I’ve blogged about him once before, but news about the upcoming X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – Storm and Gambit One-Shot has me so excited for more Chris Bachalo goodness that I had to share! Thanks to Comic Book Resources for the preview! The image you see above is the Variant Cover. The regular cover can be viewed here. I don’t much care for it because the characters seem a bit static and there’s too much focus on the vampires and not Storm and Gambit. I am, however, loving Bachalo’s Storm posing as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (does that make Gambit Spike or Xander?). The vamps are all skulls in the background, and the image squarely featuring our lead characters. The extra touch of our heroes’ names in blood below is a final crowning achievement! This cover is simply bad ass!
It’s great to see Storm and Gambit together again on their own adventure. Of course, it was Storm who brought Gambit to the X-Men after he met her when she was regressed to adolescence by Nanny and the Orphanmaker (Uncanny X-Men #266). So, sending the X-Men’s thieves on a mission to steal Dracula’s headless body is pretty smart writing, in my humble opinion. Add to that mix the fact that Storm was once under Dracula’s thrall (and Gambit hasn’t been exactly himself lately either) and this comic has the makings of a potentially very interesting story.
Bachalo’s depiction of Storm (and Valkryrie) lead me to think he likes his women to wear hoop earrings! That’s just an observation, not a criticism. He certainly draws them well enough! I do miss Storm’s lightning bolt earrings a little bit though. Aside from that picayune detail, I am captivated by the sizes that Bachalo is choosing to make his panels from page to page. There is a cinematic quality going on here that really grabs me and prepares me for upcoming action.
Like this scene, in which another X-Plane bites the dust, much to Storm’s chagrin. Surely she knows by now that such an occurrence is a tradition for the X-Men. It wouldn’t be a real adventure if the transport didn’t get demolished!
Judging from this page alone, it looks like Gambit will be playing the comedic partner to Storm’s more serious role. He has that luxury as he is not the leader. Also, he met her when she was a child and his perspective of her will always be tinged by that. I would think it would be hard for Gambit to reconcile the grimmer aspects of Storm with the younger amnesiac version of her self. I do like this relationship that Gambit has with Storm because I think it brings out her more human side. We get to see Gambit crack the sometimes stoic veneer of Storm and glimpse the woman Ororo.
And the game’s afoot! I love how Bachalo’s version of Gambit has not a hint of fuchsia on him (the all black outfit is fitting for a thief) and Bachalo’s Storm is still rockin’ the one piece bathing suit while covering her legs and wearing very sensible all-terrain shoes! I am very much looking forward to this One-Shot!
