Curse of the Mutants: Storm & Gambit
In this Marvel 1-Shot Gambit and Storm are sent on a covert op to Vampire Island in the Mediterranean to recover the body of Dracula (they already have his head).
Here’s an overview of the “Curse of the Mutants” story line from Google Books “A human bomb explodes in San Francisco’s Union Square. Dozens are covered in blood. Jubilee is one of them. The former X-Man soon falls victim to a strange manufactured virus – all part of the plan of Xarus, son of Dracula! Xarus is the new lord of the vampires, having slain his father, and he has an ultimatum for the X-Men: join his ranks as vampires, or perish! The X-Men enlist the aid of vampire-hunter Blade and even bargain with a resurrected Dracula himself, but who will win the ultimate battle between mutants and vampires in the streets of San Francisco? Collecting X-MEN (2010) #1-6 and material from X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS SAGA and X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS SPOTLIGHT.”
This 1-shot provides background information for “X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – Blade #1”, “X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – Namor #1”, “X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – Smoke and Blood #1”, and “X-Men #3”. At this point in the timeline Ororo (Ororo Munroe, AKA Storm) is also the Queen of Wakanda. I was excited to see Gambit and Storm together, both of them were raised as thieves and are well suited for missions that require stealth. But frankly I was disappointed in the story telling. Like many 1-Shots it is a part of a larger story not one that actually stands on its own, but the preface is good and you do get some resolution at the end, so it is better than others. The art wasn’t amazing. But the main thing is that the fight scenes were lacking, kind of like a how they are choreographed in a “B-Movie”, they just didn’t pop like I was hoping. There is also a parental advisory on this issue, for blood and themes, there is not nudity or coarse language. “Curse of the Mutants: Storm & Gambit” originally sold for $3.99 (I found in the dollar bin), is available in the Marvel Unlimited collection, and was included in the “Free Mondays” when that was going on back on August 15, 2011. If you are a collector, into vampires, or need the whole series this is not a bad book at all.
Marvel summerizes the storyline this way “As an army of vampires descends on San Francisco, the X-Men find themselves in dire straights. The good news is that they may have just discovered a means for stemming the invasion. The bad news? What they need is in the clutches of the vampires themselves. Luckily, the X-Men have two thieves in their employ that may just be able pull off such a heist. Hold on to your wooden stakes, X-Fans…STORM and GAMBIT are in for a bumpy ride!”
Images courtesy of Marvel.com.