Bella Donna is looking for revenge and kidnaps Cody, the boy Rogue accidentally sent into a coma as a teenager. Gambit of course follows Rogue to New Orleans. The plot is much more straight forward and kind of boring. The late Mike Wieringo provides some fantastic art. I always found Ringo's cartoony art a refreshing change of pace from the gritty 90's artists.
The Good: Mike Weiringo's art is always a pleasure.
The Bad: These plots are not so good today.
The Ugly: The names of Bella Donna's henchmen are ridiculous, i.e. Gris Gris.
As much of a Gambit mini as it is a Rogue one, it's entertaining but doesn't do much for the character outside of bring the story of her first boyfriend, Cody, to a close. I think I would have loved this as a teen, but, now, I wish there was a little bit more meat on the bones.
Rogue plans to return to Mississippi to visit the boy she once put into a coma with a kiss, leaving her erstwhile love Gambit behind filled with questions. They both become targets, however, when Bella Donna of the Assassins Guild embarks upon a quest for revenge against them.
This is a fairly straightforward 'you have to let go of the past to move on with the future' story, which has both Rogue and Gambit confronting unfinished business in New Orleans. It's a perfectly enjoyable story for the tragic lovers, both brought together and held apart by their mutant powers, but honestly nothing happens here that isn't entirely predictable.
A completely forgettable Rogue & Gambit adventure that I've often wondered where to place in the continuity.
In the X-Men: Prelude to Age of Apocalypse, it's mentioned several times that this adventure takes place between issues. While it should be an important milestone in Rogue's history, the writing is just so flat, and the plot is so drawn out (there's about eight pages of story in this ninety-six page collection) that I can't recommend anyone track it down to read it, even if you're super invested in Rogue & Gambit's relationship. There's nothing here worth reading.
I have always been biased towards Rogue as tough as she is with her southern drawl she has the heart of gold although she often shields herself from closeness to others due to mutant power. Reading this within the Mightiest Heroes collection. Here we have her first appearance when she was a villain with Mystique and had taken nearly all of Ms. Marvel's powers. Then the issue where she goes to Charles Xavier and the X-Men for help. Finally finishing with a great 4 part solo adventure which also brings on again off again lover Gambit.
Not necessarily the best comic book. The art is really not great and inconsistent from panel to panel. For example, Rogue has her glove cut in one scene, and then it is whole for the rest of the book. And the story builds to a climax that kind of fizzles out. But the writing is interesting overall. The story generally is pretty tight without too much extra that comics sometimes include.
This was a pretty good book with an appearance of gambit. The story line was ok and the other characters were ok. overall I give this book a perfect 4 stars.