The daze of our lives - Gambit's departure and return in Uncanny X-Men

While every superhero title relies on the elements of soap opera, few lean on it quite as heavily as the X-Men. Marvel's merry mutants always seemed as concerned with interpersonal relationships as they were with threats like the Sentinels or The Brood. If you're a child of the 90's like me, the most emotionally potent of those relationships was that of Rogue and Gambit.

The Fox Kids cartoon series is partly to blame for my obsession with the would-be couple. While Wolverine's snarling temperament had him at odds with field leader Cyclops and Xavier's feud with Magneto echoed the differing ideologies of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, the will they/won't they/can they of the Rogue/Gambit relationship kept the series alive in my mind well after it went off the air and even after I'd moved on from the X-Men as a concept.

While many elements of the show weren't terribly loyal to the comic source material, the Gambit/Rogue stuff was similar enough to keep me invested. 90's X-Men writer Scott Lobdell would throw a wrench in things soon after I'd only begun to follow Uncanny, removing Gambit from the team in a harsh fashion that still doesn't sit right with me to this day. Y'see, Lobdell teased that Gambit had a "secret". There was an episode from his past that would come back to haunt him. (They always do.)

In Uncanny X-Men #350, the X-Men learned that Gambit had aided the villainous mercenaries called The Marauders in slaughtering the Morlocks, a group of (mostly) harmless misfit mutants who lived beneath the streets of New York City. He's ousted from the team and left to wander the frozen wastes where the X-Men had found themselves on their then-latest adventure. Even his lover Rogue turned her back on the cajun card slinger, and understandably so: Gambit had helped a group of mercs commit what was essentially genocide. Sure he was just an informant, leading Sinister and the Marauders to the Morlock's hidden tunnels, but that association was more than enough to have him be literally dumped from the team. This story was a callback to the Mutant Massacre arc of the late 80's, but I wouldn't get to read the original story for quite a while yet.

Flipping through this issue today reminds me of what a strange point in the X-Men's history this really was. Joe Madureira's anime influence made the book stand out on the magazine rack, but some of the cast members weren't all that palatable to me, even under Joe Mad's pencil and ink. This was the era of foot-noters like Maggot, Dr. Reyes, and the Magneto clone known as "Joseph". Mix that with Angel at his most cherubic and Psylocke at her most ninja-y, and you have a strange roster of attractive misfits that probably couldn't carry a title if it weren't for the inclusion of mainstays like Beast, Rogue, and Gambit.

Gambit's "trial" and removal from the team was kind of traumatic to me as a young shaver. Well, as traumatic as a big reveal can be, I suppose. This might be the first time I ever experienced genuine nerd rage and felt the need to take an author to task. I remember hand-writing a letter to Lobdell demanding justice, but I don't think I ever sent it. I would continue to follow the X-Men, but with my interest in DC comics and Spawn increasing, it would slip down my personal list quite a bit.

Until Gambit came back. (I was a sucker then and I haven't gotten much better since.)

Eleven issues later, Steven T. Seagle had taken over the writing chores and artist Steve Skroce was on art. Both core X-Men titles had gotten a kick in the pants "soft reboot" in their previous issues, and Seagle set out to do what most comic writers do when they take over a long running title: undo whatever the previous guy did. This can be a good or bad thing. In the case of Uncanny X-Men #361, my younger self was more than happy to have a new writer come in and "fix" what had been done to my favorite energy manipulating Southern mutant the previous year. The roster was also a little more "classic" by this time; characters like Colossus and Kitty Pryde had returned to the fold following a stint with the British mutant team Excalibur.

(It didn't resemble the cartoon that had sucked me in, but in that year since #350 I'd become more accustomed to the Claremont era X-Men, so the change in roster was a-ok with me.)

Seagle returned to Gambit's roots as a thief in this issue, having the X-Men bump into them while chasing a McGuffin also being sought out by Black Tom Cassidy and his protege, the Juggernaut. There's also some ninja action mixed in there as well, and it's all beautifully rendered by Mr. Skroce, an artist whose work I don't feel I've seen enough of. He did a miniseries with Brian K. Vaughn recently, but other than that and a short run Gambit solo series, I don't think I've seen his name in the credits of too many comics.

Seagle doesn't completely negate Lobdell's previous story, but instead begins the long road to recovery for the X-Men's relationship with Gambit. It's quite a task, but the mere notion dragged me back into the X-Men for a while. Then I would drop it for a minute. Then Grant Morrison happened. Then I found Ultimate X-Men. Then Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. Beyond that, I sadly haven't read too many X-Men stories since. Even great writers like Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction couldn't get me back on board. A silly movie every couple of years and Storm and Wolverine being in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 have been my major points of exposure to the characters in recent history.

I think there's a certain momentum these serials accrue that can either usher in new fans or drive them away. Trying to get into the X-Men at times is like to trying to jump on the hood of a speeding car. The myriad storylines and vast roster of characters is far less intimidating when you're a little kid with nothing but time on your hands. As an adult fan I find it tedious and often have to reminds myself, "This isn't for me anymore." There's some new fan out there who can pick up where I left off, pining away for Rogue and wondering if she'll ever get with Remy and be able to touch and stuff--

WAIT. SHE GOT WITH MAGNETO?! THAT'S IT! I'M WRITING IN!

Thanks for reading and follow me on Twitter (@ChrisBComics) for more sloppy word soup and inappropriate levels of nerd rage for a supposedly full-grown adult.