Synopsis: New York City: A little girl watches an exchange between three people from a locked car. She hears their voice raised in anger, and then one of the men shoots the other two people (probably the girl's parents). In shock, the girl yells out, attracting the murderer's attention. He comes to the car, and finding it locked, bashes in the window with his head. The girl struggles free and out the other side, leaving the "Hammerhead" with her shoe and his head stuck in the window frame.
The next morning, Remy LeBeau (identified as Gambit on the frontspiece, but nowhere in the issue itself) shows a card trick to a girl on the street. She picks a card, he finds it for her. Then the card (an Ace of Hearts) levitates in midair before sparking and burning away all but the heart. While other onlookers leave, disturbed by the display of mutant powers, the girl gives him her phone number and tells him to stop by her hotel in 15 minutes. She declines to have the scruffy Cajun walk her there, but he doesn't mind.
Remy packs up his table and notices the little girl, who says she enjoyed his show. He walks off, but the girl runs after him. She asks him to come see her mother, because he can do magic. Remy wants to know why she needs magic, and she says to bring her momma back to life. Remy is stunned.
Later, at the crime scene, Remy and the girl watch as an ambulance takes the corpses away. The freaks on Remy, comparing him to Dumbledore and Harry Potter, but he says he doesn't know that kind of magic. From across the way, Hammerhead (in a cop's jacket) watches and waits. Remy hugs the girl close to calm her and says he'll try to learn the magic she needs.
Back in town, the girl runs under the feet of some guy unloading food at a store, causing one of them to drop a chicken, which Remy deftly grabs and hides. As the workers ask the girl if she's OK, Remy comes in and asks if she's hurt. She replies that she's fine, she's just pretending so he can get them some food, and Remy gives up a classic "Why me?" look. Then they start running like crazy.
When they stop, Remy tells the girl that she's got to work with him, even if it means "pretending" when other people ask questions. Two guys from a charity house come by and ask if they need help, even offering to find a new pair of shoes for the girl, but Remy tells them to find someone else. When the girl complains a few minutes later, he says he doesn't take to God, but he'll carry her the rest of the way so her feet don't hurt.
They descend into the subway tunnels. A train passes by, and the girl reaches out to touch it, causing Remy to freak and yank her away. Later, in the abandonded subway car Remy lives in, he chews her out for not being careful as he whittles a stick. The girl is in mortal terror, and Remy doesn't know why, until he looks at the stick in his hand and recalls his own father beating him as punishment. He hugs the girl close and promises he'd never do that to her. She calms down and rejects all of his offeres of music in favor of Britney Spears, which he doesn't have. Then she cuddles up and falls asleep on his lap.
Hours later, Remy wakes up and finds the girl gone. A note left in her stead tells him not to follow. Remy cries "NOOOOO" and lets loose a giant kinetic charge.
Review: Not bad at all. In fact, I really liked this break from the core team. I actually think it would be a good habit to get into, running 1-2 large arcs with the X-Men, and then having a few "spotlight" issues on ancillary characters. Kind of like the way that "Ultimate Marvel Team-Up" introduces other UMU characters, but without the X-Men and another book involved.
The art was OK, especially some of the perspective things Ribic dead near the beginning. Hammerhead wasn't so noticeable in the opener as himself - I only caught it when he was in the cop uniform. I wonder if he's really a cop, or he just stole the jacket.
The story itself was pretty cool. The scene with Remy's thievery and the girl's honesty was really cute, and her initial plea for help was quite touching. Having her mention Harry Potter was cool, in that it grounds the girl in the "real world" and is very much the way that a kid would think. I also liked Remy's accent and Creole/Cajun phrases, much more so than in the regular MU. Austen appears to have done his homework. And the scene where Remy recalls his beatings was just great - really well done emotionally, both in art and writing.
At first I thought the X-Men would show up next issue, but after a few re-reads I don't think so, which is good. I'd like to see Remy take out Hammerhead on his own. Though what will happen to him then is anyone's guest. Personally, I don't want every new mutant here joining the team, and so far Millar's been pretty good about keeping a stable roster, for which I'm glad. As I said above, I'd prefer to see standalone stories of the rest of the X-World as interludes first.