Title: Kick-Ass
Author: Mark Millar
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Genre: Superhero / Action / Adventure
Year Published: 2008
Year Read: 2013
Series: Kick-Ass #1
Publisher: Icon Comics
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Strong Language and Gory Violence)
Buy or Add on: Amazon // Goodreads
Introduction:
Now, I will admit that I
honestly have not heard about Mark
Millar’s famous series “Kick-Ass”
until I heard about the movie that came out.
Even though I have not seen the movie yet as of this review, I was
interested in checking out the comic book it was based off of before watching
the movie and I must admit; I was TOTALLY
blown away by this really creative concept of a comic book!
What is this story
about?
Dave Lizewski was your average high school teenage boy who
is not that popular, but is not that unpopular either. He also happens to be a huge fan of comic
books in general and he loved the fact that the superheroes in the comic books
would always save the day in the end.
So, when Dave decided that he would like to become a superhero himself,
he became the legendary crime fighter “Kick-Ass” and would go out into the city
to save the citizens from the various criminals that pop up. Unfortunately, Dave will soon learn the hard
way that being a superhero is not all that easy when he becomes famous and he ends
up meeting with other masked vigilantes who may or may not be a threat to him.
What I loved about
this story:
Mark Millar’s writing: I have read Mark Millar’s works before (his run on “Ultimate X-Men” and “Old Man Logan”)
and so far, I had enjoyed most of his work. Now that I finally read “Kick-Ass,” I really appreciate Mark Millar’s unique storytelling even
more! I loved the way that Mark Millar
wrote Dave Lizewski as being a teenage boy who is genre savvy enough to learn
that being a superhero can be a dangerous and risky job, but he goes through
with it anyway since he has a strong desire to become a superhero. I also loved the fact that Dave Lizewski
became a superhero, not because he was affected by some kind of radiation that
gave him powers or because he came from another planet, but because he was
bored and he just wanted to be a superhero.
This motivation really gave a more creative spin on the superhero genre
and I loved the way that Dave mentioned so many fictional superheroes that
inspired him to become a superhero. I
also loved the way that Mark Millar
mentioned so many Marvel superheroes in this story, especially Spider-Man and
Wolverine. My favorite mention of the Marvel superheroes was when Dave mentions
about how Joss Whedon’s run on “Astonishing X-Men” managed to surpass “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which he
happens to be a big fan of “Buffy the
Vampire Slayer!” I also really loved
the character Hit-Girl, who Dave meets later on in the book as she seems to be
the opposite of Dave, as she would kill anyone in an extremely gruesome manner
while Dave, still trying to get used to being a superhero, refuses to kill
people (not only that, but Hit-Girl is only TEN YEARS OLD and yet she is able to kill absolutely anyone with
ease)!
John Romita Jr.’s artwork: Now, I am a little fifty-fifty with John Romita Jr’s artwork in this comic
as I have seen his artwork before in the 1980s issues of “Uncanny X-Men” and they were pretty stellar in those issues. However, there were some problems I had with
the artwork in this book, which I will explain in the cons section. But, what I did like about John Romita Jr.’s artwork in this comic
is that the action scenes where the characters get bloodied up are extremely
vivid in detail and I actually cringed whenever the characters are getting
killed or tortured.
What made me feel
uncomfortable about this story:
For anyone who does not like gory violence and strong
language, this comic definitely has lots of gore and language that might offend
anyone who does not like reading such material.
Also, one of the issues I had with John
Romita Jr’s artwork was that the characters look a bit too noodle-like in
appearance and it distracted me a bit from the story. Since this is a dark and gritty story, I
would have expected to see the characters look a bit more realistic to really
convey the darkness of this story. Also,
I felt that the characters look a bit too old for their respective ages, such
as Hit-Girl being only ten years old, but yet, she looks to be close to twelve
or thirteen years old.
Final Thoughts:
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