Gambit #6 wraps up the opening "House of Cards" storyline. 

After last issue's guest starring appearance, Wolverine is packed back off to the X-Men, leaving Gambit to wrap things up himself.  Wise move - the X-Men can't be allowed to overshadow the stars in these solo titles.

I still feel that this storyline has been stretched out too long, and would have been more effective as a four-parter.  That said, Layman has built to a good climax here, playing nicely off Gambit's guilt trips without hammering the point.  Trying to be the better man, Gambit heads off to try and save one of the villains from getting killed.  He doesn't particularly want to, but he feels it's the sort of thing he ought to be doing.  Unfortunately for the villain in question, it turns out that Gambit's fairly easily dissuaded.  It's a very nice Gambit scene, and one of the first times in this series where I really felt we're getting into the character.

The solicitations had regular artist Georges Jeanty working on this book.  But the title's running late, so we get an unscheduled fill-in from Roger Robinson instead.  It's a little rough around the edges, but that's last-minute fill-ins for you.  The layouts are strong, and Robinson does a good Gambit.  Most importantly, he gets the emotions across.  I'd be interested to see what he can do on a more normal schedule.

Overall, once it got past the very slow opening, this has been a decent storyline.  Of course, I'm going to hammer the usual point: we have far too many X-books already, and this book emerged as part of a cynical expansion of the line by adding titles that simply weren't needed.  The line desperately needs slimmed, and while Gambit is a decent book, the greater needs of the line would be better served without it.  It's far from alone in that regard.

But, taken in isolation, this is pretty good.

Rating: B+

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