KICK-ASS Vol 2 #1
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: John Romita Jr
Cover: John Romita Jr
I love the majority of MillarWorld titles. I love them for being the bold, sometimes insightful, usually ultra-violent reimagining of pop culture standards that they are. Millar titles are usually concept titles, that are not so much thought provoking reads as they are the best parts of a Michael Bay film in print form…and I mean that as a compliment. When Mark Millar wants them to, his books have tons of heart as well (go read Millar and Lienil Yu’s “Superior” to see what I mean), which is often used to redeem the narrative from all those ultra-violent splash pages. From the plot-thin Elsewhere world style Batman pastiche of “Nemesis” to the grand and elaborate re-envisioning of a golden age Superman and his family through multiple generations in the “Jupiter’s” series, MillarWorld imprints are beautiful, brash, In-Your-F&@#ing-Face affairs. It is in that hardcore spirit that we start this review by talking about why this new Kick-Ass series might just FAIL.
It won’t necessarily be because of the writing.
The book does a fine job setting up our new lead, a US Army Staff Sergeant and Afghan War
veteran, Patience Lee and her motivations for picking up the Kick-Ass mantle (which I will not be spoiling for you here). Millar’s idea of character building has always been more focused on selling you on the characters abilities or lack thereof rather than doing a deep dive into what makes them tick. The first Kick-Ass is an average kid who cannot fight so in the first book he nearly dies the first time he gets in a physical altercation and everything else you need to know about why Dave Lizewski was a sympathetic character was explained to you directly by Dave. This new title is no different, the first Kick-Ass fought crime even though he was terrible at it and this new one does what she does because she feels that she has no choice.The story moves very quickly to the circumstances that lead to the decisions of Patience Lee and because in Millar stories it’s only what the characters can do that makes them worth reading about, she very quickly gets her out of some very sticky situations TWICE before the first issue is done.
Millar books aren’t always the thoughtful character studies that normally fill my top ten list (there are definitely exceptions) but that’s not what I go to MillarWorld titles for. Millar’s titles are some of the best make-you-feel-like-a- kid-again rollercoasters rides in comics; fantastic spectacle, exciting often far too brief. I will say that Millar is taking the title in almost a point-by-point new direction away from Dave Lizewski as you might be able to tell from the gender and race swaps as well the abandonment of the big city setting off NYC for the comparably suburban world of New Mexico and as of issue one this isn’t a bad thing. Millar titles trade in nostalgia and shock, so you got the Nostalgia of “remember Kick-Ass?” and the shock of “wait…so it’s an adult black woman now?” but all in all it’s handled fine. Mark Millar knows what he’s doing and he’s been doing it as one of the best in the industry for awhile now.
It won’t be for the art either.
I mean really who has an unkind word to say about the art of John Romita Jr? It’s the original artist coming back to the title with all the warm fuzzies that brings from his first run. Just thinking about his artwork on this book, takes me back to all the great titles he’s worked on and how much I’ve enjoyed his art on all of them. My personal standout was his run on eternals with Neil Gaiman and barring having a particular bias against his style, it is hard to deny that he is a hyper competent visual storyteller and impossible to deny that his art is utterly iconic and Kick-Ass Volume 2 does not break that trend.
What I think will cause this book hardship is the time in which it came out. If Marvel Comics is editorial decisions are to be believed, the majority of comic books are purchased by MAGA shouting, diversity hating white men who will suffer no gender swaps, race swaps or changes to the status quo in the name of “multiculturalism” or “storytelling” or “reality”. To Millar’s credit it doesn’t ever seem like he’s giving a f***. His stories are never overwhelmingly progressive but his narratives always seem focused around telling the best and most action-packed story with no truck given to the sacred cows of classic storytelling tropes, in fact as I’ve mentioned earlier, many times the opposite is true. Millar deals in shock and he knows his audience very well. He gives James Bond a lower class background, a cockney accent and a baseball cap exactly because it upsets the status quo of the British secret agent but in Kick-Ass Volume 2 he’s trolling his own fan base’s expectations, expectations that he personally setup. In this day and age the shock that MillarWorld titles trade in might not do so well when aimed at the fragile expectations of white nerd community.
Everybody else needs to get on board now. I have a feeling this one’s going to be a doozy.
[signoff]
