Gambit (3rd series) #22

Issue Date: 
November 2000
Story Title: 
Follow the Leader
Staff: 

Fabian Nicieza (writer), Yanick Paquette (penciler), Sean Parsons (inkers), Kevin Tinsley (colorist), Richard Starkings & Comicraft‘s Troy Peteri (letters), Mike Marts (editor), Bob Harras (editor-in-chief)

Brief Description: 

While the Unified Guild holds a vote of confidence on Gambit’s leadership, he is attacked by Rax of the Neo. Actually he could easily defeat him with his improoved powers, but Gambit has to make sure that some innocent bystanders aren’t endangered. In the end both the Neo and the Guild interrupt. Domina decides for her group to leave and Bella Donna fills in Gambit that he will remain their leader. Fontanelle dreamprobes Quiet Bill and learns that he saw many alternate dead versions of Gambit, yet in one world he witnessed the New Son battling New York’s heroes. Courier uncovers evidence that links FBI agent Fred Duncan and the X-Cutioner armour to Amanda Mueller’s Black Womb project.

Full Summary: 

Rax shoots a crossbow bolt at Remy, shattering his wine goblet and ruining his shirt. Remy remote-charges the crossbow, the knife Rax pulls, and then the ground around him. Rax runs, and Remy considers letting him go but then chases him, because of his sense of responsibility and his desire to avoid Bella Donna.
At the Boudreaux mansion, she is holding a vote of confidence on Remy's leadership, which Theoren and Gris-Gris have called, because of the empty casket of All Tomorrows. She advises the Guild to give him more time to prove himself.
Remy chases Rax into the Metairie Cemetery, trying to forget how his father had his grandfather Jacques ousted as patriarch by a vote of confidence, in 1923. His father and Marius Bodreaux agreed to the marriage of their children six years ago, to unify the guilds and bring in “Heaven on Earth.“
Fontanelle investigates Quiet Bill's dreams of alternate Earths, finding Remy dead in each of them, always impaled through the chest. Then she sees the New Son fighting the heroes of his earth.
In DC, Courier investigates government records on Black Womb, which involved federal agent Fred Duncan, Amanda Mueller and alien technology. He also finds a photo of the the X-Cutioner armor.
Remy and Rax scuffle in the streets. Remy refuses to use his enhanced powers to just blow him up and has to protect bystanders. Rax shoots a bolt in his shoulder and is about to kill him, when he is interrupted by Domina, who reveals that the Neo have been watching, and then the Guild, who did have a vote: Remy won 7 to 6.
Domina returns Remy to them, saying the Neo were once allies with the Old Kingdom. She claims she would have won, but Rax and Remy exchange glances: they both know Remy was superior.
The New Son breaks out of a slab of rock in Siberia. He finds Remy’s message on the ground and laughs. He did not realize they thought he was the “New Son,” when it’s actually “New Sun.”

Characters Involved: 

Gambit

Courier

Fontanelle

Quiet Bill
Bella Donna, Gambit’s ex-eife and viceroy of the Guild

Tante Mattie, traiteur

Genard Alouette, Gris-Gris, Fifolet, Minister Hoard, Zoe Ishihara, Theoren Marceaux, Emil Lapin, Mercy LeBeau, Claude Poitier, Questa, Singer, Minister Tome (all Unified Guild)

Barbican, Domina, Rax, two unknown members (all Neo)

New Son
In dream sequence

New Son

Captain America, Colossus, Hulk, Human Torch, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Spiderman, Storm, Thing, Thor, Vision, Wolverine (Heroes of an alternate earth)
In flashbacks

Jacques LeBeau

Jean Luc LeBeau

Marius Boudreaux

Story Notes: 

Federal agent Fred Duncan was an old friend of Professor Xavier, who helped him set up the school. He first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #2. The circumstances of his death have yet to be revealed, but the X-Cutioner (Carl Denti) picked up Duncan’s files along with much gathered equipment and weapons to avenge him, as mentioned in Uncanny X-Men Annual #17.

Issue Information: 
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