Kick-Ass, finally!

Kick-Ass #1 came out in April 2008, so here it is about 21 months later and finally Kick-Ass #8 has arrived. Every issue has gotten later and later than the previous issue so it actually seems longer than it has been (not that 21 months isn't a long enough time for eight issues to come out). Anyone who's a fan of Mark Millar written titles just has to accept that whatever the title is, it's going to be late. This time though, Millar had finished writing Kick-Ass a loooong time ago and artist John Romita JR. (who is one of this mediums greatest artists and most disciplined when it comes to being able to meet schedules) kept being interrupted from finishing Kick-Ass to work on Marvel universe regular superhero titles which were more deadline intensive and which he's contracted for (Kick-Ass is creator owned by Mark Millar & John Romita JR. and just published by Marvel).

For those of you reading this that haven't heard of Kick-Ass, read the comic, or seen the previews for the upcoming Kick-Ass movie in April, Kick-Ass takes place in our world, a world in which there are no super powered people. This kid, Dave, who reads a lot of superhero comics, wonders why no one puts on a costume and fights crime. So he does this and gets his ass kicked. After recovering from his ass kicking, Dave meets some other kids who are doing the same thing, like Hit-Girl and then the fun really begins. Kick-Ass is just a very fun, very R-rated comic book that really does some different things with the superhero / supervillain dynamic.

Kick-Ass #8 (which features the cover subtitle: When Titans Pimp-Slap!) concludes the first story-line (of which the movie is based on) and the ending does indeed kick ass! I was disappointed by the ending of Millar's otherwise great Wolverine Old Man Logan, so I'm happy to report that the first Kick-Ass story-arc is great all the way around. Every issue of this series has gone to multiple printings and was just about the best selling comic everywhere when it came out, but if you don't already have the previous issues, you'll have to wait until 2/17 when the hardcover collection arrives. Mark Millar told me a couple of summers ago that the movie follows the comic fairly closely, and having seen three trailers, I'm thinking that if the movie is anywhere close to as good as the trailers, well Kick-Ass the movie should be quite the fun ride. Kick-Ass the movie will be rated R, which it needs to be if it wants to come close to the tone of the comic, but even with an R rating, I'm a little concerned that the movie ending won't play out as the end of issue #8 does, which I think is a perfect, unsentimental ending to this pull-no-punches comic.