In the early part of 2008, writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. introduced the world to Dave Lizewski: a normal teenager who becomes a real life superhero named KICK-ASS. And it completely took everyone by surprise. The pre-publication stunts helped: stunts like the viral Kick-Ass video that was the hit of YouTube and the Dave Lizewski MySpace page. Not long after the series ended in 2010, it became a feature film. Now Millar and Romita have delivered one of the most anticipated sequels in recent memory.
Issue one begins a few months after the first series ended. Hit-Girl, that crazy 10 year old with a taste for death and destruction, is training Dave to be a better hero while trying to hide this from her stepfather, who happens to be a police detective and knows of her alter-ego. Kick-Ass meets up with another hero called Doctor Gravity who runs with a group called Justice Forever. The team is led by two ex-mafia members who now go by the name of Colonel Stars and Lieutenant Stripes. Kick-Ass also learns that Battle Guy is actually his school friend Marty Eisenberg. Marty reveals that Red Mist, fresh from being the chief baddie from the first series, has been using Twitter to recruit an army of supervillains.
Justice Forever goes out an attacks a group of gangsters having a card game. In actuality, the gangsters have been bringing girls from Korea to America and selling them into prostitution. One of the gangsters gets his groin chomped on by Colonel Stars' attack dog. After this event, the organization continues to grow and Dave and Marty invite Todd and Hit Girl, who turns them down. When he gets home, Dave discovers that his dad has found his costume and it all goes bad from there. Meanwhile, Colonel Stars is attacked and mortally wounded while his dog is killed. Red Mist arrives with his gang, The Toxic Mega-****. They destroy the hideout and then Red Mist declares he wants to do "something funny".
Twenty four hours later, the police find the dead Colonel Stars with the dog’s head on his body. Written on the wall is "Red Mist is dead, long live the Mother******". With their clubhouse destroyed, Justice Forever moves to the back of the Triple Crown diner. The former Red Mist and his gang approach the home of Katie Deauxma, a girl Dave has the hots for, and proceed to massacre any and all bystanders, including a group of children playing. They enter the house, kill Katie's father, and rape Katie. The police respond but are massacred by Mist’s bodyguard, Mother Russia.
Following the death of nearly 30 of their own, not to mention the scores of injured police, the cops decide to arrest all superheroes and super villains on the streets. Dave’s father confesses to being Kick-Ass to save his son.
Red Mist and his gang receive a phone call from Detective Gigante: a crooked cop who has been feeding them information. He severs all ties with the group, saying they have gone too far. Thus the plan is concocted to destroy New York City. And, while he is at it, he arranges for Dave’s dad to be killed while in prison. The bad guys show up at the funeral, blowing up the casket and kidnapping Dave. But it’s Hit-Girl to the rescue and she gets the info she wants before killing the driver. Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass head to the villain’s lair. One of the team is responsible for raping Katie, so Kick-Ass drops him in a shark tank. Not satisfied, she shoots out the tank and proceeds to torture the guy.
Hit-Girl’s godfather is informed that this could be the biggest loss of life since 9/11. Red Mist and his gang proceed to blow up many buildings to draw the police away from the area and then proceeds to tell his followers they have ten minutes to cause mayhem and kill. Our heroes show up and find they are outnumbered 100 to 2. That’s when the reinforcements arrive and all out war begins.
Kick-Ass battles Red Mist, Hit-Girl battles Mother Russia and all the others rumble like a gore filled version of WEST SIDE STORY. Hit-Girl is badly beaten but gets a chance to retaliate and decapitates Mother Russia. Kick-Ass and Red Mist battle on a rooftop until the villain is tossed off to the ground below. Dave calls for help to save the dying villain as Hit-Girl uses smoke bombs to allow her friend to get away. The police arrest everybody, good or bad and Hit-Girl steals a police car to make her escape. She fails and is arrested, as is her stepfather, The crowd protests her arrest as Kick-Ass and his friends sneak away. On the final page, Hit-Girl turns to the crowd and says, "It's been an honor to serve."
On the bottom of the final page it says "End of Book Three." There is a Hit-Girl book coming in May that falls between KICK-ASS and KICK-ASS 2.
The book debuted in October of 2010 and it finished its’ seventh issue in March of 2012. Seventeen months from beginning to end. Was it worth the wait?
You bet it was! Mark Millar is out of his mind, like many of the New Wave of British/Scottish/Irish comic writers before him like Jamie Delano, Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison. The first series was a foul mouthed, gory take on the world of superheroes without super powers. It was a brilliant take on the concept of just how crazy do you have to be to run around in a wetsuit and your underwear to battle bad guys. It was a magnificent take on the concept and made readers laugh at how silly the whole genre was. Now we have the sequel and it is so far over the top it’s hard to describe. Villain teams so disgusting I can’t use their names here, and actions so vile that they defy logic. Think about this: dogs chewing genitals; eleven year old girls swearing up a storm while decapitating genetic freaks from Russia; costume teens murdering everyone they see and gang raping other teen girls. And of course, the decapitating of a former mobster and attaching his dog’s head to that body.
So over the top it’s appealing…appealing like a car crash during a auto race. Millar, cuss words and all, has a brilliant flair for the dramatic and writes some pretty explosive dialogue. And John Romita Jr. has taken this script and run with it in his definitive and impressive style. Every page drips blood or sweat and every bullet flies precisely.
And, if this wasn’t enough, there is a preview of Millar’s next work: THE SECRET SERVICE. It teams Millar and legendary WATCHMEN artist Dave Gibbons on what looks to be a wild and violent ride. hell-the kill off Mark Hamill himself in the first 8 pages!
Find the back issues or wait for the trade paperback to arrive. This book is so hardcore it would be nearly impossible to adapt into a movie, unless it was HEAVILY censored!
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