Good Bye, Ultimate Spider-Man.

For those of you who haven't read Ultimate Spider-Man 160 yet and plan to, stop now unless you don't mind spoiled endings. You've been warned.

This week, Ultimate Spider-Man #160 hits the shelves. It ends the "Death of Spider-Man" storyline. In this issue, Spider-Man dies a pretty heroic death stopping the Green Goblin from killing Aunt May and everyone else he loves. I'm going to admit that I'm sad to say goodbye to this character.

Ultimate Spider-Man is probably my favorite Superhero comic ever. It was the first I kept up with on a regular basis and it's the one that got me into western comics, period. I got the first volume for Christmas in 2005, along with the first two volumes of Bone, and a few Batman trades, including Year One, DKR, Hush, and A Death in the Family. Of all of those, Ultimate Spider-Man volume 1 was the first one I opened up and read. From that moment on I was in love with that series and I would go out and buy a new trade whenever I had the $15-20 to shell out for one.

The series was a fantastic re-imagining of Spider-Man for a new generation of readers. It had all of the elements of the classic Spider-Man stories, retold perfectly for a modern audience. Sure, some of the dialog was a bit awkward at first, but everything else was fantastic. Perhaps where the series was it's strongest was in just how well Brian Michael Bendis wrote the cast of characters and the drama that was their lives.

About a year later I started buying single issues just in time for the Ultimate Clone Saga story line. The thrill of buying individual trades was replace with the thrill of buying each new issue, which wasn't hard to wait for since Mr. Bendis and Mr. Mark Bagley could churn out issues at an insane pace. Sometimes it felt like I was only waiting two weeks between issues. As time went on, new artists came and went. But the book was still great and it even stayed good through Ultimatum, at which point it was the only readable book in the Ultimate line.

I remember how angry I got at Ultimatum and the idea that Jeph Loeb was just strutting on in and killing off everything he could in the Ultimate line and it looked like he had his sights on Spider-Man. I always looked at it as that one jerk everyone grew up with who loved breaking your favorite toys. I kind of feel silly now that I felt so violated, but reading that issue of Ultimatum (issue 5, which was the only one I bought) and seeing someone else come in and supposedly killing off this character that I've grown so attached to. It felt wrong.

Now I look at today. Bendis kept Ultimate Spidey alive and well for about two years past that. A new series got luanched and it was great. And Pete got a few more stories until Bendis set this in motion. But this feels right. He's not just some casualty in a really bad crossover story. He died doing what his Uncle Ben wanted him to and he died saving Aunt May.

So I'm sad, but at the same time, I don't feel angry or betrayed. If this version of Peter Parker that I've grown so attached to has to die, this is how it should end. He stopped the bad guys and saved the people he loves. And now we're going to have a new Spider-Man in this Ultimate line. I'm going to give that first issue a shot, but I'm actually ready to let go now. If this is my last hurrah with Ultimate Spider-Man, then so be it. If you somehow read this little blog post Mr. Brian Michael Bendis, thank you. I'm glad I got to come along for this ride. I'm sad, but I think I'm ready to leave it here.