Mr. and Mrs. X #7
Marvel Comics
Written by: Kelly Thompson
Art by: Oscar Bazaldua
Colors by: Frank D’Armata
Letters by: Joe Sabino
And here it seemed like Kelly Thompson had the whole Rogue and Gambit dynamic figured out. Mr. and Mrs. X #7 kicks 2019 off in the most miserable manner possible: Gambit is dead. That is not a joke. This is not a drill.
It all happened so quickly, it felt like Mojo was simply special effects to up his product. You know, add to the suspense. I’m pretty sure, “Oh, Mojo did that for effect,” literally came out of my mouth when I saw Gambit’s skeleton. It made sense for the X-Men’s most revolt villain. He wants a compelling product. Only, he acted just as surprised with Gambit’s disintegration.
So Gambit is gone. For how long? Who knows. Hopefully, not too long. Thompson could make a good solo-Rogue series, but why end this run with her and Gambit? He’ll be back at some point. He has to be. Because there’s no way Rogue and Longshot work as an item.
Also, Longshot’s appearance could lead to a Domino tie-in somewhere along the way, which would be pretty fun. As much as Gail Simone’s done well with Domino, seeing her in Thompson’s hands could be good. Same curiosity applies to Simone potentially handling Rogue and Gambit.
Circling back to Gambit’s death: look, it sucks, but it definitely turned things up about 15 notches. Hopefully, he isn’t dead for good—we’re talking comics, let’s be real—but I appreciate the shock to the system. Especially because Thompson’s been doing a great job with this series. With the way things have been going, it hasn’t felt like Mr. and Mrs. X needed something like this.
But between the timing, Mojo’s reaction and the instability with Rogue, this move yet another brilliant one by Thompson.