X-RANCH
Membership: None;
formerly: Stacy X, Bette (deceased), Madam Drache (deceased), unidentified
mutant (deceased)
Purpose: Prostitution
Affiliations: Worthington Industries, X-Men (Angel/Warren Worthington III, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Chamber)
Enemies: Church of Humanity (Supreme Pontiff, others)
Base of Operations: Nevada, USA
First Appearance: (First mentioned) Uncanny X-Men I#396 (September, 2001); (first seen) Uncanny X-Men I#399 (November, 2001)
History:
(Uncanny X-Men I#399 (fb) - BTS) - Unbeknownst to its chairman Warren "Angel" Worthington III, the board of Worthington Industries decided to diversify its investment portfolio and, for tax purposes, ended up taking a significant stake in something called the X-Ranch.
(Uncanny X-Men I#396 - BTS) - A London nightclub frequented by popstar Sugar Kane and the X-Man Chamber was abuzz with rumors about a mutant brothel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Apparently, the place was disease free because the customers never actually got to touch their mutant madams.
(Uncanny X-Men I#399) - Warren Worthington finally got around to checking up on the recent investments his company had made and was astonished to find the X-Ranch, among others, on the list. Dragging the true nature of the ranch out of his staff, Warren decided to investigate this place by sending fellow X-Man Bobby Drake undercover as potential customer Mister Friese. "Friese" was welcomed by house mother Madam Drache and led to his appointment with Stacy X, a reptilian mutant capable of controlling pheromones. Just as Bobby was experiencing Stacy's capabilities, Warren swooped in, ending their session. At the same time the Church of Humanity, a religious anti-mutant group, decided to attack the brothel, intending to kill both mutants and human clients as retribution for their sinful desires. Madame Drache and an obese empath called Bette were among their victims, but Angel and Iceman managed to fight off the church with the help of Stacy X.
(Uncanny X-Men I#400) - Stacy X was captured by the Church of Humanity. During her interrogation, she told the church's leader the Supreme Pontiff a wildy fantastical story about her association with the X-Men. Pretending she had been a member since the team's founding, she claimed to have been an undercover operative at the X-Ranch, running the place in secret. This made up story bought the other X-Men enough time to rescue her.
(Uncanny X-Men I#416) - After serving with the X-Men for some time, Stacy X returned to the burned down X-Ranch. Among the ashes, she uncovered an old picture of Madam Drache, Bette and herself during the Ranch's golden age. Wistfully, Stacy reminisced about the good old days of watching romantic movies with her deceased friends and colleagues, along with the obligatory pillow fights.
(Generation M#2) - In the wake of M-Day, most mutants struggled with losing their powers. Reporter Sally Floyd was tasked to talk to these "ex-mutants". She scored an interview with a depowered Stacy X, who revealed that a new X-Ranch was opened after the old one burned down. Unfortunately, with less than 200 active mutants worldwide, it was unable to recruit enough personnel, forcing the ranch to close down pretty soon afterwards.
Comments: Created by Joe Casey, Tom Raney, Scott Hanna.
Incidentally, in Uncanny X-Men I#399, X-Ranch employee Bette had a session with a Mr. Favreau, who happened to be one of Tony Stark's billionaire industrialist rivals.
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
The X-Ranch has no known connections to
Madam Drache was hostess and house mother of X-Ranch and didn't actually engage in prostitution. She was ever ready to use her fire breathing powers to defend her girls from danger. Her name suggest she is of German descent, Drache is German for dragon.
--Uncanny X-Men I#399 (Uncanny X-Men I#416 (fb), Uncanny X-Men I#399
Bette's real name was Nancy. Calling herself "Fat Nancy" although the other girls never referred to her in that way. Insecure about her looks, Nancy felt especially at home at the X-Ranch where she could use her pheromone based mental powers to give her customers the ultimate sense of satisfaction, without ever having to touch them. Bette was a favorite at the ranch, many return customers requested a repeat session with her.
--Uncanny X-Men I#399 (Uncanny X-Men I#416 (fb), Uncanny X-Men I#399
Another one of the brothel's employees used her control over flora to give her customers pleasure by exposing them to the most exquisite herbal stimuli.
--Uncanny X-Men I#399 (Uncanny X-Men I#416 (fb), Uncanny X-Men I#399
images: (without ads)
Uncanny X-Men I#399, p5, pan1 (main image)
Uncanny X-Men I#399, p15, pan2 (Madam Drache)
Uncanny X-Men I#399, p7, pan1 (Bette)
Uncanny X-Men I#399, p17, pan2 (unidentified plant mutant)
Appearances:
Uncanny X-Men I#399 (November, 2001) - Joe Casey (writer), Tom Raney,
Scott Hanna, Mark Powers, Pete Franco
Uncanny X-Men I#400 (December, 2001) - Joe Casey (writer), Cully
Hamner, Ashley Wood, Eddie Campbell, Javier Pulido, Sean Phillips, Mark
Powers, Pete Franco
Uncanny X-Men I#416 (February, 2003) - Chuck Austen (writer), Kia
Asamiya, Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Nova Ren Suma
Generation M#2 (February, 2006) - Paul Jenkins (writer), Ramon Bachs,
John Lucas, Nick Lowe
Last updated: 07/05/14.
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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