MARVEL.COM: Change and the X-Men’s feelings towards it seem to be a major theme of the issue. In your eyes, what made Storm the right mutant to lead a story like this?
ANN NOCENTI: Storm is suddenly the big boss. Think of any friend circle you have, any group you’re part of, and if you are suddenly the boss of your friends and colleagues? It changes you. You have to step up, create some distance in order to make tough decisions, and get respect. Doing that can veer into arrogance.
So in that first scene, which is a classic throwback to earlier comics, when you open your story with an active establishment of powers, I was able to have Storm show the X-Men her leadership style. She’s a strategist, and she chooses to match power to power in a battle with the Brotherhood, and stay back as if she’s not quite in the mix, to see how the X-Men do.
So, she’s trying to be tough but inspirational. And then she swoops in and does her battle post-mortem, and she’s really tough on Rogue and Colossus, and brutal to Kitty.
MARVEL.COM: Storm has had so many different looks over the years, but the mohawk keeps coming back! Why do you think her punk makeover has stuck with fans for so long?
ANN NOCENTI: She rocks the look, and it gives her a break from playing the queen; she gets to be the rebel again. And I love how in some of her current books, she’s been given more mass in her hair, with a kind of wilder, wider mohawk. Her curlier hair fits who she is, and I’ve been impressed by how artists sometimes draw it to look like she has a literal Storm cloud above her head, with her lightning bolt earrings dangling out of that cloud. It is really a spectacular look for her.
