Collective Consciousness Kick-Ass #1
Welcome to this week’s edition of Collective Consciousness, our weekly article where the staff takes one comic and puts it under the microscope. This allows us, and you, faithful reader, to get a good idea of how the comic fares against a variety of opinions. This week we are looking at the latest entry from MillarWorld, Kick-Ass #1.
Image solicit: “KICK-ASS IS BACK-ready to wipe out the city's criminal lowlives, destroy its gangs, and save its communities from decay. But there's a new face beneath the old mask, a new figure wearing that famous green and yellow spandex. Who is this new vigilante superhero? Who can fill Dave Lizewski's shoes? WHO IS THE NEW KICK-ASS? ”
Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: John Romita Jr
Publisher: Image Comics
Hussein
This was jumbled and hilariously bad. I got some serious Frank Miller BATMAN AND ROBIN vibes while reading this, so I'm hoping this series will end up as one of those "so bad it's good" reads.
Here Mark Millar and John Romita Jr introduce another Kick-Ass, Patience Lee. She comes home from military service and learns that her husband seemingly left her for a co-worker. She's swamped by his debts and takes up the Kick-Ass persona to make things better. I like the reason she becomes dresses up as Kick-Ass, mostly because it's not for the most honourable reason. It's an interesting layer that made the final few pages a bit more bearable.
John Romita Jr's art is the best part of this issue. Normally his art is very rough to look at but the digital inking by Peter Steigerwald did some wonders to Romita's line work. You can tell the inking is digital but this is the best his art has looked in a long time.
I recommend to stay as far away from this book as you can. Maybe pick up the trade when it's discounted for a few chuckles here and there.
Harlan
Kick-Ass #1 didn’t really do it for me. I’ve never been a fan of John Romita Jr.’s work; his faces are a little too bland for me (although looking back, I do think he’s greatly improved over the years). Likewise, this book has a pretty drab color palette. It feels like it doesn’t vary often or for long enough. We’re given a pretty good reason to get behind our hero’s actions, even if she doesn’t seem to know how to punch properly, but the presentation of her circumstances and motivation could have been paced better. This story didn’t really do anything to grab my attention or make me want to check out the next issue.
Charles
Another high-octane trip to the land of Kick-Ass kicks off, hooray! This time around we've got ourselves a copycat in the form of one Patience Lee. Her inaugural run in the green suit is interrupted by a massive "how we got here" flashback that takes a very thorough lap around all the "dare to be a badass" bases.
Mark Millar's writing is still top-notch, though he goes a bit heavy on the justifications. A random teen schmuck in New York can become Kick-Ass just because he wants to be a hero really badly, but a black mom from Albuquerque has to work through 20 pages of military backstory and family upheaval and financial pressure first. It's all done well, though the character beats do tend a little toward the cliché. They may be familiar tools but Mr. Millar works them *very* well.
John Romita Jr's art is looking tight as ever, and I appreciate that this script steers him mostly clear of kids - I've always found JRJR's kids a trifle too cartoony and creepy. The real stars of the show, visually speaking, are Peter Steigerwald's colours. They have a painterly depth that does the lions' share of the heavy lifting in bringing this story to life.
Visually vibrant and featuring a very different protagonist, this new working of the Kick-Ass formula injects plenty of novelty into the mix. The point of this introductory issue is to get to know Patience, and she proves more than interesting enough to get me asking that all-important question, "Ooh, what happens next?"
Peyi
As someone who's only experience with Kick Ass is from the second movie, I really enjoyed this first issue. We are introduced to the character of Patience who is a veteran, that is on her last mission before she leaves the army. She comes back home and instead of having an easy life after fighting for her country, she is introduced to a whole host of problems. This is a very different take on how it is for veterans, as usually PTSD is the avenue that writers tend to go down. Faced with all these problems, Patience decides to steal the money from the bad guys and give it to people that need it, which includes herself. From what i've seen this is a departure from the original Kick Ass but is definitely really interesting.
Stephen
Upon hearing such divided reviews of this issue from the other writers at CTG I had to read for myself what was causing an extreme differences of opinion. I’m a fan of both creators and the original Kick-Ass title so I expected to be at the very least entertained with this issue. Which I have to say I was. I’m not saying I was blown away by it but I walked away from it satisfied.
