3 out of 5

Die Kitty Die! is the best comic book to happen to comic books in a while.  It will always be about an average, amusing affair, mind you, but I feel like that casual satisfaction is exactly what creators Dan Parent and Fernando Ruiz are aiming for, and so I’m happy to rate it as such, while simultaneously gleefully recommending the book.

With a caveat: do you like Archie comics?  Yeah, Parent and Ruiz are from that school, and you’ll recognize it in the art and slightly campy dialogue / humor, but this is a self-aware Archie comic, written for a grown up audience.  The meta-ish premise of the book’s star, Kitty, having been a “child” comic star and is now being hunted for killing to up the profits of her current merchandise, includes blood and sex and language, but Dan’s and Fernando’s skills here are in not just playing the ol’ South Park “dirty kids cartoon” angle.  Rather, they gave the cheery Archie template a more embellished libido and sense of snark, producing some pretty clever and consistently entertaining comic bookery.

This FCBD ish is both a catchup of what’s come before (Kitty is currently dead) and a setup of what’s to come (Kitty is in limbo, awaiting a Heaven Or Hell trial).  …And it’s on par with everything I’ve said above.  Three stars it is!