Saturday Splash Page #15

 

"Attack of the Ghost Prawns," in X-Men Legacy #228, by Mike Carey (writer), Daniel Acuna (artist/color artist), Cory Petit (letterer)

X-Men Legacy was originally X-Men, the book Marvel intended to hand to Jim Lee, except he left to co-found Image. It went on anyway, as X-books in the '90s typically did. Became New X-Men for the Grant Morrison/Frank Quietly run. Continued on through other creative teams probably better left forgotten, and eventually landed in Mike Carey's hands. Carey wrote it as a team book for awhile, with Rogue trying to lead a group with Mystique, Sabretooth and Cable among others (kind of filched Cable from Cable/Deadpool in the process, thanks loads Mike). After Messiah CompleX (yes, the "X" was capitalized) it turned into X-Men Legacy. It spent maybe a year as a Professor X solo title, as he tried to put his mind together after being shot in the head by Bishop, as well as make up for past mistakes.

Xavier, I mean. Bishop was out in the timeline committing all new mistakes by trying to murder a child with a nuclear weapon. One of ol' Chuck's mistakes was an inability to help Rogue, and at the point they intersected, the book became a Rogue solo title for the next 50 or so issues (although the last 15 of those were written by Christos Gage.)

So the biggest thing Carey does, as part of Xavier's "fix past fuck-ups" tour, is do some work on Rogue's psyche that gives her the chance to actually control her mutant power. The thinking is, because Rogue absorbs memories through her power, and that she basically absorbed Cody's entire psyche the first time she used her power, it fragmented her mind, and this wrecked her ability to develop control. Charles basically wipes the board and let's Rogue figure it out. 

(In a nice touch, the last persona to go is Mystique, who naturally curses and blames Xavier the whole way. Even an echo of Mystique can't acknowledge that being a wholly untrustworthy, backstabbing person who used Rogue as a weapon is why the girl wanted nothing to do with her.)

From there, Carey tries to explore Rogue putting together a life where she may have to be careful before she makes physical contact with someone, but she doesn't have to avoid it entirely. Gambit and Magneto both factor in, as past love interests who would like to be present love interests. Carey uses the Necrosha X-Event to let Rogue have some closure with Destiny, which is nice. Guess that's irrelevant with Krakoa bringing everyone back.

More crucially, Rogue has to decide what her role with the X-Men is, if any. She came to Xavier originally hoping to get her powers under control, and was caught up in X-Men stuff in the interim (or for lack of anywhere better to go). Now that her powers are under her control, does she still want to be caught up in X-Men stuff, especially during the Utopia era (aka, the first time they made their own little island nation)? If she does stay, what's her role?

I think Carey settles on her as a sort of mentor for younger mutants struggling to come to grips with their powers, whatever that means.

The big problem is the constant string of events the book has to tie-in to. Necrosha as mentioned above, but Age of X, which is a whole alternate reality thing that took over the book for six issues. Second Coming, when Hope and Cable return to the present, and by the time Gage is writing, Avengers vs. X-Men. That's a lot of event crap to navigate, and they do their best, but it's hard to focus your X-Men book on a specific X-Man when you have to follow along as Chapter 7 of Whatever. There's also artist shuffle, though that's to be expected with Marvel. Scot Eaton, Daniel Acuna, Clay Mann, Scott Kurth, David Baldeon, Rafael Sandoval, Greg Land. I don't think that helps much, but at least some of the time the artist seems to match the material. The story the splash page is from involves traveling into some weird other-dimensional space that Acuna's coloring makes look suitably unreal and slightly out of sync. On the other hand, Greg Land. Suffice it to say, I did not bother picking up those issues.

And with that, we are done with X-Men titles. Not mutant titles that start with "X", mind you. Oh no, you're not free and clear of those yet.

Alternate Favorite Marvel Character #8 - Rogue

Character: Rogue (Anna-Marie)

Creators: Chris Claremont and Michael Golden

First Appearance: Avengers Annual #10 (1981). It's unlikely Marvel will ever let the numbers for Annuals get that high again, but just in case, might as well specify the year.

First encounter: Uncanny X-Men #202. Secret Wars II tie-in. Rachel Summers tries to kill the Beyonder, he gives her enough power to do it, but drags her teammates into the mix and throws Sentinels at them, so she has to decide whether to use the power on him, or the genocidal tin cans.

It's a good intro to Rogue's overall deal. She tries using her speed to sneak up on a Sentinel, it blasts her into a crowd and damages her clothes enough she starts getting overwhelmed by all the different memories she's absorbing. With a little help from Rachel she gets it together enough to shatter a Sentinel Magneto has managed to freeze by using his powers to draw super-cold air from the upper atmosphere(?).

Definitive writer: Chris Claremont. Yeah, accent and all. Most of the stories I associate with Rogue were written by Claremont. Mike Carey's version was mostly good, but lacking a few parts. It's Claremont.

Definitive artist: I'm partial to Paul Smith or John Romita Jr.'s '80s work (and Alan Davis can draw just about anyone and I'd be fine with it), but due to the X-Men cartoon, I usually think of Rogue in that green and yellow costume with the short leather jacket, which means it's probably Jim Lee. Or one of the Kubert brothers, but hell if I could tell you which one.

Favorite moment or story: There's a few moments for Rogue I thought were pretty cool, trying to pick one is a bit tricky. Let's go with Uncanny X-Men #194, when the X-Men get caught in the middle of a fight between the Juggernaut and the futuristic adapting Sentinel, Nimrod. The robot takes care of the Juggernaut and most of the X-Men in a couple of pages. Rogue's one of the last ones still on her feet, and so Kitty, mostly paralyzed but still thinking, hits on the idea of letting Rogue absorb her powers and mind, and then getting Rogue to do the same with Nightcrawler and Colossus.

That's more commonplace these days, as shorthand for "things are desperate", but this was the first occurrence I know of. It was still new to her, and she was uneasy about adding so many personalities to the mix. Two issues earlier, she'd made contact with a Dire Wraith and been overwhelmed. Prior to that, she'd run into an old friend of Carol Danvers, and had acted like he was her old friend, before realizing he had no idea who she was.

