Mr and Mrs X #1 Recap and Review

[DearMachine]

Enjoy this completely unbiased review of Mr & Mrs X brought to you by someone who did not get up at 5 like a kid at Christmas, so that she could read it multiple times on Comixology before going to work. And who definitely is not buying it in both digital and hard copy and TPB.

---------SPOILERS-------------

MMX opens parallel to X-Men Gold #30 with the wedding. We follow both Gambit and Rogue's preparations. Gambit gets fussed over by Storm, has an impromptu hair-cut from Laura, and banters with Bishop who seems to be back in the family. Remy is excited and squirmy, and is anxious to see Rogue. He is very cute.

Rogue, however, has taken the Magik School Bus (we will make this nickname happen) to Central Park in order to find a power inhibitor. She discusses how she sees it as a crutch, and it has unpleasant associations for him (almost certainly Genosha), but that the wedding day . . . and night is worth it. Like a true Ace, Magik does not care for Rogue's LEWD talk, and is more interested in the cake.

When they are back at the wedding venue, Team Rogue is scrambling to find the four elements that every bride needs, while Bobby and Kurt are talking about how they did not want to be Team Gambit, much to Rogue's annoyance. Jubilee is very into coordinating the hunt. Psylocke gives Rogue antique earrings; Jean picks flowers for her telekinetically; and Kitty lends her her veil. But they still need something blue....? Kurt senses his moment to shine, but then Mystique appears. She and Rogue hug, and then they have a private chat. Mystique was already at the wedding posing as Abigail Brand, and claims that her actions were completely harmless. Rogue is suspicious, bringing up all the actions that Mystique has taken in the past to break up her and Gambit; however, Mystique responds that she only wants the best for her, and Rogue seems to accept that.

We jump ahead to Rogue walking down the aisle. Remy is surprised and pleased by the power collar, and surprised and less pleased by Mystique being there.

At the reception, Gambit has been planning the honeymoon, and is wounded by the team's refusal to acknowledge his elite honeymoon planning skills. Romance is his real mutant power. Meanwhile, Rogue and Beast are talking about the collar, which is heavy and uncomfortable, and giving her headaches.

MUCH MUCH MUCH later, Remy and Anna are on their honeymoon in space. They have not left the bedroom. She admits that she thought honeymoons would involve more dinner, dancing, and walks on the beach, and he notes that can be arranged on the planet below them and that it might be good to give her a break from the collar. At that point, though, she decides that she is fine waiting for another hour.

Of course, more than an hour passes, and they are still in bed. Gambit has discovered that Rogue's weakness is tickling, and is ruthlessly exploiting it. At that point, the communicator on the ship beeps, and it's everyone's favorite blocker, Kitty Pryde. She got the number from Carol Danvers, who no doubt had been planning this revenge for decades. There is a space emergency, and Gambit and Rogue are in space.

After Gambit flings away his sheet in disgust, he and Rogue travel to Che'an in the Shi'ar empire. Their mission is to collect a dangerous, sealed package from a contact. The contact turns out to be Cerise, but the Imperial Guard got to her first and took the package from her. They will have to go through them to get it back. Remy and Anna decide to murder Kitty, which seems reasonable at this point.

They engage the Imperial Guard, and Rogue goes for the whip. Gambit makes a joke about it, and we get insight into the dynamics of their relationship and/or kinky bondage drinking games. Which should surprise no-one.

In the heat of the battle, Rogue goes after Astra, absorbs her powers, and ends up phasing through the ship into the dark vacuum of space. Gambit is horrified, and talks with the Imperial Guard that they need to work together to get her back, especially since she has their package. At that point, she pings out of existence... and wakes up in Deadpool's ship.

In sum:



I will post my thoughts later, but this became long, and I have to get ready for work.

[DearMachine]

I should have mentioned that the package is a Phoenix Egg.

[Anduinel]

This was. SO. MUCH. FUN. I'm on board.

My gripes are minor to the point of nitpickery. 1) I'm a little disappointed that accomplished deep-continuity diver Kelly Thompson didn't have Northstar at least background cameo at Rogue's wedding, given their past friendship and 2) allowing Mystique at the wedding. Sorry, but that lady has no credibility that this point. Rogue should have gone with Kurt 100%; I'd pout too if my little sis chose someone that had stabbed her in the stomach over me.

Annnnd that's it. I really had a great time with everything else. The story moved along at a great clip, the spacescapes were just lovely, I hope Cerise gets to come back to Earth (the Shi'ar have never appreciated her), and I'm looking forward to the next issue.

