X-Factor - Gambit was a single man doing what a lot of single men do. Especially ones with a reputation as a ladies man. In the end he was actually a useful member of the team and we got to see him develop relationships with characters he hadn't previously. So good or bad, it was something different.
DvG - Again while it was not good, it was still something new in the sense he got to interact with Deadpool and Scrambler. Two guys with a shared or limited history.
Soule's ASM - Agreed, this was terrible and really the start of Gambit's entire character being focused on Rogue.
X-men Gold - Agreed pretty terrible showing.
X-men Read - Not a lot of focus but he was actually shown as a competent and powerful character that guys like Thor respected. I would think this one showing over 50 issues of Thompson's or Howard's Gambit. It is probably his best showing in like the last 5 years.
Of course it is always the writers faults because these are fictional characters. But in the end that is like saying it is not Mr. Sinister's fault he is an evil villain. It is meaningless. We love or hate characters based on how the writers write them and the problem with Romy is the writers far too often one or both of them are written horribly. That is what people like Neko and I have been saying from the start and that has come to pass.
Howard's Gambit is the logical and inevitable evolution of Thompson's Gambit because in both his story was less about him and more about Rogue. He is written simply as Rogue's preferred penis at the moment and all his characterization flows from that. Like Thompson, at some point right before the book is canceled, she may get around to telling a decent Gambit story but neither of these writers cares about Gambit outside of his relationship to Rogue. He is basically a woman's fantasy husband whose entire being is wrapped up in serving his wife.