I hate Gambit. Hate him. Was thoroughly annoyed when Chuck Austen introduced him into the Ultimate X-Men universe, and even more annoyed that he was coming back in the pages of Ultimate X-Men #50. And you know what? I still hate Gambit. But in this story, Vaughan uses him well, and makes him kind of cool. Part of the reason he's cool is because he's used sparingly, and instead this issue focuses on the Ultimate X-Men team having a bit of a night off, enjoying themselves at a carnival. I'm a sucker for the "downtime" issues, even moreso when they're drawn as well as this issue is by Kubert and Miki, and Vaughan has so many great character moments in this issue, including moments with my favorites like Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde, that I wound up really enjoying the issue despite myself.
The X-Men have had a rough time of it lately in the Ultimate universe. One of their members wound up dead, they were hunted by a psychotic serial killer, they were almost the cause of a coup that upset the government... so certainly they can use a night out at the carnival. It's nice to see these team members getting to enjoy themselves a little, not being caught up in the throes of conspiracy (something Bendis flogged a little too hard in his otherwise enjoyable run on the book). To be sure, Vaughan introduces danger and tension into the issue toward the end, as this is a superhero comic after all, but he starts off showing us what these characters do in their off-time.
In this exploration of what they do when they're not "on the job," there are some great moments. Some we've seen before, at least in variation, like the Jean/Scott quiet moment, but they're still fun to see again with a new twist. Some are kind of stock moments, such as Colossus's anger at the rigged carnival games, but they survive because of Vaughan's snappy dialogue, which is at its best channeled through the snarky Dazzler or the moderately naive Colossus. Then there's the exceptionally fun danger room sequence between Angel and Nightcrawler, a nice flipside to the angst that the other members of the team expect them to be engaging in, and the tweaked relationship moments that could only happen in the Ultimate universe, like the developing love triangle between Iceman, Kitty and Rogue.
And then, we have Gambit. Have I mentioned I hate him? Well, I do, but I had a hard time keeping it up in this issue, because he's just such a badass. Sure, his hair looks like it's about two decades out of date, but otherwise, he gets to be the enigmatic maybe-villain of the piece. The line "my card" along with Kubert's visual borders on cheesy but settles on fun instead, the use of his powers on the ferris wheel is worthy of Brian Hitch's Ultimates work and what the man does to Wolverine is just mean... and clever, and highly entertaining. Vaughan starts off this issue in the talky-talky mode, and I'm all for it when it's done this well, but the last half of the issue is a well-choreographed, beautiful action sequence, and should satisfy everybody.
Truthfully, if this is the kind of thing we'd be getting, I'd rather have Vaughan on one of the "real" X-titles, because my affection for the Ultimate universe has dwindled quite a bit. However, given that he's able to play with different characters here, and put a slightly different spin on them, I can't deny that I'm having fun with Ultimate X-Men once again, especially now that Kubert and Miki have returned to the art chores.
