Every comic book character is somebody’s favorite. There have been so many comics across so many decades, with so many people reading them at random, that certain issues and certain characters are going to stick with those people.

One of those characters for me is the mutant Rhapsody, a character who made a single storyline appearance in an issue of Peter David’s X-Factor all the way back in 1992. I don’t remember how little 9-year-old me got ahold of the issue, but so much about what I love in comics can be traced directly back to X-Factor #79.

Join me after the jump for the full story and Rhapsody’s return at the Hellfire Gala!

Why is Multiple Man my all-time favorite comic book character? It has a lot to do with his encounter with Rhapsody in X-Factor #79.

Rhapsody is Rachel Argosy, a mutant with the power to do some weird psionic things with music. She was a high school music teacher who was accused of killing an anti-mutant bigot in town. Multiple Man and Quicksilver investigated and she and Madrox had a little thing — before it was revealing that she unintentionally killed the bigot with her powers. She’d tried to use them to change his mind, but his heart couldn’t take it and he died of a heart attack.

Rhapsody was sentenced to prison and was forgotten about…except a random citation after M-Day where she was one of the mutants who kept her powers. Marvel didn’t use her at the time, she was just on the list as keeping her powers.

Some other blue-skinned lady mutants appeared in the background of a few comics over the years, but there was no mention of Rhapsody by name or powers.

I never forgot her. She was an important character who simply never appeared again. I even wrote a Forgotten Characters article on her all the way back in in 2012!

Well she’s back, baby! Rhapsody is the opening act of the Hellfire Gala in the new issue of Marauders this week!

Oh man, this is everything I could have wanted. How else do I describe this? A character I’ve been patiently waiting to see return for nearly 30 years is finally back in a one-off quick scene, a scene that underlines everything I love about X-Men comics in the Krakoa era. Every single mutant character who has ever appeared is now free to be randomly plucked from comic limbo to be used in fun ways.

Rhapsody is back. She’s playing music. All is good in the world.

———————–