Topic: At what point did Gambit lose his top shelf appeal in popularity?

[Toadman005]

*Ducks*


please don't hurt me!!! 

[DonPriceTag]

The problem with not featuring your characters, especially your more popular ones, if they are away from the forefront for too long they become strangers to any new fans. Anyone that jumped into the books post 2003 will have missed just about all of what made Gambit, Gambit. Its why the Asmus solo was so necessary to reintroduce him, because what he'd done up to that point was laughable at best.

[Meliorist]

Gotta agree with Don. The first X-Men movie seemed to pave the way for a huge shift in the X-Men story lines and art. Even their uniforms got changed to align with the movies. Characters were portrayed differently too. I think we lost old, wise Logan around that time and got a cardboard cut out instead. Then X-Men Evolution got approved and Gambit was a villain. Ultimate X-Men had a great 2 issue intro but then he became a villain and died later. After that, my knowledge is hazy haha

[Sparta]

Marjorie Liu's 'X-23' was probably the first to get Gambit off his knees after/during his portrayal in X-Men Legacy. She was the first writer in a long time to genuinely care about the character. Asmus soon after did the same.


Gambit's writings from 2012 onward has been an improvement, though he still has his long patches of limbo (sometimes a year long)...which is not ideal, this is where we all get frustrated. My concern is when MMX eventually ends which is probably mid next year, where does he go after that? Hopefully he'll fit into an X-Men book with a writer that will give him the right development. 

[Nekobaghira]

Here is the thing though - if MMX stands, then all Gambit gets in the future is appearances with Rogue as her husband. Nothing more. The writers want to write her. What story has he gotten, NONE.

A long time ago a few boards ago in fact, a poster here and I know the name but won't say it, once said - Gambit would not have any stories or be anyone without Rogue. Who would have known how prophetic was that and that was in the 1990's. Took a long time but that poster might be right now. And to be honest how sad is that.
 

[anya]

Well, not really, if MMX 'stands' he'll have whatever stories the writers/editors come up with. Hopefully those will be good ones and not 'just' a husband, but it's not an either/ or situation. Just look at the past years, he clearly was 'away' from rogue and it didn't really lead to better stories, because the writers and editorial just weren't interested.

I generally think it was mostly editorial and the movie pretty much gave them the cadre blache to run with it. The writers obviously get some blame for writing bad stories but the editors approved them and didn't approve better stories from other writers. But if he had been in the movies, they wouldn't have felt they had free range to write him into the ground like they did.

[Toadman005]

How would y'all best get Gambit "back over"?




And if Gambit and Rogue fought who y'all think would win? (not who you think the writers would determine would win...we all know that'd be Rogue)

[DonPriceTag]

How would y'all best get Gambit "back over"?




And if Gambit and Rogue fought who y'all think would win? (not who you think the writers would determine would win...we all know that'd be Rogue)

I'm not so much doom and gloom. I think Gambit can be fine, while being married. He has more fans than not, and a lot of the newer writers are between their late 20s and 40-somethings, which means they have a good memory of the 90s era. Not the older writers that grew up reading in the 70s and 80s and think everything after 91' is horrid. My hope is that the G&R relationship is treated like Scott and Jean marriage where we don't see them all over each other. Cyclops was in his book, and Jean in hers. You see the one pop up in the others book from time to time, but it wasn't constant, but that goes back to writing styles. These days stories seem to be localized around the mansion or arcs just last 2 to 3 issues mended together with one or two filler books that take place, again, in the mansion or whatever place the commune. This is ideal if the MMX book has legs. We don't need them together 24/7 for them to be married. Marriage isn't super glue, and I hope whom ever writes them understands that.


About the fight... it depends, Gambit has beaten her by out smarting her, but in a straight up fight, because of her powerset, I don't think Superman can hands down win. With Simon's powers, shes actually physically stronger than she was before. She's got a lot of  brute force.

[Nekobaghira]

*chuckles* you know Scott cheated on Jean who was later killed and in limbo for years.

Marvel is not known for HEA's. 


Edit: Scott and Jean also had 40 years of history more than Gambit, they were fleshed out and not minimized or marginalized for each other, until later writers. In addition, there was more space for story telling, and secondary plots. Those things don't exist anymore. 20 pages of content. Thats it.

Edit2: Dove tailing a bit. Stan Lee probably would not have done all the bs later on in the books that have been done. As far as I know he could actually do a wide range of sci-fi, adventure and romance without all the bs. Hats off to Stan Lee.


 

[DonPriceTag]

*chuckles* you know Scott cheated on Jean who was later killed and in limbo for years.

Marvel is not known for HEA's. 


Edit: Scott and Jean also had 40 years of history more than Gambit, they were fleshed out and not minimized or marginalized for each other, until later writers. In addition, there was more space for story telling, and secondary plots. Those things don't exist anymore. 20 pages of content. Thats it.

Edit2: Dove tailing a bit. Stan Lee probably would not have done all the bs later on in the books that have been done. As far as I know he could actually do a wide range of sci-fi, adventure and romance without all the bs. Hats off to Stan Lee.

I KNEW SOMEONE WAS GOING TO DO THAT! 


Of course, I'm not talking about Cyclops' rampant infidelity lol! Just the way they were portrayed, especially during the 90s. We all knew they were married, but they were rarely in the same book. Just from a reality standpoint, that's the reason officers who have significant others in the armed rarely serve together. It splits loyalty and focus. At best, you'd be lucky to be on the same base and thats not even a given under all circumstances.