ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #160

Not that it's a spoiler, as this is the final part of the "Death of Spider-Man" arc, but Peter Parker dies in this issue. I wasn't the biggest fan of this book until the re-boot a few years ago when it re-started at #1 and had David LaFuente drawing it. For some reason it really clicked; it was pretty to look at and a lot of fun to read. This arc ditched LaFuente for Mark Bagley and for one reason or another never worked. The Sinister Six returned, Norman Osbourne turned into a giant devil-goblin thing, Parker was unmasked, and an exploding truck caused Parker to fly through the air, land with a thud, and die. Yep, a fucking exploding truck caused the death of Spider-Man. How lame is that? Bagley's art these last few issues didn't help either. His stuff is just too sloppy, too rushed. Bendis' scripts, too, have been flat. This arc hasn't been compelling or fresh and it certainly wasn't fun. While the best thing Marvel could do is get rid of the "Ultimates" line, they say that a new Spider-Man will show up and a new book will start. Bendis probably has done everything possible with Spider-Man, right? Either put him on on the flagship, "real" title or let him walk away into the sunset. This alternate universe where death is meaningless is a totally pointless excursion now. **

GODZILLA: GANGSTERS & GOLIATHS #1

I know, I know: why the fuck am I reading a Godzilla book? IDW, the publisher, probably thought the same thing so they got a great artist and a great writer to give the public at least a reason to want to read this thing. The writer of Chew, John Layman, is aboard, as is the artist of Unknown Soldier, Alberto Ponticelli. They even got the old-school master Geoff Darrow to draw the cover. The plot is semi-interesting. Some gangsters are on a boat off the coast of Monster Island. They shoot a dude and throw him into the sea but he isn't dead and he goes into the island where they chase him. This dude ends up finding those two little girls that control Mothra, the big moth monster thing, and takes them back to mainland Japan. Oh...and Godzilla is in it, briefly. Honestly, all we want is Godzilla destroying a city ("Man in suit!" sadly can't be yelled while reading this). I suppose that will happen in #2. As for this issue and series so far? It's probably about as good as a Godzilla comic will ever get, which means it's entertaining, silly, stupid, and a little fun. The art is terrific and the plot at least shows that they're trying. **1/2

AMERICAN VAMPIRE: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST #1

The regular American Vampire title has gotten rave reviews. I never liked it, though. It just didn't work. Perhaps even the writer, Scott Snyder, realized this, because he's out with a much better five-part spin-off. The premise here is that a young, tough woman belongs to an anti-vampire league and she's one of the best agents. She's sent to Europe to infiltrate a castle and find a missing comrade along with a mysterious serum that may stop the vampire gene from turning someone into a bat-shit killer. This issue is all set-up, but it really gets you pumped for #2. Who doesn't want to see this hardcore chick head to a castle in creepy Europe where mysteries and vampires lie? The art, by Joe the Barbarian artist Sean Murphy, is equally effective. It's sketchy and fits the WW2 era with its old-school, nostalgic look. Sure, it's nothing new; the cover promises Nazi vampires on the agenda, but it's a great read. ***1/2

CRIMINAL: LAST OF THE INNOCENT #1

Writer Ed Brubaker hasn't written anything great lately for Marvel. His one-shot prelude to "Fear Itself" was fairly inane, and his run on Captain America has gotten pretty dull lately. Perhaps he shouldn't even waste his time writing superheroes. His latest issue of Criminal, for Marvel's indie imprint Icon, is a masterpiece. It might just be the best book I've read all year (Morning Glories #8 was also one of the year's best so far). This issue starts off like the film Garden State; a schlub goes back to his hometown to see his sick father. He meets his old high school friends and gets all wrapped up in nostalgia (the flahbacks are drawn in an Archie comics type style...which is terrific). The catch comes in the last panel, a knock-your-socks of classic noir cliffhanger. The big reason this issue works, though, is that Brubaker's dad did recently die and that adds a layer of sadness and realism to the proceedings. He's writing from the heart and it shows; the book is swift, entertaining, but also emotional and true. The art by Sean Phillips is great; his range is really shown here as he gets to play in the sandbox a bit. Just an all around classic issue of a great book. **** (out of ****)

