It was a rollercoaster reading this book. I thought I was enjoying it but then I just got irritated. I think Gambit is an enigma—a lot of us love the idea of him and parts of his history and characterization, but the Marvel creators have a completely different agenda for him, which rarely fits the fans’ needs.
In this book, the creative team lean into Gambit’s rogue-ish, cad-ish tendencies. He’s a ladies man, he’s James Bond but bad. None of that was appealing. What was appealing, was him being lost about where and with which group he belonged—if any; him trying to find the thrill of life but still being a good man; him winding up in desperate situations and being smart enough to find a way out. I liked those parts. But it kept getting undermined by the writing and art itself.
I don’t think the team behind this book had much of a plan other than his past with the Thieves’ Guild coming back to bite him. I don’t know what happens to Gambit after this book either, so I’m unsure of the repercussions. The plotting was all over the place—barring some cyclical plot points and characters, there were far too many holes in the story. I mean, how does Gambit find the name of the mysterious Tomb Raider woman, anyway? And that filler story with the teacher and kids—I just didn’t get it.
What really irked me throughout is, this is Gambit’s story. But barring maybe one or two issues, he’s not drawn with much care. Even if he’s scruffy, we should be able to see his expressions and gauge his body language. But nope, because there’s a woman in the frame, she and her ridiculously revealing outfit are front and centre and so carefully and precisely drawn, that you’d think she was the main character. You can just tell that the people making this knew they’d hook in the prime Remy audience but then dunked on them with all the naked women crap. Like, why is there such a long scene in a superpeople strip club where none of the supers are well drawn, but the strippers are? And also, why are there no male or differently sized and abled strippers? This book was written in 2020 I think, so there’s no excuse to include old school sensibilities. But who am I kidding. A book about a male character, one of the rare ones many female readers lust after, will always try and cater to every fan other than them.
The whole thing just left me annoyed. I thought the second chapter had promise, maybe because it didn’t have naked women running around and the Tomb Raider shit was behind us. It was also the only chapter that gave us some good Remy art. But things went downhill soon after.
I liked Remy and Clint Barton beefing. That was funny. I didn’t like that these two superheroes rescued a woman and then expected to get together with her. It’s just… not funny.
The second half of the book really went downhill. Tomb Raider woman comes back and that entire chapter made it out like Remy had denied her her last moments with her aged daughter and led her to kill herself. I’m sorry, but, that was an uncalled for storyline. And it goes back to how none of what’s happening in this book is clear. Is Remy thieving for the thrill of it? Yes, maybe. Is he only thieving from bad guys to give to the good? Unclear. Him busting up Cich’s vault scuppers Tomb Raider lady’s plans, so why doesn’t she just use his help for something bigger and better? Remy keeps saying she’s in with bad people, and I’m like, how do you know, and why don’t you leave her alone? It’s so badly written.
The Guild story that ends the book felt rushed. The whole book should have been about Remy and his adoptive father and him balancing the needs of the X-Men with the Guild. We could have had some really nice emotional and vulnerable beats for Remy. Maybe have him spend more time with Rogue as well. I’ve never seen her called Anna before. That was strange.
I’ll also mention the whole Pete Wisdom thing. I’ve never met this man before in anything. I find him intriguing. I don’t know if I like that there’s a lot of queer baiting language and chemistry between Pete and Remy, only for them to then be aggressively heterosexual in the next issue. A little harmless flirting between two dudes would be nice. We know Remy is destined for Rogue. And Pete could have been just gay.
All in all, I give it two stars because at one point I did enjoy it. But by the end I hated this book. Remy deserves better.