REVIEW: Gambit, Volume One: Once A Thief...

PLOT: When Marvel's premiere thief sets his sights on his biggest score yet, he may just end up over his head. Desperately searching for a means to destroy the pilfered artifact that's cursed him, Gambit journeys deep into the Guatemalan jungles in search of a lost temple - but finds an ancient god-monster accidentally loosed on Earth! It's going to take more than just playing cards and southern charm to get out of this one! Then, coerced by a criminal mastermind, Gambit is sent to the United Kingdom to heist the greatest weapon in the history of man: Excalibur! How will Marvel's premiere thief manage to dupe his extortionist while also escaping with a clear name? Be here as the X-Men's ragin' cajun kicks off his all-new solo career!

REVIEW: As I'm sure you can imagine, I wasn't much looking forward to reading another volume of a Marvel NOW! comic. So far my adventures in the NOW! aren't very stimulating or exciting, and I was about to vow off of them completely, until now. Leave it to one of the coolest Marvel characters in the universe to restore my faith in Marvel's mock New 52 run. Gambit is obviously part of the X-Men, but I love that this book focuses on him as a solitary character and not part of a group, though the X-Men are mentioned quite a few times in his thoughts. That was one of the strengths of this comic, is the ability to convey Remy's thoughts without it taking away from the action on the page. There's a lot of thought bubble going on with Mr. LeBeau in here, and where that usually gets annoying and becomes too much, it was a brief respite from the action every once in awhile but didn't completely suck you out of it. The story is great, as Gambit goes back to his thieving ways away from the X-Men and ends up getting himself into problems that he's not sure how to get out of. The ensuing journey to discover what exactly he has done to himself is great and really a lot bigger than you'd expect a story in Gambit's realm to go. He has of course, some hottie help from another hero, and the art and humor of the comic are just fantastic. I was thoroughly pleased with Once A Thief... and Marvel should pray that more of their NOW! titles are more like this one and not the multitude of other stinkers I've read thus far.

 

WRITING : ( 8 / 10 )

ARTWORK : ( 7 / 10 )

STORY : ( 8 / 10 )

COVERS : ( 8 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 9 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 9 / 10 )