[AppleJ]

Great summary DearMachine! I enjoyed this thoroughly! Was up at 2 am for the digital download and it was totally worth reading through twice. I was genuinely surprised to see Mystique show up and even more surprised she managed to behave herself! Questions were addressed regarding why she hasn't used the inhibitor collar more often. Without a doubt my favorite part was them romping in the sheets and causing our favorite blocker Kitty to feel awkward. We got some good banter and a little action after that. I wasn't clear on what sort of egg the package is, but Phoenix egg makes the most sense! At first I was thinking maybe from Lillandra or something. Anyway, this first issue was great and leaves me wanting more!

[MikaelNovasun]

Hehe something Blue...who called it? And that tickling panel...at first glance I was like WOW KT actually went there, then I read the following panel about Rogue being ticklish and noticed the placement of Rogue's legs and Gambit's lower body. Holy moly this issue was HOT.

[Knives]

I should have mentioned that the package is a Phoenix Egg.

!?

Is that serious?

@#$%& goodbye honeymoon .

[Purplevit]

Loved it.
Issue was really good and so much fun.
Finally Remy at home and don't feel as loner. It felt like old X family. All cameos were really good.

Art was good. The only problem is women faces that all are the same.
Also it annoyed me that Guard after fight had no skratches at all. Like punches and explosions did nothing. Also artist's fault I think.
Sad a little that Jean-Luc and Tante weren't there but book can`t be perfect.


Overall itis a great and beautiful start. Can't wait for more.

[DearMachine]

!?

Is that serious?

@#$%& goodbye honeymoon .

Hello QQ cameo?

It is not stated directly. We just see Deadpool holding the egg. We are told it is dangerous, and the Imperial Guard are after it, so the most logical conclusion is that it is a Phoenix egg.

[DearMachine]

!?

Is that serious?

@#$%& goodbye honeymoon .

Hello QQ cameo?

It is not stated directly. We just see Deadpool holding the egg. We are told it is dangerous, and the Imperial Guard are after it, so the most logical conclusion is that it is a Phoenix egg.

[Purplevit]

I should have mentioned that the package is a Phoenix Egg.

I think that Phoenix Egg will be used to ressurect Cyke.

[Purplevit]

DearMachine, loved your summary and review.

[TheCape]

This issue was good, my only pet peeve is Rogue forgiving Mystique, like sorry but the X-Men should hate her after all that shit that he has done, is pitty that Logan wasn't there to stab her . Otherwise i'm really enjoying this.

[magneticmushroom]

Great issue, great start to a series. Took me about half the issue to get into the art, but by the time they were in space, I was a fan. That tickle fight panel, lol.
Weird thing about the pacing: It moved pretty briskly, but it also felt like I just read a 32 or 40-page comic. Super dense-feeling, which I enjoyed a lot.

Kelly Thompson's got the tone of this book right where it needs to be. I hope we actually stay in space for a while. Gambit and Rogue as a planet hopping mutant duo is kinda nice, if unexpected. I'd love to see them have to deal with the Starjammers or the GotG. But alas, someone must be home to feed the cats.

[KurtW95]

We must now pretend that Mystique didn't manipulate and abuse Rogue and murder tons of innocent people because women aren't allowed to be villains anymore. Ugh.

[remydat]

It was a fun issue and in isolation a good start to the series for the reasons mentioned above.

My concern in all of this still remains though. Rogue getting more focus made sense and Rogue ending up with Deadpool made sense. But therein lies the problem. A writer can always write good and logical reasons for a character getting focus and right now we are moving from a Rogue centric first issue (albeit well done) to a next issue where Rogue will be with Deadpool and Gambit will be with a bunch of barely used characters. I know if I were a writer, which group I would focus on.

It just feels like Gambit has already been relegated to side character in his own book as I expect a lot of Rogue and Deadpool banter until Gambit finds them. Maybe I will be proven wrong but time will tell.

2 small minor points that felt a bit off. First, I thought it was a bit too contrived that Mystique randomly deciding she was going to attend Kitty and Collosus' wedding and then being super calm and ok about the fact it ended up being Gambit and Rogue.

Second, I thought Bobby and Nightcrawler's dialogue was off. They focus should have been the fact they were closer to Rogue than Gambit as a means to explain why they were on her team so to speak. Instead the dialogue made it seem like they had issues with Gambit which is just odd. They both have been on teams with him with Bobby and Gambit most recently during Liu's AXM and Kurt currently with X-men Red and while they aren't best buds, I just don't see them saying what they did about Gambit. Perhaps Bobby I can understand a bit if you ignore Liu and go back decades but certainly not Kurt.