By: Mark Millar (writer/co-creator), John Romita, Jr. (pencils/co-creator), Tom Palmer (inks & washes), Dean White & Michael Kelleher (colors) and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)
The Story: Hit-Girl is still in jail and Kick-Ass has a problem within his own team.
The Review (with SPOILERS): This is a classic transitional issue; pieces are just being moved into place for the finale. If this was someone’s first issue of Kick Ass, they’re going to be bored and wonder what all the fuss is about. If you’re a long-time reader, you’re not going to find anything very memorable about this issue. But if you’ve stuck around for this long, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll drop the series when we’re only a few issues from the finish line.
I guess there are a couple of things worth noting in this issue just because it’s hard not to imagine them having some bearing on the final resolution of the series. One is the the internal “Civil War” among Kick-Ass’ group of heroes. After a couple of issues of annoyance, Kick-Ass finally drops the hammer on The Juicer and kicks him out of the heroes’ clubhouse. It is kinda funny because this is exactly what would really happen if you tried to form a group of real-life, vigilante heroes. Some dude is going to take advantage, not contribute his dues, make a mess in the clubhouse, use up all the toilet paper, etc. The clever thing about Kick Ass has always been the way Mark Millar is looking at our familiar superhero tropes through the prism of “real-life.” One of my family members has a “10% rule” that states that in any group of people (priests, school teachers, dog-walkers, policemen, etc.) 10% of those people are complete assholes. So, it makes sense that as Kick-Ass has expanded his group of heroes, he’s going to run into a few jerks, like the Juicer. That’s just the way the world works.
And, I’m looking forward to how Millar will apply the classic superhero trope of what happens when the Juicer returns. He’s gotta have some role to play in the big finale.
The other noteworthy event is that Kick Ass finally gets somewhere with a lady. Even though I kinda wonder if this lady is legit or has her own agenda, this is an important milestone for Kick-Ass. Remember where we met him? Geeky high school kid who was getting NO play from the teenage girls. Now, he’s going all the way, and this is with an adult woman who’s kinda hot. You kinda wonder if a guy who can pick up and bed legitimately attractive adult women is going to be able to sustain the sense of righteous indignation that he had as a teenage boy with nothing better to do. Kick-Ass also has something legitimate to loose now. He’s lost his father and his last girlfriend was raped, he now knows what the stakes are if he persists in fighting crime.
And Hit-Girl is still in prison. I’m sure she’ll get out and I look forward to that, but I’d rather we hurried up about it.
The art in the issue is interesting. As the series has progressed, the art has gotten looser and looser. I suspect that is because John Romita, Jr. has other commitments at Marvel and can’t do more than just rough out a page (and Tom Palmer would rather stay true to JR, Jr.’s rough pencils than just overink everything). But, even though it is loose and the characters look a little different, the action is never unclear. I read and reviewed a GI Joe comic earlier this week and that had all sorts of banana skins in terms of sequential art. Kick-Ass is beautiful from a storytelling standpoint.
Conclusion: This issue is a classic illustration of being in for a penny, so you’re in for a pound. Taken alone, this issue doesn’t have much to offer, but we don’t have much further to go on Kick-Ass’ journey… I’m eager to see how everything finishes.
Grade: C
- Dean Stell
Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: Chris Eliopoulos, Dean Stell, Dean White, Icon, John Romita, Jr., Kick Ass, Kick-Ass #3, Mark Millar, Marvel, Michael Kelleher, review, Tom Palmer
