Mr. & Mrs. X: The Gambit and Rogue Appreciation 2023

[Sisterhood Of Mutants]

Well here we are like a month away from the release of the first Rogue & Gambit issue, and aside from the plethora of variant covers and the regular solicits, there has been no promotion, no interviews, and no official sneak peeks for the series. Seems like we were seeing stuff from the Bishop and Betsy series way earlier than that. I wonder what the deal is? Seems a bit odd to start the big marketing push after the cut-off for pre-ordering the first issue.

There’ve already been interviews for the X-23 mini, too. But not this one. Teens on twitter chatting with Stephanie Phillips have done more promo for this book than current X-editorial.

Not to sound like I’m beating a dead horse covered in tin foil… but, lol… yeah. Seems kind of deliberate.

All I can say is I hope we still have a good time with this mini, and I cannot wait until there’s a new editor (and status quo) in the X-Office.

[thjan]

And just like that I am excited again. The preview pages sure are nice. I am going to take all y'all's advice and go in with an open mind and not set my expectations so high. I honestly am absurdly easy to please. It doesn't take much. I just want to see my favorite mutants actually doing stuff in the comics.

[Selene]

Has anybody read anything from Phillips' work? A pal of mine told me they're not too thrilled with her Harley Quinn run.

[AppleJ]

Has anybody read anything from Phillips' work? A pal of mine told me they're not too thrilled with her Harley Quinn run.

I have only read her short Millie the Spy run on Marvel Unlimited and it seemed decent, but not sure there's much danger for massive mistakes on a less established character IP like Millie and MarvelU is kind of an open playground anyway.

A few of my DC comics reading friends are very positive on her DC work, but we definitely don't always have the same preferences so it's very hard to say.

The thing that makes me leery of a new writer for them is not knowing how big a fan the writer is of them as characters and how well read they are on their comics history.

I think you could be a brilliant writer and still have a take on a character that just doesn't feel right to a long time reader who knows these characters very well.

I'd like to think that going into something like this - a duo focus series and your debut, break out book with a big two book for their premiere IP (X-Men), you would do a massive read-though of comics continuity and really understand your characters going in?

If she did that leg work, I think we'll be fairly pleased. If not, it will probably show.

[Sandmans_Raven]

One thing I will say is that the difference between Tini and Phillips is that Phillips probably had to pitch an idea for this book, whereas it seems pretty obvious now that editorial saddled Tini with R&G to pad out her team and get some readers. So, I'm hoping that means Phillips is read up on their history more than Tini

[JB]

Editorial had the story and they were looking for someone to write it. So I think it's good to go in with that in mind, that Phillips has an outline from the X-office for what generally is supposed to happen.

AIPT: Well, speaking of… Rogue and Gambit have had a few series — most recently Mr. & Mrs. X. What, in your opinion, makes the upcoming Rogue & Gambit unique compared to this iconic X-couple’s past outings?

Jordan: Well, this is spinning out of the X-Men title. First of all, since Rogue joined the X-Men, Rogue and Gambit were separated a bunch, but then we have featured them together in the X-Men title, and we got that great scene of Rogue and Gambit on a mission that Destiny was there interfering in. And that family dynamic of Rogue, Gambit, Destiny, and Mystique that we haven’t really seen explored as much was very exciting to us. So that’s something that we very much wanted to spotlight in its own book.

Editor Sarah Brunstad reached out to Stephanie Phillips to see if she was interested. And she very much was, and they cooked up a real fun story that I think will be an awesome and fun part of the X-line, but also one that is serving a specific purpose that I can’t go into yet.

[Sandmans_Raven]

Oh, that's right. Well, that makes me feel...neutral about Phillips I guess.

[JB]

Oh, that's right. Well, that makes me feel...neutral about Phillips I guess.

We're not usually privy to such information so neutral is a good way to go in. I'm hoping she's going to take the framework she's been given and really make it sing beautifully for Rogue and Gambit.

[AppleJ]

Oh yes, good memory JBenito!

Hmmmm, I wonder what made them reach out to Phillip's specifically?

Maybe she's a writer they've been wanting to try out? Maybe she was already a fan of Rogue and Gambit?

Hope she did her research! Yes, remaining neutral and not overhyped is probably the best approach.

[AppleJ]

So next week we have Captain Marvel #46! Can't wait!
Here's a fun little sneaky peek from KT on Twitter:
IMG_20230206_164151.jpg

We also have a nice panel for upcoming Rogue and Gambit volume 2 #3 from Phillips:
IMG_20230206_163755.jpg
She likes them she says! (We really hope so!)

