Luke Cage: Black Characters, not caricatures

As we have all binged multiple episodes of Luke Cage and seen the ashy and somewhat racist reviews by writers, I was brought back to the reality of how the history of early Luke Cage in comics was so racist and how a so called ally named Quentin Tarantino almost fucked it up for all of us.

Let me first state that I do not care for Quentin Tarintino. I believe he is one of the most overrated writers and filmakers of a generation and his cocaine influenced views of pop culture and obsession with characters saying nigga/nigger is problematic at the least.  The fawning over his "genius" is white privilege at its finest.

Once Luke Cage came out, I am not sure why anyone was asking his opinion anyway, but someone did and he came out with this qoute ( even tho he has not seen the show).

"Well, frankly, to tell you the truth, I might be one of the pains in their asses because I love the way the character was presented so much in the '70s. I'm not really that open to a rethinking on who he was. I just think that first issue, that origin issue … was so good, and it was really Marvel’s attempt to try to do a blacksploitation movie vibe as one of their superhero comics. And I thought they nailed it. Absolutely nailed it. So, just take that Issue 1 and put it in script form and do that."

So much to unpack, but lets start with the Luke Cage origin and setting the show in the 70's blaxploitation era as a good thing.  It was not a good thing.  The racist and prejudice depiction of the characters( including Luke Cage), is troubling if you go back and read the books.  The writing is often uncomfortable and the stereotypes culturally dangerous and racist.  Luke Cage was created, developed and written by white writers who exploited his Blackness and Black culture for their entertainment. Their vision of  Black people, Luke Cage, and the world around Luke was influeneded by their whiteness and their prejudice played out panel to panel. Look at the designs of the characters that Netflix used on the tv show.

Tarrantino(and those who think like him) is the worst because this is how he also sees Black Characters- exploited for their Blackness, and shaped in the hands of a white man to fit their fantasy of the Black experience.  And that is fucked up.  If Tarantino had made that movie, as he alludes to in the article,  it would have destroyed the character of Luke Cage in comics and we would have never gotten the modern version that we see today. Hell its been hard for people not to see him in his yellow, buttefly collar and his mini afro. A movie cementing that verison of the character would have left him in the Stone Age of creativity and would have been considerd the true version of Luke Cage.

Luke Cage on Netflix has given us Black characters who we can relate to on multiple levels, who are complicated with depth of feelings and emotions. In the case of Cotton Mouth and Black Mariah, they are both good and evil with a backstory more disturbing and tragic than any of us could imagine.  They have soul and even tho they may fit into a certain stereotype, they are not defined by it. 

Luke Cage himself has shed the yellow shirt and we see the deeply hurt and conflicted man pushed on by his guilt and tragedy.  But also a person still willing to give us so much to fight for those who he feels have been wronged.  In the hands of white writers, Luke probably would have been turned into a  Magic Negro- out to punish the bad Blacks and make Whites happy with his respectability.  And of course shout out , "jive turkey, sucka, and sweet christmas"!

White wrtiers like Tarrantino see black folks and culture as caricatures - not characters. They don't see the depth or the histroy of the emotion associated with those characters.  They only see the hipness, the jive, and the ghetto( white writers love the ghetto).  And even if the character does make it or stive in the situation, there is always the underlying voice of a white man trying to sound black and give their take on how Black people live, act, and talk.

So thank God Tarantino made Pulp Fiction( a bullshit movie...go ahead an @ me) and did not get his slimy hands on Luke Cage.  We'd still be trying to clean up that mess!

The Producer

Canada- You deserved better

@brothascomics, on our Thursday night comic book chat, have been walking through classic X-men stories.  You can catch up here on soundcloud or ITunes
https://soundcloud.com/brothas-hutchinson
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/brothascomics-podcast/id1020924521?mt=2

We had just finished the Dark Phoenix Saga and were about to head into Days of Future Past, but when I was reading ahead, issues 139 and 140 stuck out to me.  After the death of Jean Grey, Cyclops leaves the X-men in issue 138 and the next two issues are a Wolverine story as he heads back to Canada to tie up loose ends with Department H from his days as Weapon X.  If you remember, in Xmen issue 109, there was an attempt by Alpha Flight to bring Wolverine back to Canada but they were thwarted by the Xmen.

