What do you think?
Rate this book
Rogue (2004) #1-6
Rogue, Vol. 1: Going Rogue
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.
144 pages, Paperback
First published March 9, 2005
5 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Robert Rodi
210 books123 followersRobert was born in Chicago in the conformist 1950s, grew up in the insurrectionist 1960s, came of age in the hedonist 1970s, and went to work in the elitist 1980s. This roller-coaster ride has left him with a distinct aversion to isms of any kind; it also gave him an ear for hypocrisy, cant, and platitudes that allowed him, in the 1990s, to become a much-lauded social satirist.
After seven acclaimed novels set in the gay milieu, Robert grew restless for new challenges — which he found in activities as wide-ranging as publishing nonfiction, writing comic books, launching a literary-criticism blog, and taking to the stage (as a spoken-word performer, jazz singer, and rock-and-roll front man).
In 2011, excited by the rise of digital e-books, he returned to his first love, publishing new fiction inspired by the work of Alfred Hitchcock. He also organized the republishing of his seminal gay novels under the banner Robert Rodi Essentials.
Robert still resides in Chicago, in a century-old Queen Anne house with his partner Jeffrey Smith and a constantly shifting number of dogs.
.
German version: Robert Rodi wurde 1956 in einem Vorort von Chicago geboren. Im Alter von 22 schloss er sein Philosophie-Studium ab. Schon vorher beschäftigte er sich mit Comedy. Sein erster eigener Roman, "Fag Hag" aus dem Jahr 1991 war ein großer Erfolg. Es folgten mehrere andere komische Romane, zahlreiche Kurzgeschichten und Sketche. Robert lebt mit Partner und Hund in Chicago.
After seven acclaimed novels set in the gay milieu, Robert grew restless for new challenges — which he found in activities as wide-ranging as publishing nonfiction, writing comic books, launching a literary-criticism blog, and taking to the stage (as a spoken-word performer, jazz singer, and rock-and-roll front man).
In 2011, excited by the rise of digital e-books, he returned to his first love, publishing new fiction inspired by the work of Alfred Hitchcock. He also organized the republishing of his seminal gay novels under the banner Robert Rodi Essentials.
Robert still resides in Chicago, in a century-old Queen Anne house with his partner Jeffrey Smith and a constantly shifting number of dogs.
.
German version: Robert Rodi wurde 1956 in einem Vorort von Chicago geboren. Im Alter von 22 schloss er sein Philosophie-Studium ab. Schon vorher beschäftigte er sich mit Comedy. Sein erster eigener Roman, "Fag Hag" aus dem Jahr 1991 war ein großer Erfolg. Es folgten mehrere andere komische Romane, zahlreiche Kurzgeschichten und Sketche. Robert lebt mit Partner und Hund in Chicago.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
November 8, 2023
3.5 stars
"With one touch of my skin to theirs, a person's memories become my own. Every last one, down to the second before we touched . . . 'course, there's some wild side effects. Nothin' too bad, long as I don't hold on too long." -- an envious Rogue, glancing at parents happily embracing their teenage daughter
The character Rogue - best known for her long-running membership as one of the X-Men - shares a similarity with the Hulk in that her 'superpower' (succinctly described in the included quote) is just as much a curse as it is a benefit. But can this lady, with her trademark white locks and honeyed accent that espouses sincere Southern hospitality, carry her own title instead of the usual ensemble status? Going Rogue smartly delves into her often mysterious and/or unrevealed background by first placing her in a situation - ostensibly the X-Men are taking custody of a scared girl whose unbridled mutant powers are wrecking havoc - that leads her back to her small-town roots in rural Mississippi. Family secrets are uncovered, and the narrative - helped greatly by illustrations from Cliff Richards (whose has also done DC's Birds of Prey, so he knows how to best present the heroic women) and some stylish chapter break artwork by Rodolfo Migliari - is good until the final chapters, which devolve into extreme fantasy and slapsticky humor. (Seriously, there was one moment where a temporarily blinded character runs into a tree, and in presentation it reminded me of Daffy Duck in an old Merrie Melodies cartoon.). Still, a unique thing about this super-heroic volume is that a villainous antagonist harboring any ill will is notably absent from the proceedings, a which in itself is a true rarity.
