ROGUE & GAMBIT #2: What Happens Just Outside Vegas…

ROGUE & GAMBIT #2 is much better issue structurally sas Stephanie Phillips opens with the couple trekking through the Nevada desert as an intro that catches you up; she then pulls back to Manifold, who finds himself a prisoner of our mystery person collecting powers and then back to our two namesakes. It’s a little of a side issue to the main narrative track we were set on in issue one, but it works because Phillips gets to tackle several themes specifically around our main two characters. Personally, Phillips demonstrates the difference between their attitudes to their relationship. Gambit is about touch and physicality; Rogue (for obvious reasons) is not. The tension between the couple is there in the bickering that occurs throughout the issue, with the script using an “interview” data page to highlight Rogue’s anxiety about the tension in their relationship and the reasons for it, which includes Rogue’s success at being on the primary X-Men team (emphasized in the bar scene when Rogue is recognized) and the lack of time our couple has had just to be together. Phillips also plays off how different they are from X-Men. Rogue is committed to what Irene has tasked her to do, and Gambit is far more circumspect and doesn’t want the hassle, which again feeds back to the tension. Then an Avenger shows up.

There are whole papers of in-depth analysis that could be written about the highly complex relationship of the X-Men/Avengers, which is one of those on-again-off-again things that is even more convoluted than our feature couples depending on the story being told. Let’s say for this story that the relationship is antagonistic. Black Panther catches up with our couple and is less than pleased. It’s worth noting that it’s not just certain readers that think Rogue’s too good for Gambit; Phillips makes it clear that T’Challa believes that too; he does not trust Destiny as far as he can throw her and that the official Avengers stance is that Rogue & Gambit are at the very least complicit in Manifold’s disappearance and must be brought in. William’s also reference’s the X of Sword’s event and what Storm did to get her sword which is still a sore spot for the King Of Wakanda. A melee ensues, which goes precisely how you would expect it to go. My favorite two takeaways of what happens are one: Rogue and Gambit will always have each other’s back for all their troubles when the chips are down. The other is that Gambit will do things that Rogue won’t, and that further defines the difference between the two. Overall, it’s a fun little barroom brawl romp that doesn’t move the main narrative too far along but spends some time looking at and defining the couple’s relationship status and where they find themselves. The characterization feels more even and has more depth to this issue, improving the entire story.

Carlos Gomez and Dave Curiel continue to deliver fun, brightly colored art with a color palette that feels like a more modern take on classic 90s coloring but with more depth. Action is dynamic, facial expressions are expressive and carry the emotions in writing cleanly, and there is never a visually confusing moment from the entire art team, which makes for elementary reading and a solid pace to everything. I really enjoy the arcade versus style feel of the confrontation scenes. When Gambit and Black Panther square off, Gomez eschews background detail, choosing to only have the characters in the foreground with movement lines behind them. At the same time, Curiel makes it pop with a single color using a gradient from light to dark, with the brightest point behind one of the characters. Ariana Maher has fun with the sound effects lettering, which is also colorful and very much cartoon-like. Visually this comic continues to be boisterous, cartoon fun, and near-perfect eye candy that captures the eye and the imagination page after page. The ” Data ” pages are better than the usual information dumps because they have an individual structure and style that contributes smartly to the storytelling and conveys the ideas the script is tackling positively and additively. As for Steve Morris’s covers, they continue to be perfect. You can expect me to say that in every review.