Kitty initiating the contact voluntarily helped, but it was still disconcerting, especially throwing two more minds into the mix. Plus, she was still up against an enemy dangerous enough to hand the Juggernaut his butt. But she kept it together and got to work. She didn't end up destroying Nimrod, but she did damage him badly enough to make him retreat.

What I like about her: Rogue's Marvel Universe Series 3 trading card described her as 'the original Steel Magnolia: Stronger than iron and the prettiest southern flower you ever did see!' I didn't know a thing about Steel Magnolias, still don't, but they made it sound cool. For my initial impressions, that was enough. She could fly (always cool), she was super-strong and tough, and she was very pretty. I've been playing a lot of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 lately, and Rogue's combination of speed and power has made her one of the most effective characters for me to use. The fact she had a power which meant touching anyone was a risk gave her a bit of tragedy - can't be an X-Man without that - but made her sympathetic. The "cool" powers were a result of a bad decision she made with that power, and it was continuing to be a problem for her.

The key is, like Nightcrawler, Rogue doesn't spend all her time bemoaning her fate. Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes it's harder to deal with than others. Like when she's unable to distinguish Carol Danvers' memories from her own, or when Carol Danvers hijacks her body. Or when things in general are just going badly, it's one more thing. Maybe she wants to give someone a hug to comfort them, or be comforted, but oops, gotta be careful not to make any skin contact. She can't entirely relax, or focus on the problems at hand, because a part of her had to stay aware of the risk her own powers represented to her and others.

But other times, it's fine. She can play baseball with her friends, rob Colossus of a home run, and blow a kiss at Air Force One. Or cook a romantic dinner for Gambit. Or offer guidance to a teammate or student who is questioning their control over their powers, or whether they belong at Xavier's at all. She generally seems like someone it would be easy to be friends with. Once they get past the initial stage of not being sure of her, most of the X-Men get along fine with her. She can do those things and her power doesn't interfere. For me, there are times where I enjoy hanging out with other people, or will help a coworker or friend out gladly. And there are times where I'm stressed, or want to be left alone, and interaction with people is just one more thing I don't want to be dealing with. It's not a constant thing, but when it is a problem, it's something I'm actively having to fight against at the same time I'm doing whatever it is I'm trying to do. Don't get irritated, don't snap at anyone, it's not them. Not the same thing, but that barrier in herself Rogue has to be aware of is familiar to me.

Like I said, though, she has a lot of fun. She's powerful and knows it, so she's confident, teetering into cockiness, a bit of a showboat. She'll stop in the middle of a fight with the Juggernaut to comment on how impressed she is with her own punch. The team-up between her and Logan in Japan, Rogue barely appears to be taking seriously. Logan is waving his claws in peoples' faces, Rogue is leaned against the bar, offering commentary. Wolverine is skulking through the shadows, alert to threats, Rogue is strutting down the hallway, oblivious to any traps. She shoves Logan and Mariko to safety, but overdoes it and sends them flying down the hall. Some of that is inexperience, but some of it is her figuring nothing can hurt her, so it's no big deal. I could see it being irritating to deal with when you're trying to get things done, but it's fun to watch someone having a great time. Although the part where she acts like she's going to give Logan a kiss for saving her, that was in very poor taste.

As it is, Rogue was serious about saving Mariko, who had welcomed her, even when Logan was ready to kill Rogue on sight (though Mariko must be used to Logan having that reaction to people. Probably 25% of the people who come to visit her have some past beef with Logan). Rogue might have been outwardly flippant, but she takes saving people seriously. Not a trait exclusive to her, but still one I appreciate.

I was buying some of Mike Carey's X-Men Legacy earlier this year, when he turned it into a Rogue book for about 50 issues. She's missing most of the attitude in his stories, acts more weary than anything else. I don't love that, even if her being tired of the relentless crap storm that follows the X-Men is understandable. You still see a lot of Rogue trying to protect the students, even though she isn't the "flying brick" any longer. They have powers, they're more familiar with them than she is, but if she can borrow them and go into danger herself, she'll do that. She at least has more experience with dangerous situations than they do. She borrows a sort of ghost ability from a girl named Trance to run into another dimension to rescue Bling! from Monet's crazy brother. Even though she needs a while to figure out how the powers work, and even though there are a lot of things that can still hurt her (including Monet's crazy brother), she pulls it off. If the other X-Men can't get to her, she'll get the weird mansion to the X-Men.

When she still had Carol in her mind, along with all those other personalities, it was hard for telepaths to read her mind, or even communicate with her. In a world littered with telepaths and mind-controllers, having any sort of defense would be attractive. The tradeoff being those personalities aren't always happy to be there, and sometimes they seize control, like Danvers did repeatedly during the Australia years. The security system turns against her sometimes.

But it taught her some things. Near the end of X-Men Legacy, when Christos Gage is writing the book, Rogue winds up in another dimension and helps end a war between two species. In part because, even after one side tries bringing her into their hive mind and wiping her individuality, it won't take because Rogue's used to having lots of voices in her mind, but has figured out how to maintain a sense of who she is.

She also has a lot of experience with people manipulating her, or trying to control and use her. I'm undecided about her years being raised by Mystique and Destiny. I fall pretty squarely into the camp of Mystique being an awful person, which doesn't mean she wasn't trying to be a good mom, theoretically. I'm sure she believed she was doing right by Rogue, and it was just coincidence those things benefited Mystique as well. There are stories where they look like a happy family, Rogue and her two moms having birthday parties and good times. Rogue has warm feelings for both of them, although her relationship with Mystique is a lot messier. In at least some versions of Rogue's past, she's alone and on the run when Mystique finds her, an outcast after that incident with Cody, so having a relatively stable home had to be a plus. (Mike Carey had it Rogue was already living with Mystique when she kissed Cody and her powers manifested, so I'm not sure what the official line is these days.)