"With one touch of my skin to theirs, a person's memories become my own. Every last one, down to the second before we touched . . . 'course, there's some wild side effects. Nothin' too bad, long as I don't hold on too long." -- an envious Rogue, glancing at parents happily embracing their teenage daughter
The character Rogue - best known for her long-running membership as one of the X-Men - shares a similarity with the Hulk in that her 'superpower' (succinctly described in the included quote) is just as much a curse as it is a benefit. But can this lady, with her trademark white locks and honeyed accent that espouses sincere Southern hospitality, carry her own title instead of the usual ensemble status? Going Rogue smartly delves into her often mysterious and/or unrevealed background by first placing her in a situation - ostensibly the X-Men are taking custody of a scared girl whose unbridled mutant powers are wrecking havoc - that leads her back to her small-town roots in rural Mississippi. Family secrets are uncovered, and the narrative - helped greatly by illustrations from Cliff Richards (whose has also done DC's Birds of Prey, so he knows how to best present the heroic women) and some stylish chapter break artwork by Rodolfo Migliari - is good until the final chapters, which devolve into extreme fantasy and slapsticky humor. (Seriously, there was one moment where a temporarily blinded character runs into a tree, and in presentation it reminded me of Daffy Duck in an old Merrie Melodies cartoon.). Still, a unique thing about this super-heroic volume is that a villainous antagonist harboring any ill will is notably absent from the proceedings, a which in itself is a true rarity.
January 13, 2024
Not bad just…sad. Really, really, really sad.
Also, Campbell was a jerk.
3, not bad but not great, stars.
Also, Campbell was a jerk.
3, not bad but not great, stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2021
Rogue, Going Rouge is about Rogue, obviously. The book starts off simple enough, at least relatively speaking, this is a comic book after all. Rogue is lured back home to deal with a problem in her small town, something involving a mutant with dream manipulation powers.
So Rogue goes home and has a bunch of very Rogue specific feelings. She's sad that she can't have a normal life involving physical touch and she's feeling lonely. Meanwhile, Gambit is blind at this time and feels bad about an interaction he had with Rogue, he sets off to find her blind without any help.
To continue to the full review please visit here: https://amanjareads.com/2021/02/08/ro...
So Rogue goes home and has a bunch of very Rogue specific feelings. She's sad that she can't have a normal life involving physical touch and she's feeling lonely. Meanwhile, Gambit is blind at this time and feels bad about an interaction he had with Rogue, he sets off to find her blind without any help.
To continue to the full review please visit here: https://amanjareads.com/2021/02/08/ro...
July 28, 2017
Disclosure: I'm old enough both to know better and not to care. That's my motto. I'm in my 50's and loving DC and Marvel at the moment. This is my 3rd review of collected editions, the first for Marvel (as I dip into the cardboard box at the back of my garage!). I'm not a great fan'boy' of the MCU, DCU, DCEU, MCwhatever etc, but I'm getting to appreciate them. This review, therefore, comes from the perspective an older reader, not well versed in canon, and potentially jaded by age and experience. (You have been warned!)
As is becoming usual, I'll review the 'book' in the following areas: Cover (and variants, if any), Art, Story, Lettering (if appropriate) Each will get a score and then averaged for my overall review.
Cover(s) (Rudolpho Rigliari):
As usual, the cover artwork stands separate from that which lies within. Each of the collected editions is ended/prologued by a super piece of character artwork by M..... Rendered in a photoreal style (with one exception - by Carlo Pagulayan) the art is great. However, the actual piece that graces the front is not, in my opinion, the best. I would rather have had the one for issue 3 and also appears on the back cover.
Score: 4.5 / 5 (because it wasn't the one I liked most!)
