Dave Lizewski is an average high school nerd with a not so healthy obsession with comic books. He often wonders why no one has ever actually tried to be a super hero in real life and decides that he will be the first. Calling himself Kick-Ass, his first attempt at ‘fighting crime’ (graffiti!) lands him in the hospital, physical therapy for six months, and with metal plates in his head, but he still decides to keep the suit. When he actually stops one crime and the cell phone footage hits Youtube it inspires a spate of imitators and gets him the fame he always wanted. He soon meets a 10 year old girl with katanas and her psychotic gun toting dad and is recruited into their war against the mob. But Kick-Ass is about to find out why no one ever tried to be a superhero in real life before: it’s completely insane.
This book does all its title promises. It is loud, fast, hilarious, rude, and violent. This is what I call smart-dumb fun. The action packed story is on one level like a super macho action movie, but if you look at it deeper you see that the writer is well aware how horrible his characters are. It’s actually a satire of the adolescent male’s obsession with sex and violence as represented by super hero comics. While it isn’t the genre changing epic that Watchmen (YP FIC MOORE) was, it isn’t trying to be. It keeps the scope of action small and this makes it a much faster, more brutal read. If you’ve already seen the movie this was based on then you know the basic plot, but there are enough minor changes to keep thing interesting too. The absolute best thing about this comic is the stunning art by John Romita jr. Comic fans will already recognize him as the best artist working today and anyone reading Kick-Ass will be an instant fan. He really outdoes himself on this project and comes up with some of the most insane comic panels in history. All in all Kick-Ass is a fun comic that can be enjoyed for its mindless action movie violence AND for its satire of the same violence it celebrates.
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