After all the craziness after Phoenix, Wolverine heads back and reunites with Alpha Flight to fight Wendigo.  Two great stand alone issues sandwiched in between two huge classic stories and these books often get looked over. We get a new costume for Wolverine here and a battle with Wendigo.  Also Coming out of these books, the new Alpha Flight comic is going to be launched.  The book is going to be written and drawn by John Byrne, who is leaving his collaboration with Chris Claremont on X-men to plot/pencil Alpha Flight.  Seemed like a match made in heaven to get the co-plotter of Xmen and one of the best artist at Marvel and a Canadian to start this book.  But let me tell you something, Canada- you deserved so much better.

I had remembered these books much more fondly. Big Hutch had multiple copies of the books and seeing some newer mutants from a strange land( We love you Canada), I really enjoyed reading them.... in 1983.  2016 me read these and Alpha Flight is an absolute mess.  Even tho the pencils are outstanding,  The plots  are awful,The villains are worse, and the character development is so convoluted- the books are almost unreadable!  And if you don't believe me or have not read them in 20 years, I dare you to go back abd read them again.  I double dog dare you!

http://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Alpha-Flight-1983

Lets look at our main characters and I promise you, I am not making this stuff up.

We have Guardian who is not even a mutant leading the super mutant hero team.  He is wrapped in a Maple Leaf on his costume like a north of the border Captain America and he was given all the angst and insecurities of Cyclops without any of the leadership skills and abilities. Vindicators powers are pretty nebulous too and seem to bend from issue to issue.  On top of that, they kill him in issue 12 only to try and retcon in 2 years later with a convoluted story of clones and microverse and aliens that makes learning Chinese seem easy.

Snowbird is a goddess who can shape shift into any Canadian animal... seems cool but that power comes with the Curse of Canada as she is unable to actually LEAVE Canada. No, for real... she is super powerful but can't cross the border.

Shaman is probably the most powerful member of Alpha Flight.  Yet, the Sarcee Indian, who left his tribe to practice the white mans medicine... I mention this because they mention him being Sarcee Indian in damn near every issue.  His ability as a Shaman is kinda cool but he is mostly only called upon to conjure up a potion to fight off whatever mystical creature that Canada has thrown at Alpha Flight.  And Canada throws many a mystic creature at Alpha Flight like Wendigo and Tundra.

Puck is a total Wolverine knock off all the way down to his hairy butt  Of course he has no claws, but is a fierce fighter and is tough as nails, but he is also a midget.  In one of the books, he is trying to heal from battle but stumbles onto a prescription drug ring in the hospital. Like a whole issue is devoted to this. Later, of course being a Wolverine clone, he tries to push up on Vindicators wife, Heather McDonald( a redhead).

Sasquatch is a Beast/Colossus Clone who can transform into a hairy strong monster but he cannot fight worth a damn and is often found transforming into his character, only to be knocked the fuck out very quickly in battle against just some awful villains. But he is smart tho and he is tapping one of the twins( not Northstar).

And lastly, the twin Northstar and Aurora.  They are twins, but Aurora has dual personalities that come in and out based on situation which often makes her useless in battle. She is a weaker, but better looking version of Scarlett Witch.  And Northstar is basically Quicksilver. He is brash and a dick and even when he comes out as gay later, he is still unlikable as he was day one.  Their powers of super speed in flight and the ability to do flash powers are also pretty useless.   Read the Whiteout issue and tell me that is a good comic book.

The original run of Alpha Flight is 130 issues and I was shocked it ran that long.  There have been a few attempts to revive the Canadians but those runs have not come close to the original and to be honest, the quality was possibly worse.

I don't get it... I am confused as to why this team of mutants didn't work... Were people not ready for 2 mutant teams in 1983? was Byrne burned out doing Alpha Flight and Fantastic Four?  Do people really just hate Canadians?

I'm not sure and most of our Alpha Flight members were killed off in House of M so I don't think a 5th run of these heroes is coming and that is probably a good thing.  Lets just enjoy our fond Alpha Flight memories and if you do have great memories of that original run, I would highly suggest you do not go back and read it.

The Producer

Where da white men at?

I am paraphrasing one of my favorite lines from Blazing Saddles but I think it fits after that totally bullshit article in the New York Times about white men struggling to find themselves on television this fall.  It was a total click bait article and I needed two showers after reading it.

