|
Continuing with the recently launched solo
titles, Rogue #3.
It's more of the same, basically.
Weird things happen to Rogue, and she wanders around gathering
information about her family. The present day bits
aren't entirely successful. It really does seem to be a
pile-up of mystery elements without much in the way of overall
direction, as Rogue meekly plays along with the characters who
are yanking her around to witness the next bit of exposition.
Also, the creators are trying a bit too hard to convince us of
Campbell's charms.
The back story material about the commune
is more interesting, though. I like the idea of the
shaman figure being a washed-up drunk who got taken in by the
dumb college kids and was just trying to vaguely remember how
it was meant to go. It's a nice spin on the usual
kneejerk assumption that Native American characters have to
have incredible native wisdom at their fingertips.
All of this seems to be heading to the idea
that Rogue's father, Owen, was particularly desperate to get
to some other dimension called the Far Banks. His big
idea to get there seems to have involved some kind of communal
party with the liberal use of rape drugs. Unfortunately
for him, it didn't work, and Rogue's mother disappears off
into some kind of interdimensional portal pledging to bar the
way from Owen ever following.
Not a horrible set-up, and I do like the
commune idea. I'm a little unsure as to how this fits
with Rogue as a character, and whether Rodi is nailing an
unrelated idea onto her back story. (For some reason,
this feels like it would work better as the story of Gambit's
parents.) But it's kept relatively grounded, and it's
not really going to impinge greatly on Rogue's continuity.
After all, this is the story of why her parents disappeared,
rather than tying psychedelic dimensions into Rogue's own back
story.
It's not quite tying together, and there
are elements that don't really work, notably the
not-as-charming-as-they-seem-to-think Campbell. But the
book's still holding my interest in the story, and making good
use of Rogue's esoteric powers.
Rating: B
back |
continue |
