The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

I mentioned some time back that one of the big events for Marvel this summer would take the form not of some huge epic, universe-altering story told across every character’s comic but something a little more romantic (although just as world-changing for those involved): the marriage of X-Men’s Storm and the Black Panther. The ceremony is scheduled for Black Panther #18 which should publish in July, but Marvel has released details of Storm’s wedding dress, which has been designed by Emmy-winning Shawn Dudley.

Comic Book Resources interviewed Shawn, who admitted he was mostly familiar with Storm from the movie adaptations (where the gorgeous Halle Berry plays Storm) but explored the comics history of the character to see what made her tick, just as he would with designing a costume for a character in a show he was working on. He also notes the importance of both the bride and groom’s African heritage, which is something worth thinking about – while comics have moved on in the last few decades and we have more coloured characters (and now Indian superheroes arriving courtesy of Virgin’s new range) and gay characters most superheroes still tend to be white and straight, so it is good to see two African heroes receiving such high profile treatment. Speaking on CBR Shawn said;

“This is set as a royal wedding and we wanted the dress to seem appropriately regal. We also went in and did research on different tribal aspects and symbolism, because the writer really wanted to play up the fact that it is going to be set in Africa. Black Panther has his history with Africa and Storm has her history with Africa. We needed to mix all of that in, along with our additional research. We also turned to various fashion designers from Thierry Mugler, Vivenne Westwood, and vintage Gianni Versace. These were fashion designers who used exaggerated lines and proportions or that unique quality that embodied what we were going for with Storm’s dress. We also looked at vintage designs from Erte and the Hollywood costume designer, Adrian. We also designed a beautiful ceremonial cape that she will wear for entrance that hasn’t been seen yet. The cape has a gold handpainted and beaded design using African kente cloth and mud cloth design. She makes her grand entrance and the cape is removed to show the wedding gown underneath.”

Altogether now: doesn’t she look lovely? Since I always cry at weddings (not because of the emotions, but because I am forced to wear a tie) I will need a mylar comic-bag to protect that issue from becoming soggy.