This feature is basically a counterpart to our Left Unresolved feature. That feature is for plotlines that were, well, left unresolved. In this one, though, we spotlight examples of long unresolved stories that WERE ultimately resolved by later writers. The only rule is that at least four years have to pass between the plot point being introduced and it being resolved.
Today we take a look at the five year wait it took to reveal what Gambit and Sabretooth's sinister shared past was!
In 1992's X-Men #8 (by Jim Lee, Scott Lobdell and Art Thibert), the X-Men are captured by a group of bad guys including Sabretooth, and Sabretooth has specific words for Gambit...
This pretty much was Jim Lee taking a page out of Chris Claremont 101, introducing a mysterious shared past between characters.
The plot was seemingly picked up two years and twenty issues later in X-Men #28 (by Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert and Matt Ryan), when a captured Sabretooth taunts Gambit in front of Rogue...
Five issues later (by Nicieza, Kubert and Ryan), Rogue can't leave well enough alone and goes to Sabretooth, who tells her the story of Gambit...
As it turns out, young Gambit is romancing this young woman in Paris so that he can steal some jewel from her. Problem is, Sabretooth wants the jewel, too, so he interrupts Gambit's "game" to make things very, very real...
Rogue isn't thrilled to find out this information about Gambit...
As it turns out, she is even LESS thrilled when she discovers the REAL secret sinister past between Gambit and Sabretooth three years later!
In Uncanny X-Men #350 (by Steve Seagle, Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira), the X-Men learn that Gambit's big secret is that he was hired by Mister Sinister to put together a team of mercenaries, one of which was Sabretooth. That team was the Marauders, who then slaughtered the Morlocks in the Mutant Massacre...
So yeah, that is a good reason for Sabretooth to remember Gambit and be surprised to see him hanging out with the X-Men. This is one of the better examples of these things being all tied together, really.
That's it for this installment! Feel free to send in suggestions for future editions of Provide Some Answers to bcronin@comicbookresources.com