Mr. & Mrs. X #1 Review

Mr. & Mrs. X #1 Review

Mr. & Mrs. X #1 Review

The failed wedding of Kitty Pryde and Colossus was an absolute disaster. Everything that happened in X-Men: Gold #30 failed to build interest in the X-Men comics. Initially I was not going to pick up the Mr. & Mrs. X series that spun off from X-Men: Gold #30. That changed when I heard that Kelly Thompson was writing the series. Thompson did a very good job delivering a fun mini-series starring Rogue and Gambit before the events of X-Men: Gold #30 took place. Now with her in charge of a new Rogue and Gambit series I’m interested to see what she does with the newly married X-Men. Let’s find that out now with Mr. & Mrs. X #1.

Writer: Kelly Thompson

Artist: Oscar Bazaldua

Colorist: Frank D’Armata

Story Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 5.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Rogue and Gambit have their wedding and reception. As that is going on a spaceship is blown up by a pursuing spaceship.

Mr. & Mrs. X #1 Review
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A little bit earlier Storm, X-23, Gabby and Bishop help Gambit get ready for his wedding. Bling shows up and says she can help with the ring situation.

In the storage room Rogue asks Illyana to get a special device for her. Illyana says she can’t go into that room since there are spiders in the room. Rogue then says she will get the device. After getting back Illyana teleports them to the reception area.

At the reception area while Jubilee, Jean Grey and Psylocke help Rogue get her “something blue, old, new and borrowed” items Iceman and Bobby joke about being on Team Rogue. Rogue reminds them they aren’t on a mission to shut them up.

Jubilee gets excited as they get all the necessary items. Mystique suddenly shows up and says she can be Rogue’s something blue. Rogue tells everyone she wants alone time with Mystique.

Rogue wonders if Mystique is their to kidnap her and ruin the wedding. Mystique understands Rogue’s skepticism but says she just wants to be there for her daughters important day.

The wedding begins and Rogue walks down the aisle, wearing a dampening collar that she plans on using through their honeymoon as well.

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After the wedding Rogue asks Beast why the dampening collar hasn’t advance past causing its wearer pain. Beast jokes that they haven’t really had time to develop technology to suppress mutant powers.

Sometime later Gambit and Rogue are on their honeymoon with Gambit having been able to obtain a private spaceship for them to use. After having sex a number of times someone ends up calling them, much to their surprise.

Rogue answers it and sees that it is Kitty Pryde calling them. Kitty says she needs them to work a mission for her since all the other X-Men are busy on their own missions. Kitty explains that the mission is to retrieve something and sends them the coordinates.

Rogue and Gambit fly their spaceship to the location and find another ship near Che’An, a small planet on the outskirts of the Shi-Ar Empire.

When they go inside they find Cerise in handcuffs. The Imperial Guard appear behind Cerise and attack Rogue and Gambit. Rogue and Gambit are able to hold their own. Rogue absorbs Astra’s powers, not realizing she has a phasing power. Rogue ends up phasing out of the ship along with the item they were told to retrieve.

The Imperial Guard capture Gambit. Gambit tells the Imperial Guard they have to get Rogue back since she also has the item the Imperial Guard were holding. Before they can reach Rogue she suddenly disappears.

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Sometime later Rogue wakes up and is surprised to find Deadpool in bed with her. Deadpool says the egg he is holding is what came out of the crystal that Rogue took. He then says he and Rogue should go raise their own kids. End of issue.

The Good: Mr. & Mrs. X #1 is a double edge sword. It obviously needed to be new reader friendly to bring fans who did not read X-Men: Gold #30 up to date with why Rogue and Gambit got married. But as it has to do that the first half of Mr. & Mrs X #1 never gets past feeling like one giant recap. Luckily the second half of this issue saves it from this series not gaining the momentum it needed out of the gate.

