Sticking with the "For god's sake why?" solo titles, Rogue reaches its second storyline.

The book marks this momentous occasion with a complete change of creative team.  This time round, it's Tony Bedard from Exiles writing, and Karl Moline on art.  They previously worked together on the CrossGen title Route 666. 

Rogue got off to a rather shaky start in terms of sales, which I suspect is less due to the content of the book than a general lack of interest in new second-tier X-books, period.  Nonetheless, what we're getting here is an obvious shift of direction as the book swings much more towards more conventional superheroics.  Given Bedard's evident love of the Marvel playpen in Exiles, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

The story has Sunfire facing a PR disaster after somebody publicises evidence that his family were involved in organised crime (which, of course, they were).  But even worse for him, there's also photographic evidence of him hanging around with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants back in Rogue's day.  Which is odd, because neither Sunfire nor Rogue remember anything of the sort.  We are politely asked to accept that the photo isn't a forgery, but hey, at least they ruled it out right at the outset.

This really reads more like a Sunfire story idea, but at least it also plays off one of Rogue's distinctive features - her criminal past.  And to be honest, as a change of pace from the other secondary X-books, I'm happy enough to see the book heading back in a more conventional superhero direction.

But the book never really gets past its two main problems.  First, and despite what the cover artist seems to think, Rogue is currently down to just the one superpower.  She absorbs memories and powers.  It's got limited possibilities, and gets repetitive after a while.  It also means that the story has to resort to rather contrived scenes to let her win against Lady Deathstrike.

Second, when you're dealing with a character who's been so long established as a team player, there really needs to be some reason for why they're suddenly having solo adventures.  The other solo books don't have this problem - Gambit and Wolverine are secretive loners, Nightcrawler is carrying out missions, Bishop is acting in a police role that only makes sense for him, and Jubilee is living in a different state.  But Rogue?  She's a team character, both in terms of the way she acts and the way she's been used, and she never feels right for the starring role here.

Alright for what it is, but it still doesn't answer the burning question: who needs a Rogue solo title anyway?

Rating: B-

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