off shore that wasn't there before.
Yeah, but is it good? I loved it. I'm sure Fantastic Four fans hated it. Doom is treated on a level below the X-Men's greatest villains. I suppose it would be like the Fantastic Four easily beating around Magneto. But really, they didn't beat him decisively. This is just like a Murderworld story, as all the X-Men have seperate obstacles to overcome, then come together and fight the bigger problem. Side draining the fight into stopping Storm rather than a huge battle with Doom is better idea since it doesn't have the X-Men defeat Doom (making no sense for the rest of the Marvel Universe) and it doesn't have the X-Men losing to an outside villain in their own title (who wants to read that?). Rogue Storm was supposed to akin to Dark Phoenix, but on a much less cosmic scale. I don't know how well that came across, and I did have a bit of trouble buying Storm going *that* nuts. Sure her claustaphobia and all... I guess it was the dialogue she exchanged with her fellow X-Men while blasting them. If she was doing it mindlessly, like Wolverine's berzerker rage, it would have made more sense. This issue did point out how useless Angel is to the team. The idea that he was having a rough time adjusting to being a hero again was dropped, and he's just an extra face of the team. I also feel the need to point out that Cyclops is said to be shipwrecked on a Carribean island, but it the Bermuda Triangle. Bermuda is not in the Carribean. It's pretty far north of it.
Significata: Storm goes wild for the first time. Colossus is the only one who can snap her out of it. We find out Wolverine almost killed his best friend (in an officer's uniform no less) out of rage in the past, but his rational side wins out. Wolverine calously destroys the Storm robot, knowing it's not her, but not knowing who or what it was first. A mysterios city appears off the cost of the deserted island.
