In Left Unresolved, I spotlight storylines that have been, well, left unresolved.

Getting this in while X-Men Day is still going on in California, at least!

Today, based on a suggestion from reader Mike K., we look at an odd interaction between Dazzler and a villain that has never been resolved.

Okay, to set the scene, the X-Men sacrificed their lives in "The Fall of the Mutants" to save the world and as a reward, the mystical being known as Roma decided to give them a second chance at life. They would be resurrected, but part of the resurrection spell would be that they would become invisible to cameras and any other sort of electrical equipment. So they could go back to being sort of "urban legends" instead of out in the world superheroes. As part of this deal, they then decided to leave the United States, as it would be a bit obvious to everyone that they were still alive if they were chilling at the X-Mansion or whatever.

In Uncanny X-Men #229 (by Chris Claremont, Marc Silvestri and Dan Green), we discovered where the X-Men were going to end up making their home.

The issue opens with a new group of cyborg villains known as the Reavers robbing a bank in Singapore and killing a bunch of people while kidnapping one of the bank executives, Jessica Hoan.

They have a deal with a mysterious teleporting mutant known as Gateway. He takes them to their headquarters in a remote part of the Australian outback.

One of the Reavers known as Pretty Boy displays his super power. He has the ability to re-wire people's minds. He prepares to do this to Jessica to make her a Reaver, as they need a financial expert to handle their money...

Boy, that smile from Silvestri? Creepy as heck, right? She's getting off on being violated. It's so disturbing.

Anyhow, the X-Men show up and Longshot and Dazzler burst in on Pretty Boy and Longshot goes NUTS at seeing Jessica violated. He rescues her...

However, in the process, that leaves Dazzler vulnerable to Pretty Boy. They fight and it sure seems like Pretty Boy is using his powers on Dazzler now, right?

That's it for their interactions in the issue. We next see Pretty Boy when he is escaping with some of the other Reavers and one of the other Reavers says, "Thought your charm was irresistible" and Pretty Boy responds, "Did I say it wasn't?" and that he and Dazzler were far from finished. Which sure suggests that he DID succeed in brainwashing her, right?

We see Dazzler later in the issue, and she seems normal enough, but who knows (note that Jessica Hoan was forever altered by Pretty Boy and she became a quasi-villain and a crime lord in Madripoor)?

And that's it. Dazzler and Pretty Boy never interact again and Pretty Boy was eventually killed with the rest of the Reavers at the start of Whilce Portacio and Jim Lee's run on Uncanny X-Men (with John Byrne on dialogue). Pretty Boy came back to life, but he hasn't seen Dazzler since.

Sooo....I have no idea. I guess you could argue that he just let go of her maybe? For some reason? Maybe she blinded him? The odds sure seem to be that Claremont had a plan for a future plot with Dazzler and Pretty Boy (I mean, come on, would he really turn down a chance to do a brainwashing plot? Pretty Boy is already talking about owning people, body and soul, in his first appearance!). But it never happened.

Thanks for the suggestion, Mike!

Happy X-Men Day, everyone!

If anyone has a suggestion for an unresolved comic book plot, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!