Storm was a little man with a big heart.
Storm was a diminutive man bigger than life.
No no no. Storm was huge but invisible.
Storm was the toughest, most agile ninja warrior kick-ass borderlands fighter before Bruce Lee.
What?
Storm challenged Pancho Villa to fight, mano a mano.
It was a shoot-out.
On horseback. Samurai centaur versus Mexican centaur.
Kung fu fistfight.
Chess match.
Storm almost killed Pancho Villa.
No no. Storm saved Pancho Villa’s life.
But when did Storm meet Pancho Villa?
Some folks think Storm was a great revolutionary.
Others think Storm was a great bandido. A thief and outlaw.
Some say he was an Oriental Robin Hood.
Debonair, a Zen Zorro.
But not an aristocrat; he was working class.
A working-class samurai. You know, lost his old warrior job. Like the rōnin.
Maybe more like a drug lord or mobster boss.
No no, nothing like that. No merry men. No famiglia.
Storm worked alone. A lone wolf.
Secret agent.
A silent Storm.
You got to be kidding.
This is a true story with true exaggerations.
Storm 1
Let’s start with the Revolution.
You mean the Restoration.
OK, start there. Meiji Restoration. Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Bay on his black ships and the Edo is over.
Goodbye samurai. The Emperor rules again.
By the time Storm is born, the Meiji is into its second decade. Modernize. Militarize. Build ships and railways. Build the nation.
By the time Storm comes of age, Japan’s got China in check, and it’s time to go to war with Russia.
Storm’s the son of Kumakuro, the black bear, and his second mistress. Second mistress, Kura, is young and pretty and gets her way. This means Storm gets a commission with the First Army under General Kuroki. Storm spreads out the maps and serves Kuroki tea while forty thousand Japanese cross the Yalu and defeat seven thousand Russians. Storm gets a taste of war.
More like a whiff.
You’ve got it all wrong. Storm actually fought with General Nogi’s Third Army at Mukden, in Manchuria. An American captain named John Pershing just in from fighting the Moros in the Philippines was a military attaché sent to observe Nogi’s army. That’s when Storm met Pershing.
Serving tea?
No, artillery. In the trenches.
Then the fall of Port Arthur, the Battle of Tsushima, and the Treaty of Portsmouth, and Storm is back home, victorious.
