Swan

So, to give a little context, prior to the Savage Land story, Rogue was cycling between her persona and Carol Danvers' after she suffered a [TW: SA] sexual assault while depowered in Genosha. (Uncanny X-Men Volume 1 Issue 236)

After they get out, they deal with the Inferno immediately after. Then a few battles go by, and in Uncanny X-Men Volume 1 Issue 246 the X-Men battle a tough new enemy. The combined Mastermold and Nimrod from Rachel Summer's Days of Future's Past reality that came after her (Please, don't worry about this for now, let's go with it) into a really tough bad guy. Said bad guy also kills Senator Robert Kelly's wife, Sharon, which makes him turn anti-mutant and lean into making the Sentinel and programs that will become Nimrod, thereby basically ensuring more tragedy.

Anyway, Rogue sacrifices herself in issue 247 of the same series, to protect the team and stop the bad guy. The bad guy also decides it must self-destruct to take the mutants and itself out (reasoning itself is a mutant). She persuades Dazzler, her once enemy, now ally, to throw the crystal holding the Siege Perilous, while the X-Men push her and the Mastermold/Nimrod gestalt through. So there's your background; Rogue sacrificed herself for her friends and for the world, over and over. That's my girl!

So, we don't see Rogue again until Uncanny X-Men (Volume 1) issue 269:

Rogue, falling through the Siege Perilous didn't die, but was judged by the Siege. And the Siege decided she deserved life for her deeds and sins, and returned her to this reality. She escapes a perilous situation by the interruption of a Ms. Marvel who wants to talk to her. But Rogue rabbits, and borrows Gateway's powers to teleport away. She teleports wildly, blindly, and into the Savage Land.

The power fades, and she can't get herself out. She's with only her baseline powers, in a land time forgot, with very few human habitations. She's alone for the first time. The narration tells you that story on my favorite page, the page that made me realize Rogue herself knew that she was more than a flying brick. Rogue knew she could handle the world on her own if she had to. She survives and thrives in a jungle that kills most people who wander into it. How could you not root for her?

I blocked the panels above and their dialogue out. Basically the other story happening is the Ms. Marvel lands on Muir Island and falls under The Shadow King's mental command. The (Now Evil) Ms. Marvel seeks Rogue out for other reasons, and...check it out! It's a good story! :)

Yes, this was my bisexual awakening issue, but the story drew me in. Rogue had always been my favorite, and it was so sad when she was dead for the 10 or so months she wasn't around. But to see her back? And living life on her own terms, making the most of a potentially bad situation? I loved it. It made me believe that maybe I could get through things too, if this fictional character could make me believe for a second that they triumphed, too.