Marvel’s announcement of the upcoming Rogue: Savage Land may feel like a callback to a “controversial” moment for some. Written by hack/slash creator Tim Seeley and once again teaming up with HEXWARE artist and Disneyland Paris 2024 Marvel Art Atelier winner Zulema Ravina, the pair will depict what happened to Rogue while surviving without her powers in the Savage Land. Of course, this is based on Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men #269 and #274-275, and of course the highly evocative image of Savage Land Rogue drawn by Jim Lee.
The assumptions are:
The X-Man known as Rogue has always survived, but without his mutant powers, he needs to prove it now more than ever. With the Savage Land heading for war, Rogue will need all of his skills to survive dinosaurs, mutants, and the Master of Magnetism himself.
What makes this so controversial in today’s pop culture zeitgeist is that their romance was reignited in X-Men ’97. As creator Tim Seeley acknowledged on social media, it’s important to emphasize that the five-issue miniseries has nothing to do with the X-Men ’97 storyline and is purely an original work by Seeley and Lavina.
Now, on the one hand, the green light of this comic will be a fan service for older fans who have never seen the complete story because there were many gaps in the story but who fondly remember this era. This is actually just an opportunity to explain in detail, so that even those who are new to Marvel Comics can find out how Rogue and Magneto’s short romance began. The gist is that Rogue and Magneto team up to fight the evil sorcerer Zaladane.
Like a typical survival story of two people stranded on the outskirts, in the original Claremont Uncanny story, the two team up to face a common enemy, and as they spend time together and grow closer, it develops into a bit of a romance (plus, Rogue finally gets to touch someone). It’s actually a small moment in the story, but it has influenced a generation of fans, both for its art and its impact on the lore.
Probably the biggest criticism I see is the questionable age difference between Rogue and Magneto. As many have pointed out, he’s a Holocaust survivor, so he’s comfortably in his 60s. But the real question might be how old Rogue was in Claremont’s original ’80s version, and why should we even bother talking about that in the comics? Because I don’t think it’s for the reasons we think it is.
As Screenrant itself points out, Rogue is likely in her 20s in the ’97 TV show, so it’s not illegal in terms of being that old. We don’t have a full answer as to how old Rogue was in Claremont’s show, and we can’t directly address Magneto either, but it should be stressed that these storylines spanned many years, and that Western characters have a bit of a maturation problem, as most comic book characters conveniently stop aging, like vampires.
From Kamala Khan to Dick Grayson, almost everyone who appears in superhero comics is depicted as being between the ages of 18 and 36, and they stick to their age and time period. Characters’ personalities change to fit the time periods they’re depicted in, but comic book storylines often shift their ages to fit the story.
But it’s precisely because of this flexibility in age that we have such a wide variety of characters, such as Spider-Man and the Batman family, and the Batman family is so diverse. As a fan of both, I have no complaints about either. I think the question here is, are the comics themselves destined to remain immature forever? And how does this affect sexual depictions? Not necessarily the depiction, but the depiction of relationships over time.
But that’s just the first layer. The real question to ask is… why entertainment, in this weird stasis, is so dependent on characters that remain underdeveloped? I don’t know. But I think the way things are done is changing. But that’s a topic for another time…
As for ROGUE: THE SAVAGE LAND and why I’m genuinely excited to buy this book, Tim Seeley’s LOCAL MAN is an Eisner Award nominated story about a fallen 90s superhero who returns to his hometown after being culturally beaten down, and he’s one of the best people to tell a 90s story. Visually he knows how to pull this off, and as someone who has read an unhealthy amount of Seeley comics, I have high hopes for Tim’s talent and this particular story.
The man knows exactly why the 90s were so ridiculously special (and I say this as someone who grew up in the 90s) and the Savage Land story seems like a fun take on the X-Men era. I mean, it’s loaded with sexy rogues, fun adventures with dinosaurs, Ka-Zar (aka Tarzan) and of course the “complicated” bad boy Magneto, but having read Tim’s work, I’m also hopeful that something more special might spark up. I think it’s worth a shot, especially considering how passionate the two creators seem to be about the project.
“After winning Marvel Art Atelier, I was still not realizing what an amazing opportunity this was,” LaVina wrote to Polygon, “and then I was asked to draw this Rogue limited series and immediately fell in love with it. I’m thrilled to be collaborating with Tim Seeley again, and I hope readers enjoy this incredible story as much as I do. Rogue’s character is full of empathy and determination, the iconic Savage Lands setting is fantastic, and the story is wild and full of unexpected things. I can’t wait for everyone to read it!”
“In these five issues, I’ll be capitalizing on my love of ’80s X-Men, Jim Lee, Chris Claremont, Zaboo, scantily clad heroines (and heroes!), and perhaps most importantly, dinosaurs,” Seeley continued. “Alongside my collaborator Zulema Rabina, I plan to deliver something fresh while still honoring the incredibly sexy and epic classic tale of young Rogue and the kinkiest pals a Mississippi girl could want: Magneto and Ka-Zar.”
Check out the cover and release date below, and also look out for a longer interview from me as The Beat will be releasing my new column for their website soon.
Rogue: The Savage Land #1 (5 volumes)
Author: Tim Seely
Art by ZULEMA LAVINA
Cover by KAARE ANDREWS
Variant cover by RUSSELL DAUTERMAN
Variant cover by Nick Bradshaw
Release date: 1/15
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