Once out of the shower, it did have me thinking about television and the lack of POC on network television.  Its always been a struggle to find quality tv with people of color on The Big 3 and even on the upstarts like Fox and CW.  The shows usually range from cooning to higher forms of cooning.  As the call for more diversity has come, tv has evolved into to using a loophole to get around the diversity issue by making many shows ensemble pieces.  The show has multiple characters and every they throw in a Black or Brown or Asian face and call it diversity.  That character often fills whatever stereotype of that particular ethnic group and is usually in a subservient role to the lead white character.  Or  TV, will lead shows with a white female lead and call that diversity.  Either way, more often than not, the people of color  are playing supporting roles.  They are not leads and when you watch the show long enough, you figure this out quickly.  The POC is never a fullu formed character- just the version of Blackness they deem appropriate for their show.  These shows and their main plots always revolve around white males or females and their loves lives and/or their trials and tribulations. This is not up for debate. But because someone will jump in my mentions after I post this, I feel the need to list the limited amount of shows that are led by people of color. Sadly, some people will still argue that its an even playing field, because the new thing under Trump is that now, somehow, white people( especially white males) are oppressed in their ability to be the raging, hormonal, irrational, racist assholes that they are.

The New York Times article listed the new shows for fall of 2016 to show that white males are not being represented on television- leaving out the fact that they are already overly represented as a whole on tv shows as lead actors- even in ensembles.  Taking out reality shows cartoons,  and sports, lets look at the tv shows that actually are led by POC and the percentage of shows that are not on each network

ABC

Because of Shonda Rhimes, ABC is doing the best out of the Big 3.  Shows like Scandal and How to get away with Murder lead the way and that is not counting Grey's Anatomy because it does not have a POC lead( sorry Meredith).  ABC also gets props for Blackish, Fresh off The Boat, Dr. Ken and Quantico.  Overall, they have seven shows out of their 19 shows this fall that are led by a POC for a whopping 36%.

NBC

NBC is awful in this.  The channel that once gave us an hour of Black excellence with Cosby and a Different World could give a shit about people of color on television anymore unless they are on a reality show( we see you Nick Cannon shuckin and jivin). Marlon Wayans will front a mid season replacement and the fate of the Carmichael show is still up in the air. I am gonna stretch hard give them Grimm as a co-lead.  So they go 2/11. 18%

CBS

Only the NCIS with noted thespian LL Cool J gives CBS 1 show with a POC lead( co -lead).  The Training Day TV show- which will be an abject failure- will be on CBS.  That's it.   Their other shows are all fronted my white males or females- including their 3 new shows by tv retreads Kevin James, Matt LeBlanc, and Joel Mchale .  Modern CBS tv has never been a friend to diversity in programming.  It trends towards older, white viewers and that trend continues this fall. 2/22 shows for 9%.

Fox

Fox started off as an "urban" network, only to abandon those ideas much like the CW and UPN would do later in life.  They will often take chances on shows with POC, only to cancel them after a view episodes.  Fox recently has taken to having POC characters removed from popular shows like Sleepy Hollow to only replace them with another white character.  This Fall, Fox has Pitch, Empire, Rosewood, Lethal Weapon( co lead)), and the relaunch of 24 on the roster. 5/25 shows for a overwhelming 20%.

CW

Again, the CW used to love Black people, but has long since abandoned us for white, teenage angst or superheroes.  Currently, the only show led by a person of color is Jane the Virgin.  1/10 shows for 10%.


So by my calculations and this is far from scientific, 18% of shows on network tv are fronted by or co led by POC.  That means, 82% of shows are fronted or co -led by white people.  82%!! Let that sink in for a minute.  Network tv has long abandoned people of color for viewership unless its reality tv.  Cable TV does a little bit better of a job, but its kinda like being a little pregnant.  Quality tv shows starring POC are still rare and even more rare when they are supported by the network that spawned them.

So please stop with the poor white man narrative.  You are represented plenty on tv and in movies and you don't even have to work that hard to find yourself.

The Producer

Where is Black Love and Romance in comics

So our friends over at we got this covered published this article on the top 8 romances in comic book movies and I had to pause not to throw up for a minute. 
http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/8-best-couples-superhero-movies/
Granted, these are "love" stories from the movies and some ripped straight from the pages of the comics that inspired them, but it made me pause because the list was whiter than Maine in December.  All 8 couples from the movies were all white and not even a hint of love for people of color.

