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Gambit, Vol. 1: Once A Thief... (2013)

by James Asmus(Favorite Author)

3.52 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0785165479 (ISBN13: 9780785165477)

languge

English

genre

Graphic Novels & Comics

publisher

Marvel

series

Gambit (Marvel NOW!)

review 1: Finally the sweet talking, charismatic, enigmatic Gambit gets his own series. Gambit has always been a dark horse when it comes to X-Men, mostly under appreciated, with Wolverine, Magneto, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm and other high end mutants around no one really notices Gambit that much. Well Marvel has finally written him his own series and at best it is an incredibly fun ride.To set things straight, Gambit: Once a Thief is not an origin story, in this setting he is already known as part of the X-Men and they tell you that he had a past with Rogue, yup 'had' as in he's single. So this is more of a reintroduction to the character.The plot tells of how Gambit was once a thief and since his X-Men work he moved away from that lifestyle, however once a thief always a thief and... more in Gambit we see exactly that. He has a time off being a part of the X-Men so to kill his boredom he planned to steal from a notorious collector that goes by the name of cich (sitch). Unfortunately for Gambit he acquired an alien artifact that causes him more trouble than expected and from then on chaos ensues.The with the pacing of Once a Thief, it is safe to say that we can divide this into two parts. To avoid plot leakage and possible spoilers I'm just gonna call them 1st part and 2nd part. The 1st part is without a doubt the best part of the series. Showing Gambit in mission impossible clothes pulling off heist with style and that sweet smooth banter is also there. The 2nd part on the other hand is not as exciting as the 1st but it had it's moments. That said it felt like it should have been another volume for it really takes away that the substance that is in the 1st part. And that is the biggest complaint that I have for this Volume. Once a Thief also brings a lot of good things. For example he is the only character from the X-Men that is present here, and this is Marvel making sure that the readers understand that this is purely dedicated to Gambit and no one else. At that, Marvel did and amazing job isolating him and giving him fun and exhilarating story to follow. Now we also usually see him with his cape and head band, pole and playing cards. But in Once a Thief, the cartoony version of his character is downplayed and we see Gambit in a more simple way and that also works very well. To sum up, Once a Thief is currently the best reintroduction to the character of Gambit. It is amazing to see him work without the X-Men or any other Marvel heroes. Not only this, but in here we see him as humanly as possible you almost forget he's a mutant. The interesting characters are there, clever and witty dialogue is there and as usual the artwork is incredible. The pacing however is questionable but it is still a fun read all in all. For people getting into the character of Gambit or Remy, Once a Thief is definitely a recommended start.
review 2: Gambit has his own Marvel NOW! series? They kept that quiet! But it’s true, there are 3 volumes of Remy Lebeau’s antics from James “Quantum and Woody” Asmus, and, after reading the first one, I can see why no-one’s talking about it. It’s Gambit repeatedly doing his rogueish thief thing while a bunch of two-dimensional characters take him through some unengaging storylines. Gambit appears at a rich businessman’s private party to lift some expensive gear, just ‘cos he’s bored of being a teacher at the Jean Grey School, and meets a femme fatale who leads him on a bizarre journey into another realm, or something. The second and final storyline sees Gambit forced into working for the rich businessman to steal Excalibur - enter Pete Wisdom and MI13 (paranormal British intelligence agency). James Asmus is doing great stuff over at Valiant but he can’t find a pulse with Gambit. I don’t think that’s entirely fault - Gambit simply isn’t a lead character who’s much better in an ensemble cast (like a lot of X-Men characters, Wolverine included). Asmus tries to give Remy a personality but besides the raffish ‘tude and occasional dips into French (oh-ho-ho mon ami!), there isn’t much to him. None of the supporting cast, from the generic evil businessguy to the bad girl with the rad ink and everyone in between, are particularly interesting either, so there’s no-one here to really become invested in. The first storyline didn’t make sense in where it headed while the second was easier to follow but still wasn’t very enthralling. My default mood when reading Gambit was basically unattached boredom, occasionally rising to mild interest (like when Gambit’s thrown out of a plane with his arms and legs tied and has to figure out how to survive), but its not enough to recommend and definitely didn’t interest me in wanting to pick up volumes 2 and 3. It looks like Marvel are giving every single character they’ve got a shot at their own series which sometimes works - take Magneto, Loki and the forthcoming Doop series which I’m sure will be mega-awesome - but in the case of Gambit, it’s a gamble that didn’t pay off. Au revoir, Remy and your weird hot-pink attire! less

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