“Storm Earth’s Mightiest Mutant” Comic Book Issue 3 “Chapter 3: War of the Realms” – Review

Storm Earth’s Mightiest Mutant issue 3, by writer Murewa Ayodele and artists Federica Mancin and Java Tartaglia, continued to expand the scope of the narrative while answering a long-standing mystery.

Storm EMM issue 3 opened with a flashback to Ororo paying Japeth a visit in the afterlife, more specifically, the Elysian Fields. Turns out, Ororo had been visiting a bunch of afterlife realms (Valhalla, Aaru, Helheim, and more), trying to find Doctor Voodoo. The fact that Ororo failed to find Doctor Voodoo in any of the afterlife realms meant he was still alive somewhere out there. I’m quite excited to see Ororo’s reaction when she finally realizes that her friend was being forced to operate as the Avatar of Death.

Ororo and Japeth’s conversation gave us a quick rundown about the current status of the Underworld. Hades and Persephone had handed the realm to their daughter Macaria. Cronus didn’t like their decision and contested Macaria’s reign, resulting in his death. So, yeah, Macaria isn’t someone to take lightly. I don’t know if Ororo will get to meet Macaria down the line, but I sure hope she does. Apparantly Gods of Death weren’t fond of Thunder Gods.

As for Ororo and Japeth’s dynamic, he raised a question about what Ororo would do if he requested her to take him away from the Underworld and bring him back to life. Ororo stated that she would fulfill his request even if doing so risked starting a war between the Underworld and Earth. Apparantly, our heroine had grown tired of losing people she loved.

Now, I get where Ororo was coming from. However, I personally don’t think of her as a character who would take the cycle of life and death so casually. I don’t see Ororo messing with the rules of life and death (regardless of the flimsy life-death rules that exist in the comic book genre) just to bring her friends back, especially when it could result in a war between the world of the dead and the living.

But then again, Ayodele’s been exploring Ororo’s moral fortitude in his narrative. So, there could be a surprise reveal of Japeth being brought back to life off-panel to lend Storm a hand during the finale. Of course, she would have to be prepared to face the consequences of her decision. But, with the current story only lasting 5-issues (Ugh!), I have no idea when Ayodele will get the time to explore those consequences, if Japeth had indeed been resurrected off-panel.

Jumping to the present, we got to see Ororo growing angry over the death of a mutant inside the Storm Sanctuary. Ororo’s clearly tired of losing people to meaningless death caused by the human vs. mutant debate. Both sides were known to cross the line in their goal to inherit Earth. The Goddess of Balance wasn’t happy about life being played around with as if it were a mere toy by people with nefarious intentions. Her emotions were heightened enough to activate her Goddess Mode.

However, before Ororo could try to get to the bottom of the murder, she got snapped to a whole other dimension by the mysterious astronaut we have been seeing in the background of Ayodele’s 12-issue debut Storm solo story.

I mean, I would have never guessed that the astronaut would have such a major role in the current narrative. I really assumed the astronaut was just Ayodele’s way of creating a fun Easter Egg that would randomly pop up in the background.

Of course, before we got to learn more about the astronaut, Ayodele had other things to talk about. There’s so much happening in Storm EMM, I have no idea how Ayodele will bring everything together in just two more chapters in a satisfying manner.

Death was shown to be busy collecting Gods for her army. This time around, she had her eyes set on the Orishas and getting her hands on the divine being named Olorun, aka The Elder God of Light. I’m not saying that creativity should be gatekept. However, allowing a diverse set of voices to tell stories (which are linked to their interests and backgrounds) does make for engrossing content. And Ayodele’s doing impressive work when it comes to expanding the Pantheon of Gods in the Marvel Comic Universe. It’s the type of storytelling that encourages readers to research the deities being showcased and learn about the diverse cultures and religions across the world after finishing reading a comic book.

Even though the Dead X-Men were following Death’s orders, they were still sane enough to realize what was happening. Dead Wolverine even brought up how Doctor Voodoo was creating huge challenges for himself, resulting in consequences the current Avatar of Death will need to face even after his inevitable death.

Coming back to the astronaut and where Ororo had been forcibly teleported to, turns out, they were at The Wall that existed beyond the confines of the multiverse. When I tell you my fanboy heart was racing when I registered the visual representation of Ororo’s surroundings and the appearance of the freaking Cosmic Raptor!

The promotional materials for this chapter had mentioned Ororo being plucked from her reality to be hidden by someone, but not in the hundred years I would have ever guessed she would end up at The Wall.

For those who might not know, The Wall and the Cosmic Raptor were things from DC Comics. So, yeah, the astronaut had placed Ororo inside the DC Comic Universe! Like, WTF!!!! I love it!

Ayodele’s making bold AF narrative decisions in his storytelling. And whether or not he gets to continue writing more Storm, he’s definitely cemented himself as a key figure when comic book fans will discuss Storm-centric story arcs for decades to come. Here’s to hoping his work inspires future Storm writers to explore his story threads deeper.

Things didn’t stop there. Nopes. Another major reveal dealt with the astronaut’s identity. The mysterious person was none other than… drumroll… Ororo’s mother!

To be fair, it was N’Daré from another universe. But she was still technically Ororo’s mother.

Yet another reveal I hadn’t seen coming.

I enjoyed how Ayodele handled Ororo’s conversation with N’Daré. The two couldn’t help but sense a connection with each other. I felt sorry for Ororo because the spirit of her actual mother had been avoiding her during Ororo’s visits to the afterlife realms, presumably over Ororo giving away her ancestral ruby. Ororo finally got to hear her mother’s voice, and yet she was hearing stuff about the universe dying instead of what a child would want to hear after technically reconnecting with a lost parent.

Apparantly, N’Daré wanted to keep Ororo away from the Marvel Universe because there was no stopping the War of the Realms. Oblivion and Death’s dominions were bound to expand until everything was as it was in the beginning before the spark of creation.

If I were to assume, I think N’Daré wanted to help Ororo survive to kick-start another universe once the war ended due to Ororo sharing a link with Eternity. But I could be wrong here. Also, there’s no way Ororo’s simply going to sit back and let her world (and the rest of the multiverse cluster) die, even if she did house the power to create another universe afterward. Ororo would rather fight till her last breath than allow billions of living beings to be extinguished.

As for the art, from the emotional moments to the action-packed panels, Mancin and Tartaglia delivered when it came to visually representing Ayodele’s vast narrative scope.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Ororo will manage to return to her universe and what she can do to stop the destruction of the multiverse cluster with only two more chapters to go.

Did you read Storm Earth’s Mightiest Mutant issue 3? What did you think of it?

Let us know.

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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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