Ultimate X-Men #57 finishes off the Longshot storyline.  I love it when I don't see things coming.

In an odd sort of way, and despite the Ultimate universe's mission statement, this is a story which is likely to be much more effective for readers who are familiar with the original stories.  For once, that's not really a criticism.  This isn't a story where you need to know about the source material in order to understand what's going on (or, worse, care about it).  Instead, Vaughan exploits our pre-conceptions about the characters to help misdirect the readers and set up his twist ending.  If you don't know the original material then it'll still work on the strength of what's in the story itself, but readers  who already know the characters are far more likely to fall into Vaughan's trap.

The ridiculously simple twist - which I might as well give away now, since the moment you know there's a twist coming you'll immediately work out what it is - depends on the simple fact that the X-Men's mission here was to prove Longshot innocent of murder and rescue him from Mojo's island.  And since we all know that Longshot's a superhero, and the X-Men are working on the same assumption, we're gently lulled into the trap.  You can probably see where this is heading.  I don't need to spell it out, do I?

It's not a cheat, because we've already established loud and clear the ground rule that Ultimate characters can be drastically different from the original versions.  But that doesn't stop us assuming that they're going to be the same, and for a few issues, that lets Vaughan string us along nicely.

The storyline as a whole has been a little mixed - all that stuff about Arcade can go, for a start.  And I'll grant that this take on Longshot is perhaps less interesting in the long run than the original version.  But does that matter?  It's not like anyone's proposing an Ultimate Longshot title.  And it's not like he's going to be a recurring supporting character.  For the role he's playing in this title, Vaughan's take works just fine.

Great little issue.

 Rating: A

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