Continuing with the endangered species theme, next up is Gambit.  The good news is that, unlike District X, the December issue outsold the final issue of Emma Frost.  The bad news is that it only outsold Emma by around a thousand copies, and thus far, its sales have been dropping at around 4,000 a month.  You can do the maths.

Anyhow, issue #7 sees Gambit embark on its second storyline.  What I'd assumed was just an open ending for issue #6 turns out to be a segue into the new arc, as we pick up with Gambit in jail.  Evidently we're sticking with New Orleans for the foreseeable future, as some of the supporting cast from the previous arc also recur.  It seems a little odd to be setting the book in this city and yet completely ignoring the character's established supporting cast, but on the other hand, that would mean getting into the Guilds.  And if Layman wants to steer well clear of the Guilds, I can't say I blame him.  Horribly complicated stuff.

"Voodoo Economics" is a three-parter, which means we get off to a faster start this time around.  Local cop Noreen Tanaka is introduced into the cast, and she's an interesting character.  There's some nice misdirection in her introduction, as Layman starts off setting her up as the friendly cop.  Ultimately we're left in no doubt that she's downright corrupt, but at the same time she's endearingly open about telling Gambit what she's up to.  As per usual, Gambit struggles to know what to do with a character who's even more brazen than he is, which makes her an interesting foil for him.

Meanwhile, we're also introduced to what passes for a New Orleans supervillain.  I've always liked the idea that the Marvel Universe superhumans don't just exist in New York - that just happens to be where the top flight guys congregate.  There's something quite appealing about the idea that every town in America has its own local crap supervillains, with vaguely decent powers but absolutely no idea what they're doing.  That's more or less what we get with Emery, a character whose semi-respectable superpowers are tragically undercut by his rubbish costume and total cluelessness.

Gambit has become a much more enjoyable book now that the pace has picked up, and it's nice to see that some of the supporting players from the previous arc are sticking around.  It's a title that the line could happily do without, in the name of getting the numbers down to a sensible level.  But it's still a fun read.

Rating: B

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