Can the X-Men escape their Time Out in Nanny's cave? (Is a sentence I just wrote)
Originally Published October 1997
We begin in the Mystery Cave, where Gambit, Rogue and Joseph, as well as Gambit's friends Spat and Grovel, are cornered by Nanny and her menagerie of robotic aminals.
To make matters worse, Nanny has somehow turned off all of the mutants' powers.
Rogue briefly wonders how that is possible, to which Gambit replies, "It's just one of those things, I guess."
As Nanny marches them off to her evil Time Out of Doom, they are watched by a hidden Trish Tilby, whose powers were not turned off because she doesn't have any, thereby putting her at an advantage.
Trish is surprised to see an enemy putting the X-Men in chains, which suggests she hasn't been around the X-Men much.
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| Also, that's actually a gynoid. |
Trish skitters back to her man Hank, but unbeknownst, is caught on Nanny-Cam.
Meanwhile, Bishop is in Misery...
That is to say, he's sustained a large number of injuries in the spaceship crash and is now being tended to by his superfan Deathbird, who has big plans for the two of them once he heals up.
Back at the Cave, Gambit, Spat and Rogue try to escape bondage (not that kind, this isn't a Claremont comic) but Rogue is a little... off.
Apparently, turning Rogue's powers off causes the suppressed memories she has absorbed from others to come to the surface, including in this case Gambit's old nemesis -- and maybe colleague??! -- Sabretooth. Luckily for Gambit, Rogue is not cognizant of these damning accusations.
Elsewhere in the complex, Nanny has a special room for Joseph, who kinda-sorta remembers designing this place and also programming the creepy robot nursemaid. Nanny says she can't let Joseph go until he's in a headspace to deal with the shit that has gone down in the outside world since he's been away. Namely...
Nevertheless, Nanny reaffirms her commitment to keeping Joseph and the X-Men safe in her mechanical bosom and not letting OZT get their claws on him.
Joseph also notices, however, among the news coverage a strikingly familiar face -- someone he has a beef with but he can't quite remember why.
In New York, Archangel and Psylocke return to the penthouse after doing whatever it is they've been doing in the Crimson Dawn miniseries none of us will ever read. They note that a battle has taken place, and that Iceman was involved, as was someone very trigger happy.
And elsewhere in the Cave o' Mystery, Beast has some time to think, partly about how he's a mess and nobody should date him --
And partly how he's been here before. Yes, he was with the X-Men that time they were kidnapped in Magneto's underground base, which means he also remembers that it was buried under magma. How is it still intact?
Back in their part of the cave, Gambit asks Spat just who hired her to find him and why, but she refuses to say, knowing that it's potentially one of those secrets they can spin out for another few issues.
Before he can get much further, Rogue has another mem'ry attack -- this time of Gambit's himself!
In this case, she seems to be acting out a scene of Remy comforting a little girl, who, much like the Marrow character we've been following elsewhere in these comics, is named Sarah.
After coming to, a tearful Rogue asks Gambit to just explain to her what it all means, what the Deep Dark Secret © 1994 Remy LeBeau Enterprises is all about, but he flips it around and asks her not to ask him. Touché.
And then, in what I would consider to be a pretty big swing for the fences, Gambit reminds her that her powers are turned off for the time being so... y'know...?
Which, in spite of my chirping to the contrary, is actually a really sweet, vulnerable moment. Damn, it's inconvenient for my tone when the comics are this good!
Further Thoughts:
I would be upset that absolutely nothing material happens in this issue, if the nothing weren't so good. The X-Men are being held captive, and that gives us a few moments to chew on certain plot points and let it all breathe: We are eking ever so gradually toward some kind of big revelation surrounding Gambit, and the more that point is hammered the more anticipation is built -- and in case it wasn't already sealed for you, the potential emotional fallout with Rogue for when it is revealed is underscored harder than ever. There's a real calm-before-the-storm vibe here, and I just hope that the storm is worth it.
Scott Lobdell is never in a rush to resolve any plot points, not when he can string readers along for years and keep hinting at it and building toward it and generating more and more drama for the comic. It's certainly an economical approach to crafting comics, and you've got to give him his due, because I have not lost interest in this mystery since it was introduced some three years ago -- owing, perhaps, to the fact that I have ingested these comics at triple speed.
This is the baseline of how good an X-Men comic should be -- it should give you something weird and dramatic and make you want more. A strong, strong outing.
It's easy to forget now that there has been so many more stories told, but this was such a major moment for these two characters. It went from one kiss changing everything to this, and it happens mainly off panel. Comics code really kept it behind closed doors, but the imagination told the rest.
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