RUSE #3

Do I not have good ideas? Or are my ideas just so damn good that others also have them and they become published & filmed? I wrote a book, Small Town, about a twenty year-old writer in the suburbs that inadvertently becomes a private investigator, albeit not licensed or trained or anything. HBO has a show now with the same premise, Bored to Death, based on a short story by Jonathan Ames. I had an idea for a comic book titled Alpha Delta Death that was basically Lord of the Flies but with Sorority girls. A new book just came out called Beauty Queens that has the same premise, albeit it's a plane of beauty pageant girls that crash on an island. & I'm currently writing Detectives in London, a novel that features a female investigator working alongside a male investigator in old-times London. Ruse, Mark Waid's comic, has a similar premise; what if a female was paired with a Sherlock Holmes type dude? Ruse has been out for awhile; they did thirty-odd issues when it was published at Cross-Gen. That company went out of business but Marvel just bought the rights to all their books and are putting out a few new mini-series of the same books. Mark Waid is still writing this but artist Butch Guice is sadly only doing the covers. They've also nixed the gargoyles walking amongst the people but otherwise it's the same. The problem is that it's an utter rip-off of Sherlock Holmes. The art in this particular issue is fairly awful, done by Rob Steen, who didn't even bother to pencil #1 or #2 (a fill-in artist on a four part series makes little sense). It tries to be whip-smart and fun, but it's merely adequate. Even the big mystery is fairly murky stuff. I don't know...maybe I'm just jealous that this got published before me. *1/2

PUNISHER MAX #13

When superstar writer Jason Aaron was announced as the new writer on the "mature content" Punisher Max title, I got excited. Thirteen issues in, though, and I'm underwhelmed. We got a Kingpin storyline, a Bullseye storyline, and now a Prison/Vietnam storyline. From that you can already tell that Aaron isn't breaking new ground. In this issue, part two of "Frank," The Punisher is in jail and remembering his past when he got back from Vietnam and had to seamlessly fit back into regular life. He got a job at a slaughterhouse and didn't mind when the prick inspector got his hand caught in a grinder. In prison, a tough dude called The Big Jesus seems to be attempting a plot to kill Frank. The issue feels like an action-less issue of Jason Aaron's Scalped; it's meditative, trying to be dark but emotional. Scalped is fresh, though. We've seen all of this before in The Punisher. Even the forced, over-the-top violence doesn't mesh with the emotional core of what Aaron is trying to work in. The art, by Preacher's Steve Dillon, is quality stuff, but all of his characters do look alike, and for some reason The Punisher doesn't look right; too weird looking, too off-key. If you do want to read a fresh, fun, extremely wild book by Aaron, pick up Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine. It's so fucking good...what I had hoped this would have been. *1/2

FLASHPOINT #1

Remember Back to the Future 2? Yeah, it kind of sucked...but remember when the old man Biff steals the sports book, takes it back in time, and then Marty and Doc end up traveling back to a new world where things are the same but slightly different (like, a black family is now living in Marty's home and Biff is super rich)? That's the story with Flashpoint, DC's big event series. The Flash wakes up in a world that's slightly different. Superman doesn't exist and Batman is kind of evil. While this parallel-world plot has been done before, it's nice that a big event book is finally not just about a group of superheroes banding together to face one big evil threat. That's refreshing. The art is also terrific (Andy Kubert) but the issue isn't anything special. It doesn't do enough to make me care to read #2 or the endless amount of spin-offs (in June there are 21 spin-off issues...yikes). The other problem is that there's 8 pages where a bunch of heroes argue. Boring. & I thought DC was "drawing the line at $2.99?" Why is this book $3.99? So far this is about as good as Marvel's big event series, Fear Itself. Is it just me, or do event books totally suck? **