Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Kick-Ass 3 #1
Icon (Marvel Comics)
Millar & Romita Jr
Kick-Ass seems to have been a comic and an idea that caught lightening in a bottle. The returns have been diminished since that first superb series. The first issue of what Millar states will be the final arc has none of the charm or uniqueness of the original series. As an individual comic book I found it to be long, uninteresting and leaving off with a cliffhanger that just seems boring. The issue isn't clear as to how long this mini-series is but I can't see sticking with this. It's really a shame because that first series was amazing.
Basically, Hit-Girl is in jail and she leaves instructions for Kick-Ass to break her out. Kick-Ass and company chickens out. The rest of the issue shows how boring Kick-Ass is and it cracks some jokes along the way about adolescence stupidity and it mines the super-hero treasure trove with references to Batman and Spider-Man. The comic reads like outtakes from the other series. It's long and nothing happens.
There are a lot of problems with the makeup of the book. First of all, if the entire premise of this series is to break Hit-Girl out of prison then Millar has started the whole thing off wrong. He hasn't done anything to establish how difficult a task it would be to break her out nor has he given any specific reason to break her out other than she left Kick-Ass a note.
The other angle of the book that fails is the pacing. The book goes into heavy detail about what's going on with Kick-Ass's regular life as Dave. It's really uninteresting stuff to read about how a guy working in fast food lives in an apartment in Hoboken, which is probably also about as impossible as it gets fiscally.
The aspect of the book that works is Millar has an interesting cast. He has this great knack for connecting even the secondary characters to the reader in a meaningful way. I admire how unique a voice he gives the characters.
The artwork is good but not great. Let's face it, this book's strength is blood and gore and this comic is missing that aspect of it. As a result Romita can only do so much. Ironically, the best panels are of Dave in the cemetery reflecting on tombstones while the snow is driving down on him. These panels reference Bruce Wayne and who better to draw an emotional super-hero scene than Romita? It's a good artistic issue.
Kick-Ass appears to have run its course. I loved the original series. I thought the second was okay but this one just doesn't seem to have anything new to offer. I will tune in for one more issue. Hopefully Millar has something big in it.
2 out of 5 Geek Goggles
