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Kick-Ass
Reviews |
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| Availability:
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| Authors:
Mark Mi |
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Consumer Ratings and
Reviews for Kick-Ass |
Rating:
| | Review: KICK-ASS by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.
| Kick-Ass (2010), written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr., collects the full initial run, issues 1-8, of the eponymous Marvel comic. Here, Dave Lizewski, a regular, unremarkable teenager, becomes a "real-life" superhero, a job for which he is dangerously ill-equipped.
Millar's premise is to look at what "real" superheroes might be like, psychologically and in practice. And that's fine, except that he quickly takes things way over the top and progressively introduces more ludicrous elements, notably Big Daddy (a poor man's Punisher - if you somehow didn't get it, Millar makes the connection for you several times) and Hit-Girl (a ten-year-old ninja who single-handedly takes the entire comic and transplants it squarely to the realm of the ridiculous).
If Millar had stuck to answering the question, "What would a `real' superhero look like?" Kick-Ass would have better. But what's "real" about this except that the "heroes" get beat up all the time, and that they're all mentally disturbed on some level? Not much. By the end, in too many ways, Kick-Ass is just another comic book.
Millar makes a point to turn as many comic tropes on their ears as he can, particularly the Peter Parker-in-high-school ones. But it all tends to be too self-aware, and Kick-Ass often reads like a hyper-violent version of Brian Michael Bendis's Ultimate Spider-Man (if Peter regularly monologued about his sexual frustration). It doesn't help that Millar's writing isn't nearly as clever as he seems to think it is, and a number of his innumerable comic book references feel downright amateurish.
The characters aren't great - Dave is a generally unsympathetic horny teenager who does stupid things - and nobody else gets much development. The plot is decent, although none of its "twists" is particularly surprising. Millar also tends to gloss over or outright ignore any story elements that would keep things from moving at a brisk pace.
2003's Wanted told us loudly and clearly that for Millar, there's really no such thing as bad taste, and he reinforces that understanding here. Under Marvel's Max label, he's free to be as vulgar and gratuitous as he wants to be on every page (and usually is). It's like Millar can't restrain himself, can't keep himself from going over the top whenever and however he can, and it really limits what Kick-Ass could have become.
Romita's art is great as always, with one exception. Hit-Girl never looks right - her proportions are distracting, as she's basically a gigantic head on a tiny stick body. Romita does a solid job with the degree of violence (this level of gore isn't something we're used to seeing from him), although some of Hit-Girl's dismemberments get pretty out there.
On the whole, Kick-Ass is readable but mediocre because it's more interested in being a violence-porn version of mainstream comics than in exploring the more realistic themes that it merely plays at.
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Rating:
| | Review: To Much
| When you see something to much, it loses it's effect. The blood, the violence, and the swearing doesn't shock, cause it's on EVERY page. People claim this book shows what would happen if superheroes REALLY existed. The blood shed is at Mortal Kombat levels. And if anyone went on Myspace and talked about doing this stuff, the FBI would track the IP and bust them... cause, vigilantism IS against the law.
The story is weak. A superhero comic about a kid who reads superhero comics, wants to become a superhero, and is a commentary on superhero comics... is... just, TO meta. I have yet to watch the film, but I could see this working if it was removed from the medium in which it is commenting on.
This could be a fun read, if it wasn't trying to be serious. |
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| Rating:
| | Review: Hmmmm. Mixed feelings
| Well, I haven't seen the movie yet, but I did finally get around to reading the book. It was okay. I mean, it was a total page-turner and I was engrossed by the story... I appreciated the depiction of the nerdy, slightly scummy, teenage protagonist who becomes a fanboy-gone-vigilante... He was an interesting character, and his voice as narrator was slightly new.
