What's Cool/What's Not - Gambit

[Tobias March]

I thought I'd drum up a thread about individual X-Men to talk about what we love/hate about them the most. Your average X-man has had approx half a dozen contracted writers telling and retelling their origins etc. A lot can get lost in the mix, or sometimes become refined. Ice-Man for one evolved from the class clown to a painfully insecure well-drawn character. On his good days that is.

But Gambit's something else. He has a pretty handy power in that anything spare change in his pocket is potentially a weapon. I prefer him more as having an sly sense of humour than being the man of mystery (@ James Logan 'Wolverine') yet sometimes that side of him plays well. When it's overdone though it can become irritating, which is a shame, as he's a character with a genuinely interesting past, when it isn't too confusing for the casual reader.

I'm fairly sure the Thief and Assassin guilds were Howard Mackie's idea, so the execution wasn't great in that crossover with Ghost Rider. But Belldadonna was pretty cool in the X-Men issues and the relationship they had was kind of touching.

For a couple of years Lobdell and Fabes had competing visions of who Gambit was. Lobdell wrote him as being weighed down by his sinful past and his role in the Mutant Massacre. He was emo before there was emo though - less tragic, more whining self-piteously. Fabes had a more fun approach. Gambit became the mutie Errol Flynn under him, an adventurer who would swoop through Parisian windows to steal the l'Etoile Tricherie. That issue was a favourite of mine. Sadly it was Lobdell and Loeb who won the day. Wolverine & Gambit the mini-series cemented the dark n gritty approach, which in my opinion was a mistake. We already have a Wolverine and countless other immitations.

So what do you think? Has Gambit survived his two decades of X? Or has he become a cliche?

[jen]

I actually really like Gambit. However, he is a very contraversal subject. The character has some of the most loyal and fanatical fanbases out there on the net. I feel for this topics safety. ;)

Having said that, like all characters in the Marvel Universe, he has suffered at the hands of badly thought out storylines, or ones that have never met fruition due to editorial changes. Right now he should be front and center with Sunfire dealing with the Apoccy/Sinny mess. Sending him off in limbo-land while at the beginning of his transformation is so jarring and unsettling. It's like that pilot episode of Aquaman, the stroy began, but now nothing...

Gambit has the potential to be a really good character again. But the whole Appocy mess has to be fixed or at least dealt with (hopefully by a decent writer). Then I would like to see them really taking him back to basics. Make him the master thief from NO. I can see him in a "DaVinci Code" type story. That really plays to his strengths of knowing about priceless art and artifacts while using his "skillz." :D

But currently, for the love of all that is holy, keep him away from Rogue for the time being. Let them both become themselves again before bring all that back again. ;)

[Kefky]

I think Fabian really made the character work in the late '90's on-going. He even made me care about the thieves' guild stuff, which I always tought was rubbish.

[TimGunn]

positives
-power, very cool
card theme is cool
-thief theme is cool

negatives
-classic costume
-adopted/doesn't know true heritage, so done
-big reveal of how he lead the mauraders into the morlock tunnels, who cares? if gambit hadn't done it, somebody else would have, BFD

[Mikl C]

He was cool, then they ruined him. Haven't cared about him in a LOOONG while.
When he first showed up he was b@d@ass, even on par with Wolverine in a fight. Then they made him whiny, got him into a doomed relationship with Rogue which did neither character justice.
His mini by Fabian was pretty cool, but almost every other appearance by him makes me cringe.
And the random french phrases... shudder. Sapristi! I saw twice in one issue. TWICE.
Mon cher, oui, non?
Whatever happened to BANG! You dead? lol

[Mikl C]

-big reveal of how he lead the mauraders into the morlock tunnels, who cares? if gambit hadn't done it, somebody else would have, BFD

Such as.. ermm a Morlock called Tommy that they FOLLOWED to the tunnels in the issue it began?!

[fishtaco]

Gambit was cool when he was first introduced, and for a year or so after that, but later writers just misunderstood the character and he drifted away from the original plan for him, replacing said vision with nonsense like the retcon in Uncanny X-Men #350 and a boring origin that caused the character to lose his mystique starting with X-Men (2nd Series) #8. His relationship with Rogue was done wrong and ruined both him as well as Rogue.

Gambit is at his best in Uncanny X-Men #'s 266-267, 270-278, Annual 14, X-Men (2nd Series) #'s 1-3.

[Hi-Fi]

I actually like his classic costume. Yeah, that's right, the pink one.

[Mikl C]

I actually like his classic costume. Yeah, that's right, the pink one.

MAGENTA1!!! :evilangry hehe.
It was better than his Reloaded one IMO...

[Balian]

What's cool - powers, looks, costume, dialogue.
What's not cool - his depiction of being a lovesick puppy in recent years, hopefully when he comes back he will be the charming Cajun we know he can be.

[Balian]

I actually like his classic costume. Yeah, that's right, the pink one.

It's my favorite of Gambit's costumes, it just feels right.

[Hi-Fi]

I really like him in those first issues of X-Men. The flirting with Rogue was still fun and entertaining and I loved how smoking at the mansion was prohibited by Beast after a while. Remy was not happy.

[Deus ex Chris]

Eh. Gambit was a flash in the pan. He's a Cajun stereotype with an awful fashion sense, horrid dialect, and stupid weapons. Playing cards? Really?

Just look how quickly Rogue's cool points increased after Gambit was dropped. ;)

[jen]

This one's my favorite costume. :D

[Balian]

Eh. Gambit was a flash in the pan. He's a Cajun stereotype with an awful fashion sense, horrid dialect, and stupid weapons. Playing cards? Really?

Just look how quickly Rogue's cool points increased after Gambit was dropped. ;)

Horrid dialect? I have to disagree... ...so den de bartender, he say to Thibedeaux...'cause dat's how these stories, they be told inna Bayou country, hien -- pardonez-moi, mon brave, but Gambit must deal wit' some more of your compatriots. Un carte, a little dash o' mutant energy, an' when it hits...une belle explosion! Bada-bing! Bada-bang! Bada-BOOM!" - Cool as hell.