Gambit 11

Gambit #11 (Marvel).

Gambit’s solo adventures have been chronicled for almost a year now, and for the most part the action has been fast while stemming from one inciting incident: an attempt to rob a large collection of superhero artifacts during a charity event. Since that time Gambit has been hunted down and manipulated by the collection’s owner, become involved with a mysterious woman—Joelle—who is also manipulating the card-throwing Cajun, had a little run in Pete Wisdom and MI13, and now is on the villain Tombstone’s bad side while helping the mysterious woman steal from Baron Von Strucker’s secret cache. And this new theft may be the key to defeating death or a weapon of chemical warfare.

For all the action Gambit has encountered so far, issue #11 slows things down just a bit. Trapped out in freezing temperatures, Gambit and Joelle encounter Rogue, who is wondering what exactly her ex-boyfriend has been up to of late to warrant additions to multiple most wanted lists. While catching up, Tombstone’s men are still hunting for Gambit and the stolen item. Meanwhile, Tombstone finds Fence—Gambit’s aptly named fence—and with a little torture persuades him to help find out who Joelle is and where she might be heading next.

Gambit’s solo series works because of its simple construction. Writer James Asmus makes no attempt (to this point, anyway) to deviate from what we know of Gambit. There’s no soul searching or character growth. It’s just straight out doing what you do best, and for Gambit that’s causing and getting into a lot of trouble. At some point it might be nice to slow down a bit and allow Gambit to reflect on his adventures, but right now the comic is just fun, and that’s ok. Readers get the chance to see a character confront new obstacles and villains. They also get a reminder of what made Gambit interesting back in the early 1990s when he first shows up in Uncanny X-Men. It was the mystery and the devil-may-care attitude. And for the time being, Asmus has put Gambit back into his element.

The series will never stand out as a comic classic, but it’s a nice opportunity to just spend some time with one character and not worry about what’s going on with the rest of the Marvel Universe. How long this pace can continue before it gets boring is hard to predict, but for right now Gambit operates with a simple mission statement: just have fun. And it works.

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