But the violence... Ah, the violence. Yes, yes, I do get that the whole point of this book is that it's a "what if superheroes were real?" story, but not a what-kind-of-sick-stuff-could-a-real-Superman-do "what if," but rather how-messed-up-could-a-normal-person-who-played-Batman-get kinda story. Although the book is well-written, the blood and gore is gratuitous, and ultimately this is just another entry into a growing list of recently-produced violence-porn super-comics. Unfortunately, this seems to be a growing trend, and while writers and readers may get tired of the taboo-breaking goriness, more likely than not they'll just get numbed-out and not care anymore -- the genre is, doubtless, here to stay. I may read a couple of stories like this and still find it interesting, but I ain't gonna sign up for a steady diet of it. I don't think it's a healthy cultural trend. (Old Man Axton) |
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Rating:
| | Review: Fantastic
| | I will start by saying Wanted is my favorite comic of all time and so when I saw the movie I was beyond disappointed. So what made me want to read Kick-Ass was after I saw the trailer for the movie which looked amazing, I new the comic had to be even better. All I can really say is that this is up there in my top books I've read and Kick-Ass is definitely worth the purchase especially if you liked the movie. Both are very true to one another, but have enough differences that it is worth reading the book and watching the movie. Mark Millar is awesome. |
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| Rating:
| | Review: The sad truth behind your comic book fantasies.
| "The first time I ogled myself in the bedroom mirror I realized how off the mark the comic books had been. It didn't take a trauma to make you wear a mask. It didn't take your parents getting shot, or cosmic rays, or a power ring. Just the perfect combination of loneliness and despair."
Yeah, you've heard the news by now. "Kick-Ass" kicks much indeed. Tons of it. It's ridiculous how much is kicked, really. Mark Millar is a psychopath. For a minute let us entertain the notion that I'm pitching a comic book to you and you are the great and powerful publisher contemptfully fanning yourself with hundred dollar bills as I, the writer, tell you what I plan to do with that money. I am going to create a comic book story about a stereotypical comic book nerd who decides to become a superhero who specializes in getting his rear end handed to him and in doing so I am going to tear into the medium the readers love, douse every page in so much blood that one will feel compelled to don raingear before opening each issue, and use language that could be considered a hate crime against political correctness and decency in every speech bubble. And oh yeah; there's a TEN YEAR OLD GIRL wantonly and brutally murdering people with swords throughout. How do you think it will sell, bossman? Can I have that advance now? Okay, okay; I'm leaving! No need to be rough about it.
Well, I bought it. Kick-Ass may not be a cerebral philosophical masterpiece like Watchmen, a game-changing reinvention of the way classic characters are portrayed like The Dark Knight Returns, or be as bleak and unrelenting as The Walking Dead, but it does one thing better than most any comic I've ever read. Yeah, that thing it says on the cover. The tale of Kick-Ass is a loving satire/tribute to comic book culture and a commentary on modern popular culture as well. After one near-death experience pointlessly attempting to stop some graffiti artists, our hero gains fame on Youtube when a flailing melee with a group of thugs is captured on a bypasser's cell-phone. This inspires other citizens to follow suit and indulge their inner geek and lots of garish comic cliches follow. Old-school meets new school when classical no-killing hero Kick-Ass meets the edgy vigilante executioner Hit Girl and her large father (known affectionately as Big Daddy). Time for a reality check.
The art is done by proficient Marvel artist John Romita Jr. and while it's not exactly revolutionary or eye-popping, it is exceptional where it counts: in personality and gore. Millar's writing is witty and filled with pop-culture references and hilarious dialogue. He even invents a new swear; a male version of the aforementioned dreaded C-word. Tunk. It catches on fast and can even be used as a verb. If you are cool, you will find a place for it in your daily vocabulary. Make it so. Highlights include Kick-Ass being mistaken for a flasher, Big Daddy and Hit Girl's definition of a Democrat (which is painfully true) punctuated by a sweet headshot from a sniper rifle, a protagonist who has no qualms threatening a group of mobsters while still pulling up his own pants, and Kick-Ass's pathetic origin story juxtaposed in one panel with the classical vengeance angle.
Kick-Ass doesn't do quite as much as I was hoping considering the GOAT hype around it, but issue-for-issue it mops the floor with most everything that is out there. And with a higher nerd-reference count than any comic I've read, this one is a definite winner if you know even the first thing about the medium and is about as graphic as graphic novels come so don't buy it for the kids. And yes, friends, there will be a sequel.
So here's the truth of it and the moral of our story. Superheroes and vigilantes are really a lame idea when taken literally. But as pathetic as our little escapist fantasies are, they help define who we are as people, what's right and wrong, and they inspire us to change our world. As vehicles for metaphor and allegory, you cannot beat comic books. Just don't go out and try to live them out 'kay? This is a definitive graphic novel not to be missed. Somebody should make a movie out of it or something.... |
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