Burning House Interviews

ROGUE & GAMBIT: BURNING HOUSE INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEW WITH KAREN SANTORA, WRITER

JS: PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK.
KS: Hi there! My name is Karen Santora, and I am a lifelong Torontonian, an X-Men fan girl, and a proud contributing author to the Rogue & Gambit: Burning House book. My education and background are in media, illustration, and the arts, and writing fanfiction has been a passion of mine for over 20 years (aging myself here ha-ha)! X-Men was one of my first fandoms, and Rogue and Gambit was my first "ship". I mostly write a lot of one-shot stories these days—as I struggle to finish a multi-chapter story, and have left many a fanfics abandoned—which can all be found on Ao3 or FF.net under "kaebear89".

My story, Last Words, is about gratitude. It focuses on the way that we can take people for granted, and how we can get in our own way sometimes of just enjoying the small bits of happiness others can gift us with because we are hurting and are refusing any help or comfort. Life isn't perfect for any of us... there's always roadblocks to anything we'd envisioned for ourselves. But sometimes, we're lucky enough to have the love and support of people around us who are willing to help carry that baggage, and we in turn help carry theirs. However, the people who love us won't always be there, for whatever reason, so it's important to treat every moment we have with each other as the blessing that it is.

Rogue learns this lesson when Remy—after a fight that results in Rogue saying harsh and cruel things to him—is MIA while on an undercover mission. Once she realizes that Remy's life is at stake, she does everything in her power to save him and rectify the cruelty she'd inflicted on both of them.

JS: WHAT IS IT ABOUT ROGUE & GAMBIT THAT SPEAKS TO YOU? CAN YOU REMEMBER THE MOMENT YOU FIRST FELT A CONNECTION?
KS: I was around 2-7 years old when the original animated series was airing on tv—though I probably kept watching it well into my early teens because of syndication—, and I remember watching random episodes here and there, as I was a big cartoon-watching child. I remember always being drawn most to Rogue and Gambit's characters, and whenever they appeared on screen, they had my full attention. While many girls in the 90s were into Disney princesses as romantic ideals to have (I was a Disney kid too, but just not for the romance necessarily), I found the romantic tension between Rogue and Gambit utterly fascinating. It was wholly unlike any relationship that kids my age were being exposed to, and if anything, depicted a dynamic that is far more common place nowadays, as we all bring our baggage and past history into our new relationships, which can often cause conflict and misunderstandings. It also helped that their character designs, accents, and personalities were both rich with detail, which is what got me to start reading the Jim Lee comics in the later 90s, hooking me into their stories for the rest of my life.

JS: WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ERA FOR THE DUO?
KS: I go back and forth on this a lot. I'd say I have a top 3 for the comics, in no particular order…

• X-Treme X-Men written by Claremont and drawn by Larocca, which has some amazing moments, like Gambit's near-death experience;
• the early 90s Jim Lee era, because it's what ignited the Romy fire;
• the Mike Carey mid-2000s to early 2010s run of X-Men, which is a controversial take, but I think there's so much good material of their relationship having genuine tension and stuff they are trying to work through, which is the kind of conflict I live for.

If I were to have a single issue of a comic of their’ s I'd forever love is not only their wedding issue (X-Men Gold #30), it would also be X-Men #204, drawn by Mike Choi... I will never get over that issue.

I will also say that being a middle school/highschooler when X-Men: Evolution came out was also very formative in my becoming a fanfic writer for Rogue and Gambit specifically, so I have to give that series it's credit as well.

JS: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST SIGNIFICAT POINT OF DEVELOPMENT FOR EACH CHARACTER SINCE THEY FIRST APPEARED?
KS: For Rogue, I think she's had so many pivotal moments as a character, it's hard to say there's only one. She has grown so much since her first appearance, and you could argue that her becoming an X-Man in the 80s was that moment of greatest change: rejecting villainy to become a hero. But personally, I think Rogue's most significant moment is in becoming a leading team member of the X-Men, on par with Cyclops. Her becoming a field leader shows her full progression as a character; from a scared teenager, to a manipulated lacky for Mystique and the Brotherhood, to joining the heroes when she was at her darkest moment, and now leading the very team that once saw her as their enemy, who's love and trust she holds very dear. It shows the full range and scope of her journey, and how heroism can be born from anywhere.

With Gambit, I think Antarctica and his trial was the biggest character moment that changed the way I saw him at least. Gambit always had moments of self-doubt hidden beneath his cocky attitude, but Antarctica was the first time I remember really seeing just how deep that self-hate went, and how that self-loathing was impacting his relationship to Rogue and the rest of the X-Men. Learning about his part in the Morlock Massacre and how he had essentially been spending his life trying to right that wrong exposed so much more depth to his character than I fully appreciated before then, and ever since, he has been making up for those past sins—even though he has more than earned his second chance by now.

JS: WHAT YOUR EXPERIENCE WORKING ON ‘BURNING HOUSE’ BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
KS: I loved this experience! I cannot explain how much joy I have for the fact that my work is featured alongside those who's stories and art I've long admired. It feels surreal.

I very rarely have people reading my stories before I post them online—mostly just for grammar or spelling mistakes. But to collaborate and have someone read over my work with an eye for making it as great as it could possibly be very rewarding, and brought new ideas that added depth to the story that never would have occurred to me without that input from James.

I wish every fandom did this kind of project, as I think it showcases the dedication and talent in this community. Would love to see more artists, especially, be included... if we ever do a volume two, ha-ha.

JS: IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF MARVEL, WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU’D DO WITH THESE CHARACTERS?
KS: Oh my god, what a question... I honestly have been really loving what Marvel is doing both in the comics (Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone) and the X-Men '97 series. My only hope would be that there would eventually be a spinoff Rogue & Gambit animated series—maybe like a 6-8 episode mini-series— that takes place between X-Men '97 seasons. Lenore Zann had floated the idea in a previous interview she did, and I would absolutely green light that project if I had any power at Marvel ha-ha. I think that way, they can have their own dedicated storylines and development that don't hinge so much on the larger plot of the ensemble cast.

I miss the smaller side stories like they had in the original X-Men TAS (eg. "Love in Vain", "Beauty & the Beast", "X-Ternally Yours"), and think a side series of the couple would give us fans a lot of that back in this new generation of animation. But that's just because I can never get enough to those two, and would watch/read anything they're in.

Interviewed by James Silvester