Uncanny X-Men (vol. 1) #336, page 10

"No, chere.  Not having you in my life...?  Dat was hard."

I used to have this exact page listed in my CAF want list for years, then took it down about a year or two ago because I figured it was buried in someone's collection and would never show up (it's a quiet character moment page rather than a splashy action page).  I was clearly very wrong.  When I saw this listed in a weekly Heritage auction, I really hoped it would fly under the radar and not get much bidding attention (all the exposure from Bill/Heritage did not help!).  There was some fervent bidding at the end, but this page hit too many buttons for me to let it go (though the bidding came very close to my max).

As a Gambit and Rogue fan who started reading comics just before the Onslaught event, this was a page that always stuck with me.  I count this among a handful of great Gambit and Rogue pages from Joe's Uncanny X-Men run, and I also think this is the only one that has them both in their classic '90s outfits (though I do still want a page with them in the Shi'ar outfits that Joe designed... time to add that to my CAF want list).  The second panel features the big close-up shot of Rogue (which probably bumped up the price tag), but the last four panels are why I love this page- Rogue and Gambit meeting again, Rogue looking away to hide her expression (with Gambit in shadow), the two of them hugging, and Rogue flying off with Gambit to rejoin the fight (in silhouette).  No word balloons, but the storytelling here perfectly conveys the emotional drama and history between the two of them.