A Thief By Any Other Name...
By: Andrew Hines
The Ragin' Cajun has long been a fan favorite of those who follow the Children of the Atom. Ever the charming grifter and master thief, he has languished in the background for too many years. Now a teacher, X-Man and part time thief (allegedly), and apparently, a "security guard for mutant teenagers." I don't recall Le Diable Blanc (The White Devil) being that great with kids, but I guess that much time with Bobby and Kurt will either make you patient or have you looking for creative forms of suicide. Honestly, the only classes I can see "Professor LeBeau" teaching are Sex Ed, Lock Picking 101 and Grifting for Dummies. Thankfully his trademark red irises and black sclera, the classic trench coat and leather suit look still shows up in the issue. Et avec cela, laissez les bons temps rouler. (And with that, let the good times roll.)
James Asmus starts off with a great intro for anyone who hasn't followed Gambit before now. I like the way the story began and the dialogue. You get a feeling of that very distinctive Cajun accent that Remy has. I actually found myself reading the captions those lines in a wannabe-Gambit accent. The flow of the story is pretty good and Asmus brings in a few unexpected twists here and there. The addition of the party gave him some room to show off Gambit's charm and con man skills. It's very well written and that's enough to put Asmus' other writing on my radar from now on.
The pencil and ink team of Clay and Seth Mann are really good. Very clear and defined, the way they've illustrated Gambit is one of the best I've ever seen. Second only to Jim Lee's run on X-Men in the early 90s, they've done a fantastic job on this first issue. The colorist, Rachelle Rosenberg, has done a good job herself. I don't recall seeing her work before this issue, but it's definitely a standout among this week's comics. The colors are soft and subtle. Nothing pops that doesn't feel like it's supposed to. This really is a fantastically illustrated issue. I hope they get to continue on this title for a good long while. C'est magnifique! (This is beautiful!)
This is a beautiful example of how great comics really should be. It earns an A. J'aime cette. (I love this.)
i gotta take issue with one thing. steve skroce’s art form his run on gambit is THE best art on gambit. he did the story boards for the matrix as well as an incredible run on wolverine. a spider-man run too.
To be fair, it’s the best that I’ve seen.
Hum… Not wanting to sound pedantic or something, but it should probably be “j’aime”.
Anyway, thanks for the review(s), I find myself enjoying them, and hope you’ll keep it up.
I have to say Gambit was one of my favorite X-Men growing up. While all the kids were on the Wolverine bandwagon because he was seemingly invincible, I was a bigger fan of the ragin’ cajun. As much as I’ve come to appreciate Wolverine, Gambit always seemed more like the dark hero/underdog with a very interesting back-story.
Even though I’ve been out of the comic book world for several years now (I mostly read graphic novels these days so I’m not trying to hunt down back issues of this and that) I’ll have to check this out. In fact I might still have the old one-off comic series of Gambit from back in the 90s somewhere.
I think Jeff has probably fixed my French by now, but thanks for the extra pair of eyes. Anyway, you’re welcome for the reviews. I try and only deal with characters and titles I know enough about. I’ll keep it up for as long as Jeff lets me or until I don’t have ANY time. If I just have to take a break for any reason, I’ll let you folks know why and when I plan to get back into it. Thanks for being a fan.
I stopped getting single issue comics for a while myself and just focused on trades and graphic novels as well. It wasn’t until just before the DC relaunch last year that I decided to start back with the single issues. I’m glad that my review has got you thinking of buying at least one standard comic. Let me know if my reviews ever start slipping and I’ll step it up.
actually, you can either use “j’aime”, or “j’aime ça”, because “cette” need the addition of the subject, for exemple ” j’aime cette bd” for ”I like this comic”.
while we are at it, the phrase “laissez les bons temps rouler” doesn’t make much sense in French. but maybe we can do something with it…
besides, I too like your comic reviews, despite the whole messed-up french stuff. this language is hard anyway.
Okay, okay, I surrender. No more “French” after this.
word. i recommend it. i picked it up solely on the art. never really cared for gambit.