stormandforge

[stormandforge]

she always called me a princess, but i became a queen.

STORM // ORORO MUNROE

source → storm (2024) #5, written by murewa ayodele and drawn by lucas werneck.

[stormandforge]

Raw reactions to Storm #4

Spoilers (and sparkles).

Alex Guimarães and Fer Sifuentes-Sujo deserve as much praise as Lukas Werneck. Look at these pages - they shimmer. I kinda want to live in Latveria now?

I understand that Rogue's name on the clothes bag is a visual reference to the previous issue, but unless she's launching her own fashion line, it's a bit weird.

*unintelligible sounds caused by sight of Ororo in lingerie*

So that lacy little number belongs to Rogue, huh? Not any more.

How is she going to sit down with these knives tucked away back there? Ouch.

*unintelligible sounds caused by sight of Ororo in green dress*

DAVID 💙 I love a David Munroe cameo, me.

Impish baby Ororo is a mood. So young and already so much repartee.

I said it in my post about the Lifedeath dinner scene in X-Men '97, but I will say it again: the way to Ororo's heart is through her stomach. Just don't commit murder in front of her after dessert and you'll get lucky.

Although she looks less horny than she usually does in Doom's presence. Probably because she can still feel Wolverine. It's crude but it's true.

"tailor-made for mutant taste buds"? What the hell does that mean, you bigot?

I'm not too keen on getting action words instead of sound effects: "pierce", "hurl", "impale". The spicy scene distracted me from them in the previous issue, but here they're back to annoying me. They're a stylistic choice I think - rather than compensation for poor art or infantilisation of the reader - but they're weird.

Love the pulling focus effect on the dead Ororo panels.

Her tears sparkle. They sparkle. ✨

Oh this isn't helping my daddy issues.

And she's as tall as her dad. Of course she is.

What's with the "Mum" vs "Mom" thing? Is there a reason why she would choose one spelling over the other? It doesn't matter either way, I'm just curious because it looks intentional.

Her mum's absence is underlined, and probably for a reason. I wouldn't be surprised if N'dare made an entrance later. A dramatic one. (After all, Ororo has to get that flair from somewhere.)

SAILOR MOON MOMENT ✨✨✨✨

Look, I don't care what happens. Keep drawing her like that and I'm there.

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Ororo in lingerie.

That's it. That's the post.

From Storm #4. Written by Murewa Ayodele, art by Lucas Werneck.

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I'll never get tired of the detail of Storm pulling the Forge toy out of the box. So freaking adorable.

X-Men Art by Emiko Iwasaki

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Ororo's got guns

Forge looks like he's shitting himself, and 'master of lies' is such a good line. Lifedeath is so good.

Ororo flashes back to Logan teaching her how to shoot. Storm with a mohawk and a gun is 👌, and it's lovely to see their friendship. I don't really get their ship tbh, I think they work better as friends. But this isn't about that, it's about Ororo with guns. Bang!

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X-Force #7 - "The Devil in Heaven" (2025)

written by Geoffrey Thorne art by Jim Towe & Erick Arciniega

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They challenge and complete each other in a hypnotising way. Can't get enough of them.

Their dynamic is extremely good for both of them.

X-Force (2024) #3

[stormandforge]

Raw reactions to X-Force #7

Such a rich issue, centred around Rachel and Betsy. Which doesn't mean I won't be talking about Forge a bunch, hehe.

Spoilers!

If you love Rachel and Betsy, separately or together, pick up this issue right now. It explores Rachel's history and recent past in a fresh way, and brings about interesting developments for her. The same can be said of Betsy.

Fuck Prince Charming, I want Betsy Braddock as my knight in shining armour. We should all have a partner this devoted and protective. Green flags, Rachel, green flags!

"You have a throne in my heart." Everyone make note of this for future tattoos and wedding vows.

Oh I did not like the look of that kiss. What, Storm is out riding Wolverine in the open air and we don't even get tongue? Not fair.

The interplay of magic and science as a narrative theme is giving me life.

I'm not usually too fond of retcons, but I like what Thorne did with Rachel's resurrection. He didn't erase or change facts, he elaborated on them. He used what was visible on panel and expanded on it. It's very well done.

