And now, breaking the theme entirely, an X-book that actually sells. 

Ultimate X-Men #56 continues "The Most Dangerous Game", in which Brian Vaughan and Stuart Immonen attempt to splice the Mojoverse with Genosha.  Oh, and they throw in Arcade and Krakoa just for kicks.  It really shouldn't work - these concepts are literally worlds apart.  But by dragging all involved in a comparatively realistic direction and bringing them within the scope of the Ultimate universe, they actually end up close enough together for the hybrid to work.  Well, except for Arcade.  He was a mistake.

This issue, Spiral gets all the screen time.  Actually, she's another character who loses something in transition to the new setting.  She's still got the striking six-arms visual, but otherwise she's had a complete personality transplant.  This version of the character is an ends-justify-the-means freedom fighter, from the look of it.  Or at least that's what she claims to be, since it's hard to see how killing off a mutant-sympathetic politician and framing Longshot achieves much of anything.  The original Spiral was a henchman of Mojo, so perhaps she's just lying and it'll make more sense when things fall into place with the final chapter. 

Or maybe it just doesn't make much sense.

Still, I'm enjoying this arc.  It's got some good, unpretentious action and some sparky dialogue.  It's well paced.  And it's got Stuart Immonen, a fantastic artist who makes any story look better than it strictly deserves.  It's just a good, straight superhero story.

 Rating: B+

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