Mystique also turned Rogue into a weapon and used her on a variety of criminal missions. But she actively tried to keep her away from Carol Danvers because Destiny said something bad was gonna happen. It did end badly for Rogue (and worse for Carol), at which point Mystique can't do anything for Rogue. But then she's angry when Rogue decides to see if Xavier can help. It's something Mystique seems to constantly bring up and complain about, although she usually blames Xavier. Anything to deflect blame from herself. Mystique likes to try and control Rogue's life, but rarely will just come out and talk to her directly. She's got to interfere in decisions Rogue tries to make about her own life, or try to frame those decisions as somehow being about her. She'll throw in with Mr. Sinister to abduct a baby that might save Rogue's life, or assume another identity to try and expose Gambit as a sleazy womanizer. Even when Mystique will approach her directly, it's hard to know how much to trust her.

Irene seems the better parent. More reasonable, patient, trying to temper Mystique's harsher attitude. She doesn't have much success - Mystique didn't stop sending Rogue into danger, and didn't stop bearing a grudge towards Xavier for Rogue going to him - but she tried. She's also precognitive, seeing things far down the line, so how long of a game she is playing? Did she warn Mystique about Danvers as a threat to Rogue, knowing how it would all end? That Rogue needed to be driven to the X-Men, because the X-Men would need her to help save the world every other month for the next however many years? It's hard to know whether Destiny is back there, trying to pull strings, and if she is, how much. Was she acting in Rogue's best interests, or the world's, and even if it was for Rogue, was what Rogue wanted? How does one define what's "best" for another person?

I don't know how aware of all this Rogue is. Mystique's attempts at manipulation, trying to make Rogue feel guilty for doing what she thinks is in her best interest, I'm sure Rogue's become more adept at spotting and fending off as she gets older. With Destiny, I'm not sure she could ever know for certain, and since Destiny has mostly been dead for a while now, Rogue's mostly made her peace with it. I do think it's given Rogue a decent sense of when someone's feeding her a line. She hadn't necessarily spent as much time in espionage or crime as Logan or Gambit, but she knows when someone's trying to play her. Even when it's Cyclops, who she describes at one point as being very good at giving someone a choice in such a way it's no choice at all.

You see it in her romantic relationships as well. The two characters she's mostly frequently been involved with were Gambit and Magneto. They're different kinds of people; Magneto is overwhelming, projecting power and confidence, while Gambit has that schmoozy charm (and sometimes an actual power to influence people? I think I remember that. Maybe from when he was blind for some reason). Rogue's attracted to them, but ends up keeping them at arm's length. Most of that is her power. What happened with Cody is a lesson she doesn't want to repeat.

But even when her powers are under control, she still keeps a distance. She's trained herself to be careful, and I doubt that goes away just because she can in theory control the power. During Carey's run, when the powers are under control, both of guys are around, and it doesn't go anywhere with either of them. She interested in them, but also wants to maintain distance. Maybe she sees something that says that it would on their terms, and that concerns her. Magneto in particular strikes me as someone who would want to "wear the pants in the relationship." Gambit less so, but even when he tries to be better for Rogue, there are aspects of his personality that would be frustrating to deal with. Also, Magneto regularly lapses back into villainy, and Gambit isn't well acquainted with concepts like "monogamy" or "honesty". That factors in, I imagine.

She did having something forming with Joseph, the Magneto clone, at least far enough for an actual kiss. Joseph was a less forceful personality than Magneto from what I remember, due to the uncertainty he had about himself. Maybe he didn't set off the same warning bells in her head. Of course, he also died before it could go much further.

Given how traumatic the experience with Cody was, it's odd she 'll kiss someone to absorb their powers. I know removing a glove isn't always possible, a kiss might surprise them so they won't realize they need to break contact until it's too late. But it seems like there'd be too much bad history there. Necessities of battle, I guess, albeit one that may leave a lasting impact she'll have to cope with. Claremont described her using that move against Ben Grimm in Fantastic Four vs. X-Men as a 'desperate yearning for true affection,' so she takes it as the closest she can get? That seems. . . not entirely healthy.

(I can't forget it exists apparently, but I am going to ignore - as Marvel thankfully seems to be doing - Paul Jenkins retconning in that Rogue and the Sentry were intimate at some point in her past as part of his, "Everyone is sad the Sentry is dead! Really they are!" story back in 2010. Talk about someone Rogue should have been keeping at arm's length. Hi, I might get depressed and think you out of existence at any moment! Let's make out! Moving on.)

I don't have many comics from Rogue's early days as villain. Her run-in with ROM, the battle with Carol Danvers that changed both their lives, a story from her ongoing series where she forgot all her years with the X-Men and briefly went bad again. By the time I encountered Rogue, she'd been an X-Man long enough they'd accepted her. Magneto was the new teammate everyone was wary of. So it was vague backstory I might not even have been aware of, the same deal I had with Hawkeye. It adds a certain element of redemption to her backstory, but it's not typically something I associate with the character. It's almost more like "wild teenage years". Got some questionable guidance, fell in with a bad element, made some mistakes, and now she's trying to do better. Maybe because the X-Men welcome in so many of their past foes, most of whom have much longer track records of bad behavior than her, that it doesn't feel like something unique to her. Which is fine. Even though I do enjoy a redemptive arc, I don't need one as the focal point for every character I like.

Visually, I like the white stripe in the hair. I don't know why it would exist, but it's an interesting identifier, and kind of unique. I feel like artists are beginning to minimize it, but that might simply be because Rogue is past the "big hair" phase she was during the Jim Lee/X-Men cartoon days. She has less hair overall, which includes the white part. But it does seem to be getting relegated to just a patch in the bangs. Costume-wise, she typically has green involved, and then one of white, black, or yellow. Which are not your typical hero colors, but work for her. Makes her distinct. And she's had a variety of looks, most of which seemed to fit, depending on the artist. She rocks jackets a lot, going back to her earliest appearances. Green a lot of the time, brown leather in the '90s and early 2000s. Sometimes with a hood, sometimes not (the jackets Silvestri drew had no hood, for example). She doesn't use the hood much anyway.