Thorne has a gift for making existing characters and narrative strands fit together to create something fresh. I see you, GT, bringing back the Keewazi and slotting them into Forge's existing story without breaking anything. Nice.

Even though this is a Rachel and Betsy issue, Thorne still uses it to explore Forge's story. There's expansion of his backstory, mention of his shamanic past and the return of his magic. This is the Forge-centric book of my dreams and I want to live in it.

So: Forge ran away from his tribe at some point (we knew this, although not on these terms) and was eventually taken in by the Keewazi (new information). When did this happen? Before or after the war? How does it all fit with what we know of his past? I NEED A TIMELINE.

I'm dying for more info in general. Does he still have blood relatives? Does he still have ties with the Keewazi? Are we going to get embarrassing flashbacks of 16-year-old Danny Boy being a little shit when an elder is trying to teach him something? I can't wait.

I turn into a ridiculous cheerleader every time Forge builds something in real time. His mutant process is challenging to make interesting on panel, so I appreciate efforts to show him in action. Seeing the finished tech is cool, but it's when he builds that he gets to be a superhero.

There's a very special place in my heart for Forge's leg as storage space. Also for his utility belt. I love the mystery of what and how much he could be carrying in those. I imagine you can hear him coming from a mile off, clang-clang-clang, here comes Forge.

EXCUSE ME, that bodysuit he wears in the mindscape? What, you thought that because it only appears in the background I wouldn't notice Forge in a suit that leaves nothing to the imagination? Paired up with the techno rattle it makes him look like A GOD. Pray Marcus To never draws this or I will be unbearable.

Are Betsy and Forge engaged in some sort of longest hair competition? Bit much.

This iteration of X-Force is getting closer as a team. I'm not just talking about Piotr Tank grabbing the girls for a hug, but also Forge calling them idiots for not asking for help. It's not quite a group-hug-in-Lousiana situation, but the mistrust between them is slowly melting. They're starting to feel more like a team and less like...3 women eyeing Forge suspiciously while Tank flies the jet.

I already loved La Diabla, but her low-key Forge obsession in this issue makes me very happy, because it means the story will continue to focus on him. (Also I support all kinds of Forge obsession.)

OK. The Spanish. It's not the worst I've ever seen, but how do such mistakes get through in an American comic in 2024? If writers use a foreign language, Marvel should hire someone to check grammar for them. It sounds like it's all the writers' responsibility and it's not cool - they can't be fluent in every language under the sun. Come on Marvel, you can afford it.

I miss Sage, but I guess not even her can be a fucking legend every month. Temporary headcanon: she's still at the Aerie, recuperating on the couch with her feet up on the coffee table. She might even have pilfered Forge's secret stash of salty snacks by now. Also upgraded his security system. Found a way to defeat La Diabla. Cracked the Analog. You know, Sage things.

Colossus is wearing a weird headband (and not just because it's what the cool kids are doing, I'm pretty sure). Mind control? Clone? Weirdo alt reality thingy? I'm not too invested in the Tank mystery, but it'd be fun if it'd turned out to be him. He's familiar to me, so he'd make the team feel extra homey.

Hasta la próxima, queridos mios.

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I love this response from the writer. This scene was so well-executed and so beautiful, and honestly, everything I want for Ororo.

It's human, passionate, loving and spectacular - also sexy as hell.

Just like our girl.

"Why would you include those images in the book?"

In most sex scenes in Marvel comics - there is none [no sex], actually. You just see - oh, yeah, they wake up from the bed, and the deed has been done. This is one of the comics where we go into it as far as we can. So I think that's what made you think - you find it extremely steamy, or made you think "Oh we need to find a new writer, I'm going to go to your page and say the nastiest things," because of how far we go with it. But I think it's something that is necessary in this art form; we need to push things as far as we can. You wouldn't believe that a major X-Men event came out this same week because there were almost the same amount of discussions about this single page as much as there are on an X-Men event - a crossover event between two X-Men titles is having maybe even less discussion online than a single page from a Storm solo series. So that's the thing - we need to push the envelope. We've got to explore the different aspects of this character's life, [...] she's going to fight, she's going to do all that stuff, and sex is part of human life. It's part of the art form, it's part of storytelling.