But this made me think even deeper and in the modern comic book universe in movies and on television, there is no real love interest for Black characters WITH another Black character. Storm and T'Challla had a storybook romance and wedding over 10 years ago now, but beyond that, finding a Black power couple in the world of comics and comic book movies is hard as fuck to find.  Lets break this shit down for you!

X Movies
Now we really only have Storm to go on here, right?  That's a problem in and of itself, but Storm has been in 5 X-Men movies( 4 for Halle Berry and 1 for Alexandra Shipp) and Storm cannot find any love? They teased a romance with Nightcrawler in X2( but he ain't Black) and she found swirl love with Wolverine in a cut scene from Days of Future Past but beyond that- nothing. Yet we are burdened with the Cyclops- Jean Grey- Wolverine love triangle, along with Iceman-Rogue- and Kitty Pryde throughout these movies. In comics, Storm has been unlucky in love, too.  Forge loved her, but took her powers and the marriage with T'Challa didn't exactly pan out but X movies have yet to focus on or create a credible Black, male character in comics beyond Bishop and Bishop appeared for all of 13 seconds in Days of Future Past.  And never, ever bring up to me Darwin from First Class. EVER!

DC Movies and Television
Modern DC movies have only 1 Black "hero" to appear in them and that is Deadshot, played by Will Smith.  In Suicide Squad, you see him with his daughter, who appears to be African-American, but we don't see head or tail of the mom.  Amanda Waller also makes an appearance but there is no apparent man in her life and technically she is not a superhero.

DC gets alot of props for its diversity on its television shows, but Black on Black romance and love is lacking.  There is plenty of swirling going around but love between Black characters is about  non existent.
Flash has Barry swirling with Iris and even the little tease Iris had with Tone Bell this year- you knew that shit was not gonna happen since they been teasing Barry and Iris season episode 1.

On Supergirl, James Olson was swirling with both and with Supergirl( Kara) and Lucy Lane.  Even John Diggle on Arrow is swirling with Sarah.

Marvel Movies and Television
If we examine the heroes in Marvel movies, we see four Black heroes in Nick Fury,  War Machine, Falcon, and most recently Black Panther. Fury is married to his job, I guess.  War Machine has no romantic interest and neither does Falcon.  Black Panther, as introduced in Civil War, was focused very much on his mission and seemed to not have anytime for romance.  Yet, we get a full on love story with Captain America and Agent Carter AND Peggy Carter over the course of these movies.  We get to see Tony Stark and Pepper Potts love story play out.  Hawkeye has a secret family tucked away with a wife and kids.  Thor has Jane Foster and Lady Sif he wanted.  Hell even Black Widow and the Hulk have a romance in Age of Ultron.  But the Black folks? Nah, Falcon and War Machine are too busy following orders from their white besties and getting paralyzed to have a romantic relationships. Hell, they can't even get their swirl on!

And on Netflix, between Jessica Jones and Daredevil, The Night Nurse, played by Rosario Dawson, is sort of swirling with Daredevil, and Luke Cage is swirling with Jessica Jones.  It seems in the upcoming  Luke Cage series, Luke may possibly get with Misty Knight, but they have rarely been a thing in the comics.  She has mostly swirled with Iron Fist.



So why is Black love and romance so taboo in comic related properties? Even currently, before he was killed, War Machine was with Carol Danvers( Swirl) Luke Cage is with Jessica Jones( swirl), Black Panther is married to being the King of Wakanda, and Storm is single as single can be up in that X-Mansion.  The only real Black romantic couple are Sam Wilson and Misty Knight and for how long will this last as most people ship for Iron Fist and Misty Knight.

This all comes down to lack of love interest/ options in both comics and movies for Black characters and the inability for white writers to see and write Black characters in love.  The fact that there are so few Black characters is only part of the problem.  The lack of representation in the writing room, leads white writers of books/movies/shows to put characters in relationships they feel comfortable with and wont offend their majority white audiences. Their inability to know/see/write Black characters in love and relationships leads to massive swirling on screen and in comics.  And there is nothing wrong with the swirl. My wife is Puerto Rican and my kids look more like Miles Morales than T'Challa, but the void of Black characters in romantic relationships is troubling at best and disturbing at worst.

I truly believe Hollywood fears Black people in love and in unity more than they fear Black rage and anger.  This lack of Black love on screen and the decolorization of Black women in particular is troubling and disheartening.  I pray that Black Panther has a Black love interest in his movie and she is not the one light skinned sista in Wakanda.  And for damn sure T'Challa best not be swirlin' or we gonna burn these theaters down!

