Rogue&Gambit #4: Spoilers and Review

[Malachi]

For what it's worth, Malachi, your review made me laugh at times. So there's that!

It's unfortunate that there was no on-the-page exploration into Gambit after his death in Otherworld so we could see how he got to this point. I think it's a sound idea but like you said it all happened off-panel so it's hard to invest in.

Everyone knows the best place to stage an intervention for someone’s dangerous chemical dependency is via text.



JB is right, This is priceless.

Siiiigh, another issue of All The Ways Gambit Sucks And Poor Rogue Has To Put Up With Him.

It’s weird how in the last three issues Rogue stands him up, admits to a magazine writer she doesn’t have time for him, complains to a raccoon that she’s avoiding communicating with Gambit, but then still dumps all the problems at Gambit’s doorstep. It’s like you have to have cognitive dissonance and forget previously established storylines from THE VERY LAST ISSUE YOU’VE READ.

Nice to hear JB and Nico =)

In some ways this was the best issue so far. If anything I think the experience of former issues are negatively compounding my enjoyment.

To keep the reason behind Remy’s problems vague have been a storytelling choice. I guess it’s because they want us to guess and thereby engage&invest into the comic. In a sense it’s part of the story but by pacing it like this they also miss out on establishing the problem earlier and building character insight and empathy for us, like Zoks suggested by doing this Storm data page in issue 1 instead. The trade off doesn’t really work seeing how very little there is to the plot of this mini. It’s very much by the numbers and what we got is the mystery of issue 5 and what it will do with Rogue and Gambit. Everything else feels just like trying to plaster the cracks. The prophecy from Irene? It’s still there but it’s not actively driving the plot as in that we are exploring what it could be. It’s more: get Manifold and we will explore why later on in issue 5 or in FoX.

[Rakurai]

Man oh man lets start with the biggest problem: Gambits drinking. It comes from off-panel and hasn’t been hinted at before this mini. The reason why is possibly plausible, it’s just that we know nothing about the whole death scene because it happened in KoX and that mini had enough to deal with so we never got any insight into Gambits feelings or motivations there. That mini ended with Rogue flying in to rescue a recently revived Remy. A happy ending we all thought and why not, we had no reason to suspect otherwise.

The drinking is only used an excuse to create distance between them and it’s not tackled in any serious way. It’s there for some bad jokes and drama. Lets hope it never gets mentioned again. I don’t want Remy to be stuck with writers writing about his problem with alcohol in future stories. I disliked it with Carol and I dislike it in general.

Guess he and Laura can join with sad/depressed/whythehell drinking. At least here it's said why, but omg, is it that much to ask for putting it on panels? Give flashbacks, built more of this story.
This series is so awful I have no idea why it's even there, as I've seen Romy fans in solidarity hate it. Is it for haters of the couple? Why would they buy comics called Rogue and Gambit?

No idea who has it worse here, Gambit is such a loser and Rogue is borderline toxic. And all this talk about sex instead of solving problems is disgusting and sounds like fanfiction written by 15 year old. Are there really people who deal with problems like that?

It kills my heart that we cannot get amazing Romy series by Kelly Thompson but we are stuck with this bullshit, makes me wanna cry.

hey, at least I like the art, but I ain't paying for that ****/10

[Master of Sound]

Is Power Broker a brand New character? It feels like I have seen him before

[Malachi]

Guess he and Laura can join with sad/depressed/whythehell drinking. At least here it's said why, but omg, is it that much to ask for putting it on panels? Give flashbacks, built more of this story.
This series is so awful I have no idea why it's even there, as I've seen Romy fans in solidarity hate it. Is it for haters of the couple? Why would they buy comics called Rogue and Gambit?

No idea who has it worse here, Gambit is such a loser and Rogue is borderline toxic. And all this talk about sex instead of solving problems is disgusting and sounds like fanfiction written by 15 year old. Are there really people who deal with problems like that?

It kills my heart that we cannot get amazing Romy series by Kelly Thompson but we are stuck with this bullshit, makes me wanna cry.

hey, at least I like the art, but I ain't paying for that ****/10

Haha, nice to see the scoresystem continuing.

I have avoided Percys X-factor, I don't want to see what he does to Laura. Remy and Laura and from what I hear Sage too.

Is Power Broker a brand New character? It feels like I have seen him before

He's an old one. Started out as a mastermind foe for Captain America in the late 80's. I think he was the one who empowered John Walker, aka USAgent.

[thjan]

What an awful series and issue! Everyone has already said better than I could all the problems with this issue, so I will just respond to y'all's posts with agreement.

