Popular Culture Review Vol. 11, No. 1, February 2000 | Page 139

The X -M e n ’s Storm

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However, the absence of a job does not mean the absence of consumption.
Storm’s exotic taste in clothes and food, plus the technical marvels of the team as
a group, all imply a tremendous amount of available cash. This contradiction
between conspicuous consumption and no obvious source of income is probably
the most subtle contradiction in Storm’s presentation. If her past denies the
functionalism o f capitalist, middleclass, urban values, her present asserts the
middleclass fantasy of not having to worry about money. In some ways, the entire
X-Men team’s material reality is analogous to college life. They all live in a mansion
with their own separate bedrooms and communal kitchens and bathrooms. They
have to undergo rigorous academic and physical training and testing, punctuated
by the “tests” of battle. However, there are very few overt worries about their
financial future. In Storm’s material circumstances the writers both reinforce and
challenge cultural norms.
The January 1986 issue of th q X-Men crystallizes Storm’s radical, provisional,
conflicted presentation. Subtitled “Who Will Lead Them,” this issue presents Storm
defeating Cyclops to assume the team leadership. Storm has undergone changes
since the X-Men began in 1975. She is no longer in the glamorous fetishized costume
and she has lost her powers. The cover of this issue presents readers with a tougher,
more current, “punk” Storm. This “new” Storm both challenges and defeats Cyclops,
who still has his mutant powers. Despite this inversion of standard power positions,
Storm still maintains pieces of the feminized role. The actual fight sequence between
Storm and Cyclops could almost be read as a paradigm for fighting someone whom
one does not really want to hurt. Storm uses Cyclops’ own raw power and lack of
control against him. Although she may look more masculine, her combat technique
illustrates typical feminine strategy. My enjoyment and appreciation of this character
stems from her contradictions — contradictions that refuse to resolve themselves
into a one dimensional societal reading along the axes of race, class, or gender.
The separation of Storm’s persona into the three categories above is an artificial
one. Factors of gender, race and class work in combination to contribute to the
marginalization or valorization of individuals in comic books and in our society at
large. I have only separated the categories to demonstrate how in Storm’s case
each one provides conflicting signifiers of meaning. Is she a “bimbo” or a leader?
Does her racial depiction denigrate/misrepresent African Americans or increase
their visibility/participation in a significant cultural artifact? Is her lack of concern
with money a sop to middle-class fantasies or a challenge to capitalist systems? I
would suggest, contrary to Reynolds’ assertion that superhero comic books are
merely formulaic re-inscriptions of traditional values and Schmitt’s notion that
comic books create a radically new, postmodern way of reading, that this particular
comic book superhero serves a potentially persuasive task. Persuasion seems more
effective when it is less overt and linked to cultural norms. The case is not so