For a little while, after she'd absorbed Sunfire's powers, she had a long cape. That didn't quite seem right for Rogue, but it worked with that particular outfit (at least it did the one story I saw it in, which Mike Wieringo drew). When she had control over her powers, she went with a variant of her green-and-white look. Short sleeves and long gloves, no jacket, a little more skin showing than her other looks. Not much - really just the bit on the arms between the sleeves and gloves, plus however much a given artist had the neckline plunge - but a little more. The gloves didn't make much sense, they'd be more of a pain to remove in a tense spot, but logistics aside, the look wasn't bad. There was usually a scarf involved, which was a nice accessory.

Even when she goes with the spandex look - the Silvestri years, or most of the '90s - there's usually something additional to the look. The jackets, frequently, and probably knee-high boots. The Jim Lee look had a belt, which hung loose so that it didn't have an apparent function, but it adds another layer. Around the Mutant Massacre, she'd sometimes have black spandex from the neck down, but add a loose green tank top or sometimes a much baggier green t-shirt, a belt, some variety of boots. It breaks things up a bit, makes it seem more like an actual outfit, less a superhero costume. Probably a strange outfit - I'm not a good judge of that stuff, as the guy who rarely sweats complaints about artists putting everyone in t-shirts and jeans since that's 96% of what I wear - but an outfit.

When she finds herself in the middle of a fight with a Master Mold/Nimrod fusion that started when Carol Danvers was running things, she's stuck in Carol's old costume, because that was what Carol had to throw on for it. The one-piece black swimsuit with the red sash, and Rogue hates it. Calls it a "rag". Maybe because it's Carol's, or Rogue hates the colors, or something else. But it's definitely not the style she favors.

I like Rogue because despite a rough childhood and adolescence, under at least one questionable parent (more if you count her birth family), and a condition that makes interacting with people actively dangerous for everyone involved, she mostly doesn't let it get her down. She learned some good things from Raven and Irene, and also some stuff she had to unlearn. The difficulty in having physical contact with others hasn't stopped her from forming strong emotional attachments. She still lives her life on her terms as best she's able, given the demands of being on the X-Men, and she doesn't seem willing to compromise who she is.

Credits! It's Sentinel-fightin' time on the cover of Uncanny X-Men #202, by John Romita Jr. (pencilers), Al Williamson (inker), and probably Glynis Oliver (colorist for the interior). The skunk stripe remains even as the rest of her hair changes color, in Uncanny X-Men #194, by Chris Claremont (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Dan Green and Steve Leialoha (finishers), Glynis Oliver (colorist), Tom Orzechowski (letterer). Longshot should remember that, but he does get amnesia a lot, in Uncanny X-Men #218, by Claremont (writer), Mark Silvestri & Dan Green (artists), Glynis Oliver (colorist), and Orzechowski (letterer). Rogue's not takin' guff from any punk. in Uncanny X-Men #173, by Claremont (writer), Paul Smith (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Glynis Wein (colorist), and Orzechowski (letterer). Rogue learns self-driving houses aren't all they're cracked up to be, in X-Men Legacy #229, by Mike Carey (writer), Daniel Acuna (artist), and Cory Petit (letterer). Having her mother's voice in her head is a more literal problem for Rogue than most, in X-Men Legacy #220, by Carey (writer), Scot Eaton (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), lettered by Cory Petit (maybe?), and I can't find the colorist. There are worse things than a second chance to say good-bye, in X-Men Legacy #233, by Carey (writer), Clay Mann (penciler), Danny Miki, Jay Leisten, Allen Martinez (inkers), Brian Reber (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer). This is not the Jim Lee costume I was referring to, in Uncanny X-Men #269, by Claremont (writer), Jim Lee (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Steve Buccellato (colorist), and Task Force "X" (letterers). Rogue's not into cats, I guess, in X-Men Legacy #271, by Christos Gage (writer), Rafa Sandoval (penciler), Jordi Tarragona (inker), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer).

What I Bought 2/9/2018

I only planned on buying one book from last week, but, in a moment of weakness, I bought another one as well. Like most decisions made in a moment of weakness, it was a mistake.

Rogue and Gambit #2, by Kelly Thompson (writer), Pere Perez (artist), Frank D'Armata (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Leave it to Gambit to strategically tear his clothes to create a boob window.

Say hello to the moment of weakness! Our couple hash out some differences, starting with a disagreement over their first meeting. The Shadow King is involved in the confusion, because of course he is. Later, they try sneaking back into the doctor's office to snoop, and are attacked by several mutants. Things explode, but the doctor and her mysterious villain cohort don't seem terribly concerned.

You might be able to tell I'm not super interested in the actual plot. Watching Rogue and Gambit legislate their messy relationship history is kind of hilarious. Seems to be what I'm tuning in for. Not sure why, exactly. Thompson writes good banter, and makes their relationship discussions feel emotional without being too overwrought. Although seeing Rogue use the word "particular" without any sort of accent to it was odd. Most of this is from an era of X-Men comics I have no fondness for, but the melodrama's entertaining. Not entertaining enough for me to try a third issue, mind you.

D'Armata (or maybe it was Perez) cut back on the shadows during the flashbacks, and lightened the colors as well. It gives things a bit of faded look. It's less noticeable in the second flashback, which is relating the time Gambit counts as their first meeting, a day or so earlier than what Rogue counts. Even though it takes place at night, the shadows are still less noticeable than in the present-day break-in scene that's happening concurrently. With the color issue, I think the villain's stealing their memories somehow, so the faded nature is it being drawn out of them? It doesn't happen on the second memory because they aren't in a therapy session. The lack of shadows because time smooths out the contrasts, so we just remember the broad strokes?

Giant Days #35, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (penciler), Liz Fleming and Jenna Ayoub (inkers), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell - Who is the mysterious mastermind spying on our heroes?

Ed did not die. He did concuss himself and break both ankles. That's good injury hustle right there, Gemmell. Esther returns home feeling hungover and sad to find her old friend Sarah and her little sister Charlotte there for a visit. Esther passes out, and Sarah takes off to meet a boy, leaving first Daisy and then Susan to try and handle Charlotte. Who is very inquisitive and very opinionated (I love her "J'ACCUSE" sound effect when she points at Esther), and forces Daisy to confront unpleasant truths about her and Ingrid's relationship.

