Storm has had a pile of costumes over the years, and if I were to pick the five WORST costumes, I think it would be a bit easier. So let's go for a challenge! Here are what I feel are the top five best Storm costumes! Thanks to UncannyXmen.Net for their amazingly complete costume gallery (it's only until the end of 2004, but luckily, Storm hasn't really done much since then, costume-wise, at least as far as picking better costumes go).

Let's begin!

5. The Team Uniform Period

I am partial to this period in X-Men costumes, because I think going with the school uniform motif was a very interesting artistic decision on Jim Lee's part that really tended to highlight each member's unique personality, as we got to see how much of their look leaked out through the costume.

Still, it IS basically just a school uniform, so it's not ranked highrr (but the costumes below it...yuck...some major Ron Frenz Rule violations).

4. The Outback costume

I like the basic idea behind this costume (who designed it? Silvestri or Leonardi or someone else entirely?), in that it does have a lot of the elements that I think are important in a great Storm costume (i.e. a cape), but at the same time, it seems a BIT too generic of an outfit.

3. Alan Davis' Storm costume

Alan Davis pulled off one of the most interesting tricks an artist can pull off - he gave Storm a new costume in 1999. Then, five years later, he returned to the book and gave her a new costume....the same one he used in 1999!

I understand there were extentuating circumstances (I do not believe Davis was informed whether he was ALLOWED to change Storm's costume or not, so when push came to shove, he just went with a costume he was familiar with), but it is still pretty freaky.

I like how much this evokes the old costume, just very stream-lined and neat looking. One of the best Alan Davis costume designs I've ever seen (and that may be damning with faint praise, a bit).

2. Jim Lee's Storm costume

When the X-Men launched their second title in 1991, Jim Lee was given free reign to design new oufits, and love them or leave them, his designs had major staying power, which is rare for ANY costume designs. His Cyclops design lasted about eight years. His Rogue about seven. His Jean Grey about eight. And his Storm about five.

I like how this is slightly more stylized than the one with the lightning bolt in the middle of the chest. It looks a lot less cheesy, and it passes the Ron Frenz Rule with flying colors.

1. Dave Cockrum's original Storm costume

The original, and still champion.

So simple, yet so refined.

If it wouldn't be such a major step backwards for the character (like someone wearing their high school clothes), I would love to still see Storm in this uniform.

It was even FUNCTIONAL, as Storm had lockpicks built into the costume!

What a great job by Cockrum.

Well, agree? Disagree? Let me know!