World Famous Comics: Astonishing X-Men: Rogue, Vol. 1 - Going Rogue
Astonishing X-Men: Rogue, Vol. 1 - Going Rogue
By: Robert Rodi, Cliff Richards Publisher: Marvel Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Marvel Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 144 Publication Date: March 09, 2005 Reading Level: Young Adult
Product Description: During her time as part of the X-Men, the woman known as Rogue has been many things: fighter, friend, soldier, lover...and now, daughter. When an X-Men mission brings Rogue back to her childhood home in Mississippi, she comes face to face with the demons in her past...and a terrible secret that has haunted her family since her birth! Only available in North America.
Somewhat mediocre and dull Rogue is one of those X-Men characters that is well-loved by the fans, so it's not surprising that Marvel finally did a Rogue mini-series. What is surprising is how lackluster that resulting story is. Rather than focus on what makes Rogue unique in the mutant pantheon--her ability to absorb memories by at a dangerous cost--writer Robert Rodi instead decides to investigate her background. This involves her going back to her southern home, lured there by a local emergency, then met by mysterious man who is unaffected by her powers. Unfortunately, the reason he is unaffected, and the background story itself, becomes increasingly divorced from reality which destroys the inherent pathos that is integral to Rogue's character (i.e., her desire to be able to touch and be touched) and instead turns out to be a fairly generic family reunion story that adds one new element to her character, but otherwise leaves her untouched for the future.
To its benefit, at least Going Rogue is not just another mighty Marvel mutant mash where the genetically gifted seem to pile up in panel after panel. Nor is it a super slugfest, and instead focuses on mystery and character. The addition of the blind mutant Gambit as Rogue's longterm boyfriend with a problem helps complicate things, but not so much as to cause more than a page or two of suspense. It's just that, given the possibilities, the resulting character study is mediocre and rather dull.
Rodi is slightly better known as a novelist than a comics writer. His novel, Whatever Happened to Princess Paragon?, showed enough of a familiarity with comics fans and history that I wasn't surprised to eventually find his name on a comic. He does well enough in this medium, although there's nothing about the story in Going Rogue that would impel me to search out Rodi's comic work in the future. Richards' artwork is a bit on the cartoony side, as it doesn't have much detail, but the lines are strong and clean. The best artwork here are the six individual covers, reproduced here in splash pages, by Rodolfo Migliari.
Good "Going" But There's Room For Improvement. I grew up watching and reading about the X-Men so often that, whilst cleaning under my bed, I often stumble upon old notebooks and diaries with embarassing phrases like "I <3 Gambit 4EVER" scrawled across them. And even with my <3 for Gambit, Rogue was always my favourite, holding a special place in my little heart. Naturally, I was quite excited to hear about the release of this graphic novel (I haven't frequented a comic book shop for some time, so I never knew about it until I saw it here on Amazon) - and I was even more excited when I saw the exquisite cover art, which, in my opinion, is worth the purchase on its own. Unfortunately, the art in the comic itself is subpar. It relies on the old, tired comic book standards of big breasted girls in tiny tops and shorts so short they can barely pass for underwear. That is something I might find more interesting if I were a pubescent boy, not a college aged girl. The storyitself is good and intriguing enough but never manages to quite step it up to "Great" status. It is, I think, at its best when showcasing the relationship between Gambit and Rogue, which, luckily, is on page quite often (although, I might be biased, given my before-mentioned <3ing of Gambit). I, all in all, would call "Rogue : Going Rogue" a good investment for any Rogue fan and it's my hopes that the ongoing Rogue comic gets better as it goes on.
Going, going, gone.... The artwork is beautiful. Rogue is in a sexy pose just about every other page. The plot is not too bad. However, it is rushed and anti-climatic. There is a huge build-up, but nothing ever comes of it. Still, it was an entertaining read nonetheless.
average art and story this was a nice quick read, although most fans seem to agree that this story about rogue's birth, etc. is pretty disappointing. i love rogue, but this was much like the back story to nightcrawler (in austen's issues of UXM), where it's heavily based on the supernatural and it just isn't that interesting (or believable) to me, esp. since there's so little characterization of the protagonist. still, it has vital info about rogue's past, and i've heard about the impt thing that happens to rogue in the second arc, so either way if you're a rogue fan you'll prob. want to read this.
Anything Goes Trivia
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