Why is the power broker escaping by helicopter when he has Manifold in his control? I thought one of the biggest benefits with having a teleporter is that said teleporter could teleport you. Well I guess with Manifold we wouldn’t get the 80’s action movie scene of Remy stopping the helicopter. Or why the power broker gave her the order to absorb his other subjects after he had fled the scene… seriously the power broker flees even though he has Remy outnumbered and outpowered. The more you think about it the worse it looks.

This mini has plot for about 50-60% of the issues. It’s decompressed and many pages are more or less useless. The whole starting 5 pages with the Power Broker should have been cut in the first draft. The issue has action enough as it is. Spend that pages on the titular characters instead. The ones who readers want to read about.

Yep, that whole sequence made no sense like you said and yeah, this mini has been way more plot focused than character focused and it hasn't even been a very interesting plot. As for decompression, I feel that way about most comics nowadays, but yeah it is particularly egregious in this series.

Let’s end with that. My score is:

I want to quit reading comics/10
[/I]

Ha! This made me laugh, but it is also sadly true. What a depressing series.

As someone who has a soft spot for both characters and their relationship I am actively blocking it out of my memory. Storm is the kind of person who would be there for her friends and really help them. With warmth and strength. Not this text exchange.

Yep, that text message page was so bad! Honestly, I am having to block this whole series from my memory to enjoy any of these characters again. Phillips is butchering everyone it seems like.

Ummmm that text echange is horrible and certainly NOT how you confront some who you think is dealing with alcoholism. Also whole thing seems very victim blamey. Gambit goes through something traumatic, starts negatively coping, all while his wife is either ignoring him or treating him like a nuisance. WHY would he open up to her, when she hasn't been a good partner either? Also love can't fix alcoholism so it seems like a false equivalency anyways.

Yep, that exchange did not make Storm or Gambit look good. And yeah, this whole issue felt very victim blamey, especially in that extremely painful verbal exchange while Rogue and Gambit were fighting.

I haven't seen something this bad since Milligan.

it's not romantic, it's not tragic, it's not heartbreaking, it's just a way of trashing two characters. Remy has a "justification" however ridiculous it may be but what the writer is doing to Rogue is unforgivable. She is selfish and only thinks of herself. Gambit comes off as incompetent but Rogue as a bad person.

This has actually passed Milligan levels of badness for me and I never thought I would see the day that happened. And that second quoted comment is spot on. It really is just damaging the characters.

Siiiigh, another issue of All The Ways Gambit Sucks And Poor Rogue Has To Put Up With Him.

It’s weird how in the last three issues Rogue stands him up, admits to a magazine writer she doesn’t have time for him, complains to a raccoon that she’s avoiding communicating with Gambit, but then still dumps all the problems at Gambit’s doorstep. It’s like you have to have cognitive dissonance and forget previously established storylines from THE VERY LAST ISSUE YOU’VE READ.

Yeah, as bad as he is coming off in this series, Rogue is coming off way worse here than Gambit. Gambit has actually been the one to get them out of jams related to the main plot so far in the series and here yet again he is trying to help get her out of trouble, yet she harps once again on how their problems are his fault(ignoring all your excellent points above) and piles on his guilt for not coming with her. It is bad writing and the writer seemingly doing her best to ruin both characters. I know it has been said many times so far, but I really don't understand who this series was supposed to be written for.

Guess he and Laura can join with sad/depressed/whythehell drinking. At least here it's said why, but omg, is it that much to ask for putting it on panels? Give flashbacks, built more of this story.
This series is so awful I have no idea why it's even there, as I've seen Romy fans in solidarity hate it. Is it for haters of the couple? Why would they buy comics called Rogue and Gambit?

Yeah, I have seen exactly one fan of the characters that seems to be enjoying it for some reason, but that is it. It seems to be disliked by almost everyone.

No idea who has it worse here, Gambit is such a loser and Rogue is borderline toxic. And all this talk about sex instead of solving problems is disgusting and sounds like fanfiction written by 15 year old. Are there really people who deal with problems like that?

Thank you! I am really disturbed and annoyed by all the juvenile, "oh, we're more into physical communication, bow chicka wow wow, know what I'm saying, wink, wink" talk and jokes. Like others have said, it is just absurd given their history. I truly think this writer did almost no research and has no understanding of these characters.

It kills my heart that we cannot get amazing Romy series by Kelly Thompson but we are stuck with this bullshit, makes me wanna cry.

hey, at least I like the art, but I ain't paying for that ****/10

Same! At least Thompson was able to write them some in her Captain Marvel series. Oh what could have been though.

