Wolverine and the X-Men 36, Gambit 17

Wolverine and the X-Men 36
Aaron (w) and Camuncoli and Currie (a) and Milla w/ Delgado (c)

Battle of the Atom parts 1 and 2
Battle of the Atom part 3
Battle of the Atom part 4
And then Jean and Emma and the Cuckoos have a psychic fight against future Jean and Magik brings young Iceman and Beast to the future to find out that mutants seem to be doing okay.

Yeah, that's all I'm writing about this issue. Every issue of this event has been EXACTLY the same minus the location and maybe the parts. Occasionally a thing will "spice up" the ending, like the announced Jean and Emma fight or this ending. But that's it. And frankly, I've already said everything I need to say about this in any of the reviews I linked above.




Gambit 17
Asmus (w) and C. Mann, Leisten, and Tadeo (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The final issue of what has been a pretty fun series, maybe with a few slow points here and there. Here we enter where we left off last issue, with Gambit in a pit surrounded by Cich, his men, and a bunch of random supervillains. Outnumbered and outgunned, not to mention rather dazed and recently exploded upon, Gambit seems in a bit of trouble. He holds his own for a split second before getting rather overwhelmed. He's not without resources, though, as he manages to call out his code word: all in. In response, Pete Wisdom, accompanied by Excalibur and Black Knight, turn up to help in the battle. As some of the villains begin to flee, suddenly feeling less confident, Rogue, Captain America, and Havok show up to provide additional back-up. The tide of the battle turns on a dime and the heroes start winning handily, until Cich shoots Gambit in the forehead. Gambit falls and Rogue leaps to his side. The other heroes descend on him while Rogue cradles Remy. Faiza walks up and says she can help, managing to magic the bullet out of him and restore him. Way to go, Excalibur! Gambit immediately goes for Cich and ends up essentially disintegrating him, with his powers changed a bit by Faiza's resurrection. As the enemies are rounded up, the heroes disperse. Remy tells Rogue he's not cut out for Avengers life and he has to find his own way for a little bit longer. He returns to the school where he's welcomed back.

Nice final issue here as we get to see most of the guest stars we've had from the run of the series as Gambit realizes he can't always do everything alone. Still, he's not exactly powerless here and he shows that off nicely as well. It's a good wrap-up, eliminating the threat of Cich and still giving us a pretty satisfying ending for the series. The art continues to be good (Clay Mann's work has been more than a little impressive throughout the series) and we get a lot of it. There's a good amount of the quiet art, showcased as Rogue and Gambit talk, and plenty of action art. Not much more to say than this. Nice book, very good conclusion to the series. Everything good that's happened in this run is duplicated here and we don't get any of the slow moments the book has occasionally been plagued by. Really nice ending to a series that could have gone a lot worse.