Post by quantumcat on May 4, 2006 11:12:03 GMT -5
Forgive me if I still think of Gambit as a gauche,gawky kid
with a delicious down-home accent.
In an era when comics were trying tooo hard to get away from
the square-jawed -WASP- in- tights,Gambit was one of the few
who came across as a person (rather than a gimmick).
I saw kids like Gambit every day and his being a mutant and an
X person didn't alter who he was or how he related to others.
(This was true of Rogue and the other new wave mutants who
worked.
Contrast them with the too angsty adult sensibilities of Cyclops,et al.)
If you're going to have kids as heroes,let them be kids.
No forty year old alleged teens. No slang-ridden dimwits, No plucky-
but-clueless sidekicks waiting to be rescued.
I think they could have done more with him as he was but I could see
him watching NASCAR,eating mufflettas,listening to Bela Fleck and
telling a certain streaky-haired outre cop from New Iberia that his psychic
abilities could come from mutant genes.
Somehow,I never felt as much kinship with airbrushed goyim who battled
supervillians between picking up their drycleaning and joining the boys for a round of golf.
Gambit seemed like he'd fit in a world where boys went bird-huntin', ate Vienna sausages
with their fingers out of a can,read comics,bought Hot Wheels,worshipped Bear Bryant
and Cale Yarborough and thought classical music meant Hank Williams and 'Jolie Blond'
as played by the Hackleberry Ramblers.
Of course,his Thieve's Guild duties,etc. made that as unlikely as if he'd lived in Warren Worthington's mansion
but I got a sense that the reckless,glib womanizer was less a villian than a child trying too hard to grow up.
Underneathe,Remy seemed like a Cajun version of Tom Sawyer who would love Rogue deeply and chastely
(if it didn't interfere with goin' fishin'.)
If Gambit as a character failed,it's because good children are considered too bland and bad lads are far too cliched.
Let him be 100% boy and 82% hero and see what happens.
with a delicious down-home accent.
In an era when comics were trying tooo hard to get away from
the square-jawed -WASP- in- tights,Gambit was one of the few
who came across as a person (rather than a gimmick).
I saw kids like Gambit every day and his being a mutant and an
X person didn't alter who he was or how he related to others.
(This was true of Rogue and the other new wave mutants who
worked.
Contrast them with the too angsty adult sensibilities of Cyclops,et al.)
If you're going to have kids as heroes,let them be kids.
No forty year old alleged teens. No slang-ridden dimwits, No plucky-
but-clueless sidekicks waiting to be rescued.
I think they could have done more with him as he was but I could see
him watching NASCAR,eating mufflettas,listening to Bela Fleck and
telling a certain streaky-haired outre cop from New Iberia that his psychic
abilities could come from mutant genes.
Somehow,I never felt as much kinship with airbrushed goyim who battled
supervillians between picking up their drycleaning and joining the boys for a round of golf.
Gambit seemed like he'd fit in a world where boys went bird-huntin', ate Vienna sausages
with their fingers out of a can,read comics,bought Hot Wheels,worshipped Bear Bryant
and Cale Yarborough and thought classical music meant Hank Williams and 'Jolie Blond'
as played by the Hackleberry Ramblers.
Of course,his Thieve's Guild duties,etc. made that as unlikely as if he'd lived in Warren Worthington's mansion
but I got a sense that the reckless,glib womanizer was less a villian than a child trying too hard to grow up.
Underneathe,Remy seemed like a Cajun version of Tom Sawyer who would love Rogue deeply and chastely
(if it didn't interfere with goin' fishin'.)
If Gambit as a character failed,it's because good children are considered too bland and bad lads are far too cliched.
Let him be 100% boy and 82% hero and see what happens.