Excalibur # 7 Review *spoilers*

[CGAR]

It regards to the art not popping. I think it has more to do with the colorist.

The art looks muted in some areas.

Especially when it comes to the sky or the portals. Nothing looks lush.

So hopefully the colorist fixes that.

Even his work on To art makes it kind of blah for me.

Marte Gracia. I wish we could clone him.

[MentalManipulator]

I was very much entertained by this issue. I like the hunting/hunted scenario for next issue. Very Predator.

I enjoyed that Betsy still has her edge and is sometimes coldblooded. But the art is too childish for me still. Even with this artist.

[Domino_Dare-Doll]

Screenshot 2020-02-12 17.34.51.jpg

I think this is a pretty telling screenshot. Tini isn't subtle in how she weaves that theme throughout the issue but, funnily enough, I think it works. I mean, at least someone's commenting on the elephant in the room and, though it's only been done in short bursts, it is good to see it maybe building to something. Unfortunately, I'm under no illusions what that payoff will be: we'll lose Shogo. It'll be done under the guise of "Oh, he likes being a dragon too much and he must be free" but, y'know, we'll all know the real reason: too complicated to have a human living on a mutant paradise. They can't possibly be happy together. Northstar's husband's gonna be the next to go, mark my words.

But back to this issue: I enjoyed it in the sense of I agree with everything Gambit says. It's frustrating as ****, of course, to see everyone being so dismissive of him...but then that feels like a very apt meta commentary in and of itself. Questions and distrust seem to be discouraged without any real reasoning; Brad hasn't done anything to redeem himself or even endear him in Gambit's eyes so, yeah, why should he trust him? (And c'mon Betsy...you really believe he'd lay out all of his secrets in one convenient document for you to peruse? He's a politician now, honey. You're seeing what he wants ya to see.)

Also, does it rub anyone else the wrong way that Apocalypse kind of just...invaded Otherworld, in a sense? Colonised?

But back to Gambit for a sec; I felt his voice here. I felt him separate from Rogue for a sec in voicing these frustrations and...that tension feels subtle, in a way? Or maybe just subtle compared to the rest of what's going on, I dunno, but either way that was refreshing. I get the feeling there's something building for...perhaps the next arc? Intriguing either way.

[Beetle]

Cullen seemed off. I know I've been defending Christian Frost on these boards but we didn't need a second one

[Rosebunse]

Screenshot 2020-02-12 17.34.51.jpg

I think this is a pretty telling screenshot. Tini isn't subtle in how she weaves that theme throughout the issue but, funnily enough, I think it works. I mean, at least someone's commenting on the elephant in the room and, though it's only been done in short bursts, it is good to see it maybe building to something. Unfortunately, I'm under no illusions what that payoff will be: we'll lose Shogo. It'll be done under the guise of "Oh, he likes being a dragon too much and he must be free" but, y'know, we'll all know the real reason: too complicated to have a human living on a mutant paradise. They can't possibly be happy together. Northstar's husband's gonna be the next to go, mark my words.

But back to this issue: I enjoyed it in the sense of I agree with everything Gambit says. It's frustrating as ****, of course, to see everyone being so dismissive of him...but then that feels like a very apt meta commentary in and of itself. Questions and distrust seem to be discouraged without any real reasoning; Brad hasn't done anything to redeem himself or even endear him in Gambit's eyes so, yeah, why should he trust him? (And c'mon Betsy...you really believe he'd lay out all of his secrets in one convenient document for you to peruse? He's a politician now, honey. You're seeing what he wants ya to see.)

Also, does it rub anyone else the wrong way that Apocalypse kind of just...invaded Otherworld, in a sense? Colonised?

But back to Gambit for a sec; I felt his voice here. I felt him separate from Rogue for a sec in voicing these frustrations and...that tension feels subtle, in a way? Or maybe just subtle compared to the rest of what's going on, I dunno, but either way that was refreshing. I get the feeling there's something building for...perhaps the next arc? Intriguing either way.

I think Gambit is likely one of the ones who will rebel, especially since also this week, we have Mystique beginning her plans.

[Tycon]

Cullen seemed off. I know I've been defending Christian Frost on these boards but we didn't need a second one

Yeah, he came off as smarmy posh instead of gothic loner.

