#IReadsYou Review: KICK-ASS VS. HIT-GIRL #1

KICK-ASS VS. HIT-GIRL #1
IMAGE COMICS

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Steve Niles
ART: Marcelo Frusin
COLORS: Sunny Gho
LETTERS: John Workman
DESIGN: Melina Mikulic
EDITOR: Rachael Fulton
COVER: John Romita, Jr. with Peter Steigerwald
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Matteo Scalera; Andre Lima Araujo with Chris O'Halloran
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S.(November 2020)

Rated “M/Mature”

Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl created by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.

Kick-Ass is a comic book series created by writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita, Jr.  The initial Kick-Ass comic books were published by Marvel Comics' “Icon” imprint, before the series moved to Image Comics.  Kick-Ass is now known as Kick-Ass: The Dave Lizewski Years, and is comprised of four book collections (or graphic novels)

Kick-Ass #1 (cover dated: April 2008) introduced Dave Lizewski, a teenager who becomes a real life superhero.  Dave takes the name “Kick-Ass,” and his superhero activities are publicized on the Internet and inspire other people to become like him.  Dave eventually gets caught up with the ruthless father-daughter vigilante duo, “Big Daddy”/Damon McCready and “Hit-Girl”/Mindy McCready (both introduced in Kick-Ass #3 – cover dated July 2008).  The McCreadys are on a mission to take down the Genovese crime family.

Kick-Ass 2018 (now known as Kick-Ass: The New Girl) introduced a new Kick-Ass.  She was Patience Lee, an Afghanistan war veteran who returned home to Albuquerque, New Mexico and discovered that her husband had left her and also had run up large debts.  Taking on the Kick-Ass identity, Patience started off stealing cash from neighborhood criminals before eventually killing off the local boss and his gang and taking over his operations as the new crime boss, using the name, “Kick-Ass.”

Hit-Girl now travels the world doing her own thing in her own comic books.  But it is time for Kick-Ass/Patience Lee and Hit-Girl to finally meet, and they do so in the new comic book miniseries, Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl.  It is written by Steve Niles; drawn by Marcelo Frusin; colored by Sunny Gho; and lettered John Workman, with original Kick-Ass artist, John Romita, Jr. providing cover art.

Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl #1 opens in the aftermath of Patience killing her brother-in-law, her sister's husband, Maurice.  At Maurice's funeral, Patience does a lot of thinking, and she decides to destroy the criminal empire that she has built.  But not everyone agrees with that move.  Elsewhere, a young killer makes her noisy arrival in Albuquerque, NM.

THE LOWDOWN:  I am a fan of the Kick-Ass comic book franchise, especially of the comic books produced by both Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.  I think that the original Kick-Ass series is a revolutionary moment in superhero comic books, probably the biggest shift since the dawn of Marvel Comics in 1961 with the publication of The Fantastic Four #1.  For one thing, Kick-Ass liberated superhero comic books of nostalgia and sentimentality.  This was the first step in creating a comic book that convincingly depicts what it might be like if superheroes existed in our real world.

The post Millar-Romita, Jr. Kick-Ass comic books are entertaining, but they read more like Vertigo crime and hard-boiled comic books than like Kick-Ass superhero comic books.  In this first issue, Marcelo Frusin's graphical storytelling is stylish and fast-moving, filled with edgy drama and hard-hitting violent action.  Writer Steve Niles builds the first issue on anticipation.  He offers a simmer that the readers know will result in explosive, but pivotal violence; readers just have to wait.

The colors by Sunny Gho throb and sometimes take on a neon quality.  The coloring gives this story's edginess a moody filter.  Meanwhile, John Workman does what the best letterers have been doing for decades – create the illusion of an audio track so that a comic book, in this case, Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl #1, is a thing of sound and graphics.

So, what is the verdict on Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl #1?  Well, I'd like to be cynical, but by the time I reached the last page, I really wanted more.  And I shall come back for more

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Kick-Ass comic books will want to try Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl #1.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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