So, there is no big conversation between Ed and Esther about last issue's reveal. Ed didn't remember telling her, Esther didn't mention it, and when Ed saw her pub run checklist made a reference to it, he shredded it. So it's going to fester between both of them now. Fun! On the other hand, Charlotte may have pushed Daisy to lay down the law on Ingrid, and let Susan and McGraw experience being adults. They were not prepared, but why should they be any different from the rest of us?

As usual, there's a lot of small gags and jokes in here that make it a fun read. It's really impressive to me how much I enjoy a comic that's nothing but people talking and having emotions. And being funny. The two-page conversation between Sarah and Esther was a particular favorite. It's funny, and a little touching, and the banter between them feels very real for a pair of friends. And it gives Sarin a chance to show off some facial expressions. In the span of three panels, Esther goes from a sad look cast towards the heavens, a strain face as she pulls on jeans, and then a sly grin as she brushes her hair. It's amazing how quickly Esther shifts between them, but it fits her personality.

There's a bit in here where McGraw brings in groceries and Susan crams them all into a cupboard. Then later in the issue, we see McGraw has returned to the kitchen and is organizing the foodstuffs. A little window into their personalities. There's also a page where Charlotte, revved up on a massive frappucino Daisy bought her in a depressive funk, is asking questions Susan is unprepared to answer. In each panel, Charlotte's spiraling yellow pupils get larger and larger, until Susan hurls the drink into the distance.

I don't know what's going to happen next, but I remain excited to find out.

What I Bought 1/6/2018

I went running this morning, fortunately before the front moved in and the wind chill went below zero. I had to hop off the road because of an approaching vehicle and as my stride was bringing my left leg forward, my right leg slipped in the snow and slid right in front of the left. So my left knee has bruised the hell out of the right calf. Fun and games.

Let's jump into some comics from 2018. I have all the books I wanted from the last two weeks, so we'll work through those over this week and early next week. Going to start with a couple of mini-series.

Atomic Robo: The Spectre of Tomorrow #3, by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Anthony Clark (colorist), Jeff Powell (letterer and design) - I'm sure they'll prove useful, but those little robots creep me out. Make me think of ticks, bleh.

People are continuing to barf out robotic guts and collapse, and CERES is not getting anywhere figuring out the cause. Maybe if they spent less time taking down footage of the events from the Internet they'd get somewhere. Robo is continuing to receive the data secretly and recognizes the same signal ALAN, the sentient computer that was going to leave Earth (and eradicate all life in the process) used, and heads to Hashima Island to investigate. He encounters some strange creature, and what's worse, Helsingard in an even stranger body. Yes, stranger than his usual brain in a jar mounted on a robot body.

I still feel this is someone trying to cause a panic, and Helsingard would seem a likely choice, except causing fear isn't really his style. He tends to conquer or kill. Dr. Fischer got accidentally taken along. We'll see if he drags himself from the depths of depression to make a contribution (or if Robo actually notices and tries and address that). Robo's really been a lousy boss this entire mini-series, or maybe he's always been bad at being a boss.

 Wegener has a tendency to simply his style when the characters in the panel are in the middle or far distance, because he uses a thick line, and to attempt to add too much detail would turn everything into a muddle. But there are a few panels in here where things are almost vague shapes more than characters (the panel after the creature tears through the plane, for one). Also, whether it's Wegener's job or Clark's, they need to add a pupil to characters' eyes in those panels as well. Sometimes they get away with it, and others it like my eyes are drawn immediately to the empty white spaces that are their eyeballs. There's one of Lang and Vik in particular that bothers me. I can't concentrate on anything else in the panel.

That said, I like the design on the robot, and the fight between it and Robo is good (although I still wonder how Robo's not better at fighting after all these years). It's brief, but there's a flow to it. Let Robo and the creature fight it out for a couple pages, establish what they're up against. Then Foley gets involved with the grenade launcher, which adds another element (and they break up the fight by cutting to a panel of her doing something or reacting every three panels or so). Then throw in the surprise, last-page arrival of possibly the villain. Things go bad, things get better, things go bad ahead, things get better, or possibly worse. It's well done.

The best part was Robo stealing Richard Branson's plane to get to Hashima, and referring to himself in third person when Branson does the same while asking why he's stealing the plane. I like that as a little bit of revenge for all the grief Branson's giving them. Even better, the plane was wrecked five seconds into their arrival on the island.

And I'd love to see Robo outfit himself with a rocket punch. Why not? Oooh, and some of those gravity boots like Samus Aran has, so he can double-jump! I'm being entirely serious.

Rogue and Gambit #1, by Kelly Thompson (writer), Pere Perez (artist), Frank D'Armata (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - It seems like bad tactics for Rogue to be arriving at the thing she's going to punch at the same time Gambit's exploding playing cards get there. Let one set up the other, right?

There's a couples' therapy island where mutants are vanishing, so Kitty (who looks strange with short hair) sends Rogue and Gambit, since it would be better if the duo actually have relationship issues. Now let's face it, you could pick any of about 50 X-Men, and find at least 10 others they'd have relationship issues with, but yeah, those two have a mess of them, and Gambit is in theory good at sneaking, so sure, why not? He keeps trying to rekindle things, Rogue keeps trying to maintain distance. Because she's a reasonably intelligent woman. The last page looks bad, but is probably a misdirection.

Basically a set-up issue. Get the pieces where they need to be, explain why they're there, establish current dynamic between them. The book does that reasonably well, although I can't disagree with people who say this relationship needs to be left in the past. I think Rogue's experienced enough that she can tell Gambit is never going to be someone she can count on in a relationship. He insists that they could try just being friends, but can't stop flirting and hinting that she must still be into him. Then he gets indignant about her kissing Deadpool, and Rogue points out she's had to hear about his escapades from other X-Men plenty of times. Gambit is always going to be that kind of person.

(To be fair to Gambit, not a phrase I expected to type, he brought up Deadpool because Rogue is back to using her powers as an excuse to maintain distance, and he pointed out she had her powers during her little session with Deadpool. Although perhaps Gambit should take the hint.)

