Marvel: Rogue

[Local Hero]

Reported 27/04/2004
Source ThePulse

Robert Rodi and Cliff Richards are bringing everyone's favorite southern mutant belle to life each month in an all-new ongoing Rogue monthly. Rodi's got lots of plans for Rogue. "We’re going to try for a different tone from the other X-books."

Rodi has modest plans for the first issue of the series. "We take some pains to re-introduce Rogue in the first issue -- lay out both who she is (a young mutant who absorbs the memories, talents and powers of others through touch) and how she feels about it (not very happy). It’s about Rogue. Which may seem obvious, or flip -- except it really is ABOUT her, in a way that none of her previous solo series have been. We’ll be digging deep into her past; we’ll see her family for the first time, we’ll finally learn her real name, and we’ll discover that the sudden onset of her mutant powers wasn’t the only thing that drove her away from home. But there’s an extra layer for those who’ve been reading the X-books all along," continued Rodi. "They can appreciate that Rogue’s in a funny place right now. She lived without her powers for a while, and had a normal romantic relationship with Gambit. Now her powers are back, and they can’t touch each other anymore. So here’s this woman who’s grown accustomed to physical intimacy, and suddenly it’s been yanked away from her. She can’t ever touch anyone again in that way, and it’s worse now because she knows how important it is. Actually, we introduce a new character in the first issue who exploits this problem of Rogue’s in a very unusual way. This character will be Rogue’s ongoing foil, though whether as ally or enemy remains to be seen."

"Also -- and this is something I felt strongly about -- we’ll be trying to make her name more meaningful," added Rodi. "As it stands, it doesn’t mean a thing. It might have when she was a villain, but that was a lo-o-o-ng time ago. Now it reflects absolutely nothing about her. So our first arc is titled Going Rogue, and that’s exactly what she’ll be doing throughout. For a very specific set of reasons, she’s going to begin operating independently of the X-Men, and she won’t be telling them about it, either."

Although at one point or another several artists were rumored to be involved with the new series, Rodi told THE PULSE that Dark Horse alum Cliff Richards landed the role. "We're glad to have him," enthused the writer. Richards' worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so he's familiar with illustrating tough girls and their pals. The stories take place in current X-Men continuity. Rogue's pals, the X-Men, play a role in the series, but aren't the series. "The X-Men appear in the first issue to help kick things off; after that, only Gambit will be a recurring character," said Rodi. "His role, however, will be a supporting one, both because of a significant change he’ll be going through in X-MEN, and because we didn’t want the book to become GAMBIT’S GIRLFRIEND, ROGUE."

Rodi's worked on quite a few of comics most prominent women from Marvel's premier assassin Elektra to DC's stunning Amazon, Wonder Woman. When asked how Rogue stands up to any of the other female characters he's left his mark on, Rodi replied, "Their gender is really the only thing the characters have in common. Knockout’s a sexy secret agent; Elektra’s a ninja assassin; Rogue’s a mutant succubus. With the exception of physical courage, I don’t really find any qualities of one in any of the others. Which makes it interesting for me-- keeps me on my toes."

Although Rodi's become best-known for his take on female characters he's quick to point out, "I really don’t have a [gender] preference. I’ve had as much fun writing Loki and Thor, and the six villains in IDENTITY DISC, as I’ve had writing female characters. That said, I do seem to have an affinity for writing women. I don’t know why, but if it gets me books like ROGUE, I’m not complaining. We’re going to try for a different tone from the other X-books; a more Southern Gothic kind of feel," Rodi continued. "Rogue will be spending a lot of time down south, pursuing more supernaturally inclined menaces -- for a very specific reason, which we’ll reveal in the first arc. I’d like to use WOLVERINE as my template here; everyone connected with that book does a great job of making it as different as possible from the character’s X-Men adventures, while still honoring what originally made him stand out there. That’s my goal with ROGUE."

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