Writing: Scott Lobdell and Ralph Macchio
Art: Cedric Nocon
What Went Down: Storm is enjoying some solitude in her attic/garden when Cyclops ambushes and attacks her. The External Candra has possessed Cyclops for some reason, but she lets him go after Storm drenches him. Storm explains to Cyclops that Candra is after the jewel from Storm’s costume.
In a flashback we see the young thief Storm breaking into a mansion to steal the gem. After young Ororo removed the jewel, the case exploded, killing all the guards and leveling the house. Storm’s master Achmed El-Gibar kept the jewel for her until she was older, and it turns out that the gem is really Candra’s heart, the only weakness the External has.
In Washington, Jean consoles Cannonball for failing to save Graydon Creed. Meanwhile Storm meets Candra in the Metropolitan Museum’s Egyptian collection. Storm is about to destroy the jewel so Candra cannot use its power, but Candra reveals that she has kidnapped a girl named Karima that Storm met way back in X-Men Unlimited #7, who was also trained as a thief by Achmed. Additionally, Candra has employed Karima’s friend Jamil, who can cast illusions. Jamil makes Ororo see the Black Panther, who kisses her. Storm breaks free and a fight erupts. The gem in Storm’s hand disappears because Jamil created an illusion to make her think she was still holding it. The issue ends with the Shadow King appearing and announcing that he has been in control of Jamil all along and now has the power of the Heart of Candra.
How It Was: The stress of writing two books continues to take its toll on Lobdell, as he scrapes the bottom of the X-bucket for this story. With clearly no direction for the X-Men books at this point, Lobdell was obviously getting desperate if he was using X-Men Unlimited stories for his inspiration. Putting the spotlight on Storm for two issues isn’t a bad idea by any stretch of the mind; after all, she hasn’t really had any development of her own since Forge left her. It’s just that this story is a long series of unnecessary retcons combined with an enmity between two characters that has never been mentioned before or since.
Ralph Macchio’s script for this issue is not particularly great, and it’s not helped by the sheer amount of exposition that is dumped into this issue. Storm’s origin is gone over twice, once by the narrator and again when Storm recounts a flashback, with a filler action scene between Cyclops and Storm smack in the middle. Tying Candra to Storm’s past doesn’t make a lot of sense since she has primarily been a Gambit and X-Force villain up to this point. Then there are just the numerous logical gaps: if Candra can possess Cyclops, why not just possess Storm instead? Why would Storm’s mentor give the jewel to her if it holds so much power, and why would she hold onto it if she saw it blow up a mansion full of people? If the jewel is Candra’s weakness, why doesn’t Storm just destroy it this issue instead of making us slog through another issue to destroy it? The macguffin is just too poorly defined, as is the reason Candra has waited so long to try to get it back.
Another baffling choice is the inclusion of minor bit players Karima and Jamil. Storm acts like they are super important to her, but really she’s only met them once and most readers probably had no idea at the time who they were; I know I didn’t. The script doesn’t do much to make us care about either of them at all, since Jamil acts like a brainwashed lackey and Karima has her mouth taped shut the whole issue. They’re never going to be in a comic again after next issue, so don’t worry too much about them.
Cedric Nocon’s art is actually really nice, except for the magically changing proportions and position of the Washington Monument in the Jean and Sam scene. Conversely, that’s probably my favorite part of the issue since it actually makes sense, deals with the characters, and gives Cannonball a little depth. I like that Sam is conflicted about Creed’s death, although it does bring up the question of why the writers set up this months long storyline for him when he contributed absolutely nothing to its resolution. The end is a bit of a red herring; it looks cool, but next issue devolves into a series of twists that don’t come off as interesting or clever as they should, namely because nobody cares about any of the characters other than Storm. This issue just continues the trend of aimlessness that the X-Men suffered pre- and post-Onslaught.
F
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