Probably she wrote it twice in this script.

You may be overvaluing the importance CBR criticism has on someone’s life.

[thjan]

I don't think the writer of the book is going out of their way to troll a characters fanbase. That is reaching.

Yeah, I don't think she is trolling, but she is definitely not doing a good job with Gambit either, and that is very frustrating for his fans. She seems to have no understanding of the character(and not just him), and I don't think she has read very many comics he has featured in to try to get an understanding. I'm also just really tired of the way she is having all the characters treat him.

[anyajenkins]

Another chapter of "I really want to like this book, but":

Rogue was awful.

Gambit was awful and incompetent.

Jubilee is irrelevant.

What is mutant magic?










I know. I'm becoming the Gambit of these threads.

If you were the gambit of these threads, that would actually mean you were right about everything, the whole time, but everyone else was bizarrely dismissive and easily manipulated...

[Su_Whisterfield]

They’re hunting and killing sentient people.
Wicked, murderous, alien people, but people non the less.
That’s not nice.

[Malachi]

A comic fan and a X-men fan in general is a bit like a cockroach. We are hard to kill. Write a crap book and we usually always comeback. Or we keep reading even though we don't enjoy it. Or just for the collection.

With this issue Tini will probably lose most of her remaining Gambit fans. There is just so little to hang onto. We can argue about how ineffective his powers are. How the rest of the team treats him. How bisarre that Warwolf scene was. Still it's like arguing about how hot the fire is after you stepped into it. You are still burning.

Yet the damn Warewolf scene was troubling. It was set up to show the warwolf and also to "balance" the dynamic between Gambit and Betsy. Gambit pointed out that he had already done what Betsy asked of him and she feels guilty. Now we can't have that, it could potenially lead to some sort of redemption for Gambit. Introspection for Betsy or even worse, god forbid, some advancement in the -A- plot. You know the former world level threat that has manipulated the X-men in the most insidious and soulcrushing ways. Now he's good. Xavier has given him his stamp of approval. So lets all trust him. He wasn't going to hurt Rogue. Jamie is also no danger. They are just catalouging documents in otherworld. Nothing else. So we get Gambit making an ass of himself. Betsy can swoop in and save the day. Then she can go back to joke about him being stupid. Balance restored!

My take from that was that Betsy hadn't informed them of what a warwolf was. They are not complex enemies. Claws and ability to steal your skin. Her line "They are skin stealers, is what I was going to say Gambit" can be interputated that way. Of course it can also be a reminder of what she perhaps told them before. In one Betsy looks like an idiot. In the other Gambit does. Pick one.

Did Gambit save Rogue in issue 5 or did he potenially endanger Brian by risking the portal? One of them happened and one would think that would be something that would affect the story. Or how people treat -A- and Gambit.

[Devaishwarya]

You can be Alien and humanoid (people-esque?)
But an Alien, by its very definition, is not a human person/people.

[Su_Whisterfield]

You can be Alien and humanoid (people-esque?)
But an Alien, by its very definition, is not a human person/people.

I didn’t say human people, they are sentient that is the crux of the matter.

[Vegan Daddy]

Tini’s Gambit is in character. This is how he would behave in these situations. Some of you are realizing that you don’t like him as much as you thought. That’s unfortunate but don’t blame the writer.

[JasmineW]

Knowing Gambit's history with •A•, it makes perfect sense for him to be wary. What doesn't make sense is why Rogue isn't empathetic to that *at all*.

Rogue has quite a forgiving nature, unless you mean a lot to her, like Gambit or Mystique.
She has very forgiving in the past to former villains joining the team, and she doesn't actually have that much history with Apocaylpse outside of the Milligan issues.
I'd say she's acting in character.

[Dante Milton]

I really enjoyed this issue, quite a bit more than previous ones. Gambit does still come off a little weird, but I think Tini did a good job of explaining that's mostly due to working for/with [A]. I didn't love how Cullen was characterized either. I'm glad that Tini finally corrected Rogue's "sugah" to the much more likely to be heard in reality "shug". I wonder why Exodus is allying with [A]. Warwolves were created for the purposes of being disposable, so I absolutely do not have a problem with them being killed.