Burning House Interviews

ROGUE & GAMBIT: BURNING HOUSE INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEW WITH JAMES SILVESTER: EDITOR/WRITER

BF: HELLO THERE! GIVE US AN INTRO TO YOU AND YOUR SPECTACULAR WORK.
JS: Hello there, I’m James. I’m an author of four spy thriller novels alongside several short stories and one shots across a plethora of genres. The first story I ever had published was for Pencil Tip’s original Temporal Logbook. Since then, I’ve contributed stories and edited collections for Pencil Tip across their range, and I’m beyond grateful to Bob for agreeing to take a chance with Burning House.

BF: WHAT IS IT ABOUT ROGUE AND GAMBIT THAT SPEAKS TO YOU, AND CAN YOU REMEMBER THE MOMENT YOU FIRST FELT THAT CONNECTION?
JS: My first experience of them was through the original cartoon series in the 90s. I was a big Spiderman fan at the time and every day after school on whatever channel it was, there was a double bill of Spiderman and X-Men, which I had little knowledge of at that point, and there they were. I felt connected from the moment I first saw them on screen; their chemistry and they way their sassiness and humour masked the pain of the relationship they clearly yearned for but couldn’t have struck a chord straight away, even as a young teen. I’ve always been insular and awkward and masked feelings with jokes, and I saw Rogue and Gambit doing that too. The show was brilliantly written and very deep, especially for what was essentially a kids’ cartoon. There was no way back for me after that and I dived into the comics.

BF: WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ERA FOR THE DUO?
JS: I love what Gail Simone is doing with them now in Uncanny. It’s an easy option for popular fictional couples to be split up and that’s something Rogue and Gambit have been through many times over the years, but Gail presents them as both independently strong but equally strong together. They still face trauma and peril obviously, but their bond is unbreakable and their pains are maturely dealt with. Prior to this, I loved their run on X-Treme X-Men. The panel where Rogue literally drags Gambit’s soul back from the ‘Gates of Heaven’ so they can finally have their chance together is probably my favourite comic book panel of all time. Of course, not long after, it was decided to break them up again, which I hated. I actually stopped reading the comics for a long time after that.

BF: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT POINT OF DEVELOPMENT FOR EACH CHARACTER SINCE THEY FIRST APPEARED?
JS: Tricky to answer because there are so many! Rogue learning of Gambit’s past was crucial and set the bar for a lot of their trauma and how they learned to deal with it, and Rogue’s battle to control her powers leading to her rejecting him for so long hits hard. I think though that their ultimate confrontation of all those issues which boiled away for years and finally accepting that they were each other’s home & harbour was the biggie.

BF: WHAT’S YOUR EXPERIENCE OF WORKING ON BURNING HOUSE BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
JS: I will never stop singing the praises of everyone involved in putting this book together. In fact, I might actually record a song about it and threaten to release it unless everyone in the fandom buys a copy… The talent of all the contributors is immense but even more so, their passion and enthusiasm for doing it. I’ve worked in collaborations before, sometimes as a contributor and others as editor, and there are always things to enjoy but it’s the nature of the beast that it can sometimes be a slog to get everything moving and they can often end up draining. For Burning House, everyone has been an absolute pleasure, always responding, always happy to chat constructively about edits, suggestions and how to do things and always wanting to do more than they signed up for. Life is pretty full on at the moment and when I was struggling to manage the edits in time, Carrie and Elizabeth stepped right up to help and get things over the finish line. Every single creative involved deserves the highest praise, and I’m sure are destined for great things in the writing and artistry worlds. I hope that in years to come when each of them are riding high at the top of their fields, they’ll look back at Burning House as a stepping stone they’re proud of (and commission a story or three from me…)

BF: IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF MARVEL, WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU WOULD DO WITH THESE CHARACTERS?
JS: Blimey, considering I set these questions, you’d have thought I’d have an answer prepared… I think task one would be signing Gail Simone to a hundred year contract and have it written in blood that no-one comes in and does daft things like try breaking them up again. They’ve had more than their fair share of heartbreak, so let’s just keep them happy. I’d also love to see them developed properly in the MCU as a spin off series, based in New Orleans. I’d give myself final approval on casting of course.

Interview conducted by Bob Furnell