Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "gambit"

X-Men: Gambit: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1 by Fabian Nicieza

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the first 11 issues, the Annual, a half Issue, and an Issue of X-Men unlimited featuring Gambit. The story is set in the aftermath of the Trial of Gambit when the X-Men abandoned him in Antartica after they found he led a band of mercenary mutants to the Morlocks (sewer-dwelling mutant,) and the Marauded slaughtered the Morlocks, even though Gambit tried to stop them.

Gambit was rescued by the New Sun who expects him to steal stuff, which Gambit does in his time away from the team:
ng else.
This book features several strong points and several weaknesses. The good:

-Emotional fall out from the Trial. This is explored throughout the book as Gambit copes with it as does his team. Gambit has been abandonned as a child, kicked out of the thieves as an adult, and now this, plus there's guilt over what happened to the Morlocks. Probably one of my favorite stories in here was the X-Men unlimited which showed him speaking to specters of the X-Men in deciding how to deal with Hydroman.
-Gambit is possessed by a female entity who enhances his powers, but maybe doing something else, more insidious. She's introduced in Issue 1/2 and makes her presence known in various issues until everything's sorted in the Annual.
-Gambit spends time in New Orleans and we get insights on his past and how the Thieves Guild works.
-Two tie in issues to the crossover story the Shattering that felt relatively self-contained rather than you were getting two disjointed parts of a 14-part story. This is how participation in a cross-over be done if it it has to be.
-Team ups with Blade the Vampire Slayer and especially Daredevil. Both were well done, but the Daredevil one was particularly good, creating a good conflict and a sense of mystery.
-The art is not great but avoids the excesses from earlier in the 1990s.

The bad:

---A theme about New Sun and it's true intents is tossed around, and a mysterious lady visits people in their dreams to get information about Gabmit. These take several pages out of each issue. While I appreciate the series eventually answered these issues, it doesn't even feel like the plot moved on these two points.

---Issue 10 has a fantastic set up with work my Gambit's stepfather who teamed up with the Howling Commandos, Gambit in a tuxedo, and the story has a very conclusion.

---The X-Cutioner talks A LOT and was not a fun character to read.

---The art has some inconsistent moments. While this is nowhere close to early to mid 1990s excesses, this book does have some art issues that reflect its times.

Overall, an okay book, that's not a bad read, even better if you're a Gambit fan.



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Gambit Classic, Vol. 1 by Howard Mackie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 265-267 of Uncanny X-Men along with Gambit's first mini-series.

Gambit's first appearance is Uncanny X-Men #266. The biggest annoyance in this book was Issue 265, the inclusion which was unnecessary. It didn't really set up Gambit's appearance and most of the book was about other things. Before the mini-series, the editor summarized two years of Gambit being on the X-men. The relevant of #265 could be summarized in a paragraph or less.

However, the actual initial appearance of Gambit is pretty good. It establishes who he is as a character, and he's both instantly cool and likable. The art is mostly okay, with a few iffy moments, but also some great ones.

The mini-series finds Gambit returning to New Orleans with Rogue when he finds out his ex-wife was alive. This story is chocked full of character development and drama. Gambit is a man trying to do the right thing. He was raised dealin with the warring guilds of thieves and assassins. He's stepped outside that world so he sees somethings more clearly than his family, but he can't escape it entirely. It'a a story with a lot of conlfict that really serves to flesh out Gambit's character.

Overall, this is a good read for Gambit fans.



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X-Men: Gambit - The Complete Collection Vol. 2 by Fabian Nicieza

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Years after the first half of Gambit’s 1999-2000 comic run was published, we get the rest of the volume as Gambit travels back in time to 1891 because he already did and in the process of fulfilling history gets his powers amped up.

When he returns, he deals with his relationship with Rogue which has always been starcrossed, but now because of his enhanced powers, they can kiss without her absorbing them, but there are other problems and I like that’s dealt with in a very grown up and thoughtful manner.

This leads to the next phase of the book where Gambit becomes leader of the Thieves Guild and also gets two contracts put on his life: one by the Assassins Guild, and one by New Son which is open to any assassin out there, and so Remy being hunted down by nearly every big assassin in the Marvel Universe at the same time.

This leads to an Annual that finally reveals what New Son is up to and who he is, and it’s actually quite clever. Most of the rest of the book builds towards a final confrontation with New Son and is mostly okay. We learn his plan for Remy at the end and it is…underwhelming. Probably the most disappointing part of this is the stupidity of New Son’s plans in light of his stated goal.

The book wraps with a single issue that introduces a new team with Scott Lobdell and Joe Pruett writing. The story involves Gamit having to repay a childhood debt to a mobster and solve the problem of his daughter’ stolen heart. It’s entertaining, even if the art’s a bit off, and sets the tone for a further series featuring Gambit and Bishop.

The book has some disappointing features, most notably New Son’s plan, and the way the forced gender change of Courier is done as I don’t understand why it was done or what they were going for. Still, I do like this book. There’s some great character and some fantastic worldbuilding regarding the Assassins and Thieves guilds.




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Gambit Classic, Vol. 2 by Howard Mackie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


We get two 1990s mini-series in this book.

The First is the Rogue Mini-Series which is in this book because not only does Gambit feature but it's a sequel of sorts to the first Gambit mini-series. In that series she accidentally stole the memories of Gambit's then-comatose ex-wife, Belladonna. Belladonna decides to seek vengeance by kidnapping the boy Rogue accidentally put into a coma. It's a decent story with pretty good art for the 1990s, Rogue is good, and she has some nice character moments. I'm not sure this is worthy of a four-issue mini-series, but otherwise it's fine.

Then we get the second Gambit mini-series in which Gambit robs Cuban monsters, is met by the spirit of a person who's not dead who tells him he's going to work for the Lord, a naked woman falls down from the sky and Gambit to avoid demons while getting her to Vatican City. While there are details missing, they really don't help much. This is an incoherent story plotwise and the art seems to grow worse as the mini-series goes on. It's yet another story ostensibly addressing religion or a character's faith but doing so in such a shallow way that it's utterly meaningless.

Overall, a sort of meh collection.



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