Kick-Ass 2 #1

Story by: Mark Millar
Art by: John Romita Jr., Tom Palmer
Colors by: Dean White
Letters by: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover by: John Romita Jr.

Kick-Ass 2 picks right up where Kick-Ass left off.

Sort of.

It takes elements from the previous comic volume (he did not get the girl, she wants nothing to do with him) and parts of the movie (Hit Girl lives with Marcus now, and not her mother, as was stated in the comics) and just runs with it.

This issue reads a little bit like an epilogue to the previous series, with a few new things tossed in, most notable the introduction of a new hero team.

I expect many in this hero team to be dead by the end of this series.

for my tastes, I like Kick-Ass when it's running on all cylinders. It needs to throttle up and really take things to another level, and so far, this new issue is really just more of the same as what came before. I'm not saying it needs a Gatling-gun rocket-pack, but it needs a little more "oumph", a little more ass kicking.

JRjr is great, as always. The special feature pages showing his breakdowns, the inking process and then the colours was pretty neat, especially in a single issue (as I'd normally find stuff like that in a trade paperback), so props to that.

In any case, more Kick-Ass means a greater likelihood of a sequel movie, and I'd be down with that.

Avengers #6

I just finished reading Avengers #6 last night. It's been a busy week with all the Halloween festivities going on and what not. But I sat down to read this book and now, writing about it, I'm not sure hoe I feel about it.

I'll say this, it is most definitely the 6th and final book in a story arc. This story really felt as if it was written for the trade, wrapping up the story with Kang the Conqueror breaking the timestream and the Avengers winning the day and saving all life as we know it. I just don't think I like the way they did it.

They did it by begging.

Hardly a great conclusion to the first story in "The Heroic Age", is it?

Iron Man and the Avengers begged Ultron to lose a fight and save the universe.

Yup.

I feel bad, because the thing Bendis does best, dialogue and banter, is great in this title. JRjr is always amazing on the pencils. The books reads very well and looks very nice, but still, 6 issues in, and 24$ in the hole, I feel like it might not have been a bad idea to have the Avengers kick off the heroic age of heroes with a better victory than begging Ultron for understanding and trust.

I don't know what to do with this book. the new 3.99$ price point is a lot higher than I really feel comfortable with, and the book just took me for 6 issues to a place where I just feel *bleh*. I mean, it's not like I finished the epic tale of time and war saying "They begged the murder robot to take a dive? That is sooooo cool!" I think this one is going to get dropped from my pull list when next I get to the comic shop.

Kick-Ass #6

I just read "Kick-Ass" #6 last night.

I like Kick-Ass. I like Mark Millar and I have always like John Romita jr. I'm just not sure how much I liked this particular issue.

JRjr draws mobsters like no one else. Eversince his work on "Punnisher: War Zone", I have thought that gritty, street level heroes were his forte. He's okay on X-Men and Spidey, but Romita does suits and blood like no one else in the business.

I thought the inking by Tom Palmer was a little overly loose on this issue. I think Romita needs tighter inks in order to prevent the art from looking sloppy.

I like this series, but I'm seeing more and more decompression in the writing and the art, and I think that they could pack a little more into each book to help pick up the pace. the first couple of issues kept the tempo high, but it's been slacking up lately. Millar has written high-action, yet dense comics before (see the first six issues of The Ultimates), so I don't know what he's trying to do here. I would guess that he's having a tough time filling 22 pages of script, and it feels like he's cheating here, and pulling 17 pages and drawing them out.

In any case, I like the origin of Big Daddy, but I think it could have been better. I think that they could have gone further back in time to see an even younger Hit Girl, and really take the time to flush out their story and characters.

I like the comic, I like the creators and I like the characters, I just think that this latest issue is the weakest one thus far, and it was especially disappointing considering how late the book was. I hope that Millar is able to pick up the pace a little next issue, and that the inks get a little tighter to make the book feel more crisp and sharp.

I also find it very amusing that the movie has already started casting, considering the origin and nature of the characters is only now being looked at in the comic. Millar must be a hell of a salesman.

Kick-Ass #3

I've spoken about Kick-Ass before, but I didn't really like the first issue. I stuck it out, if only because I really dig the John Romita jr. art, and issue three finally paid off a little. The first two books really beat up the protagonist, so it was nice to get past that and see him shine a little, as I find it's hard to read a book where the one character you like gets knocked around all the time without ever winning.



The book still needs some meat, however. with essentially only one character, the plot thus far has been about him fighting, and that's just about beginning to wear thin. Issue #3 is a step in the right direction, but the art will only be able to be a draw for so long.

Kick-Ass

I really have been a fan of John Romita jr. since his work back in the early 80's on Uncanny X-Men. Mark Millar hasn't ever really bombed either. Kick-Ass, from Marvel's Icon imprint should have been a slam dunk as far as I was concerned, but after reading issue #1, I'm feeling it was more of an air-ball.

I feel for Romita, who is a brilliant artist, and has always been one of my favorites, because the story really doesn't give him much to play with. His angles, "cinematography", and dynamic action are all spot-on, and if this was just a book of pretty pictures, I'd have gotten my money's worth.

But the plot was so...leaden. Millar doesn't take the reader anywhere, and for a first issue of a series, he really fell flat. Page after page of exposition, introduction, and pop-references meant that by the time the action did happen, I was already bored. Sadly, #1 did not kick-ass.