Gambit, Volume 3: King of Thieves

Gambit (2012)

by James Asmus (Writer), Diogenes Neves (Illustrator), Khoi Pham (Illustrator)

Unable to go to his agents at MI:13 for help, Pete Wisdom calls in his favor and tasks Gambit with recovering a stolen enchanted artifact.

Collects Gambit (2012) #13-17

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, X Men, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

120 pages, Paperback

First published November 27, 2013

About the author

James began writing for live theater; creating sketch comedy, stand-up, plays and musicals. After a few years writing and performing in New Orleans and Chicago, a run of one his shows in New York garnered an offer to write for Marvel Comics' X-Men. A lifelong comics fan, James pounced on the opportunity and would go on to write Marvel titles like Uncanny X-Men, Captain America & Bucky, Gambit, Runaways, Generation Hope, Deadpool Team-Up and more.
His work for other comics publishers includes Thief of Thieves with Robert Kirkman (creator of the Walking Dead) and The End Times of Bram & Ben (which he co-created with Jim Festante) for Image Comics. In 2014 James signed a year-long exclusive deal with Valiant Entertainment where he wrote The Delinquents and Quantum & Woody - the latter of which received 6 nominations at the 2014 Harvey Awards; including Best Writer, Best New Talent, and Special Award for Humor noms for James.
He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Mara and son Devlin. There, James has written for film, television, and video games. But he plans to create comics as long as you'll have him.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Gambit monthly series by James Asmus and Clay Mann was a title that launched just before Avengers Vs. X-Men (AvX) precipitated the massive Marvel NOW! relaunch. It actually launched together with the seminal Hawkeye series of Matt Fraction and David Aja. In fact, the two trades that I owned, volumes 2 and 3 of the collected series, there are nods to this "sibling rivalry". (There's also the fact that both heroes integrate purple into their fighting togs.)

Volume three, "King of Thieves" was a collection of broken promises disguised as a graphic novel. Writer Asmus and main artist Mann managed to give it their ending but the story was slashed by at least three chapters. A pity, because it was just as the story was getting good.

The premature end of Gambit is lamented. It was a heist comic before its time. It might have had a superhero in the lead but it was the kind of variety critics who don't read comics wished for Marvel.

Gambit had further adventures and the events in his own series influenced the next one where he was part of a corporate X-Factor by Peter David. Asmus and Mann moved on and over to Valiant Comics.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finish up to the solo Gambit series from Marvel Now...about the same as the rest of the series...hovering somewhere around 2.5+ stars...as in, slightly better than a random issue of a random comic, or a totally average issue of anything.
There's some decent stuff here, like Remy's loyalty to Fence (who looks a lot like young John Goodman after his upgrades), his breaking into Tony Stark's place, and Pepper complaining how she gets the call about his security system, his interactions with Iron Patriot, and of course, the long overdue reappearance of Pete Wisdom and MI-13. Pete Wisdom needs his own Netflix show or movie. Hell, this guy is a foul mouthed SOB with super powers, who runs the Brit version of the Secret Magic Avengers...sign me up for a new series please Marvel!
Oh, and Gambit having stolen Hawkeye's Avengers ID? Priceless. For everything else...nah.


Bad parts? More stupid Cayjuuun hack cent mon ami...; Thieves Guild dumb shit, the fact that most every male in that group has black eyes with Red corneas? Wtf yo? Also, the cliched plot about the cagey old guy foiling the young buck yet again...

I don't think I figured out what ended up happening, but someone took over the guild...In sweet 90s gear too. Aside from a few things, this felt like it was taken from 1996.

I can accept the ending, other than, well, Gambit then does exactly what I worried in an earlier review of this series would happen...he goes back to Logan's school, and promptly disappears from just about everything in the Marvel U....someone please correct me if he does show up again, I don't think he's in Wolvie and the X-Men again...nor Uncanny X or A...

A wasted experiment? I hope not, or maybe they just discovered how not popular he was? Sales hurt...critical non acclaim hurts even more, and not having a loud cult following or a movie appearance in a while hurts...Taylor Kitsch, Channing Tatum, is that actually going down? Seems like yet another character FOX should give back to Marvel...

[ir · Rating 4 out of 5]

just a review for this run - enjoyed it and was really fun. the plot wasn’t complex but simple enough not to be shit and entertaining. it was chiefly concerning gambit which is what i wanted and we got into more how fucked-up he is (affectionately said… he is healing) and also how good of a person he is! he’s so tuff… and kind… anyone who is attracted to men… pick this up, the fanservice is legendary (but slightly get cooked during moments of action). goon material hehe.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s ok. These stories didn’t rope me in enough. There wasn’t anything I hated, and some of the moments were quite cool (aka Iron Gambit), but the plotting was dry. The art was also a bit underwhelming.

I wanted to like this series, but it just wasn’t for me. I may just not find Gambit all the interesting, to be honest. I can’t really recommend it, but if you like Gambit, give it a try. I hope your experience is better than mine.

[Carrie-Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Viridian5 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed this, but it can be a difficult read for me at times since Gambit keeps putting himself into stupid, dangerous situations. I prefer characters whose problems are less perpetually self-inflicted. He's smarter than this; at least he used to be. The writer could stand to lighten some of the angst and guilt.