Art (Cliff Richards - pencils, Transparency Digital - colours, Norm Rapmund - Inks):
Disclosure: I do not like elastic faces in graphic novels: they reduce the work to comic level for me. That having been said, there was a pleasant internal consistency to the artwork. Sometimes the panels were simple and effective, at other times they were full of little things that brought a (knowing) smile. Great. The drawing style was a little bit too simplistic for my tastes to warrant a rating of excellent. Colours were well chosen without the sometimes garishness that can occur in larger battle scenes. Due to the nature of the story, I was confused with some of the scenes and had to reread them as the artwork gave only subtle hints as to what was going on. (Sorry to be oblique, but I want to keep this relatively spoiler free!) That having been said this was a consistently well drawn and effective piece of work.
Score: 4.5 / 5 (I like more realism in art...)
Story (Robert Rodi):
This is basically an origins story, wrapped up in dream weirdness with the occasional subtext of 'romance'. The main character is drawn to her home town and strange happenings there - phantoms, madness, violence, and so on. There's a lot of introspection throughout the story as we get to know her inner feelings, fears, doubts, loneliness, etc. I find that this is a nice touch, as it gives a bit of depth to the story. There's not a great deal of set action pieces or wide-screen battle scenes. Instead, there are simple scenes with simple ideas. At one point the pages bounce back and forth with simultaneous scenes. At first, it was a bit annoying, but it became very effective. The story ending was a bit weak for me, but fairly satisfactory all the same.
My main quibble with the story is the occasional info-dump. Here and there, background chatter details a load of information that needed to be presented. It's effectively done through news reports on TV, but at one point it was too funny - for example, the TV gave us the breaking news of soaring temperatures followed by the less headlining reports of mass hysteria! Maybe it's a cultural thing (I'm from the UK) but it took away from the gravity of the situation. That's not to say it was a grim-dark story. Far from it. I thought the dialogue was quite snappy, even if the 'dialect' was hard to swallow.
As you can see by my start and end dates I did not get gripped by the story.
Overall I'd give the story a Score of: 3.5 / 5.
Lettering (Dave Sharp):
Unlike other collections I've read recently, the emboldened emphasis seemed to make sense and didn't confuse me as to what the character felt was important or significant.
Score: 4 / 5
Average Score: total 16.5 / possible 20
Overall Score: 4 / 5
As is becoming usual, I'll review the 'book' in the following areas: Cover (and variants, if any), Art, Story, Lettering (if appropriate) Each will get a score and then averaged for my overall review.
Cover(s) (Rudolpho Rigliari):
As usual, the cover artwork stands separate from that which lies within. Each of the collected editions is ended/prologued by a super piece of character artwork by M..... Rendered in a photoreal style (with one exception - by Carlo Pagulayan) the art is great. However, the actual piece that graces the front is not, in my opinion, the best. I would rather have had the one for issue 3 and also appears on the back cover.
Score: 4.5 / 5 (because it wasn't the one I liked most!)
Art (Cliff Richards - pencils, Transparency Digital - colours, Norm Rapmund - Inks):
Disclosure: I do not like elastic faces in graphic novels: they reduce the work to comic level for me. That having been said, there was a pleasant internal consistency to the artwork. Sometimes the panels were simple and effective, at other times they were full of little things that brought a (knowing) smile. Great. The drawing style was a little bit too simplistic for my tastes to warrant a rating of excellent. Colours were well chosen without the sometimes garishness that can occur in larger battle scenes. Due to the nature of the story, I was confused with some of the scenes and had to reread them as the artwork gave only subtle hints as to what was going on. (Sorry to be oblique, but I want to keep this relatively spoiler free!) That having been said this was a consistently well drawn and effective piece of work.
Score: 4.5 / 5 (I like more realism in art...)
Story (Robert Rodi):
This is basically an origins story, wrapped up in dream weirdness with the occasional subtext of 'romance'. The main character is drawn to her home town and strange happenings there - phantoms, madness, violence, and so on. There's a lot of introspection throughout the story as we get to know her inner feelings, fears, doubts, loneliness, etc. I find that this is a nice touch, as it gives a bit of depth to the story. There's not a great deal of set action pieces or wide-screen battle scenes. Instead, there are simple scenes with simple ideas. At one point the pages bounce back and forth with simultaneous scenes. At first, it was a bit annoying, but it became very effective. The story ending was a bit weak for me, but fairly satisfactory all the same.
