Uncanny X-Men #171 - to the moon, Anna! (ok yeah, that was weak.)

[perletwo]

Filling neuhallidae's request for a scene from Uncanny X-Men #171, with context added. Six and a third pages plus preview image from a 23-page story, with Claremont writing and lovely Walt Simonson guest pencils. It's a bridge story tying up the first Morlock plot, advancing several other ongoing plots (including a visit X-friend Carol Danvers pays to her parents, who find her quite distant thanks to her brain-suckage and recent Binary-transformation), and bringing a newcomer to the front door at Graymalkin Lane:









When Xavier calls them back in, he tells them he's decided not only to accept Rogue as a student, but also to put her on as a probationary X-Man. Storm, in her capacity as X-Leader, is refusing vehemently to accept her on the team, when suddenly dun dun dun:












So that's how Rogue came to join the X-Men, and how Carol Danvers came to bid them all DIAF. Not my scans, sorry about the quality, I cleaned 'em up best I could.

suggested tags -
char: colossus/piotr rasputin, char: lilandra neramani, char: magik/illyana rasputin, char: ms. marvel/carol danvers, char: nightcrawler/kurt wagner, char: professor x/charles xavier, char: storm/ororo munroe, creator: bob wiacek, creator: chris claremont, creator: walt simonson, group: x-men, in-joke: one punch, publisher: marvel comics, title: uncanny x-men

Comments

[neuhallidae]

<3!!! Oh, man, the pages with the punch is even better than I'd hoped. And really, considering publishing-time-frame and the ever-present comicbook time, I can't blame Carol for reacting as she did. This isn't that long after the whole Marcus incident and the original mindwiping by Rogue in the first place.

[pyrotwilight]

...I still think they should've kicked Rogue out. To this day Ms. Marvel stories never go anywhere because writers keep trying to bring up how Carol lost her memories/attachment to them and so on.

Like the current painful final arc of Ms. Marvel running now.

[cleome45]

I always liked Carol, but this moment with Professor X'es declaration of enlightened self-interest was actually pretty cool.

Rogue going completely around the bend from toting around two personalities? Would not have been a good thing for either her old "family" or her "new" one.

[icon_uk]

Except that Carol got her memories back, and the emotional link to them restored, way back in the early 1990's in Starblast or somesuch "cosmic" event thingie.

[northstarfan]

I <3 Storm's sarcasm in that "Behold our newest X-Man" panel.

[freezer]

As much as I like Rogue... that POW! panel was a satisfying thing of beauty!

[perletwo]

I even loved Evil O'Crazypants Rogue at the time, and it was good for me too. Sometimes the simplest catharsis really is the best.

[jlroberson]

I always hated the way Claremont used the word "persona."

First X-men I ever read

[jazzypom]

Or if not the first, it's the first that I remember vividly, and got a proper hate of hate on Carol Danvers, then. It wasn't until years later on s_d 1.0 I realise that Carol had good cause.

I love you, X-comics of old. I do, I do.

[yaseen101]

Why is Storm suddenly wearing a rain coat when they confront Binary?

[sarno001]

Why did Xavier suddenly take off his pants when he asked if the X-Men were injured?

[yaseen101]

Perhaps he was having his 'happy time' in another room when Binary came in and punched Rogue to the moon.

[goblinthebamf]

CANNOT UNSEE

[hatman]

Either her mother showed up to tell her that it's not appropriate to go outside dressed like that or she had a mysterious premonition that it was going to rain. No idea what would make her think that when it clearly wasn't in the forecast. Something to do with an unhappy mutant whose powers can affect the local climate, maybe.

[perletwo]

Real answer: The passage of time between the pages posted here. Xavier sent the team out of the room; they went to the Danger Room to blow off steam, where the simulation triggered a Dramatic Incident Not Relevant To This Plot; and Storm, who was beginning her transformation into Edgy!Punk!Mohawk!Storm, went up to the attic and changed into an African print muumuu to commune with her plants and try to get her goddessy chi flowing properly again.

[yaseen101]

Ah, I see.

[perletwo]

Personally, I think the entire punk thing is probably just due to too much starch in the muumuu. :D

[crinos]

I thought it was because she was shot by that gun that removes super powers.

[x5455]

No she was shot with the gun AFTER being all Edgy!Punk!Mohawk Storm.

She went all punk because she wanted/needed a change in her life and it was all triggered by the infectious joy of having lots of sex adventuring with Yukio.

[jlbarnett]

it's a robe, there was some time between the groups of panels here and she went and changed.

[yaseen101]

Also, how many nerd points do I lose for not knowing Rouge's real name was Anna Marie till now?

[sarno001]

Not nearly as many as you would lose if you thought it was just straight "Marie", like in that movie.

[hatman]

Not too many. It was only revealed a year or two ago, IIRC.

[yaseen101]

'Ti's good then.

[hatman]

Oh, wait. According to Wiki, it was 2004. So much for my sense of time. Still, fairly recent, all things considered.

[yaseen101]

I got in around 2007, so still; no biggie.

[hatman]

That's pretty amazing timing. Or would be anywhere else. Xavier says he's taking Rogue in, and within 5 minutes, Binary wooshes in from deep space to clobber her? What are the odds?

Still, very cool moment to see. Thanks for posting! :)

[cleome45]

I'm more impressed that the punch didn't drive Rogue through some hapless passing 747 or plutonium-bearing satellite, personally.

[jlbarnett]

Binary was hanging around the X-men and Starjammers at the time.