I do appreciate the humor a lot--especially that snarky comment about how the Thieves' Guild looked in the '90s--and I enjoyed the banter with Fence. Some of the solutions Gambit comes up with are creative, so thankfully those brains are still lurking in there somewhere.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really love this run. I so wish there were more of them. Also, I wish I owned them. Also, I would have just LOVED to see X-23 pop in at some point, as she and Gambit have such an awesome relationship. I'd be interested to see how Asmus would have interpreted that from Gambit's point of view. It was SUCH a cool aspect of the X-23 run.
I love how sexy this book is though. Such fantastic art.
Mmmmmmmmmmm...

[Lionel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know much about Gambit. I haven't read a lit of his stories. .. So maybe Asmus has done exactly what I would have liked if I had. I don't know...

I am frustrated right now because the last page hints towards what I was really looking forward when I started to read Gambit.

overall, an average serie

[Rangga Sukmawijaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Episode terakhir dari seri Gambit yang ini. Raja Maling, itu judulnya. Sebenarnya ini adalah titik penentuan kehidupan macam apa yang akan dipilih oleh Gambit. Kehidupannya yang kompleks: hidup sebagai pencuri ulung, pahlawan super, guru sekolah, dan pecinta wanita, membuatnya sempat galau mengambil sikap atas kehidupannya sendiri. Ujian menjadi Raja Maling adalah salah satu ujian yang kemudian membuat Remy LeBeau menyadari siapa dirinya sebenarnya.

Episode penutup ini memang bagus sebagai akhir serial (walaupun saya sendiri berharap serial ini akan diteruskan).

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Silas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fine wrap up to an excellent Gambit solo series. It seemed like it would take Gambit in an interesting new direction, before coming back to a comfortable place for him. It does a good job of continuing a run of international crime stories, while bringing in fun elements from various places (Lots of magic with Pete Wisdom and MI13, and an amusing heist from Tony Stark spring to mind). These three volumes are the best set of Gambit stories I have ever read, which tie him in to the rest of the Marvel universe in his own unique way. I hope that these story elements get used in the future, because there is a lot here that would make for more great stories.

[Renata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars to this for its depiction of Gambit stepping out of the shower and immediately cuddling his cats. I LIKE FEELING CATERED TO.

Also it's just really fun... if you like Gambit... which it seems like most people I know don't. But have you seen him get accidentally transported to a faerie realm and excitedly start talking about Harry Potter? Maybe you would like him more. I'M JUST SAYING.

I also liked the ending of his solo arc--returning to the school with mild sass from Wolverine & Kitty Pryde, then immediately joining a basketball game & offering himself for "skins." Hahaha what a douchebag, I love him.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so the series ends on a high note... starts with a fun story involving Stark suits and culminates in Gambit's thieves guild trials. This Volume felt more focused and purposed to me than the previous two. And now that he's back with the X-Men AND King of Thieves, it will be interesting to see if the events of this 17 issue long series will have rammifications in the pages of X-Men.
Recommend, but only because it ended it on such a high note.

[Steven Laverty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cracking ending that makes me wish this wasn't the end. Despite the strong finish and appealing artwork, it seems that no one has quite worked out how to make Gambit function well as a leading character. Anti-heroes like Gambit fit into a supporting role much more nicely and I hope the cancellation of yet another Gambit-heavy series does not put Marvel higher ups off the idea of utilising Gambit to support other characters' stories in future.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story continues to be all over the place in the last volume of this particular run. The accent and cultural references to New Orleans are awkward, and Gambit's relationship with various other heroes feels contrived for the sake of not having them intervene (most of the time) when he's in trouble. I also don't like the plot twist with a certain supporting character. Here's hoping that the eventual movie will transcend the source material.

[Lissibith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conclusion of the latest Gambit series is fantastic - action, comedy and just plain fun. All the stuff that came before in the series sort of comes together in a pretty major climax.

And if I learned nothing else from reading it, I learned this - I would read a whole miniseries of Gambit and Pete Wisdom forced to partner up for the greater good. I would read it in a heartbeat.

[Pturingan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last book of the series, which is a bit of a shame because this series was lots of fun. As per usual, Gambit gets into trouble either due to his heroic or thieving nature and the stories actually have him trying to resolve his dual nature.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things are catching up with Gambit and he has a choice to make--take his rightful place underground as King of Thieves, or return to the Jean Grey school and resume his post teaching the next generation of X-Men? Fun fun.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a fun, enjoyable series.

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gambit is one of my favorite characters! It's going to be fun to watch him walk the tightrope between being the King of the Thieves Guild and a teacher.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly I am more excited about the possiblities that this title leaves open than I was of this tale of numerous thefts.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a much better ending after a rocky start.

[Chris Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought it, I read it, I loved it.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely comes back up from the second volume. Delightful, fun, gripping.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

[Lindsey.parks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't help but wonder what this series would have a been like if it was darker with an emphasis on Thieves's Guild shenanigans.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately I couldn't get my hands in volume 2 of this series, so reading volume 3 was a little confusing since I've only read volume 1. Overall a fun enough read, but a little lackluster.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Individual issues on marvel unlimited

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gambit goes home, helps Pete Wisdom and finds his place in the world. This is quite a fun book and can be read as a standalone. The character portrayal is spot on, and it makes it an easy read. I particularly liked how Gambit approached the tests of the King of Thieves. The twist near the end where he does the unexpected is really well written. A very good read.