But even if this mini-series tries to draw a line under that relationship, and there's no guarantee it will, we know someone else will come along eventually and try to start it up again. The same way writers have kept drifting back around to Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, even when that is a terrible idea (although thankfully that one has been mostly left alone the last 10 years, since one or the other of them has been dead or Ultron most of that time). So is there a point to this whole exercise then? I guess hope it can be entertaining.

And there were some parts I liked. Rogue deciding, if Gambit is going to bring up Deadpool, to use Wade to hit Gambit in his ego, where it'll hurt the most. The Danger Room session, where apparently Rogue/Gambit is a topic of much discussion among the students.

Pere Perez does a double-page splash of the Rogue and Gambit seemingly at each others' throats that is foreshadowing something. The background is one of those fragmented mirrors, where the shards are showing different moments from their shared history. There was one panel I thought Perez was trying to mimic one of the Kubert brother's '90s art (if you flip through the issue, it's the one in the lower right, with Gambit being carried by Rogue, and he's wearing a high-collared jacket), and maybe a couple of the others, but I can't be sure. Since most of the issue is talking, there's a lot of panels or people just sitting and talking, but Perez does a good job of making the body language clear and work together with the expressions and the dialogue. His work looks smoother than I remember the last time I saw it, which was either the Bryan Q. Miller Batgirl series, or that Power Man and Iron Fist mini-series from 5 or 6 years ago. But D'Armata's colors work also seems more varied and with greater depth than what I remember the colorists of those books doing, so maybe that's what's different.

Overall, I don't think there's anything wrong with the writing or art. Everyone involved is doing solid work. I'm mostly unsure about the point of it, I guess, and whether I care enough at this point to pick up the second issue.

It Would Make Temporary Disguises Easier

On my second read through of X-Men #4, I noticed Rogue's hair changed color when she borrowed Psylocke's power. Not the skunk stripe, but all the brown hair turned purple. And the effect faded when Psylocke ran out of power to borrow, so by the time Storm rescued Rogue, she was back to brunette.

It struck me as a little strange. I mean, Rogue's hair didn't seem to go black from borrowing Northstar's speed for that train sequence. She hasn't sprouted a Mohawk in the past when she borrowed from Storm. But her skin does usually sprout fur when she swiped Nightcrawler's powers (check out the cover to Uncanny X-Men 194 sometime, I'm too lazy to post it here). But her hair didn't change color.

It's always been inconsistent, though. In X-Men Evolution she'd sprout considerable body hair if she touched Sabretooth, but not Nightcrawler. And she's never grown a tail like Kurt, even though that is a power of his. At least as much as Wolverine's (bone) claws are. Incidentally, if Rogue borrows only a certain portion of someone's abilities now, how does that work for something like claws? Do Logan's get shorter until she's done, then spontaneously grow a lot?

It's curious to me the change would be so specific. That it would only affect her brown hair, that her facial features or something else wouldn't shift as well.

Maybe the Other Danvers Was The Shadow

I had a post last week about the Carol Danvers psyche inside Rogue's head. Over the weekend, I came across a discussion of A + X, which apparently had a story where Carol willingly let Rogue borrow her powers. This being the Internet, a long discussion ensued about whether Carol would agree to such a thing, and what was the actual status of their whole relationship.

The key point is one of the comments had a link to a page on Uncanny X-Men dot net, and the way they describe the situation made me want to revisit the idea.

They way it's described there, the Carol within Rogue's mind is the real deal, her 'true essence' as they put it. I'm not sure what this means for the memories in Carol's physical body. Are they just a copy Xavier made from what was in Rogue's head, or were they stored somewhere within Carol's mind, a backup of sorts?

I vaguely remember reading somewhere (I think it was an Avengers comic), that while Carol got some of her memories back, she didn't feel any emotional connection to them. They might as well have happened to another person. Which is in stark contrast to the Carol in Rogue's mind, who quite clearly still felt things with regards to her past. We see it in the mourning of her brother, her concern for Logan during their time in Genosha. Those past events still mean something to her.

It's interesting, because it suggests Rogue took more than just Carol's memories and powers. She took some vital emotional aspect that couldn't be restored along with the memories. Carol lost more than just the raw data of her experiences, she lost the personal aspects that color that data. The flavor, if you will. Maybe it was the writer's use of the word "essence", but it makes me think she took Carol's soul as well. That would raise the question of whether Carol Danvers herself is running around without a soul, which doesn't seem to be the case.

I guess if we were going to discuss souls, we'd have to try and define the term, and I don't know really how to get into that. Fortunately, we're discussing it a comic book sense, so we can fudge things a little, maybe. It's something separate from life force. Layla Miller was able to resurrect Strong Guy, but he's minus a soul. I believe he's shown a somewhat concerning lack of empathy for people outside their group, but other than that, seems to be getting along just fine. There's also the fact that when Rogue went through the Siege Perilous, she and Carol were separated. Which meant there were two Carol Danvers out there for awhile. But Rogue and the Carol inside her found they were still sharing a life force, one which was insufficient for two bodies. Magneto ended up stepping in and saving Rogue, and I guess that means that Carol "died", for whatever that means.

So I think we can differentiate between souls and life force in Marvel comics, at least. You can still be up and moving around without the former, but not the latter. I don't what it means for the Carol Danvers who was Binary. Her situation wasn't precisely the same as Guido's. She could still feel things (like anger at Rogue, or the X-Men for protecting Rogue), but didn't necessarily feel any connection to her restored memories. It could be a case where the absence of a soul affects everyone differently, or it could be a matter of the circumstances. Guido died and was brought back. I'd guess his soul is in the afterlife somewhere, not unlike what happened with Oliver Queen when Parallax Hal brought him back to life. If we go with the idea Carol's soul was in Rogue, then hers was ripped out of her, while she was still alive.

There's also a question of what happened when Magneto killed the life-force sharing Carol. Did her psyche/essence/whatever, find it's way back to her original body. It doesn't seem to have gone back inside Rogue's mind. Whatever remnant of Carol is in there was depicted as being no stronger than any of the other shadows left behind. Of course, Carol was still talking about lacking a connection her past long after that (the Avengers comic I mentioned was post-Heroes Return, Mags killed Carol a year or so after Acts of Vengeance). If her soul made it's way back to her, it took its sweet time.