My main quibble with the story is the occasional info-dump. Here and there, background chatter details a load of information that needed to be presented. It's effectively done through news reports on TV, but at one point it was too funny - for example, the TV gave us the breaking news of soaring temperatures followed by the less headlining reports of mass hysteria! Maybe it's a cultural thing (I'm from the UK) but it took away from the gravity of the situation. That's not to say it was a grim-dark story. Far from it. I thought the dialogue was quite snappy, even if the 'dialect' was hard to swallow.
As you can see by my start and end dates I did not get gripped by the story.
Overall I'd give the story a Score of: 3.5 / 5.
Lettering (Dave Sharp):
Unlike other collections I've read recently, the emboldened emphasis seemed to make sense and didn't confuse me as to what the character felt was important or significant.
Score: 4 / 5
Average Score: total 16.5 / possible 20
Overall Score: 4 / 5
July 15, 2015
Got Marvel Unlimited for a month. Only a penny! WOot!
I really enjoyed this story. But I've always liked Rogue.
I really enjoyed this story. But I've always liked Rogue.
November 5, 2021
Really enjoyed this solo outing for Rogue (although Gambit managed to worm his way in too, which isn't really a hardship).
Part origin story, part ghost story. Campbell is an interesting character, hope we see more of him.
Art was great.
Part origin story, part ghost story. Campbell is an interesting character, hope we see more of him.
Art was great.
November 26, 2014
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, What They Did to Princess Paragon: A Novel, 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.
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, What They Did to Princess Paragon: A Novel, 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.
December 8, 2023
Every once in a while Marvel produces a truly intriguing title filled with just the right mix of character moments, actions, mystery, angst and well just about everything that makes an X-Men title an X-Men title... without being grimdark for the sake of grimdark. The problem is... for title like Peter David's second stint on X-Factor that go on to a long healthy life there is a book like Rogue. One that is full of potential that between nobody reading the thing and Marvel changing the creative teams to make the book more generic, a truly great series gets lot. This Rogue series is 12 issues long. The first six issues are in this trade paperback and are GREAT. The next six issues well... check my profile in a few days because I'll be re-reading them soon.
August 7, 2024
9/10:
This story is certainly one of the best I’ve read for Rogue! As always, we see Rogue struggle with the reality of life with her powers, her struggles to be with Gambit, and the trauma she endured as a child. I love how she grows and becomes an even better person by the time this story ends, all the while honoring herself and those who she’s partially absorbed over time.
I can’t wait to read the next volume of this run!
This story is certainly one of the best I’ve read for Rogue! As always, we see Rogue struggle with the reality of life with her powers, her struggles to be with Gambit, and the trauma she endured as a child. I love how she grows and becomes an even better person by the time this story ends, all the while honoring herself and those who she’s partially absorbed over time.
I can’t wait to read the next volume of this run!
August 15, 2025
Pretty solid little story overall. The covers were the best parts of the artwork with the interior being pretty meh quite frankly. By far the best part of this is the Rogue + Gambit romance, everything else was kind of meh. It tries to build a big mystery but just kind of explains it all away with the “dream world” stuff. It’s been done before and better in other comics I’ve read. Still a decent post-New X-Men story.
August 18, 2017
Continuing the X-read of 2017...
Hmmm... Well...
It isn't the worst x-comic that I have read so far on this journey.
I don't think that I would ever choose to read it again, though. Rather uneventful and a bit boring.
Hmmm... Well...
It isn't the worst x-comic that I have read so far on this journey.
I don't think that I would ever choose to read it again, though. Rather uneventful and a bit boring.
July 30, 2023
*I've read A LOT more than I've reviewed, so it's time for some knee-jerk reactions!*
I love Rogue. I love Gambit. This book had both. All of that, plus a nice little introspective into Rogue (what makes her tick) and her past? I mean... what else could I want?