The Producer

I am complicit in Nighthawk Cancellation

When news dropped this week that David Walker's Nighthawk was being cancelled after issue 6, I really did not give it much pause.  I had heard great things about the book and David Walker is a beast comic book writer, but because I was unfamiliar with the character, I did not buy the book and honestly just got recaps from the book from the Marcus on the Black Nerd Power podcast.  The book was critically acclaimed and tackled issues rarely seen in the comic book world in regards to race and culture.  But it didn't really sell.  Black hero + Black writer = 6 month run. That's troubling and to be honest, it was most troubling for me because I think I am the problem.  Now I am not saying I, the Producer from brothascomics, is the reason it did not sell. That would be conceited as hell.  But I am the problem when I don't support quality work by quality creators of color in an industry where they are short on supply.

One of the reason we started @brothascomics was to create a space where Black folks could talk about superhero's we loved as a kid and to also highlight Black heroes of yesterday and today to see how far the genre has come.  If you listen to our podcasts,  we continually point out how far the comic book world still has to go in the hiring of writers, artists, and editors in the field of comic books.  That being said, an A+ writer( David Walker) is writing a book with a Black hero and I, as the founder of brothascomics did not read it.  Does that make me the problem?  I wrestled with this for the last few nights and I think the answer is yes.

As Black people, we all know in the field of entertainment, we are not always going to get much.  TV and movies  rarely have predominantly Black casts and often, the shows or movies that get made are typically made for the LCD( least common denominator).  Its why most Black films and tv shows are comedies because those shows tend to do well with Black folks AND make white people feel most comfortable watching Black people coon for them.

When a tv show or movie doesn't fit in that neat little box,  it often struggles to find an audience amongst Black people and white people ignore the show because it makes them uncomfortable.  Its why a show like the Nightly Show gets cancelled even tho the show is/was brilliant.

Then when a show gets cancelled or the movie doesn't make bank, we get all these think pieces on how Black folks don't support their own product.  This is such a double-edged sword and something white people never have to think or worry about.  Black people have to balance supporting quality product with their money and their time versus supporting bullshit content with the same. With all that said, I have still supported books that have disappointed me for a while just because I have been reading it and hoping that its going to get better.  I have runs of Xmen and Spider-Man that are garbage. I supported Heroes Reborn and Heroes Return and those books sucked.  Yet, I could not get over myself to read and support a new book with a writer I hold in high regard. I am the problem.

 Even tho people I respect like Markus from Black Nerd Power and @milehighblerd and others were telling me- This is a quality book. I still ignored it based on preference and now its too late to support the book.  And this upsets me, but brings up all these troubling questions I don't have the answers to.  Where is the line between support and non support for Black entertainment? And how much support is enough? And how much does personal preference and cash issues play a role in support?

I hate that we as Black consumers have to wrestle with these questions when our white counterparts do not!  Even when a third tier white character has their book cancelled, it will be replaced very quickly and that book will be given more than six issues to find its audience.

So what is the answer? I see that @josephillidge is encouraging comic readers to get their pull sheet early to make sure books get ordered ahead of time to show interest. I also feel that making a commitment to at least issue 1 on Black led comics is the least I could do to show support.  I did this with Solarman and was gifted with a great comic with a character I had no background with.  This support and spreading the word on all platforms can only help us continue to get quality content from competent artists and writers. And for me, its time to look at not reading certain books just because I been reading them for a long time- especially knowing that the quality of the book has gone down hill.










So Nighthawk, I'm taking this one personal. I owe you a major apology.  I am gonna back check and order the six issue run even tho I know its too late and chalk it up to a painful lesson learned.  IronHeart and Mosaic, I will give you initial support with the hopes that the book does well and is successful.  Its the least I can do.


The Producer

X-Men 132 is problematic for Storm

@brothascomics has been walking through classic Xmen comics in our Thursday Comic Book Chats.  You can find past episodes here https://soundcloud.com/brothas-hutchinson

The last couple of weeks, we have been walking our way up to the Dark Phoenix Saga- the classic X story that sees the rise and fall of the Phoenix and Jean Grey.  This week we dealt with classic villains, The Hellfire Club, who are an integral part of the Phoenix Saga.

To recap, on a recon mission to the Hellfire Club, Colossus, Storm, and Cyclops have been captured by the Hellfire Club and Jean Grey, through the evil doings of Mastermind( Jason Wyngarde) has been transformed into the Black Queen.

