Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #182
Cover Date: Jun 84
Title: "Madness"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
John Romita Jr. - Penciler
Dan Green - Inker

Review/plot:
Rogue returns to the X-Men's school. She checks the answering machine and hears a message from Michael Rossi, who is on the SHIELD helicarrier apparently on a mission for Professor X. He's been investigating the Hellfire Club, but he's been caught and is being beaten by SHIELD agents. One agent is actually a double-agent reporting to Sebastian Shaw.

Rogue flies off to rescue Rossi, missing a message from the New Mutants regarding Kitty Pryde's capture by the White Queen.

Rogue is able to infiltrate the helicarrier...

...but her actions put her on Nick Fury's hitlist, although the Contessa is suspicious of the double-agent.

The mention of Rossi has actually brought Rogue's absorbed Carol Danvers to the forefront (Rossi was a former lover of Danvers', although all of that was prior to Ms. Marvel's first appearance and we've never seen the two meet in modern times). She intuitively uses Ms. Marvel's knowledge during the helicarrier assault, once she sees Rossi she actually starts talking like Carol. After the rescue she brings Rossi back to Carol's parents house to nurse him back to health.

Once Rossi figures out what is going on, and what Rogue did to Carol, he is appalled and leaves.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - Rogue's actions here will trigger the government's attack on her in Uncanny X-Men #185. First time Carol Danvers' personality is dominant in Rogue.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Rogue leaves Japan at the beginning of Uncanny X-Men #182 and arrives at the X-Mansion at the beginning of this issue. It's not said how long it took, only that she made "record time" and didn't know "ah had that kind'a speed in me". I've moved this directly after #181, although it could take place a little later (I have ulterior motives: i need to push all of the X-Men and New Mutants books back in publishing time to get Warlock's arrival on Earth prior to Marvel Team-Up annual #7 due to some Spider-Man dependencies). While the SHIELD/Hellfire Club double agent is reporting to Shaw, the White Queen sends an astral projection to invite Shaw to come see the New Mutants that she has enthralled. This takes place prior to Shaw's appearance in New Mutants #17. So the New Mutants arc from #15-17 (which includes a gap of about a week when Magik and Mirage accidentally time travel) is happening concurrently with this issue.

References:

• The first message Rogue hears on the answering machine is from Madelyne Pryor wondering what happened to Cyclops after he was grabbed by the Beyonder before Secret Wars.
  
• The New Mutants went to rescue Kitty Pryde in New Mutants #15-17.
  
• At the Danvers residence, Rogue experiences flashback memories of Carol's. Among the memories is when Rogue stole her powers in Avengers annual #10.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: X-Men Classic #86

There's a no-prize to be had reconciling this story with the Classic X-Men backup that shows how Rossi survived the crash in X-Men 96. Here Shaw asks Tessa who Rossi is, as if he doesn't already know, but in the CXM story Emma Frost has minds canned a hospitalized Rossi and reports on his name and activities to Shaw.

Maybe Shaw was testing Tessa in this issue? Of course, the real reason is that Claremont was changing his stories on the fly. I suspect the plan for Rossi in '83-84 was to use him to crack open the Shaw-Kelly Project: Wideawake story, but Claremont wound up putting it on indefinite hold.

By the way, although a claremont comes in for criticism for excessively long-running or altogether dropped subplots, I get the impression they're often a result of editorial interference. Claremont's plans for X-Men in '85 and '86 get shaken up the the cancellation of his "Marvel Crisis" plans (due to copyright problems with the Alan Moore characters he wanted to use) and by the return of Jean Grey. This completely messes up Claremont's plans for Nimrod and Rachel Summers, and it looks to me as if the Project: Wideawake plot was at one point going to be resolved as par of the same abortive mega-arc.

Doesn't this issue also have significance for being the 1st appearance of the "Carol Danvers" persona, something that will be a major subplot for Rogue for quite a number of years?

The Project: Wideawake storyline, the intended use of Sir James Jaspers, and the re-appearance of Carol Danvers are probably why this year of "X-Men" is possibly better than any other. I'm not looking at publication dates, but #180 starts with Xavier reliving his glory days as a basketball star, and a bit of downtime for the muties as Kitty leaves with Doug Ramsey to the Massachusetts Academy (for a New Mutants storyline) and the X-Men go off to the Secret Wars, which results in Colossus dumping Kitty. The following issue is mostly about Lockheed, and we see Japanese kids (who will reappear) and Mariko and Sunfire, building on the shared universe.

Then Rogue does her solo thing because Carol Danvers is in charge, which drives her nuts. Peter fights the Juggernaut which leads to Selene fighting Rachel and Amara, and it's an example of how Claremont's X-titles worked at their best, because Rogue's still bonkers over Carol's assuming control, and Forge's gun is being built up as the cure for mutant powers, leading to #185, where Storm freely touches Rogue, their minds meld, and Storm winds up losing her powers for another fifty issues of subplot leading to "Fall of the Mutants." And (don't ask me why) Carol is taking control of Rogue more and more often over those fifty issues.

By the end of the post-"Lifedeath" story, Illyana's true nature is revealed to Kitty, Peter and everyone else. Naze has set up the eventual Adversary storyline (which gets twisted and corrupted by the time it actually gets printed.) Rachel's biography is established, taking us back to "Days of Future Past." Selene is built up as a future Big Bad Guy with connections to several heroes.

X-Men #180-191 make a better self-contained storyline than anything else in Claremont's amazing run, by concluding with the awesome Kulan Gath two-parter, which brings together all the mutant characters as we know them, and the Marvel Universe in general, and sets up plots and ideas for future storylines. Kitty and Peter, Warlock's powers, Selene, Storm, etc. You can say the series was better when John Byrne drew it, or prefer Marc Silvestri's art (as I do) but this is arguably where Claremont peaked as a writer, knowing his characters past, present and future.

@Jon - I agree. I've added a note regarding that.