The Curious Case Of The Shadow Danvers

I was rereading some Australia era X-Men comics over the weekend. The team's first encounter with Genosha also raised some issues for Rogue. With all her powers nullified, Rogue feels completely helpless, to the point she's besieged by the shadows of the minds of the people she's touched over the years. Until Carol Danvers steps in and drives them off. She's stronger, more solid since Rogue took everything of her, and she makes Rogue a deal: She'll get Rogue out of this, but she gets to run the show. Rogue is understandably concerned about the chance Danvers will decide to keep control afterward, but doesn't see another option and agrees.

Turns out Rogue was right to be worried, as Danvers starts taking over on a more regular basis after that*. Danvers even decides to redecorate Rogue's place in the headquarters to suit herself, much to Rogue's consternation. And when she complains, Storm essentially tells her she brought it on herself. Which is true enough, but not at all a helpful thing to say. It's the sort of stupidly blunt comment I'd expect from Logan. Rogue gets all set to leave in a huff, and Danvers takes control again, stating she wants to give Rogue time to cool off. I think it would have been better to let Rogue fly off and calm down, rather than essentially jamming her in trunk of her own mind. That seems likely to only increase the resentment. But hey, I'm not espionage expert Carol Danvers, so what do I know?

The thing that only just occurred to me this weekend was that Carol Danvers was already up and moving around. I don't know why, since I knew about Binary, but I had been assuming that if Carol's mind was manifesting in Rogue's head, then Carol herself was still in a coma. I guess I figured if she was up and about, they would have gotten those memories back to her, and the Carol in Rogue's head would be the same sort of shadow as all the rest. Wikipedia says Xavier got her the memories back, but whatever he did didn't clear her presence from Rogue's mind.

But the whole thing raises a question with me of what are that Carol's rights. She has all the memories, up to a point, of Carol Danvers. She is Carol up to that point. But at the same time, there's a Carol Danvers out walking around that also has all those memories. This isn't a case like Ben Reilly/Peter Parker, where Ben has all of Peter's memories up to a point, but he has his own body (even if it is an exact copy of Peter's, it's a separate entity).

Memory Carol is in someone else's body. Not willingly, but that's how it is. Given that her body is moving around, and it has all the parts of her as well, would that make her no more than a copy at this point. Does she have any right to assert control over Rogue? It isn't as though Carol Danvers ceases to exist when she isn't running Rogue's body. Carol Danvers has her life, so does this one have a right to one taken at the expense of someone else? Kind of makes Memory Carol into a more benevolent version of the Shadow King.

* Something to do with Inferno, which followed on the Genosha arc's heels. I don't know, I skipped those issues. I'm not interested in the crossover that, near as I can tell, demonizes Maddy Pryor so that Cyclops and Jean can have the baby. No thank you.

Who Determines The View Inside Rogue's Mind?

Originally typed Sunday, but posting today.

Rogue used to (and may still) have traces or imprints of all the people she's ever absorbed memories or abilities of. There have been at least a couple of stories where she's inside her own mind, trying to fight them off because they're just a little unhappy with the situation.

Here's what I was wondering. Do those imprints appearances change over time? If it's someone Rogue has frequent contact with over the years, and they change how they look or act in the real world, does that carry over to Rogue's mind? I was thinking of this in terms of how Rogue perceives them, whether her will determines is able to alter how they look, or whether they retain enough of their individual selves to maintain the look they choose.

I'm going to guess that even when Rogue's at her strongest, they look how they choose, which is how they remember themselves. Though it'd be interesting if that wasn't uniform, if only imprints of people with strong wills, did that. So, the bit of Captain America she picked up always looks like Cap, but Joe Schmoe, random Genoshan Magistrate will shift how he looks on the mindscape according to Rogue's thoughts. If she perceives him as a monster, he looks it. If she sees him as a weak, pathetic figure, that's how he appears.

I was initially thinking of this in terms of people Rogue knows and talks to (or fights with) over the years, but it could also apply to people Rogue's absorbed powers from more than once. If she drew from Wolverine once in the '80s, when he had the brown costume, then again during the Morrison leather uniform years, would the Logan in her mind change? Or would there be two, since the later Wolverine has new experiences and memories, and isn't the same as the earlier one.

It reminds me of Ultron Unlimited, when Ultron's captured some of the Avengers and is taking recording of their engrams. He notices Vision's new patterns are different than the older ones. The answer being Vision has grown and learned new things since then, so he's not the same, and a robot given those engrams presumably wouldn't behave the same as one uploaded with the earlier file.

Maybe Being Heroic Was The Wrong Move

Don't know why, but just yesterday I started thinking about when Storm lost her powers. It was Uncanny X-Men #185, or somewhere around there. She pushes Rogue out of the way of a shot fired by a fed, the weapon is actually the device Forge created to take away a mutant's powers, and viola! Depowered Storm for the next 40 issues.

It was good of Storm to do that. Risk her life for a teammate, especially Rogue, who was going through a rough time. I think some of the memories of people she'd touched were acting up, she was frustrated by her powers (as usual), and I'm not sure she felt trusted by the team*. Certainly there had to be a bit of a disconnect, when everyone around you has to keep their distance. Even when Rogue's injured, her teammates can't simply rush over and check on her, they have to be careful where they make contact, or be sure to wear gloves. It would mean no one is totally at ease around her, and that has to wear on a person.

Anyway, yes, nice heroic act, but when I started to think it over, it probably wasn't the best plan. I don't know if Storm realized what the weapon was. I don't believe she did, but it might be I'm remembering she didn't know initially that Forge made it**. OK, so let's say it's a standard government laser/blaster weapon. If Storm's worried it's strong enough to hurt Rogue, who is pretty injury resistant, what would it do to Storm? Blast her to pieces? Cut her in half?

Of course, it wasn't a standard blaster gun, it was a device to remove mutant powers, so if Storm had known that, do you think she'd let Rogue be hit by it? At the time, there didn't seem to be much progress in Rogue learning to control her powers. The powers were clearly causing Rogue distress, both from her interactions with real people, and the echoes of people inside her mind. I imagine Rogue's preferred scenario would be to keep her powers, but have control of them (which is where she's at these days apparently), but I'd think if given the choice between an inability to touch people without putting them into comas, and not having any powers, Rogue would have opted to ditch the powers. They were causing her nothing but grief.