- Murewa Ayodele, on why he included the Ororo/Logan scene, and its polarizing online response.

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I want to live in this panel. 💗

All the safety I found in my X-Men comics as a kid, it's all right here.

From Storm #3. Written by Murewa Ayodele, art by Lucas Werneck.

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Gee I wonder what I'm going to be thinking about today

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When you're looking for fellow shippers and the writer responds

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN

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"We had our time. I loved her. I always will. But that's the past."

In X-Force issue #6, Forge finally relegated his relationship with Storm to the past. He'd never done it explicitly before.

It might sound surprising coming from me, but this line made me very, very happy. Specifically because it's Forge who's speaking.

Over the years, many writers have tried to give the Storm/Forge relationship proper closure (after the initial Scott Lobdell fiasco in 1992, I mean. Don't get me started). The last few times this happened, the conclusion was more or less the same: Ororo saying or implying that they'd had their time, but it was over, while Forge reluctantly acquiesced with with his bottom lip quivering. Ororo got to move on; Forge didn't.

[From Uncanny X-Men Annual #1, 2006, written by Chris Claremont. Ororo leaves her relationship with Forge behind in the build-up to her wedding. Forge doesn't stop her, but he clearly isn't ready to let her go either.]

Because he's a much less popular character, no writer cared enough to let him move on. Sure, he had a fling with Mystique immediately after he and Storm broke up, but that was over 20 years ago, and it was never presented as a solid relationship. After that, writers returned to having him pine over Storm again and again.

[Greg Pak's Storm #3, 2015. He tries to get in her pants. She's dating Wolverine.]

[X-Force #9, 2020, by Benjamin Percy and Joshua Cassara. This is in the background of a big panel of the Green Lagoon full of customers, but there's still an effort to make the dynamic very clear in the body language. Forge= still trying and Storm=still not interested.]

You could even argue they used him as a prop for Ororo's other romantic relationships by presenting him as the creepy ex.

[Astonishing X-Men #30, 2009, by Warren Ellis. This arc juxtaposes Storm's marriage to Black Panther with her past relationship with Forge, and considering that he's gone insane at that point, he suffers from the comparison. And he's obviously still obsessed with her.]

[Extraordinary X-Men #6, 2016. In this run Jeff Lemire created a love triangle made up of Storm, Forge and Old Man Logan. Although this takes place 20 years after their breakup, Forge is presented as clingy for some reason, thus making RoLo look like the better option.]

So loving Storm became one of Forge's defining characteristics, like his power or his headband. It also meant he was kept in stasis: a character can't evolve if they're always bound to another.

But now we have the new X-Force, which was pitched as a Forge book from the start, and a writer, Geoff Thorne, who's actually interested in writing Forge. And the best way to make Forge evolve as a character, it pains me to say, is to loosen, if not sever, his ties with Ororo.

By finally saying these words, Forge doesn't just decide to move on from his ex: he breaks free. He becomes his own character. He reclaims power. This is huge.

Does this mean Storm/Forge is over for good? Well, no. He does say he still loves her. His love might just be different from now on, is all. Less all-consuming. Also, it's comics. Nothing is forever and anything can happen.

What it means is that we might get new stories for Forge, instead of constantly going back to Ororo and everything connected to her (like the guilt around the power neutraliser, which he also lets go of in this same issue). That's exciting if you ask me. Ororo herself would be proud. And an independent Forge is so much more worthy of her anyway.

"I always loved you far too much to ever cage you." Forge said this to Ororo in a dreamscape once. It definitely works the other way around, too.

[stormandforge]

Someone woke up in a cunt-serving mood this morning.

[stormandforge]

Raw reactions to X-Force #6

This issue is a feast for Forge and Sage fans. I am both. I am eating well.

Spoilers below.

Note: I took down the initial version of this post because I wasn’t happy with it. Apologies for any confusion - the old brain is restless this week.

*points to blog name* I will deal with this aspect of things in a separate post, because I have too much to say. Happy things.

