X-Men: Rogue Spirits
Writer Mike Carey peels back the layers of Rogue’s psyche in X-MEN: LEGACY for a deeper look at her past
Posted Feb 24, 2009 12:00 am
Updated Feb 27, 2009 12:18 pm
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X-MEN: LEGACY
#222 cover by
Lee Bermejo |
By Jim Beard
The X-Men protect their own—even when a member's past remains all but hidden from them.
The mutant known as Rogue, who absorbs powers, abilities and memories with a single touch, keeps much of her sordid past buried deep, even from those she calls friends. But her shadowy history erupts in a flurry of violence and vengeance in X-MEN: LEGACY #222, out March 18, with writer Mike Carey and artist Scot Eaton running shotgun.
"I think it's fair to say that what happens in this arc affects Rogue herself and her relationship with the X-Men very profoundly," Carey claims. "It's a turning point."
Carey's "Salvage" storyline kicked off in X-MEN: LEGACY #220, returning Rogue to the spotlight and delivering intense drama for not only every X-fan's favorite Southern belle but for Charles Xavier and Gambit as well.
"Professor X and Gambit have met Sovel Redhand's Shi'Ar salvage crew, and now they have a better idea of what's going on in the Outback town," explains Carey. "But they've still got to find Rogue and deal with Danger. Meanwhile Rogue has problems of her own with the Marauders, and with a certain dead boy from her distant past."
Xavier and the Cajun X-Man have long figured prominently in Rogue's life, yet Carey points out that neither are necessarily the best suited to confront her ghosts.
"They can obviously recognize a lot of these moments and a lot of these people, and they can even guess or intuit in a lot of cases what the various encounters and
scenarios might mean for Rogue, but there's a sense in which all of this is happening for a specific reason which only Rogue can understand and respond to.
"What we see in #222 takes Professor X and Gambit towards a confrontation with Danger, while Rogue deals with the ghosts herself, and is channeled more and more towards reliving a specific past event that's crucially important."
Rogue recently received a clean bill of health in terms of some particularly painful absorbed memories that presented grave problems for her. Now, with the spirits that bedevil her in X-MEN: LEGACY #222, the young woman named Anna Marie at birth will give her fans a reason to fear for her—
and cheer for her.
"That clean slate didn't last very long, of course," Carey notes. "She touched Mystique almost immediately, and now has a Mystique 'ghost' persona giving her choric commentary on everything she does, which must be particularly hard for her to take, given how their relationship has gone in recent years.
"Rogue is very resourceful, and very robust. These are painful places she's going to, but we have to assume that she understands they're not real and can deal—emotionally, at least—with everything that's being thrown at her here. The trouble is, the emotional aspect isn't the half of it: these ghosts have weapons, superpowers and bad attitudes."
As the writer explains, these shades want a literal piece of Rogue and Carey promises a few surprises you won't see coming.
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X-MEN: LEGACY
#224 cover by
Lee Bermejo |
"In the first place, the physical danger presented by these simulated bad guys has to be the main concern," he says. "But there's definitely another level to what's going on here—or rather, why it's going on—and a delayed reveal which changes the game plan."
X-MEN: LEGACY #222 haunts stores on March 18, but you can get more Rogue right now at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited!
Check out the official Marvel Shop for everything X-Men!
Download episodes of "X-Men: Evolution" now on iTunes!
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