Mastermind has Jean Grey under mind control with his illusion power and a device that has helped him infiltrate the mind and memories of Jean Grey.  Jean believes she is in love with Jason Wyngarde and living in colonial times and when she sees the captured Xmen, she sees them as colonial citizens and traitors.

So, sadly and naturally, Storm is depicted as a slave in this scenario and the following scene plays out in the comic where Jean refers to her as a slave and actually uses a whip to slap Storm across the face and utters the words, "I own you!".  That is problematic in and of itself as this was clearly well thought out and purposeful by the writer and artist ( Claremont and Byrne).  This is not even dealing with the issue they have Storm looking like a Mammy.

But another, more subtle issue, is the visual depiction of Storm and the contrast from modern Storm to slave Storm.  The creators of Storm have given her mostly Caucasian female features- from the flowing white hair, to the blue eyes, and a small nose.  However, once slave Storm is depicted, her eyes become brown, her hair replaced with a bandana, and her nose becomes much wider.  You can also see her lips get bigger and are much more red when she is a "slave".  This speaks tons to the depiction of characters of color when in the hands of white writers and artists.  Given the chance to make a more realistic character from Africa, they did everything in their power to make her more acceptable looking for white, male audience. Yet the first chance they get to make her look like  slave, they make Storms features more African and top the sundae off with using a whip to smack her across the face by her slave master.

I love Storm and I love the X-Men on this run between Claremont and Byrne! When I read these books as a 10-12 year old, this shit did not register with me at all.  As a comic book buying adult, we continually see in the books we grew up loving, that the lack of diversity on the creative sides of books leads to nonsense such as this and draws away from my ability to enjoy something I once loved.

Until the writers room and the editors office begins to show the diversity of the readers of comics, bullshit like this will continue and that is a damn shame!



The Producer

Storm The greatest Xmen Leader

As  I was digging in the comic book crates today, I came across Uncanny X-Men issue 201.  The cover struck me immediately and it did not take me long to vividly remember the outcome of this issue.  Issue 201, is where Storm takes back control and leadership of the X-Men at one of its most tumultuous times.

Storm is powerless- having lost her powers when her the mutant, Forge accidentally shoots her with a mutant power neutralizing gun.  The intended target was Rogue, but he missed.  Forge feels bad and helps Storm recover.  They fall in love, but once she finds out Forge shot her, she dumps his ass.

Nightcrawler is appointed leader of the X-Men in Storms absence.  He is an average leader at best and is constantly wrecked with self-doubt wondering if he is as good a leader as Storm of Cyclops.

And Cyclops is now back with the team.  After issue 200, where Magneto is on trial, Professor Xavier leaves the team and goes space hopping with his boo, Lilandra.  He leaves Magneto in charge of the school and the New Mutants.  This brings Cyclops back to the school believing that Magneto must be stopped or watched seeing that he is the biggest enemy of the X-Men.  Problem is, Cyclops is now married to Madelyn Pryor AND they have a baby( Cable).  His wife is none to thrilled to have her husband back with the X-Men and she lets him know.  Cyclops is a dick, tho and when the void of leadership must be filled, he accepts the challenge from Storm to a duel for leadership of the team.

The duel takes place in the Danger Room and Cyclops( because he is a dick) is arrogant and thinking since Storm is powerless, this fight will be over quickly. He is oh so wrong!

Storm uses all her skills and abilities to keep Cyclops off balance and he begins to become anxious and nervous, unsure what to do.  He is also unfocused worried about Magneto, his wife, and his baby.  Side note- Cyclops is a dick!

Finally, Storm gets the drop on him to end the duel by ripping off his visor.  In defeat, Cyclops is gracious and moves on with his life and wife( of course, he would later get to lead X- Factor, but whatever).

This issue showed why Storm has been the best leader EVER to lead the X-Men. Even without her powers, he ability to plan, execute, and fight shows leadership that others have dispayed but not on her level. This version of Storm is the version we have all been waiting to see in the X-Men movies- yet we continually get timid and unsure Storm which is nothing like the modern version of the character in the books.

Uncanny X-Men 201 was a turning point for the character and if you are a Storm fan, I highly recommend you find it and read it.  Buying it might be pricey because of that pesky little 1st appearance of Cable thing, tho :)

The Producer