Oh, hey! Long time no e-mail, huh? Last time we did this, I was 10 days away from closing on a home. Today, I'm just over 2 weeks removed from having a new baby. To say life has been a blur would be an understatement. My video production has come to a screeching halt. I actually filmed an unboxing the other day, but it was comically terrible. So bad, I deleted even the raw footage of it from my hard drive. It felt like the video creator's version of coming back too soon from a sports injury, so I decided to put my street clothes back on and take a seat at the end of the bench for a few more games.

The hardest part about my hiatus is that I've had to sit out Black History Month. It seems like February is always my busiest month on a personal front, and that makes it hard to do the super ambitious Black Comics Spotlight I've always wanted to do. Oh well. There's always next year.

Ironically, I've been reading a lot more. I've been keeping all my thoughts in a Google Doc that will end up being a feature-length comic review video at some point in the near future. Working title? 10 Comics I Read While on Hiatus. Here's a sneak peek at one of the entries.

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Throwback Review: Storm (2006) by Eric Jerome Dickey & David Yardin

I've been on a bit of a Black Panther kick lately. Marvel is finally releasing an omnibus of the acclaimed Reginald Hudlin run, perhaps most famous for uniting T'Challa and Ororo Munroe in marriage. In a prelude to that wedding, writer Eric Jerome Dickey was tapped for a miniseries retelling the story of T'Challa and the Wind Rider's earliest encounter (interesting, but fitting choice of words. I'm gonna keep it.) Dickey was most known for his steamy urban romance novels at the time, making him an odd choice for a Marvel book. But there's only so much dickeying around he could get away with in a mainstream comic, right? Sort of.

The book is set in each character's teenage years. T'Challa is undergoing a manhood rite of passage (not unlike Kunta Kinte in Roots), when he comes across Ororo, whose powers are just developing and have put her in the crosshairs of a group of mercenaries. In their brief crossing of paths, the two fall in love while taking turns saving each other from the poachers.

While I liked the idea of setting the scene for an eventual relationship, I wasn't a big fan of the decision to tie Storm's control of her powers to her sexual awakening. For a woman who has always been seen as independently powerful (worshipped as a goddess even), the key to unlocking her potential shouldn't have been held in T'Challa's loincloth. Besides that, putting them in the act makes me ask questions I don't know that I want the answers to. Don't mutant abilities manifest at 13?

Despite that, there's some good characterization here. I especially enjoyed the early issues, with Storm narrating her feelings about her parents and wishing to return to simpler times. I'd recommend this one for die-hard T'Choro stans. Beyond that, just jump on the current series by Murewa Ayodele and Lucas Werneck. It's gonna go down as the best Storm story ever. Mark my words...

Read Something Dope Today,

BJ KICKS

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