X-Plain the X-Men covered UXM #350 and did a pretty nice job: https://twitter.com/XPlaintheXmen/st...VQQDUZdHQ&s=19
Cold open was pretty fun talking about the lost Cybercomic about the Tomorrow Stone and Spat. Also great background on the Lobdell/Seagle hand off, or lack thereof. Explains a lot.

Finally, we are just weeks out from Rogue and Gambit fanworks week!

[Grunty]

X-Plain the X-Men covered UXM #350 and did a pretty nice job: *Xplainthexmen url*
Cold open was pretty fun talking about the lost Cybercomic about the Tomorrow Stone and Spat. Also great background on the Lobdell/Seagle hand off, or lack thereof. Explains a lot.

Weren't many Gambit fans rather angry about that reveal/retcon and Rogue fans disapointed at how she was written to react to it? Or is that more todays perspective?

[NicoPony]

Weren't many Gambit fans rather angry about that reveal/retcon and Rogue fans disapointed at how she was written to react to it? Or is that more todays perspective?

I know I was pissed and #350 was the last comic I read until the Gambit solo came out. That no writer wants to fess up to penning that incoherent train-wreck of a story is very telling. I just wish it hadn’t been my fave character getting permanently smeared by that sh—-stain of a book. Yes, okay I guess I am still pissed about it, lol. And given all the revenge/hurt/comfort fanfics that came immediately after, I don’t think I was alone in my rage!

The R&G#3 panel is sooooo cute.

[AppleJ]

Weren't many Gambit fans rather angry about that reveal/retcon and Rogue fans disapointed at how she was written to react to it? Or is that more todays perspective?

Ohhhh yeah, it was CONTENTIOUS. The first and possibly most painful of many Romy fandom schisms. Not here to reopen old wounds on that account.

There were definitely moments of emotional depth in the issue and the possibility of making it an interesting retcon was within reach. I found it very heartbreaking and just so frustrating at the time. As the podcasters and Nicopony point out, who even really penned the issue is a matter of controversy as nobody wants to fully claim the Frankenstein's monster of continuity mistakes and illogical character choices. Apparently there was a lot of editorial interference during this time and happened in the midst of changing writers as Lobdell was leaving abruptly, so historically it's interesting.

Anyway, with how the X-Men fandom often mistreats Remy and over this retcon in particular, I was just pleasantly surprised with how X-Plain covered this issue with fairness to him as a character.

[Grunty]

I know I was pissed and #350 was the last comic I read until the Gambit solo came out. That no writer wants to fess up to penning that incoherent train-wreck of a story is very telling. I just wish it hadn’t been my fave character getting permanently smeared by that sh—-stain of a book. Yes, okay I guess I am still pissed about it, lol. And given all the revenge/hurt/comfort fanfics that came immediately after, I don’t think I was alone in my rage!

Well that's one further conformation for what i had allready heared/read about in terms of contemporary opinion on it.

Ohhhh yeah, it was CONTENTIOUS. The first and possibly most painful of many Romy fandom schisms. Not here to reopen old wounds on that account.

There were definitely moments of emotional depth in the issue and the possibility of making it an interesting retcon was within reach. I found it very heartbreaking and just so frustrating at the time. As the podcasters and Nicopony point out, who even really penned the issue is a matter of controversy as nobody wants to fully claim the Frankenstein's monster of continuity mistakes and illogical character choices. Apparently there was a lot of editorial interference during this time and happened in the midst of changing writers as Lobdell was leaving abruptly, so historically it's interesting.

I'm reminded to the book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, which is a very well researched looking work on the history of the company and their publishing over the decades until 2012. This includes going in depth on what was going on behind the scenes during the 90's (the time when the great comicbook crash happend and Marvel went bankrupt because of multiple bad business moves at the top).

Writers being in a revolving door of comming in and going, editorial interference and messy changes done to stories and characters were apparently very common during that chaotic era. Which makes Uncanny X-men #350 sound rather prototypical in that regard.

On a positive note. The podcast reminded me that Joe Kelly and Carlos Pacheco are to "blame" for making me like Marrow and Cecilia Reyes with comics like X-men #70.

Anyway, with how the X-Men fandom often mistreats Remy and over this retcon in particular, I was just pleasantly surprised with how X-Plain covered this issue with fairness to him as a character.

Doesn't it make more sense to blame a writer/editorial for such things rather than the character?

[AppleJ]

Doesn't it make more sense to blame a writer/editorial for such things rather than the character?

Absolutely.