First Impressions: Gambit #1

FIRST IMPRESSIONS


GAMBIT #1
Written by James Asmus
Art by Clay Mann, Seth Mann & Rachelle Rosenberg
Marvel Comics


 INTRODUCTION:

    Gambit has been one of the more popular X-Men over the course of his introduction in the 90s. Gambit was this roguish (ha, I made a punny), charming thief that took women's hearts and burned any enemy that he came across. The character was featured as a member of the now classic 90s X-Men cartoon. He was a thief in the Thieves Guild. Former husband to the Assassin's Guild leader Belladonna.  He has been an X-Men for years. Then after feel degraded and somewhat less, he took a stint on  recent incarnations on the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse and the Mauraders only to rejoin the X-Men. (We later find out that the only reason he joined the Mauraders was to help cure Rogue of her powers overwhelming her in the first place). Now, for the first time since the 90s, Gambit will have his own solo book again. And writer James Asmus has gone on record several times (on both Newsrama and Comic Book Resources) that he wants to make the character sexy again and have the excitement that he had when he first joined up.

  Let's find out if he succeeds.



FLIPPING THROUGH:

    Gambit ... giving some fan service, gets out of the shower and decides it is time to start thieving again. His reasoning ... to get back to who he is besides a teacher at the Jean Grey School. Oh. This can't end well. Gambit goes to a major super villian weapons dealer and find his suave, thieing troots with and interesting heist from Mr. Cich.

   We also meet a mysterious woman and Gambit gets to succeed and escape with a token from Cich. Well, I guess I was wrong about it not ...

Flips through the last page.

   DAMN IT!


ART:

    Clay Mann is penciling some of the best work in his career with this one. There is a great amount of realism mixed with classic comic book sensibilities. Gambit's return to his roots needs him to be a bit less loud than his pink and black costume. And Clay really pulls it off here. Remy is sleek looking, pleasing to the eyes. He is giving off that this book will be filled with adventure and ooze sexy. And while Seth Mann's inks are good, deeper inks would have been better. Rachelle Rosenberg colors are great and help set tone and mood to Clay's pencils. Yet, it seems that Seth's ink seem to look much better, almost realistic in darker tones.

   In scenes where Remy is in the daylight, the inks look thin and do not pronounce the characters as much as they do in the shadows. Otherwise, the book definitely is visual appealing.

WRITING:

   James Asmus has gone on record several times that he was going to make Gambit sexy and dangerous again. That he was gonna make him lose the 'head sock' and bring him back to his thieving roots. And from the looks of this first issue, he did just that. Asmus performed a lot of smart writing in this issue. If you had not being reading anything of Gambit before this issue, it was a perfect jump on point for the character. He was looking at his life of late and decided he needed to be him. Remy felt that he had been so busy with the Jean Grey School and hanging with the X-Men that he needed to go back to his roots and get himself back.

  If you had read anything dealing with Gambit before picking up this first issue, you will find that Asmus has masterfully binded all the recent developments with Gambit in both X-Men Legacy and Astonishing X-Men; finding that while Gambit enjoys his job as a teacher, he has been feeling like something was missing. Building on those, Asmus brings us a man who is going back to basics after being lost just living life. Even the way that Remy broken into the vault in this issue was very smartly written. Nearly every single panel in the book has purpose and moves things along in the book. Was Remy charming? Yes. Was Remy sexy? Yes. Was Remy interesting and being dangerous like he used to be? Absolutely. It is relatable and very vunerable behind his charming, near fearless facade. Remy is sexy and dangerous again here.


OVERALL IMPRESSION:

  Gambit #1 is a natural and fun evolution of a long time, favorite character. It is about a man going back to his roots. And while some of the art in the book seemed a bit thin in some pages, it was still very much gorgeous to look at. Sleek, sexy and charming, Gambit will steal your heart and .... other things. It definitely feels like it is gonna be a fun ride.

I give Gambit # 1 a 4 out of 5. Take that ,mon chere.