Storm collection guide: the complete method

This guide is aimed at the collector who wants to build a coherent set around Ororo Munroe without paying four characters to obtain one.

The main difficulty is well identified: Storm is a character of team, and its decisive moments are drowned in a series of several hundred issues. Knowing where to cut is the main part of the job here.

Understanding the problem: a shared first appearance

Before buying anything, you must understand the initial situation.

Giant-Size X-Men #1(1975) contains four major early appearances — Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Thunderbird — and revives a stalled series. Its value therefore aggregates four independent demands.

For a team collector, this is a great deal: one issue covers the essentials. For a Storm collector in particular, it's the opposite: you're paying for three characters you weren't looking for.

This guide therefore recommends an approach that clashes with intuition:do not start with the first appearance. It has its place in a completed collection, not at the start.

The Heart of the Character: Uncanny X-Men 1983-1986

Four years concentrate everything that makes Storm, and they are accessible.

Uncanny X-Men #169-170(1983) — Conquest of the Morlocks. Storm challenges Callisto and wins. It's the only command she gets for herself, and the episode establishes a harshness that helpfully contradicts her image.

Uncanny X-Men #173(1983) — The visual overhaul, under the pencil of Paul Smith. Short cut, leather, punk look. A change in appearance which accompanies a transformation of character, and which has permanently redefined the way in which the character is drawn.

Uncanny X-Men #185-186(1984) — The loss of powers, then “Life-Death”. The absolute summit, and a stand-alone issue that you can read without knowing anything about the series.

Uncanny X-Men #201(1986) — The duel against Cyclops for command of the team, won without any power.

These issues belong to the mid-1980s, a period when buyers were already protecting their copies. The supply is therefore abundant in good condition, and the value is concentrated on the high ranks.

The anomaly to exploit

This file contains an offset that this guide wishes to explicitly point out, because it can be exploited.

Uncanny X-Men #186 is the best issue dedicated to the character — autonomous story, exceptional drawing, comments that go beyond the usual register. It never reached the levels of its immediate neighbors.

The reason is mechanical: it does not contain no first appearance. The market identifies the beginnings of characters, not the quality of the stories.

Conversely,Uncanny X-Men #201 is significantly more expensive, because it contains a character beginning unrelated to Storm. A collector who targets it for her pays a premium that he does not control.

Practical conclusion: buy #186 first, #201 last.

Solo series: inexpensive, little known

Storm only got a continuing series to his name in 2014, thirty-nine years after its creation. Before that, a few mini-series: one in 1996 (Warren Ellis and Terry Dodson), one in 2006 around his meeting with the ruler of Wakanda.

These sets have an advantage that this guide recommends exploiting: they complement each other completely in a single search, for a paltry budget.

It's one of the few ways to obtain a truly complete collection on a major character — and few collectors own it, because they don't think about it.

The Wakandan period

Black Panther #18(2006) contains marriage. Modern, abundant number, the demand for which has been driven by the adaptations of the kingdom of Wakanda on screen.

This segment deserves a methodological remark. The rating of these numbers depends on an external factor – the cinematographic exploitation of another franchise – over which Storm has no control. These are values cyclical, to distinguish stable values ​​carried by several independent requests.

Should we graduate?

For Giant-Size X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-Men #94, yes without reservation: these keys justify the expertise, both for authentication and for detection of restorations. The facsimiles of this issue faithfully reproduce the cover.

For the numbers of 1980s, it depends on the state. A clearly above-average copy justifies it; a good copy does not justify it, the cost often exceeds the gain.

For the solo series and the modern period, generally no. The offer is abundant and only perfection can be paid for.

Conservation

Two points specific to this collection.

Le double format of the 1975 issue makes its edge vulnerable: the back folds are the most heavily sanctioned defect. Vertical storage imperative, never flat under a pile.

The paper of bronze age yellows under the influence of light and humidity. Pouches, reinforcement boxes, stable temperature, darkness: the usual rules, applied from the moment of acquisition.

Three strategies depending on the budget

Tight budget — the “reading” collection. Uncanny X-Men #185 and #186 in installments, plus the Claremont run collections and the 2014 solo series. You own the essence of the character, and you've read it.