He's an old one. Started out as a mastermind foe for Captain America in the late 80's. I think he was the one who empowered John Walker, aka USAgent.

This is a different Power Broker. Introduced in an Avengers: The Initiative annual I guess in 2007.

[pkingdom]

Like you said, when they have the resurrections on the table, there's zero reason to hold back in fights like this. Just kill Rogue and Manifold and apologize later. Gambit might literally be the only person who's been traumatized by the process, and they seem to be blaming the weird way it happened with him.

Everything about this is dumb

[AppleJ]

Siiiiigggghhhhhh ...

Dear Marvel editorial, thank you but no thank you for this abysmal misery porn.

I think y'all made the salient points already, but here are my 2 cents.

Basically I skimmed over all the <insert rando villian>, sorry I mean "Power Broker" storyline ... I just literally don't care. I cringed through the text with Storm and then side eyed it ... doesn't sound like either character. Juvenile and generically so. Skipped the preview panels, already not amused. Agree with everyone saying there is a lot of gross victim blaming towards Remy from two people I don't buy it from and it makes them look very bad. We don't get anything to explain Remy deciding to heel turn and come after Rogue. After her shitty treatment he was well justified to sit it out. We don't have any build up or explanation as to why Remy would be more upset or traumatized about his death/resurrection than all the other characters who've died. I mean they COULD make that interesting ... this ain't it. Imagine that story with emotion and nuance. And why TF does Rogue care about killing or being killed?! Again ... resurrection makes this all kinda pointless drama.

Only positives - Gambit holds his own and doesn't slip on a banana (the bar is so low right now) and the art continues to be great.

Marvel editors thinking that readers will be into shaking up the very few semi-stable relationships are so out of touch.

At least there is something still salvageable if we could get a writer who was really invested in these characters. The Krakoan era has done them and their fans absolutely no favors.

With Captain Marvel now done, I think a break from Marvel and especially the X-books might just be the right idea.

[Muffinman]

My feelings about this issue have all largely been said already by many in this thread. Terrible treatment of these characters. My question is really how could editorial go ahead with something that is this off base from where and who these characters are? Has this title been well received outside of CBR? From my conversations in person with people, generally speaking we all are more than disappointed in this title, almost angry with what is on these pages. Has the author really received praise for such mishandling?

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

Knew there was a reason I never started this series lol

[Sandmans_Raven]

My feelings about this issue have all largely been said already by many in this thread. Terrible treatment of these characters. My question is really how could editorial go ahead with something that is this off base from where and who these characters are? Has this title been well received outside of CBR? From my conversations in person with people, generally speaking we all are more than disappointed in this title, almost angry with what is on these pages. Has the author really received praise for such mishandling?

At least on reddit, Facebook, twitter, etc. I've seen almost no good reviews of this book. One or two here and there, but for the most part, fans and non-fans of the couple have been negative about it

[Johnrevenge]

Wouldn't be surprised if the series end with Gambit and Rogue getting divorced. All this awful issues seem to lead to that direction.

[ChronoRogue]

Marvel try to write a healthy functioning couple challenge (impossible).

[Ilargi]

Wouldn't be surprised if the series end with Gambit and Rogue getting divorced. All this awful issues seem to lead to that direction.

It's so blatant that they intend that sometimes I think the plot twist is that they're still together.

But anyway since they're going to be on two different teams it won't be revealed until the minis are over. So we have until the end of the year with this nonsense.

[Zoks]

Siiiiigggghhhhhh ...

We don't have any build up or explanation as to why Remy would be more upset or traumatized about his death/resurrection than all the other characters who've died. I mean they COULD make that interesting ... this ain't it. Imagine that story with emotion and nuance. And why TF does Rogue care about killing or being killed?! Again ... resurrection makes this all kinda pointless drama.

To be fair we can infer why he's traumatized. Usually when mutants come back they don't remember how they died, because they get plugged in with their most recent back up. Gambit did not come back that way, he should remember how he died. It'd be nice if they reminded us of the difference but we don't get that kind of writing anymore.

[Malachi]

At least on reddit, Facebook, twitter, etc. I've seen almost no good reviews of this book. One or two here and there, but for the most part, fans and non-fans of the couple have been negative about it

My experience too. For the 2 first issues I checked Phillips twitter to see what she was saying. She used to retweet good reviews. But after issue 2 there have been a dramatic drop in reviews being made so I wonder what she says now.