I love Rogue. I love Gambit. This book had both. All of that, plus a nice little introspective into Rogue (what makes her tick) and her past? I mean... what else could I want?
February 20, 2024
Really damn good character introspection on Rogue. The Dream Realm explored here was really interesting, and it's a shame it's never been explored further in Marvel. Rogue's mom being the creator of the dream realm was really interesting too. I wonder where volume 2 will lead.
★★★★½
★★★★½
June 7, 2021
rogue is one of my favorite marvel characters im general and this story was interesting but just disappointing and i probably wont read volume 2 :/
December 26, 2023
This was an interesting read exploring Rogue’s biological family and seeing some development between her and Gambit. Definitely worth the read.
October 22, 2024
after all that build up i have to say that was kind of disappointing?? at least we got a sweet gambit scene
September 28, 2025
rogue one of my favorite mutants!!
December 12, 2025
Oof. 2.5 stars for the art, but this was a convoluted mess that needed to be three issues tops. The parts with Rogue and her family, while almost hitting some good notes, ultimately just rang false.
December 23, 2025
Interesting concepts but it meandered and didn’t feel like a story that really matched how I view rogue as a character.
October 6, 2019
The story was..ok? Had potential but I guess we were still doing the "all heroes talk aloud at all times because we're not sure how to do exposition" thing in 2004. And God please, can we stop trying to write Southern/Cajun/etc accents phonetically because boy does that read bad. The art was awful.
August 12, 2016
Meh. The art is good, in the style of the more photorealistic that has been a thing. The story however, doesn't hold up to the quality of classic Xmen comics. Gambit is included as well, but as a very emo version, who seems to be there for slight extra story colour. For the extra geeky amongst you, there's also the issue of the artist including the white streak in her hair, which she didn't have as a child. So while this is intended to be some sort of back story, that, as other reviewers noted, requires some amount of unnecessary mythic elements, the telling ignores prior comic history and is a pretty weak story line to boot.
December 18, 2013
The classic mistake in a solo series or a mini-series is to try to retroactively inject some super-stuff into the ancestors of the title character. I'm pretty sure we can blame Star Wars for the omnipresence of this theme. But, anyway, this series does exactly that--as if Rogue wasn't interesting enough. It's not a terrible book, but I just can't get past the completely unnecessary premise.
February 18, 2015
Rogue 2.5 Stars, don’t bother
Don't know much about the xmen on Rogues team in this xmen universe. Rogue goes back to her home town to help contain a new mutant. She ends up learning more about her past. I”m not sure what to make of this. I kinda sorta like it but I’m not terribly impressed either. Somewhat interested but really don’t feel like finishing it.
Don't know much about the xmen on Rogues team in this xmen universe. Rogue goes back to her home town to help contain a new mutant. She ends up learning more about her past. I”m not sure what to make of this. I kinda sorta like it but I’m not terribly impressed either. Somewhat interested but really don’t feel like finishing it.
June 21, 2009
HORRIBLE rogue back story. I'm a big fan of the character but they completely messed up on this story of her past. Plus it was just boring. This was a two part mini-series. The latter half of the mini series was much better when she went to Japan and permanently absorbed the power of sunfire
August 7, 2012
The art style is not particularly remarkable in this graphic novel but this is a great story for Rogue!
There are alot of twists to keep you guessing in this compilation as Rogue begin's to decipher some of her past. Definitely an interesting take on a well known character.
There are alot of twists to keep you guessing in this compilation as Rogue begin's to decipher some of her past. Definitely an interesting take on a well known character.
January 21, 2010
More pictures and more of a plot than Sarah's book, but a bit two-dimensional.
August 21, 2011
Sily story - and YAish (negative sense)
October 2, 2012
Hard to follow ... Or want to follow? For fans of Rogue only, I'd say..
June 10, 2014
"There's a big mystery I will reveal to you in 3 issues. I could do it now, but then I'd have nothing to publish."
February 13, 2015
Mildly entertaining. But as origin stories go, it is kind of half baked with a conclusion that is unsatisfying.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews