Kick-Ass 3
Writer: Mark Millar Artist John Romita Jr.
Trade
ISBN: 9781783290727
£18.99
Mark Millar and John Romita's mega-selling series returns for its final story! Hit-Girl is in jail, leaving Kick-Ass to lead the super hero team Justice Forever. But super heroes have been outlawed, leaving Kick-Ass to dodge both cops and some terrifying new foes!
For the first time, Kick-Ass is beginning to have doubts. Is he in too deep to get out?
Meanwhile, Hit-Girl starts running all the gangs in the joint, and a broken Red Mist gets an education from a terrifying crime boss. But when the new Skull and Bones vigilante team debuts and dissension hits Justice Forever's ranks, will Kick-Ass be able to fend off a coup? And when he finally takes a stand against JF's newest member, will the rest of the team back him up?
It'll be interesting to see if this review ever reaches the dizzying heights of the Kick-Ass 2 dvd review I did which is still floating in and out of CBOs top te after all this time!
This is Mark Millar. You get what you get with Millar -ultra-violence, foul language etc that at times seem to detract from an interesting storyline or scene. It's almost as though while writing he thinks: "Hey, I'll use the word '****' here!" But if you are a Millar fan you love that sort of thing.
So, it is a typical Millar book. Nothing really distinguishes it as anything other than a trade book of the comic series. I wasn't gripped. In fact -this is where the Millar fans start hyperventilating- I much prefer the film(s). I know but I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't here. It's like Alan Moore or Warren Ellis or Grant Morrison(hey, I got all three in one paragraph without it being a "let's stoke the bitter row" trick!) -you give an irrefutable fact that opposes something they have said or written and it's part of a conspiracy!
To each their own. I like some Alan Moore stuff but get criticised for that. I've not read a lot of Warren Ellis and probably won't but I enjoyed a couple things he's done -ditto Morrison. Now does my writing "bad" mean the sales are going to be bad? No.
Tom Palmer is a legendary inker. My gods you could drool over his inking! Always true to what the penciller lays down. Just a pity he's working on this.
John Romita Jr was one of my favourite artists. I really raved when he did those Avengers issues in the very short Age of Heroes at Marvel. Romita Jr has said on several video interviews that his work varies in quality based on how late he has left it or how fast he needs to pay the bills (the tradition in comics was always vice versa) so his quality does vary but was always nice to look at. That said, I cannot argue that he draws faces almost caracteur-like because if you observe people then you see this. Besides, it's almost a traditional thing in European comics.
What I cannot stand and what has turned me off when it comes to Kick-Ass is the absolutely ridiculously over-sized heads he puts on characters. It's as though someone (Romita, obviously) decided to draw one of those "bobble head" dolls. That is very bad proportioning. Yes on children the heads appear slightly -slightly- larger but here the proportions are more of someone suffering from hydroencephalitis. It really does put you off certain pages and it does not even seem to be consistent.
But, again, he's earning a living and people are buying books with his work in.
I often get the feeling I'm that Fool On The Hill from The Beetles song of that name:
"But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around"
Yes, I do need to realise that old time professionals who spent hours working hard to bring exact work/anatomy to readers for very poor pay, are gone
But the main point here is this: if you like Millar you'll buy this book. If you like Romita Jr work you'll buy this book. You are a Kick-Ass fan then....well, I think we know what you'll do.
The book is out there NOW!
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