Howard MackieReviews

Pretty dark stuff, but no matter how broken the author tried to make them, I just kept feeling that they were really good on the inside and they were never going to turn evil. I am super curious what Harvest's endgame is. Sometimes he seems like a good guy, but if he has good intentions he's really mean about achieving them.

The only reason this got a 3-star review instead of the 2-stars it earned was its admission that this six-issue story was the original intended size/arc for the Clone Saga of the early 90's that dragged on for over a year across too many books and became incomprehensible even to the creatives working on it (or so it seemed).

Quite a few interesting and fun ideas herein but still muddled in its attempts to synopsize and shorten instead of trying to tell the story as if none of the other material had happened. If they'd approached this as a What If? mini-series, it might have worked better. Still, points for trying out some new (then) ideas....

This book is separated into two stories: one where Gambit is brought into the X-Men by Storm and one of Gambit's own involving his home life back in New Orleans. In the first one, the Nanny has regressed Storm back to a child and given her false memories. She has turned back into being a thief in Cairo. But she has memories of an older woman who looks like her and of other people. Memories of a life that is different than the one that is in her mind now. Now she is in America stealing from bad people and returning what they stole. The problem is the Shadow King is after her and at one of her heists she runs into Gambit who saves her life and the two become pals and go up against both the Shadow King and the Nanny.

In the second half of the book, Gambit finds out that the Tithe is due, which it shouldn't be because he brokered a peace between the Assassins and the Thieves when he killed Assassin Julian and his sister Bella Donna died. Only Julian isn't completely dead and Bella Donna isn't completely dead, which leaves him and Rogue on shaky ground since Bella Donna is his wife. Since Gambit, or Remy Lembeu, married Bella Donna he belongs to the Assassins clan now not the Thieves. The Tithing Man is coming with the elixir of life to give it to the Thieves but it can save Bella Donna or give Julian the full life he needs. After he died he was given the elixir and brought back to life, but it only partly worked. He needs the elixir to keep him strong.

There's a fight for that year's elixir from Candra the giver of the elixir that will involve going to Chandra to get part of it as there are three vials of the elixir that must be mixed together in just the right way. Who will get the elixir of life or will any of them? Can Belle be saved and what will that mean for Gambit and Rogue? Gambit is one of my favorite Marvel characters with his Southern charm that can sweet talk a bee out of its honey or charm a snake into doing its will. I also love playing cards so I really love it when he uses them to explode things. It was great reading how he joined the X-Men, though you really wanted the comic to keep going and find out what happened next. What was really great was going back to New Orleans to read about his life back there. Anytime you can find out about his history is great as he rarely gives anything away. This was two fabulous comics. I give it five out of five stars.

Yeah, continues to be weird as anything...
9:56 pm 28 October 2016
Gambit (1997) #2 (of 4) - Terry Kavanagh, Howard Mackie, Klaus Janson, Christie Scheele, Richard Starkings
Although oddly compelling. And since it's on MU, I'm willing to finish this up as I'm interested in where this is going.

I wish this didn't get so bizarre, or used its own mythology, rather than depending on a religion that is dominant in this society: it makes it seem weird as it has to conform somewhat or else risk offending people. If it just said 'we're going to tell this story and not worry about it,' it would seem less stiff. While no one directly mentions it, well, it stands out against the stories like Thor that use Norse religion and mythology and create something new, something that melds perfectly with the other stories they're telling.

Anytime Marvel uses a Christian or Jewish mythology as the basis for their stories, it gets ham fisted and weird. Like a goth invited to a debutante ball, where no one wants to mention how out of place she seems, but, y'know... So they try to mesh and it kinda works sometimes, but it doesn't really and it just gets more weird as people pretend it's completely the most natural thing in the world!

Yeah, I really wish these weren't inserted into the Marvel universe, but they like doing bizarre things with the devil and stuff, so, y'know. It's just gonna be goths crashing the yuppie parties until Marvel gets tired of this schtick.
X-Men Marvel Graphic Novel read in 2016½

This is just dragging out now...
5:40 pm 29 October 2016
Gambit (1997) #3 (of 4) - Terry Kavanagh, Howard Mackie, Klaus Janson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Christie Scheele, Richard Starkings
Blargh. This is turning out to be weird and it's just dragging out the story at this point. And it's boring me a little.

Will I finish? Yes. I still want to know what happens to Gambit and the angel, and there's only one more issue left. But if there had been more, I probably won't slog through a fifth issue.
X-Men Marvel Graphic Novel read in 2016

Unfortunately, this series wasn't as critical or compelling as I had hoped for. Read it, yes, but I don't think it's much worth owning.

Unfortunately, this series wasn't as critical or compelling as I had hoped for. Read it, yes, but I don't think it's much worth owning.½

Unfortunately, this series wasn't as critical or compelling as I had hoped for. Read it, yes, but I don't think it's much worth owning.½

Oh, hell, yes! This is just what I was looking for. Gambit is my favorite X-Men character, mainly because I like a good anti-hero. Keep your Captain America and Superman--I like a character whose morality you can't really get a bead on. Also, his Cajun heritage and life in New Orleans make for an intriguing background.

The first story in the graphic novel is the comic run that introduces us to Gambit, when he steps in to save Ororo, the X-Men's Storm, who has physically and mentally regressed to her pre-teen self. Her memory of the X-Men has been obliterated as her life as a thief in Cairo, Illinois, parallels her earlier life as a thief in Egypt. Storm and Gambit unknowingly plan a heist on the same mansion, not knowing of the other's existence, and certainly not knowing that it's a trap set up by the Shadow King to catch Storm. Gambit helps Storm escape and a bond between thieves is born. This storyline is interesting, but it can be confusing for those unfamiliar with the story about Storm's regression and frustrating for those who want more resolution as it simply ends where Gambit's importance to the narrative concludes.

The second storyline is the more traditional Gambit narrative, set against the backdrop of New Orleans and the Assassins' Guild and the Thieves' Guild, as Gambit, who has now joined the X-Men, returns to the Big Easy when he learns his wife, the Assassin Bella Donna, is not dead, but lies comatose in her father's mansion. Prior to this, Gambit has struck up a flirtation with Rogue, whose powers prevent any physical connection between the two. Gambit is now torn between the life and love he had in New Orleans before his banishment and the new life he has with the X-Men and the prospect of a a relationship with Rogue. This is definitely the superior story in the collection as it takes the time to focus on Gambit's background as Remy LeBeau and develops his character's Louisiana roots beyond the occasional dash of French phrasing and dialect. The star-crossed love of Gambit and Rogue is also made more poignant by Rogue stealing Bella Donna's memories as a means of having the physical intimacy she longs for with Gambit but is constantly denied. Rather than comforting Rogue, it makes her desire for Gambit all the more tragic.

For those already familiar with Gambit's background, this is an excellent collection. For those not as well-acquainted, it could potentially be a confusing start, but I think ultimately rewarding as long as you don't expect too much resolution from the first storyline.

This volume of the saga involves Spider-man, Nathan Grey and X-force, The Punisher, X-Factor, and Wolverine. There are some great stories in this volume that moves the Onslaught story along (X-factor, Wolverine, and X-force) but the Spider-man and Punisher stories fall flat if you're not fully invested in each story line.½

Collects Uncanny X-Men #265-267 and Gambit #1-4

Professor Xavier has now been subsumed by Apocalypse, mayhem and chaos has ensued and it's up to the Marvel Superheroes to try to fight it. Several of the stories are quite interesting in the dicotomy between an ordinary human life and the responsibilities of having power and needing to use it to better other people's lives and keep them alive.½