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but it really doesn’t…

It happens.  Something comes out, a movie, a comic, a book, whatever, but everyone buys into it.  It becomes the’ New Big Thing’.  They all tell you how incredible they found it.  They cannot stop going on about the story, the characters, and the imagery, whatever.  So, you think ‘wow, I have got to pick that up.’  You give it a chance. When you finish with the ‘New Big Thing’, you feel let down somehow.  It did not live up to the hype and even though you understand how people could get into the story, the characters, the imagery, whatever, you find yourself wondering what they saw that you do not. That about sums up my Random Purchase for the week: Kick-Ass #2.

Kick-Ass tells the tale of an extremely average boy living in NYC.  The boy is nothing special.  One day he proceeds to put on a superhero costume and go patrol the streets of NYC.  He promptly gets the beating of a lifetime after trying to stop some vandals.  Kick-Ass #2 opens up with his 4 months or so of hospital stay and his endless ruminations about he should do now.  Of course, once out of the hospital and off the crutches, he puts the costume right back on and heads out again, only this time with a little more modicum of success.

I think the hyper-violence depicted in the book causes me to find it a bit much.  I should be used to that from a Mark Millar story.  Millar writes in a very cinematic way.  I cannot really fault his style.  He usually shows honest emotions and thought processes from characters.  I think the idea of the ordinary man (or boy) picking up the cause and trying to make things better is great story idea.  The character he came up with though?  I find myself completely unsympathetic to him.  Here we have a 16(ish) year old boy, who probably weighs less than Kate Moss, going out and trying to patrol?  Then after nearly dying, doing it again?  Am I just supposed to believe the kid lacks in the mental faculties department? Because, honestly, doing that in NYC, with only a couple of nightsticks seems damn stupid to me.  Even though he finds himself moderately successful the second time out, how will explain needing to go to the hospital again, since the gang bangers used him as a punching bag.

Ahh, the ‘villains’ of the piece.  I am slightly curious to know whether or not in Millar’s script for John Romita JR. (co-creator and artist) if he actually specified that everyone doing something wrong in the comic should be black or Latino. I found that to be a bit disparaging honestly.  No mention of where the boy and his father live in NYC (at least in this issue), so perhaps it makes sense in that context.  I am just over the image that in big cities you have roving bands of minorities vandalizing and attacking everyone they see in broad daylight. Oh, wait, upon further inspection it was at least dusk or nighttime.  They do show a few streetlights on and some lights on in windows.  I had to look for these clues though, because the coloring makes me think that it is not even dark out yet.  I find that takes away from the impact of the fight.  John Romita Jr.’s depiction of the fight will definitely cause the more squeamish folks to pass up this book.  Blood, bone, and gore abound. 

I suppose, when it comes down to it, I really should not have been that surprised by this book. The title is ‘Kick-Ass.’  The cover even says ‘Sickening Violence: Just The Way You Like It!’ Millar likes his violence.  Romita Jr. draws big, flashy pages with great detail.  I think I am just used to getting a little bit more out of what they write/draw.  Like I said, the concept sounds interesting; I just do not find any empathy in the execution.  Perhaps writing/drawing Kick-Ass keeps them from torturing small animals? Or fans at cons? Hrmm…. Anyone know how big these guys are?  Should I be worrying about them coming after me now?

Kick-Ass #2
Writer: Mark millar
Penciller: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Tom Palmer
Colors: Dean White
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos

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