I loved the issue. I can see where people are coming from for having concerns, but I still really enjoyed it.
What I loved:
Bobby – Loved his friendship moments with Rogue and Gambit’s little digs at him. I keep thinking about X-Men #45 and how Remy experienced one of his most painful breakups in front of Bobby with Bobby even telling Gambit something like “I’m sorry man. You tried your best.” So those little interactions win points with me.
BEAST! BEAST! Why are we not talking more about Beast? How sweet was he? And after doing all that work to help Rogue, he even admits that he wishes he could do more! Loved the teasing with Storm and Beast and how Storm confides in her bestie, Remy, that she did forget she was driving Beast home. After his Christmas story and how lonely he appears to be, I thought this was incredibly thoughtful of him. Plus, we know he was the top of the list of the X-Men phone tree informing Gambit of the Deadpool/Rogue kiss so he owed him one
Belladonna is not a crazy lady. She voiced out reasonable issues about Rogue and all for her concern for Remy – her best friend, first love and ex-husband. Sure, because I love Rogue, part of me automatically wants to hate Belle, but I like seeing her as a cool, smart and collected leader. Gambit would only have fell in love with an awesome person, so I'd like to see that. I hated her as crazy in the Rogue first limited series.
Bishop – referencing the boysenberry pie! HA!
Kelly calling us readers out in Mojo’s announcer message – you know we’re all thinking these things.
Gambit telling Kitty he’d throw her out of the window
For further discussion:
Gambit asking Rogue to join the fight: I never saw this as Gambit needing help. He just knows his spit-fire wife enough to know she’d want in on the action. Plus, Gambit never seemed like the kinda guy always needing to flex his muscles and prove something. He was always confident in his abilities (knowing he could deal with the intruders himself if he had to). But if you want to come with, sure.
Rogue saving the day: I’m okay with it because for the story’s sake, it ended the fight for the party. Do I need Gambit to save the day soon and do even more awesome things – YES. But I’m being optimistic and patient believing it is coming. I HAVE FAITH in Kelly Thompson. I believe she adores and respects Gambit.
Where’s Tante Mattie: I figured we need to have a bigger moment with her. It always touched me that she loved Rogue right away and I think she knew from the start how important Rogue would be to her boy. So rushing Tante Mattie in here along with Jean Luc wouldn’t do it justice.
The Rogue and Magneto scene: Okay…I don’t know how to truly describe how much I hated the Rogue and Magneto THING back in the day. It’s the reason I skipped Magneto’s story in the X-Men Holiday issue. It’s the reason, I’ve refused to watch many of the Marvel movies (because Magneto is a focus and yah, I get he is an interesting character and prior to being with Rogue, I actually liked him but now, I can’t stomach it). It’s the reason I continued my boycott of comics for so long. It’s the reason I still refuse to appreciate Carey’s work in building up Rogue’s character. But even then, I was able to appreciate this conversation with Rogue and Magneto in MMX#6. Like it or not, they were together (I AM GOING TO THROW UP) and for me, the conversation was a nail in that coffin – it was closure and something a lot of readers were looking for. It makes sense to pair it in the issue where Gambit first discusses his marriage with Belladonna. Mind you, in real life, I would consider Rogue’s dialog more offensive to Magneto over Gambit – “sure, we all know I rejected you dude when you asked me to marry you, but let me gush insensitively about why I JUMPED at the chance to marry Remy and how I’m so scared to lose HIM when I so easily walked away from you.” To his credit, Magneto doesn’t take it this way, listens and offers his advice. He is respectful and even says that Gambit is a solid guy who wouldn’t run when things get rough. Magneto appears to care about her happiness and tells Rogue she is lucky to be with Remy. That’s got to be painful. Her confiding in Magneto doesn’t rub me the wrong way because I feel that she is going to tell Remy but is working up the courage to. The cheek caress is less offensive to me compared to Belle kissing Gambit on the cheek – and I was still okay with Belle’s departing gesture.
Anyone else curious about how Rogue will react to Gambit having to get his house in order? She says it herself that she doesn’t care about the thieves situation too much and while comedic, made me wonder what’s coming down the pipe? Rogue needs to step up and start supporting her man and this is a huge part of his life. Plus, when you marry someone, you marry their family. What does that mean when it’s the Thieves Guild.
Random thought: I think this all plays nicely into the opening lines of the series in MMX #1. I’m paraphrasing but along the lines of “you’re always the star of your own world and your story and what happens when you collide with someone else’s.” Gambit and Rogue had such interesting and explosive stories on their own so it’s so exciting to see how their marriage would work. It is a lot to deal with, but like real life relationships, they are trying to make it work. I just love that.