Days Of Future Podcast: Examining The X-men

In 1984, writer Chris Claremont and artist Barry Windsor-Smith offered up a different type of superhero story in X-Men #186. "Lifedeath: A Love Story" finds a recently de-powered Storm being tended to by Forge - the man who, unbeknownst to her, is himself partly responsible for her losing her mutant abilities. How does a woman once worshipped as a super-powered goddess face a future with no powers? Is she more than the sum of her powers? This classic, introspective story sought to answer these questions, in the process further developing Storm into one of the X-Men's best, most complex characters. A year later, Claremont and Windsor-Smith would deliver a sequel story, "Lifedeath II," in X-Men #198, this time depicting a wounded, exhausted Storm tasked with protecting a young pregnant woman in the African plains. In this episode, we take a look at both of these classic stories, examining what they tell us about Storm, and why stories like these manage to resonate and stand out amongst the more common action-pa