First look - Kid Storm and Remy bond in Chris Claremont's Gambit #1

Gambit #1 art
Gambit #1 art (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Update: Chris Claremont's Gambit, a five-issue limited series with artist Sid Kotian is now scheduled for a July 27 debut. 

Gambit was originally announced to launch in March, but then solicited for a May debut and is now scheduled for July.

The series is set in the X-Men's past before Gambit was a member of the team when he and a de-aged Storm first met and "forged an everlasting bond as they thieved their way along the Mississippi River." Gambit will tell various untold adventures of the duo, including a face-off with the Shadow King.

Marvel has released a four-page first look at Kotian's interior art, along with variant covers by Salvador Larroca, Peach Momoko, Scott Williams, and InHyuk Lee.

Original story follows...

When it comes to the X-Men, no creator is as synonymous with the mutant team's adventures than writer Chris Claremont, who shepherded the X-Men in their core title and numerous spin-offs from 1975 till 1991 - and in March of 2022, he returns (alongside artist Syd Kotian) to the X-Men franchise for a new title starring Gambit .

No further details of the new Gambit title's plot have been revealed, but the series is scheduled to kick off just as the X-Men line is entering its upcoming 'Destiny of X' era in March and April.

Multiple titles have been announced for 'Destiny of X' so far, including Knights of X, a new title picking up where Gambit's previous team, Excalibur, left off in its recent series finale, with Gambit himself shown in preview art for the new Knights of X title.

Gambit was created way back in 1990's Uncanny X-Men Annual #14, created by Claremont himself alongside artist Jim Lee, with artist Mike Collins drawing the interiors for Gambit's actual first appearance.

A master thief (and master heartbreaker) Gambit has often been a, pun completely intended, wildcard for the X-Men, as well as a fan-favorite thanks to his prominent role in X-Men: The Animated Series and his long, fraught romance with Rogue.

In the current Krakoa era of the X-Men, Gambit and Rogue have managed to get married and maintain a stable relationship, while also joining the most recent incarnation of the team Excalibur.

Gambit has struck out on his own before, with multiple starring limited series and even ongoing titles under his own name over the years.

Judging by the art from Whilce Portacio which depicts Gambit alongside a de-aged Storm, which pays homage to the cover of Uncanny X-Men #266, his first appearance in the main X-Men title, the story will flash back to Gambit's earliest days with the team. Interestingly, Portacio himself drew that issue way back in 1990.

Marvel has recently announced a series of similar flashback titles, including the upcoming Venom: Lethal Protector, which pair classic creators with their most well-known characters, set in the era contemporary to their original run.

Marvel Comics promises more information coming soon - likely when the publisher's full March 2022 solicitations arrive later this month here on Newsarama.

Gambit is just one of several new or relaunched Marvel mutant titles you'll need to keep track of on our list of all new X-Men comics, graphic novels, collections arriving in 2021 and 2022.

George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)

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