“X-Men” Issue 13 “X-Manhunt Chapter 4” – Review

X-Men issue 13 continued the battle with Eternal Storm as Cyclops’ team tried to take Professor Xavier away from the Storm Sanctuary.

From writer Jed MacKay and artist Netho Diaz, X-Men issue 13 served an action-packed chapter in the current ‘X-Manhunt’ event. The fight on the physical plane involved Eternal Storm, Juggernaut, Psylocke, Temper, and Magik while the confrontation in the astral plane involved Xavier and Kid Omega (as well as a very special surprise from someone close to Xavier).

As a fan of Storm, I will basically be focusing on how Ororo Munroe was handled by MacKay. While I wasn’t into writing an entire post about the latest comic book, I felt I needed to share my opinions after seeing certain sentiments popping up in the Storm fandom and other sections of Marvel Comics fandoms online.

There are those who feel that MacKay disrespected Ororo with how the battle unfolded, while some other comic book readers zeroed in on a particular moment and ran with it to downplay Storm’s Omega-level powers without bringing up the context.

In my opinion, being a chapter that didn’t have Ororo as the main character, I think MacKay did a good enough job of showing the X-Men continuing to face someone as OP as Eternal Storm. The recap literally stated that “Storm, utilizing new cosmic powers, easily defeated them” aka Cyclops’ team in Storm issue 6. The current issue was a rematch and even then the odds were stacked against Storm’s teammates.

Juggernaut continued to bear the brunt of Eternal Storm’s assault. His persistence led to an impactful moment involving Cain’s past and who he was as a character. He wasn’t going to back down so easily, even when facing someone like Eternal Storm. Eternity via Storm did state he could summon winds capable of stripping flesh from Cain’s bones. And I do feel Eternity might have done just that if Temper hadn’t stepped in.

This was the most controversial moment in X-Men issue 13. Accompanying Magik through the magical portal, Temper managed to extinguish Eternal Storm’s winds by manipulating temperature. According to Temper, wind was just moving air due to temperature changes. While Storm controlled weather, Temper took away what “made” weather aka the temperature.

I mean, we all know that Storm can control much more than weather. Her powers work in space, too. We also know that she’s an Omega-Level Mutant Goddess. Just by being an experienced Omega, she’s more than capable of overpowering whatever “control” Temper thinks she has over temperature. We have seen such a thing before during Storm’s training sessions with the Omega-Level Iceman (whose power is also temperature manipulation).

For me, that particular moment came across as a surprise attack from Temper. If the fight continued, Eternal Storm would have eventually overcame Temper’s mutant abilities. As Eternal Storm stated, and went on to demonstrate, she controlled a lot more than just the wind.

I think limiting Eternal Storm in such a manner just helped show the other stuff she had up her sleeve. We also have to understand that Eternity isn’t much of a fighter. He’s also quite full of himself. Of course, the highly experienced X-Men were going to one up him somehow, even if it was just for a second or two.

One could even argue that Storm maintained some control over her body and that might have played a role in Eternal Storm not taking everyone’s breath away with a finger snap.

Regardless, the X-Men were still losing badly even with the wind element taken out of the equation. Magik couldn’t cut Eternal Storm with her Soulsword and mentioned how something far dangerous than a demon was residing inside Ororo’s soul.

Eternal Storm took a direct punch from Juggernaut right in the face and… nothing!

Like, how much more powerful do certain fans want her to be? The Temper moment aside, this was a very enjoyable showing for Eternal Storm, especially in a book she’s not the lead of.

Realizing they were fighting an unwinnable battle, Psylocke had to resort to directly appealing to Ororo. It was a move similar to Doom’s when he first encountered Eternal Storm. It was risky, but it was still worth a shot with the alternative being, well, death.

I liked how Psylocke called out Ororo and urged her to take control of her body. It was a nice wakeup call for the Omega-Level Mutant Goddess. She simply can’t sit back and allow Eternal Storm to do whatever and think she won’t have to face the consequences when Eternity steps away.

I really need Ororo to confront Eternity in her solo series. I need her to go all out over how casually Eternity took over her body and used her to attack her teammates. There needs to be a reckoning. The complete lack of said conversation is quite jarring when Ororo is aware her agency has been taken away twice in such a manner.

Psylocke also told Ororo to come find her if she ever wanted to settle a score. I liked how Psylocke specifically mentioned how the battle will be fought with knives and not mutant powers because at least with knives and swords she’s got a chance against someone like Storm. Ha!

As for the situation involving Xavier’s psychic bleed hurting humans, it’s revealed that Ororo wasn’t aware of that at all due to her natural resistance to telepathy.

‘X-Manhunt’ has a couple more chapters to go. I’m interested in seeing how Storm will continue playing a role in what’s to come next.

Before I bring this post to an end, I have one last thing to say. With MacKay also writing Storm in The Avengers series, I want him to give a valid explanation if he ever decides to pull another “temperature control” card to depower Storm in some manner. The moment involving Temper has made me side-eye him and I really hope he’s a writer who understands how Ororo’s powers work and what it means when her abilities are described as weather control or weather manipulation.

I understand that a writer isn’t beholden to give me what I want to read. However, I also understand that I have the right to not spend my hard-earned money on a book I don’t find enjoyable. So, yeah, as of right now, MacKay’s on my radar when it comes to being potentially added to a list of writers who just don’t (or don’t want to!) get Storm’s powers. All the best to them in their careers, but those are the type of writers I avoid supporting.

What did you think of how Eternal Storm was handled in X-Men issue 13?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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