The recent X-men gold run was pretty meh... (at best.)
And now in Marauders seems like more of the same. The first issue was mainly Kitty being a badass while Omega level mutants (like Storm) are left somehow helpless.

Storm has major star power and shines as a omega/leader/goddess/queen. So it seems like every time Kitty wants to be the leader of an X-team, the writers always add her to kitty's team AND THEN have to downplay Storm in order to make it seem like Kitty is a boss. Which begs the question... WHY PUT STORM IN KITTY'S CENTERED BOOKS??? (I know they used to have a special relationship in the past, but that isn't the same dynamic mother/daughter-like relationship anymore.)

X-men Red made sense to have Storm in a Jean centered book. Storm really wasn't downplayed in X-men Red. In fact, Storm seemed like a real threat in X-men Red. But that makes sense because Jean and Storm powersets go well together storywise and nobody has to downplay anyone for it to make sense. Kitty should have more characters in her books on her level. Instead of Kitty centered books cashing checks based on more popular characters in the lineup like Storm, Emma, and Wolverine.
#EndRant

The fact is for whatever reason Marvel has decided not only to push Kitty to the leadership front but also do it in a way that's going to command attention. Her leading people like Storm in combat gives her far more "ammo" than if she were leading a party consisting of characters like Pixie or Hellion.

While I agree that it was absolute horsesh!t that even after Iceman warned them the soldiers had mutant dampening powers they still walked right into the trap we have to remember Duggan said from the get go that the first few issues (especially issue #1) would be extremely Kitty centered which is exactly what we got with her mowing down these soldiers left and right and looking as badass as she could given the nature of her powers.

No one is forcing any one to buy this book BUT Duggan has made it clear that the spotlight is going to shift from one character to the others. Even limbo/support characters like Bishop and Pyro are apparently going to get some shine. So until Storm gets her arc just sit back and maybe don't worry about reading the book?

At this point Marvel just isn't comfortable enough to think Storm can hold down a long lasting solo so it's team books like this or we see her in the background chit-chatting with various Mutants across the books. Does it suck? Yes. But these are the cards we've been dealt... so far.

I still think a large part of the Storm fanbase (and X-Men fans in general) are still anti-Kitty because of what happened in Gold. The thing is this is a new writer who even from issue #1 is already proving he's better than Guggensh!t ever was when it comes to writing them as a team. You'll notice that everyone retained their IQ points even with Kitty in charge.

Honestly my biggest complaint about this book is the art.

I agree with all of this, but I'm still not expecting much out of Ororo save Lightning Lass when it's her turn to "shine" until proven otherwise. Too many times have I held high hopes only to be disappointed. I now keep my expectations low.

And that's well within your right to do.

Even with the solicits for issue 5 & 6 I'm not expecting too much of a show to be put on.

THE BATTLE OF MADRIPOOR!

The Marauders are caught between the forces of Madripoor and the Black King’s machinations! Thankfully, they have TWO Omega Level mutants onboard…

Hopefully I'm wrong and both Storm and Iceman get their own grand showing INDEPENDENTLY of each other.

I hope they use the term Omega wisely, not just random lightnings.

Just as Kitty had good moment in this first issue, I hope with Storm is the same.

You and me both. I would hope given how much emphasis Hickman put around redefining Omega's and what they mean to Krakoa and Mutantkind that when a writer decides to use the term it's actually going to hold some weight now.

It does suck that at the perfect opportunity for her to get a book during one of the most important times in X-Men's history that's probably going to be on cartoons in the future she gets short handed.

Still I'm hoping Duggan isn't afraid to have her lead when she needs to and we already know she's going to get some spotlight compared to Gold and even Red.

I've been having issues wrapping my head around them always putting Storm in Kitty led books and for someone who just recently came back to comics last year, I keep asking myself (and am now asking everyone else) how well would a Kitty led book sell without say Storm, Iceman, Emma, etc? IF it were a different cast, how well would it do?

I laugh at Marvel for this because its funny how its OK for Kitty to lead an X-vet Storm but....they'd never do this to Cyclops. I just shrug and won't buy the book.

Marauders is stupid. Why the hell are they using boats instead of jets that are like 10x faster lol

@thunderbolt30: Because Cyclops is the one true leader of the X-Men other than Charles.

@rabumalal: Doesn’t make this the right move for Storm, let alone her better standing in the MU/X-Verse vs Kitty (and Scott)

This is a point I don't think I've ever considered. They would never do something like this to Scott. Well, the only issues I'd spend money on are the ones where Storm does something worthy other than just shooting lightning. So, at least I can feel good about not financially supporting the Kitty show.