Through the first half of the issue there was a lack of energy as we went through the wedding we already saw in X-Men: Gold #30. Kelly Thompson quickly fixes that in the second half as we get to see Gambit and Rogue on their honeymoon. The interaction between the two as they have their own private ship showed the deep connection they have. This chemistry is something that Thompson built back up in her previous Rogue & Gambit mini-series and she is able to recapture this. Throughout their time alone it is clear they love each other and that neither one feels like they rushed into things, as this was something that was a long time coming for the two.

Also, while Kitty Pryde did not come off looking great after all the build up to her wedding with Colossus fell through, Thompson did a very good job with having her interact with Gambit and Rogue. Kitty showed that even with her recent experience it did not shake her as she is still the leader of the X-Men. Seeing her convince Rogue and Gambit to go on a special mission involving the Shi’ar was a good way to put the newlyweds on their first mission together. Kitty’s reaction to calling Rogue and Gambit after they had sex also provided this issue with some.

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The battle with the Shi’ar’s Imperial Guard was a great showcase for how Rogue and Gambit have developed great teamwork with each other. This is something that Thompson developed during the Rogue and Gambit mini-series. The two know each other so well that even when fighting the Imperial Guard it does not look like they are out matched.

Oscar Bazaldua provided Mr. & Mrs. X #1 with solid artwork throughout the issue. Bazaldua did a good job aligning everyone’s facial reaction with the dialogue. Where he shined the most was the action. Once the fighting broke out Bazaldua looked most comfortable as he made it look chaotic while also showing some nice teamwork between Rogue and Gambit.

The Bad: Spending the first eleven pages of Mr. & Mrs. X #1 on the wedding kept this issue from gaining the momentum it needed out of the gate. With how much Marvel already marketed this book as Rogue and Gambit being married there wasn’t a need to spend a lot of time with this recap scene. It just set a reminder to those who read X-Men: Gold #30 how Marvel did not go through with the wedding between Kitty Pryde and Colossus that they heavily marketed for a year.

What did not help this wedding out was the teased set up of Mystique possibly getting in the way of the wedding. This was unnecessary set up but since Thompson did have Rogue straight out question Mystique on her appearance. This conversation put out the idea that the Rogue we see after walking down the aisle is not her. And given that we don’t see Mystique during the wedding or reception this idea that Rogue isn’t Rogue hangs this Mystique sub-plot over the head of this mini-series.

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That is a sub-plot that is unnecessary as Thompson has already shown she can write a strong relationship between Rogue and Gambit. The focus on this series needs to be on Rogue and Gambit successful relationship. This Mystique sub-plot is just a reminder that this is comics and we could possibly see this series go the obvious route of not keeping them together for long.

And all of this questioning Mystique’s motives could’ve easily been done away with by actually showing Mystique walk Rogue down the aisle. Especially since we spent two whole pages on this sub-plot Thompson could’ve easily added this so that we don’t just think of this other comic book sub-plot hanging over head. Even Mystique in the background of the reception would’ve help. But since we didn’t get that and the scene directly after Rogue and Mystique hug we see Rogue walking down the aisle by herself this question is not avoided.

The scene between Illyana and Rogue also did not come across as genuine as Thompson probably wanted. This is largely due to Illyana being to light hearted after how she felt that she was the reason Kitty and her brother didn’t go through with their wedding, as we saw in X-Men: Gold #30. There was also no clear indication that these two characters were that close as their interaction together felt distant. It would’ve been much better if we saw Rogue with someone like Storm, Jean or Jubilee since at least with them they’ve have a shared history as teammates and friends.

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It was also odd that we did not see Rogue have an actual one-on-one conversation with Nightcrawler, her brother. It would’ve fit in well with how we ended up transitioning over to the Mystique appearance if Thompson put over Rogue and Nightcrawler’s family tie. The lack of that interaction made it harder to buy into this being a family event that felt right that Mystique actually attended.

Overall: Mr. & Mrs. X #1 had a rough start but once it got going Kelly Thompson was able to build a fun story involving the Shi’ar Empire. Thompson past experience with Rogue and Gambit showed as she got over how much fun these two are together. Hopefully moving forward the focus will be on the strengths of Mr. & Mrs. X #1 rather on what kept the issue from starting strong in the first half of the story.