Since some of her powers were what she took from Carol Danvers, I wonder if she'd lose the flight/super-strength. They aren't mutant abilities, and if I remember, Forge's gun did something to the target's DNA***, she might get to keep those powers. Of course, if she kept those powers, she might also be stuck with all those other peoples' memories in her head as well, which could be difficult, but she'd have one less problem, at least.

I'm inclined to believe that even if Storm knew what the gun would do, she'd still push Rogue out of the way, because she'd want Rogue to be able to make a decision as to whether she had her powers removed, rather than losing them to the actions of your bog standard fearful jackass government guy. I suppose a story about how happy Rogue was about being able to have normal relationships wouldn't have had the melodrama of Storm's anger over having her powers taken from her. Plus, I liked depowered Storm leading the X-Men, maybe that's because she beat Cyclops to take over. Cyclops losing is always good.

* Maybe by Wolverine, since he let her absorb his healing factor after she was injured protecting Lady Mariko.

** Which was very shortsighted. Make a weapon that takes away mutants powers, when he's a mutant. Like the government might not decide a guy whose power is he can make nearly any device conceivable ought to be dealt with.

*** Or was it the RNA? I don't have the issue with me where he helped Storm get her powers back.

This Is About The Nicest I Can Be When It Comes To The Sentry

So, I hear the Sentry died in Siege this week. Nicest

Audience: Yeah, woohoo, *whistling, enthusiastic clapping*

Course, he'll probably be resurrected in a couple of years.

Audience: Boo! Hiss! Get outta here with that, you goombah!

"Goombah"? Then before we could truly enjoy being rid of him, Marvel released Sentry: Fallen Sun, where all Marvel's heroes (except the cosmic ones, because they have important work to do) gather to talk about how wonderful and special the Sentry was to them. Including Rogue, as it's revealed the Sentry was the first person she was physically intimate with.

Audience: Oh come on! Seriously?! *assorted groans*

The Rogue thing seems like all kinds of a bad idea, especially just tossing it in there as some throwaway piece to once again demonstrate how much the Sentry means to everyone. Was it supposed to make readers like Bob more? "See, he was so important to Rogue, she's crying! Doesn't that make you like him?" I think the answer to that would be a resounding "No!" In fact, what say we all agree that never happened? Really, the X-Men weren't even at the memorial service. Nope, much too busy trying to save Hope and mourn Nightcrawler (a character who actually merits mourning, even if, as an X-Person, he'll probably be back soon enough.)

I'd like to think within the issue, there was one character at least thinking, if not saying it aloud "We are so much better off with him dead." I know, one shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but I think it'd be fair. Bob was off his rocker, and insanely powerful. He could bring people back to life without even realizing it, which is terrifying when you realize that means he could do the opposite just as easily. He certainly had the power, but he didn't seem to have the mentality to handle being a hero. Some folks just aren't cut out for the heroic life, and so maybe the most responsible thing they can do with their power is not use it. The more he saved the day, the closer he moved to the point where he was the problem.

In the one and only D & D campaign I took part in, we had a goblin shaman with a wishing orb. It came in handy when one of our party would be so thoroughly killed there was nothing left of him to resurrect (happened more often than you might think). Partway through the story, we did something that disrupted the orb's connection to the goblin's gods, which meant now every time he used it, there was a chance it would explode, probably killing us all. The chance increased every time he used it. Still, the folks in the party had the goblin using the orb regularly, even for stuff we could do otherwise. Our top fighter lost their super-awesome sword at the bottom of the bay when our ship was struck by a meteor. We could have grabbed a rowboat, rowed out there, I'd cast a spell to allow breathing underwater, and the meat shield swims down and grabs his sword. Would have taken longer, but there's no risk of lethal explosion.

The Sentry makes life easier, since he can smack down Terrax in under a minute, but using him only brings them closer to the point where the Void's on the loose, and that's worse than Terrax. Better to keep the Sentry gone (or buried in Bob's mind, or whatever), and find another way, which the heroes in the Marvel Universe had done for years anyway. I mean, wasn't that part of the point of his first mini-series, the Marvel Universe doesn't need a Silver Age Superman, it'll chug along just fine without him?

So maybe it would have been better to have one of the Avengers or the FF point out, "You know, we really should have left Bob alone. Being the Sentry wasn't good for him, and we should have been more aware of it." Would it have made a difference? I really don't know, largely because I'm still not clear on the whole deal with Bob/Void/Sentry. I don't see how it could have hurt, though.

How Much Does Intent Count For?

I've had this one on a backburner for awhile, so let's see how it goes. This arose from Cable/Deadpool #35 and Ms. Marvel #10, and it deals with a connection between the Rogue/Carol Danvers relationship and the Cable/Deadpool situation.

Carol made it pretty clear that she isn't over what Rogue did to her, however many years ago Marvel says it was. Rogue absorbed not only Carol's powers (though Rogue seemed stronger and more resistant to injury than Carol and lacked the energy powers. Weird), but her memories, and the emotions that went with them. Even after Xavier helped restore Carol's memories, she had no connection to them. Rogue effectively took away Carol's life up to that point. She did it because she heard Mystique and Destiny talking about how Carol would one day seriously harm Rogue, and so Rogue decided on a preemptive strike.

Then you've got Cable. He links Wade's subconscious to the infonet, in effect torturing Wade with visual and auditory imagery of the people he's killed. His reasoning was it would force Wade to examine his life, and eventually come running to Nate for help in reevaluating his life. In terms of psychological damage it doesn't even begin to compare with what Rogue did to Carol. On the other hand, Cable can't claim that he did it out of self-defense. He did it because he decided that Deadpool needed to examine his life, and that was that. It's kind of a dick move, you know?

I think my original intent was to ask which person you think did a worse thing, or made a greater transgression, Rogue or Cable, but I don't think that's much of a question. I suppose, I just found it interesting that these two situations of someone messing with another person's mind popped up in the same week.