Anonymous
asked:
Hi. I want to comment on your views on romanticism in comics. I trust that you know way more than I do when it comes to this industry and keeping readers' interest long-term. But, is it so terribly boring to have an iconic relationship, like Rogue and Gambit, to root for? I mean, we read these books to see good triumph over evil and relate to the internal struggles of our favorite characters. I just think watching a relationship triumph though these conflicts is what it's all about. Thanks.

Sure, of course we want you to root for you favorite relationships between our characters–that’s what the soap opera is all about.

That said, by the nature of serial storytelling, a happy ending is never guaranteed. The hurtles to be overcome and the jeopardy the characters face is legitimate and genuine.

It’s also a truism of storytelling that a static relationship is seldom as interesting as a dynamic relationship. Hence, constant chance. Hence, no guaranteed happily ever after.

Going back to Gambit and Rogue, they were pretty much THE Marvel power couple of the early 1990s–made more so by the X-MEN cartoon, I suspect. There was something very elegant about the dynamic of the girl who couldn’t be touched, and the rogue thief whose heart she’d stolen. But that’s a relationship that’s completely based on unrequited, unfulfilled, unconsummated love–that’s the dynamic. Once she can be touched, once he stops being a rogue, all of that energy dissipated. And that happened at some point–and it happened in such a casual way that I can’t even specifically remember how and when. (I seem to think it was when Gambit’s connection to Mister Sinister was revealed circa UNCANNY X-MEN #350)

Since then, it’s been a relationship that different creators have gone back to from time to time and tried to re-spark. But somehow, it doesn’t seem to work the same way. Having overcome the hurtles, having touched the untouchable, it’s difficult to make it untouchable again and for it to mean the same thing. There’s always going to be great nostalgia for it, especially for readers who experienced it all playing out in real time–but it’s been at least a decade, maybe longer, since it was a truly active relationship. No way around it, at this point Gambit and Rogue are exes. And sure, exes can get back together, but at least so far every attempt to reignite that spark has fizzled.

So, to me, far better and more interesting to see what new combinations you can come up with, pairings that might capture some of that same lightning in a bottle without being dances that have already been danced. And that goes for Gambit and Rogue and a lot of other classic Marvel characters whose romances have hit the rocks over the years. At least in my opinion.