The comic, not the movie..

Kick Ass.

I picked up the trade paperback yesterday and read it in one sitting. That is good news, but before I get into it, I have to tell you that the man behind this is Mark Millar. The guy who wrote Wanted – the worst comic I have ever read, but he also wrote Superman Red Son – which I loved.

Wanted ultimately failed because the main character started off really likable and became a piece of shit half way through. I understood the concept and thought it was interesting (a world where all super villains killed all super heroes, now the villains rule) but I don’t like reading about assholes who rape and murder with no consequences.

Red Son was good because it was again, an interesting concept (Superman lands in Russia and becomes a communist) but this time MM kept Superman true to himself. He was still trying to do good, just in a different setting.

Kick Ass is about a teenager who wants to be a superhero. There is no special origin here, and no powers. He just wants to. Which I actually really like. Now you have to keep in mind that this book is done in today’s world of teens. Who usually annoy the piss out of me, and the characters in this book are a reflection of that, they are pretty much worthless. But Kick Ass himself (yes that’s his superhero name – more on that later) is pretty likable and he remains that way throughout. Which means that at least you are following a guy that you like! So it’s already better than Wanted.

That being said the other characters aren’t that bad either. Big Daddy and Hit Girl are cool because they really fight extremely hard and KILL criminals in the most horrific ways! But they are still good guys – I guess. KA (Kick Ass) doesn’t like killing (silver age thinking they call it) so he doesn’t get along with them – but Hit Girl does save his life, so he owes them. Red Mist is a funny character that could get annoying very quickly – but he’s kept to a minimum in the book – movie, I don’t know, I may end up hating him…we shall see.

So all in all it was a good book and fun to read. I really got into it and I like KA as a character. I like the realism too – hold on, there’s not that much, it still has fake superhero stuff in it too.

A note on names and gore.

The name Kick Ass really annoys me LARGE! So do Big Daddy and Hit Girl – but you gotta get past that or don’t bother. I am used it now, so its not big deal anymore, but I can see it being a source of tension for others.

The gore here is EXTREME. This is the goriest comic I have EVER read! And Hit Girl is ten years old and she at one point kills like 10 guys at once with super violence and blood flying everywhere. I don’t know how this movie is gonna show all that, it would have to be X rated!

Plus there is drug use too and the training of Hit Girl (10 yrs old remember) is very violent – think of the Judd Nelson movie Relentless (if you saw it).

Anyway, I still really liked this book and I want to read book 2.

3.5/5

J-Man.