Rogue and Gambit are two of the most popular X-Men of all time and yet, they haven’t had too much to do of note in the ever-expanding Krakoa era of X-Men. That’s where Stephanie Phillips and Carlos Gomez’s Rogue & Gambit comes in, giving the pair their own adventure chock full of hijinks. Issue #1 was a lot of fun and issue #2 keeps the tone set by the first issue as the two go on the run to catch up with Manifold.
Rogue & Gambit is a fun series and with these two characters at the forefront, you kind of need this fun, exciting adventure. Stephanie Phillips definitely exceeds at indulging into the entertaining capers that are so synonymous with Rogue and Gambit, and Carlos Gomez’s cute, more animated style of art really does this series and its characters justice.
Irene and Raven’s involvement looms over this issue but unlike the first installment, neither of them actually show up. Still, the data page text message between the two is a definite highlight of the issue. The Darkholme-Adler family is one of the most beloved and longstanding family units within the X-Men and since the Krakoa era finally brought Destiny back, one of the most compelling elements of this recipe is to see this family dynamic back in play. Irene and Raven are basically promised to show up again to interact with their daughter, and if that’s not exciting, I don’t know what is.
The low point of the issue has to be Black Panther showing up. The Avengers vs. X-Men era of comics (and by proxy all hero vs hero eras) were some of the least enjoyable aspects of comics in the 2010s. This idea of heroes being directly antagonistic to other teams if they don’t show up in each other’s books to assist with their events is just not how comics work and it’s a really cynical way to read the medium. I’m really tired of seeing this same “the X-Men fight the Avengers who just don’t get it” rhetoric show up in my X-Men comics and I’d rather move on. That’s part of what made Judgment Day so enjoyable as an event — no one really got character assassinated and it was just a big adventure involving multiple teams.
I’m bored with this rhetoric and seeing Black Panther show up to have an antagonistic role standing against Rogue and Gambit feels both unnecessary and disappointing especially since it’s all the result of a misunderstanding. But despite the setback with including his character to square off against our protagonists, Rogue & Gambit #2 is a fun ride that keeps the hijinks-heavy momentum going.
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