This is "I've Been Here Before," a feature that deals with a term that I coined called "nepotistic continuity," which refers to the way that comic book writers sometimes bring back minor characters that they themselves created in the past as characters in their later work (we're talking after a break of at least two years or so). This is not an insult, it's just interesting to note it when it occurs.

Obviously, the patron saint of nepotistic continuity in Chris Claremont and hey, you really can't knock for him it, as he has done a great job with it over the years. Today, we are looking at the rather unusual case of Colonel Michael Rossi, who could easily be fit into two OTHER columns that I do, namely Foundationed Deep AND Death is not the End! I'll explain why later!

Michael Rossi debuted in X-Men #96 (by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Sam Grainger with a plotting assist from Bill Mantlo) as he is the government liaison between Stephen Lang and the plan that Lang has that involves using the Sentinels. Rossi tells him that the plan is madness and Lang does not react well to the news...

Rossi doesn't scare easy, though, so he heads off to tell the government about Lang's outrageous plot despite Lang's objections (Lang apparently was once a much cooler guy before he went off his rocker)...

Well, at the end of the issue, we see that Rossi has died in an "accidental" plane crash (obviously caused by Lang)!!

This is where Foundationed Deep would have come into play. That's the column where I spotlight retroactive connections between characters.

In Ms. Marvel #5 (by Chris Claremont, Keith Pollard, Joe Sinnott and Sam Grainger), Carol Danvers has a fire at her place and she almost loses her last memento from Michael Rossi, who apparently was her first love!

Since he was DEAD at the time, that's a weird thing to reveal, right?

Luckily, though, this is where the NEXT column could have come into play, Death is Not the End, as in New Mutants #2 (by Chris Claremont, Bob McLeod and Mike Gustovich), Stevie Hunter is taking Xavier's young students to the mall when she is accosted by a very-much-alive Michael Rossi! It has been nearly seven years since he last showed up in a comic book at this point!

He is helping to save the students from being arrested by some unscrupulous government agents working with Sebastian Shaw and his Sentinels development...

The heroes stop the Sentinels (with Michael's help) and so they take him back to Xavier's with them...

In New Mutants #5 (by Claremont, Sal Buscema and McLeod), we see that Rossi is earning his room and board by doing investigative work for Xavier...

However, Rossi continues to investigate the Hellfire Club and their connections around the world, which leads to his next and most memorable of appearances...

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Rossi meets...Carol?']

Rossi is captured by SHIELD, but secretly there is a Hellfire Club agent undercover in SHIELD and he is about to kill Rossi. Rossi calls for help and Rogue, who has absorbed the psyche of Carol Danvers, instantly recognizes her former love...

Rogue saves Rossi's life and they escape from the helicarrier, but in the process, it looks like Rogue killed a SHIELD agent (it was actually the Hellfire Club agent trying to pin it on Rossi as an excuse to kill Rossi) and so SHIELD tries to take her in, dead or alive!

Meanwhile, Rogue takes Rossi to Carol Danvers' family beach house and he is freaking out how she is acting like his former lover...

Rogue is driven nuts by the memories...

She eventually reveals all to Rossi...

And he does not take it well...

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!

In Classic X-Men #7, Claremont and artist John Bolton explained how Rossi survived his seemingly fatal accident, as the Hellfire Club took him in, which is why he was working against them later, since he knew a lot about them due to the time he spent in their care...

Years later, Brian Reed would team Carol and Rossi up again in Carol's 2006 ongoing series (as well as show their first meeting for the first time).

If anyone else has a suggestion for a future I've Been Here Before, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!