STORY: "Power Play" (23 pages)  When Rogue goes to Dr Agee to have her powers removed, Mystique intervenes to stop her. On learning that Agee has a working power-removal machine, Rogue destroys it.

What you need to know:
Rogue is still dreaming about Gambit, which is partly a set-up for his imminent return.

The US government was funding Agee's research into removing mutant powers.  According to Mystique, he was given "technology created by Forge" - presumably one of the neutralisers that was used on Storm in issue #185 - and told to reverse engineer it. (Mystique's explanation has an accompanying footnote which reads "Whatever you want to say", presumably a placeholder line which Comicraft gamely typed in anyway.)

Mystique is impersonating Mallory Brickman in this issue, which is part of an ongoing storyline in X-Factor.  Mallory Brickman is the wife of Senator Miles Brickman, formerly a Machine Man villain and now very obscure indeed.  But he provides her with some kind of rationale to turn up at Agee's offices.

Mystique and Rogue have a lengthy argument about Agee's machine, in which Mystique makes the semi-reasonable argument that removing mutant powers in order to achieve world peace is like turning black people white to remove racism.  (Except, of course, mutants actually ARE different from humans, which is where the metaphor breaks down.)  Rogue's convinced, anyway.

Wolverine knew that Rogue was going to have her powers removed and decided to let her get on with it.  Apparently he was confident that she wouldn't go through it.

Strangely, in this issue, Agee is well aware that he failed to cure his sister Rebecca.  This is totally inconsistent with his scene in issue #357.

In a subplot, Jean is fine after last issue's psi-blast, except that her powers have gone.  Again, this is a tie-in to Psi-War, and it doesn't stick.

Rogue has a flashback summarising the recent events which have led her to submit to Agee's machine.  The gist is that recent bodily contact has led her to crave more.  What's interesting about this sequence is that Rogue and Gambit's night in Antarctica is described as "But having kissed the love of her life while her powers waned in Antarctica..."  This seems pretty convincing evidence that - at least by this point - it had been decided that Rogue and Gambit did not have sex in issue #349, whatever some sections of fandom like to think.

Comments:
A rare sighting for this period - a Steve Seagle storyline is resolved.

This issue has a lot going for it.  Rogue and Mystique have a fairly interesting discussion about the whole idea of getting rid of mutants, and a lot of Rogue's characterisation makes good sense - although her 180 degree change of heart seems a little forced. There's a nice subplot scene as well, with Jean feeling cut off from Scott because her telepathic powers aren't working.

On the minus side, the issue hinges on a glaring coincidence where Mystique just happens to turn up at Agee's institute on the day he's working on Rogue.  And the art is very inconsistent, with Chris Bachalo and Ryan Benjamin drawing different pages, including some art changes within scenes.  They don't look very similar at all, and quite honestly, Benjamin isn't a particularly good artist, although he tells the story adequately.

This issue effectively marks the end of the Seagle era proper, and what a false start it was.  After this, if Seagle and Kelly's later interviews are to be believed, they're really just transcribing plots forced on them by the editors.

FEATURE CHARACTERS
Rogue (last in issue #356)
Wolverine (last in X-Men vol 2 #78; next in Uncanny X-Men / Fantastic Four '98)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Cyclops (next in issue #368)
Phoenix III (next in Fantastic Four vol 3 #7)

VILLAINS
Aubrey Agee (last in issue #357; no further appearances)
Henry Peter Gyrich (last in X-Factor #148; next in flashback in Thunderbolts #21)
Miles Brickman (last in flashback in Cable / Machine Man '98; no further appearances)
Mystique (between X-Factor #144 and X-51 #2)
Mutopia (last in issue #356; no further appearances)

GUEST APPEARANCE
Shaman (between Alpha Flight vol 2 #3 and #15)

OTHER CHARACTER
Rebecca Agee (last in issue #357; behind the scenes; no further appearances; also in flashback which is her chronologically earliest appearance, preceding issue #357)

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