A couple months back, Daredevil decided to put a special emphasis on the thievery of the Black Cat. I enjoyed these couple issues, because they were sexy, sly and felt like they were right out of an Ocean's Eleven-type film.

And Gambit evokes that, as well, perhaps a little more geared towards the ladies; there's numerous cheesecake shots in this book, and the ragin' Cajun doesn't disappoint. In terms of a spy thriller, Gambit delivers something that's smart: one part James Bond, and one part grand social engineering experiment. I actually quite liked this issue, and here's why:

• The art style grabbed me as something a bit soft, but this kind of enhances the cinematic feel of the book.
• It gets back to Gambit's roots as a thief without ignoring current continuity. He's still a teacher at the Grey school, but he seems to be taking a little bit of a vacation.
• Each action that may have seemed out of the ordinary to us readers is reflected in a moment of "Ah-ha!" later in the book. I like when this happens in movies, and that extends to comics, as well.

What I didn't like, however:

• You'd figure that the crime boss with a vault of Marvel-related doomsday relics would be on someone's radar; having this guy just show up out of nowhere is a tad suspicious.
• While it seems a bit nitpicky, the above point would be minimized with just a little bit of context; we get that the guy is bad news, but can we get an idea of who he's worked with? Who has he bankrolled? What kind of circles is he playing in?

Gambit #1
Marvel Comics
$2.99

The Verdict: A fun plot and some strong character work make this book a four card hand out of five. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes, and fans of Gambit from 90's comics or otherwise should, as well.