Intermediate budget — the “rockers” collection. Add #169-170, #173 and #139. Around ten issues which cover each change in the character's status. This is the collection this guide recommends.

Comfortable budget — the complete collection. Uncanny X-Men #94, #201, then Giant-Size X-Men #1. Professional grading essential on the last two.

Cutting in a run-river: the real skill here

This is the central difficulty of this issue, and it deserves an explicit method.

Chris Claremont's run covers sixteen years and several hundred numbers. Storm appears in almost all of them, and only does anything decisive in about ten.

A collector who buys “the issues where it appears” therefore finds himself with hundreds of issues of no particular interest, for a considerable budget. This is the most costly error in the file, and the most frequent.

The method that works is based on three questions, asked at each number considered:

• Is she changing roles? Member → leader (1980), then leader of the Morlocks (1983).
• Is she losing something? His powers (1984), his community (1986), his marriage (2012).
• Is she making a decision that binds her? The challenge to Callisto, the duel against Cyclops.

These three questions designate around fifteen numbers out of several hundred. Everything else can be read as a collection, and is also better read that way: the stories from this period are spread over several issues and do not tolerate fragmented reading.

What you will buy without having wanted it

A warning specific to team characters, and particularly clear here.

Several important numbers for Storm are expensive for reasons other than. Giant-Size X-Men #1 contains three more major debuts. Uncanny X-Men #201 contains a highly requested, unrelated first appearance. Uncanny X-Men #139 is wanted for a costume and an arrival that has nothing to do with her.

The consequence is concrete: on these three numbers, a significant part of the price paid corresponds to a request that you do not share.

This guide doesn't recommend avoiding them — they actually matter to the character. He recommends buying them last, once the core of the numbers that only interest her has been formed: #185, #186, #173, #169-170.

The latter have an advantage that collectors underestimate: their price reflects exactly what they contain. There are no foreign premiums to pay.

Recognize a beautiful copy from the 1980s

Since the bulk of this collection falls between 1983 and 1986, it is worth knowing what distinguishes an ordinary copy from a fine example from this specific period.

The period is well preserved: buyers already protected their comics, specialized circuits existed. The supply in good condition is therefore abundant, and it is at the top of the range that everything is at stake.

The defects that tip a copy over these years are precise. THE edge folds first, visible by holding the profile number up to the light. THE print offset then, common at this time and which decenters the coverage. THE rounded corners finally, produced by storage in too tight boxes.

Yellowing, on the other hand, is much less of a problem than in the Bronze Age: 1984 paper ages better than 1975 paper.

Practical consequence: during this period, refuse average copies. They are not rare, they will not increase in value, and the price difference with a good example is often less than we imagine.

Solo series: the collection that no one makes

A recommendation that this guide wishes to highlight, because it is simple and rarely followed.

Storm only got a continuing series to its name in 2014. Before that, only two miniseries: one in 1996 , one in 2006.

These three sets combined represent around twenty numbers. They are easily found, cost little, and constitute a collection truly complete— an objective that can rarely be achieved on a major character.

Few collectors own it, not because of difficulty but because of forgetting: attention is spontaneously drawn to old and expensive issues.

Summary: the minimum list

• Uncanny X-Men #186(1984) — “Life-Death,” the recommended starting point.
• Uncanny X-Men #185(1984) — the loss of power.
• Uncanny X-Men #173(1983) — the visual overhaul.
• Uncanny X-Men #169-170(1983) — the conquest of the Morlocks.
• Uncanny X-Men #139(1980) — taking command.
• Storm #1(2014) — the first series continues in its name.
• Uncanny X-Men #201(1986) — the duel, won without powers.
• Uncanny X-Men #94(1975) — the new regular series team.
• Giant-Size X-Men #1(1975) — first appearance.

Nine entries, only two of which are really expensive.

As always, condition and gradation determine value; relying on actual recent sales is strongly recommended before each purchase.

To learn more, see ourtier list of key issues, ourbest bowsand thecharacter universe.