One of my Favorite Marvel Relationships

[sigmund_droid]

Ah Rogue and Mystique, two of my favorite marvel characters for each their own reasons. True to form their relationship is both one of the most complex that exist in comics and also one of the most entertaining to read. So without further ado we look at a rough time in Rogue's adolescence.



Got your nose!



I think we all know what Mystique was thinking about...Destiny, some old rock and half a bottle of whiskey!



I love Rogue's characterization here, she's lived her life bottled up and an experience like this never comes around often so she takes advantage of it.



Insert joke about the difference between this Pyro and the god-awful ultimate one here



Gotta love shape-shifters

Rogue flirts with the guard a bit more but he asks to see Mystique's (Dr. Forbes) I.D, which of course she doesn't have. Rogue kisses the guards and drains him.



Oh I should explain this a bit for those unfamiliar with Rogue or X-men in general. Rogue can drain people and mutants of their powers through means of touch but this also absorbs their memories. It's never a fluid transfer like how Prof X and Jean Grey might read a mind so it often hits rogue with feedback. Draining dark or painful memories can assault Rogue's mental state temporarily.



Turns out this guard is not a nice man and Rogue starts to lose herself. They come across the mutant they set out to rescue.



Poor Rogue, the first panel is a sad look at how she viewed herself at the time

Of note, I don't recognize the mutant here. Any takers? Is he an actual character or a one-shot?

Rogue takes off her glove and attempts to touch the mutants face but he stands up and grabs her arm.





Again, love to know if that man is an actual character. I dig these panels though.



There you have it folks. A learning experience for both Mystique and Rogue.

So what do you guys think? Does Mystique actually care about Rogue? Or does she only care about Destiny's prophecies and Rogue's powers?

Comments

[icon_uk]

Given Mystique's nature, I don't think she's capable of unconditional love, the healthy love a parent has for a child.

She might try to pretend she loves them (particularly for Irene sake) she might even, for a second or two at a time, actually almost convince herself, but she's too cold-blooded, too manipulative, too calculating, for me to ever buy genuine sentiment from her even towards her kids.

[fifthie]

Every story I've ever read involving Mystique 'caring' for anybody has ended with her fucking them over in the most brutal possible way.

I don't know what she feels for anybody in her heart of hearts but it's obviously not anything that ever stops her from being a CRAZY MURDERER so I mean, you know... who cares?

[rainspirit]

Wow, Pyro. I think that's the first time I've seen him in an actual comic that's not Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum. I've kicked the shit out of him in that campy X-Men arcade game loads of times, but never seen him in a comic!

I'm always sad when I think of the missed opportunity I heard about; that Mystique was planned to be Rogue's "father", with Destiny as the mom. Would have led to a wonderfully, deeply twisted relationship.

[greenmask]

Yeah, I think she loves her, in that's she's emotionally imprinted upon her and regards her as family. She certainly doesn't act in very loving fashions, but, she's Mystique. Mystique's pretty terrible.

[pallas_athena]

MysteriousMoodyShirtlessGuy's comments about "living too much" surely apply to Mystique here.

[selke]

I forgot how much I did love 1980s Mystique. I've never found Rogue particularly interesting, but I like their interactions.

What issue is this, by the way?

[zenbro]

This Rogue is an impostor! She doesn't say "mah" and "ah" for "my" and "I"! What trickery is this?

Anyhoo...I dislike this retcon of "Jason" popping up in their lives and teaching Rogue a life lesson about the use of her powers when canonically she never shows any inkling of self-reflection until after she joins the X-Men. It's only because of their eventual acceptance and trust of her that she develops into a heroic character and shakes off Mystique's flawed parenting. So if this takes place before Rogue's first appearance in Avengers Annual #10, it just doesn't make sense to me because she was pretty cavalier and ruthless about her power from the get-go and only begins to temper herself after her inability to deal with Carol Danvers' imprinted psyche takes its toll.

I don't think Jason ever pops up again, which also bugs me. (It's certainly not Jason Wyngarde.) Is this a recent story? Because the shirtless, mysterious stranger with nice hair and brooding wisdom ("he's not bad, just misunderstood!") seems suspiciously close to the trend of sympathetic vampires/werewolves/demons that are running around lately, and if we really want to make this retcon stick, there would have to be something already in Rogue's established character that would point back to this particular encounter. To my reading, that Rogue would have to be a very different person than the one I'm familiar with.

[halloweenjack]

The last panel of the second scan is pretty pornalicious if you take out the dialogue.

[blackruzsa]

This
Wow.
I like the characterization, Rogue's attitude, and, well, pretty much all.

[kusonaga]

Much love for the Brotherhood. They were awesome.

[crabby_lioness]

Hoo, boy. Abusive adoptive mothers, something I have personal experience with.....

I think Irene was the great love of Raven's life, and she's gone batshit crazy since Destiny died.

I don't think she loved any of her children other than Rogue.

I think at first she put up with Rogue for Irene's sake, but since Rogue was the only child she reared and was with for long periods of time she came to "love" Anna in the only way that she was capable of "loving" a child. It was (according to Rogue in X-Men Legacy) and unhealthy, manipulative love, but it was the best she love she was capable of.

[aaron_bourque]

Fun fact: shortly before Rogue joined the X-Men, she met Rom: Space Knight, and absorbed some of his "nobility."

[recognitions]

"Where the heck is Rogue?" Language!

I like Nocenti's writing but her dialogue can be awfully stilted at times.