Advanced Review of Kick-Ass #3
When someone offers me a free comic book—I take it. Good, Bad, Ugly—you never know what you’re gonna get but it’s free…and free is good. In this case, it was very good. I was one of the few folks who responded to Mark Millar’s offer for a free, lettered electronic copy of Kick-Ass #3 on his forum on the MillarWorld website in exchange for a review of the book. I’ve been reading this title since it started, several months ago, and, so far, it’s kept my attention with its over-the-top hyper-realism, violence, and social commentary. As a cautious reader, I realized quickly that there is more to this story than the surface “real life superhero” premise so I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop on Kick-Ass protagonist, Dave Lizewski, since the first issue.
Something tells me that the aforementioned “other shoe” has begun its tumultuous journey with the advent of the climax of Kick-Ass #3.
Without spoiling too much, Dave has become, in his own words, “a bad-ass version of the Star Wars kid” on YouTube; Millar isn’t pulling his punches on us here, as he focuses on the morbidly voyeuristic turn 21st Century westerners have taken with the advent of amateur video-dump based web juggernauts. He’s got us by our collective balls in terms of our fascination with the concept of our “lottery mentality” in terms of attaining instant celebrity status—with Doug’s telling narrative that reveals more and more about us with every issue. It’s sad that Doug, this young man with the best of intentions, can have only eight friends on MySpace but his alter-ego, this human punching bag, can have thousands of admirers. Are we really that shallow—or do people have to be so maverick or ridiculous in their endeavors that that is the only way we can recognize them?
Like I said earlier, Millar’s not just writing a simple “What if someone became a real superhero?” type of story here. He’s created a layered message; one that entertains us with its tongue-in-cheek style, hyper-violent displays and humorous situational irony; but, at the same time, I find myself feeling a little chastised for my part in the grand scheme of the things. I’m just like everyone else—I’m a voyeur, I abuse YouTube, I want to get the hottest girl in school, I want to be famous…etc.
The climax of this issue is so raw in its delivery—my brain chafed. Do they make a Gold Bond for brain chaffing? You see the writing on the wall several pages before Dave starts getting his ass kicked—for the hundredth time it seems like—and then a new character is introduced. She’s quite a little number; I’m assuming she’ll probably become Dave’s love-interest but, from the looks of it, if Dave is the first super-hero, Kick-Ass, whoever this sword wielding, head lopping, little spitfire is—she must be the first costumed vigilante/ anti-hero. Yes—I said it—head lopping!
I do believe this is John Romita Jr.’s best work in years. His artwork is dynamic on a cinematic level. Also, he’s not restrained by the confines of a rating system, so we get to see him take his “kid gloves” off. I chuckled to myself as I was reading and said aloud, “Wow, I never thought I’d see a pair of bare tits drawn by JRJR—too weird.” Tom Palmer and Dean White enhance the experience that much more with superior inking and sublime coloration. There are two very solid moments in this issue in particular where the pages are so pretty and the colors are so vibrant that I was blissfully taken out of my reading-induced trance…which is no mere feat with a guy like me—so I tip my hat to you, Mr. White.
The only way that I feel this book suffers is that I don’t get enough in one sitting—which could be construed as a good thing—because I want to read more—but the pacing and the dynamic artwork already sets this book up to probably be a much more sound trade paperback than a monthly. On the other hand, I was able to reread Kick-Ass #3 twice and enjoy it as much as the first time I read it—immediate re-readability is trait that most modern comics don’t possess. I can only think of a handful—Walking Dead, Criminal, Scalped and Ex Machina being a few off the top of my head.
If you’ve missed the first two issues and don’t get a “nerd hard-on” at the sound of the word “Wednesday” like I do—no offense to Mark and crew—but wait for the trade so you can get a really solid grasp of what Kick-Ass is all about. If you’re willing to go bin-diving for a back issue and you like funny, hyper-violent stories that are grounded in modernity; this is worth the effort of seeking the individual issues out. Either way, it’ll be a win-win situation—Kick-Ass is a solid mature read. There aren’t too many comic books on shelves that are better than this.