What comes to mind when you think of Forge? I’ll bet it’s his power, Storm, the power neutraliser gun, his status as a war vet, his magic, and if you’ve been paying closer attention, his super cool house, his simulations and Mystique. True believer, all of these things feature in this issue in some way or other. (With the exception of the magic, but that’s because Marvel won’t let Geoff Thorne write about it.) It’s a Forge fest. And what’s even better, all of these characteristics and connections are shown to be evolving. For example: Forge's guilt is no longer about Storm; it's about Surge. All writers have given him for the last 40 years is guilt and shame over the power neutraliser gun, but Thorne has given him something new to atone for. Character development. For Forge. Never thought I’d see the day.

The warrior speech is perfection. A respectful cultural reference acting as metaphor for Forge’s evolution as a character. I don't know if a Native reader would find it overdone, but to me it felt like an impactful nod to his heritage that wasn't cartoonish, for once.

I hope the mention of him abandoning his family and tribe means we’re going to get more backstory. I so want that for him.

So, Forge’s simulations. I don’t like them. They’re too easily misconstrued, and they make my boy look like a bit of a pervert. So I was a bit apprehensive going into this issue – especially since it was meant to feature both Storm and Mystique. In the end, does Forge emerge looking like a creep? No. Does he emerge looking like he needs to have his head examined? Definitely. Which is completely fair.

I've seen people complain that the characterisation of Storm and Mystique was simplistic. Guys, that’s not Storm and Mystique. That’s Storm and Mystique as seen by Forge. Big difference. Can you imagine Ororo lovingly stroking his hair after finding out he sacrificed Nori? LOL. Me neither.

The Aerie lives! But it looks like…a corner loft in Brooklyn? I have to take back some of what I said about the art in my previous post on this issue: I did cringe in places. But I also know very little about art, so it’s down to personal preference.

What kind of Benjamin Percy nonsense is that in Forge's fridge? Can we please let his protein shake/gym bunny phase die with Krakoa? It didn’t make sense then and it still doesn’t now. This is the man who got Ororo in bed through the power of his cooking, why would he survive on supplements?

We have a villain, people! Her name is La Diabla, and she is a mood all to herself. She gives off classic villain vibes, she cackles like a witch, she eats pop-corn while you're getting zapped by your ex, she singsongs the word "punishment" and she wears an all-purple outfit. Also: her name is Corazón Estrada. CORAZÓN ESTRADA. That's the most over-the-top Spanish name I've heard after the names of my own ancestors. (Or maybe Spanish names just sound dramatic. Either way, I love it.)

More things to like about La Diabla. 1/ The alchemy thing. It's magic, but reimagined, since it dabbles in science. It feels new to me in the context of Marvel, so I'm curious. Tailor-made for Forge, too. 2/ By being the official villain, she exonerates Forge. By comparison, anyway. There’s no way this man is completely clean.

You know who else is a fucking legend? You guessed it, it’s Sage. Look at her, just look at her please, crashing Forge's little holo-show with a Matrix-style entrance, reading him for filth and solving the ongoing mystery in under 4 pages. Oh, and she destroys the very concept of Mystique while she’s at it. THE FIRE. THE SLAY.

“faux-roro”, “let’s not play dueling mutations”, “placebo-Surge”, “lazy mercenary tier” – the zingers in this issue! I love it when you can tell a writer is having fun with a character.

Ok, I’m going to say it. As soon as I realised, quite early on, that Forge would be hanging out with holograms of his exes in this issue, my shippy heart started praying: let Sage shut that shit down. And that’s exactly what she did. Could be, you know, symbolic - her being the one who helps him snap out of it. Just saying.

Yes, I’m still shipping my two nerds. Their dynamic has me entranced. I love how they play off each other – intellectually at odds but riding the same brainwave when it matters. I love the open way they always talk to each other. I even love their conflict, it’s what makes things interesting.

Sage isn’t narrating in this issue, but her line "I'm thinking. Of course I am, I'm always thinking" still makes an appearance in dialogue– and it’s Forge who says it. Is he quoting her? How can he know this line? It’s also possible that it’s Sage who’s been quoting Forge all along, since we don’t know how far in the future Sage’s narrative voice is. Or it’s simply a gimmick. In any case, it’s cute.

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Family 💙