[cmic]

When Claremont was on, no one was better at introducing these complex ideas about repentance and forgiveness.

Was Rogue ever held responsible for what she did to Carol? It kind of pings me that Xavier tells her she is "forgiven," when it isn't entirely up to him. He certainly can't forgive her on behalf of Carol, whom he is patronizing in typical X-fashion. (A trait Scott and Emma have carried on in the current series.)

On the other hand, I don't know how Rogue could be held responsible, or what she could do to "repent."

Also, I like the split panel with Rogue and Kitty close-ups toward the top. Actual emotion playing out on faces that are clearly human; it's refreshing.

[icon_uk]

Don't know about "held accountable", but it royally screwed up her own life in so many ways I think she paid the price. If she had to do it over again she wouldn't have done, and after she did she did try to make amends. She started winning the X-Men's trust when she saved Mariko (Wolverine's fiancee) at great personal risk.

[cmic]

So, the answer is no, and I guess that's my point -- it's not about Rogue. Rogue and the X Men are determining how and why she's held accountable, focusing on her guilt and her drama . . . while disregarding Carol, the actual victim.

It's an interesting dilemma, and one that won't get old because there are no easy answers. Except that Charles is an ass.

[icon_uk]

I'd say it's very much about Rogue, who was unaware of the effect of her powers when it happened, and was very much under Mystiques sway. She didn't know that she could absorb powers permanently and certainly wouldn't the mind of a much older, more forceful personality imprinted over her own. Rogue was only about 17 or 18 here.

It's certainly not disregarding Carol (especially since there was a version of Carols psyche inside Rogues mind at all times after this) Carol is indeed a victim, and her point of view is udnerstandable. Xavier tried his best to restore her emotional connection to her memories, but it just couldn't be done.

As for "held accountable" what would that even mean in the case of accidental mindwipe and power leeching? What would you consider to be a suitable course of action to hold her accountable?

[cmic]

Oh, you definitely couldn't hold Rogue accountable in any meaningful way. That's my point.

And the only reason this drama is about Rogue & The X Men is because that's who the writer wanted it to be about. That drama was always done on the X Men's terms.

I was just asking if the victim (in this case, Carol) was given a voice in the recovery process. That's a legit question. Victims of physical assault -- even if the perp is really, really, sorry -- sometimes get a say. Or, if the X Men decided that Rogue was forgiven, she felt guilty, and all was well. Clearly, it's a rhetorical question. Charles knows best. :-)

[icon_uk]

As Carol shows here, she decided, in light of Xaviers choice, that she wanted nothing further to do with the X-Men since they weren't helping her anyway, and as Binary left Earth for a long, long time to be with the Starjammers in Shi'ar space.

Rogue wasn't allowed to forget what she'd done for a long time, and Wolverine, who had been good friends with Carol, was particularly harsh towards her, until the aforementioned Mariko incident.

[phosfate]

"Say, I should really send a thought-o-gram to Carol to warn her that the person she hates the most in the world is gonna be living here...nahhhhhh."

[cmic]

Ha!

[wizardru]

Oh, hey good X-comics! Been a long time since we've seen each other. Glad to see you still hold up!

Let's see:

Complicated but generally mature relationships? Check.
X-men acting like a family, not trying to kill each other? Check.
Xavier acting like an enlightened leader? Check.
Moral questions about right, wrong and toleratnce? Check.


Sure, you can see the 'Claremontisms' as the periphery here, but this is still solid story-telling with consistent characters. The X-men make sense as a group here. Rogue's tragic nature is on display here...and Xavier calls out the hypocrisy of taking in Wovlerine (back when Logan was still somewhat edgy) and not taking in Rogue. This was one of the things that made the X-men different from say, The Avengers. They had different motivations and interactions.

It's particularly interesting to see Kitty's reactions here. This is the same girl who was incredibly uncomfortable around Nightcrawler, for example, and who Storm had almost become a foster-mother to...here angry at Rogue for hurting those same people, now. Hell, Rogue's been a member of the X-men for so long I'd forgotten how odd it was when she first joined.

Great stuff. Now I'm motivated to dig up my collection.

[citygod]

Sorry but Claremont's attempt at at New Orleans accent is painful. And wrong. And unreadable. Pass.

[northstarfan]

You mean Rogue's accent? She's not from New Orleans. You're thinking of her recurring tumor Gambit, maybe?

[citygod]

What is that accent supposed to be? Blanche from the Golden Girls? And why is it just random words?

[icon_uk]

She's from Mississippi, a fictitious place called Caldicott. She had a "Southern" accent and used some words, but as with many people with strong accents (myself included, Scottish) you tend to modify your language if it proves to be a stumbling block in communication, or something you want to alter

Or, if you want a convenient in story explanation for it, she has so many personalities fighting inside her, her accent would be all over the place at times.

[citygod]

That would explain the fictitious accent. Your explanation makes sense but, I dunno, this just feels like bad writing.

[halialkers]

Kitty looks constipated in her first close-up.

[halialkers]

And why is Rogue facing Danvers hip-first?

[kainnived.livejournal.com]

I think Rogue stepping forward appologizing, begging Carol's forgiveness, and maybe Charles suggesting having the two of them together could facilitate fixing both their minds. Would have gone a long way.

Instead the X-Men acted like dicks even Storm took the opportunity to be sarcastic to take a stab at Charles rather than showing any concern for Carol and Rogue just sorta stood there and made no gesture of recompence to Carol.

[hurricane-jam.livejournal.com]

Ooooooooooh! Used to have this. I still adore that POW! page!