Shadow and Flame with Magik

Writer Bill Mantlo

Penciler Sal Buscema

Inker Joe Sinnott

Letterer Rick Parker

Colorist Ben Sean

Cover Dated July 1982

What is happening to Rogue, and what is she doing on the cover?

Issue opens in a cabin with Mystique, Destiny and Rogue meeting Hybrid.  This is during Rogue’s old lady phase, though she only looks like she is in her late 30s now.

This issue takes place after Avengers Annual 10, and last issue, this may be Rogue’s third appearance.  Using comicbookdb, I confirm it is her third.  Her fourth appearance is Uncanny X-Men 158.  This is her second adventure, and her first two parter.

Rogue attacks Hybrid,he is too strong for her.  Mystique knows she will be useless against him, but she has to do something.  She jumps at him, and somehow when their heads touch, it unleashes Hybrid’s back story.

He is half human on his mom’s side, and his father was a Dire Wraith – ROM’s archfoes. For some reason, Marvel doesn’t own the rights to ROM, but they do own the rights to the Spaceknights concept and to the concept of the Dire Wraiths.  Must be a solely appearance and name issue, due to ROM starting out as a toy.

Then we get to part of the issue that I bought it for :

The Hybrid Origin from issues 17 & 18 that we will review, eventually.

So Jimmy Marks started out looking like a young.  Other Dire Wraiths showed up, and showed him his true form.  He then killed both of his parents.  The X-Men showed up, and it took Kitty using ROM’s neutralizer to take Hybrid down.  That gun sends Dire Wraiths back to their dimension.  The problen is, is that they can change their appearance to look human.  So from time to time, it looks like a seven foot tall robot just shot and killed a human.  Thus, ROM gets blamed for lots of murders.

Hybrid back hands Mystique.  Rogue charges at him.  Destiny states they need to move on and find their actual foe, ROM.  This causes Hybrid to state he also hates ROM.  They decide a little enemy of my enemy works sometimes, and make an alliance.  I have to say, Hybrid’s design makes for a great villain but as a fourth person in a room, just standing around and talking?  He is very unsettling to look at.

We cut to ROM and his human allies.  ROM reveals that he mistakenly let some convicts escape last issue.  We see Brandy, who ROM use to have a relationship with.  Apparently, he started out as a man inside the suit but now he is just the suir.  His fellow spaceknight also reveals that he ran into Hybrid near a cabin.

Cut to that cabin.  The convicts show up.  Hybrid comes outside and straight up kills them.  This disgusts the ladies.  They get it together in time for ROM to show up.

ROM sees Mystique in distress.  Her costume is torn and her hair is a mess.  In a fantastic use of her powers, she instantly reverts back to her classic look.  This startles ROM to open himself up to an attack from Rogue.

ROM is much stronger than her.  She decides to kiss him.  This awakens human emotions again in ROM, that he thought were gone.  This also causes Rogue to experience feelings of nobility and righteousness.

Hybrid takes this moment of distraction to attack ROM.  Since Hybrid is focus on the attack, Destiny can now see his future.  Hybrid plans on using female mutants as his personal breeding ground.  This naturally upsets and disgusts the ladies.

Rogue attacks Hybrid.  He counters and eventually touches her face, giving her his telepathic powers.  She gets sick and ROM comforts her.  ROM attacks Hybrid again and eventually shots him with his gun.  It takes a lot of shots, like three pages of shooting him and Rogue absorbing more power from Hybrid.

Issue ends with ROM stating that mutants are just humans with powers from birth.  Which we already know.  The ladies go their own way, Rogue thinking of trying to be good.