The writing from Millar was exciting as always. By now, we know he writes in hopes of being able to share his creations with the TV and movie world so his work is script-like with lots of action and little narrative. I find it very to the point writing with no interpretations required. What we see and read we are getting full force. I did find the back-story of the new Kick-Ass somewhat drawn out. I didn’t need half an issue of her military mission to be told in order to know she had a background in the military. To me, it seemed like a waste of pages. I was also confused as to how she got the idea to wear the kick-ass uniform. It seemed out of no where. I mean I get she wanted a disguise to do what she had to do but why pick that uniform? What was her connection to it or the original Kick-Ass? I feel like I’m missing something.
The art was standard Romita work. I know lots of people aren’t fans of his work but I’ve always enjoyed his style. I find his work has a great flow to it. I’m never unsure where to go to next. His panels always guide me in the right direction, which makes for a most enjoyable read. I’m not a fan of guessing where or what to read next.
All-in-all a solid addition to the world of Kick-Ass. I’ll stick around to see where it goes.
There you have it folks another New Comic Book Day group review from CTG. This one was more divided than reviews of the past. We had a couple of “don’t waste your time with this” and a few “well that was entertaining let’s see what happens”! Let us know what you thought in the comments below, our Twitter feed, or on our Facebook page.
Image solicit: “KICK-ASS IS BACK-ready to wipe out the city's criminal lowlives, destroy its gangs, and save its communities from decay. But there's a new face beneath the old mask, a new figure wearing that famous green and yellow spandex. Who is this new vigilante superhero? Who can fill Dave Lizewski's shoes? WHO IS THE NEW KICK-ASS? ”
Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: John Romita Jr
Publisher: Image Comics
Hussein
This was jumbled and hilariously bad. I got some serious Frank Miller BATMAN AND ROBIN vibes while reading this, so I'm hoping this series will end up as one of those "so bad it's good" reads.
Here Mark Millar and John Romita Jr introduce another Kick-Ass, Patience Lee. She comes home from military service and learns that her husband seemingly left her for a co-worker. She's swamped by his debts and takes up the Kick-Ass persona to make things better. I like the reason she becomes dresses up as Kick-Ass, mostly because it's not for the most honourable reason. It's an interesting layer that made the final few pages a bit more bearable.
John Romita Jr's art is the best part of this issue. Normally his art is very rough to look at but the digital inking by Peter Steigerwald did some wonders to Romita's line work. You can tell the inking is digital but this is the best his art has looked in a long time.
I recommend to stay as far away from this book as you can. Maybe pick up the trade when it's discounted for a few chuckles here and there.
Harlan
Kick-Ass #1 didn’t really do it for me. I’ve never been a fan of John Romita Jr.’s work; his faces are a little too bland for me (although looking back, I do think he’s greatly improved over the years). Likewise, this book has a pretty drab color palette. It feels like it doesn’t vary often or for long enough. We’re given a pretty good reason to get behind our hero’s actions, even if she doesn’t seem to know how to punch properly, but the presentation of her circumstances and motivation could have been paced better. This story didn’t really do anything to grab my attention or make me want to check out the next issue.
Charles
Another high-octane trip to the land of Kick-Ass kicks off, hooray! This time around we've got ourselves a copycat in the form of one Patience Lee. Her inaugural run in the green suit is interrupted by a massive "how we got here" flashback that takes a very thorough lap around all the "dare to be a badass" bases.
Mark Millar's writing is still top-notch, though he goes a bit heavy on the justifications. A random teen schmuck in New York can become Kick-Ass just because he wants to be a hero really badly, but a black mom from Albuquerque has to work through 20 pages of military backstory and family upheaval and financial pressure first. It's all done well, though the character beats do tend a little toward the cliché. They may be familiar tools but Mr. Millar works them *very* well.
John Romita Jr's art is looking tight as ever, and I appreciate that this script steers him mostly clear of kids - I've always found JRJR's kids a trifle too cartoony and creepy. The real stars of the show, visually speaking, are Peter Steigerwald's colours. They have a painterly depth that does the lions' share of the heavy lifting in bringing this story to life.
Visually vibrant and featuring a very different protagonist, this new working of the Kick-Ass formula injects plenty of novelty into the mix. The point of this introductory issue is to get to know Patience, and she proves more than interesting enough to get me asking that all-important question, "Ooh, what happens next?"
Peyi
As someone who's only experience with Kick Ass is from the second movie, I really enjoyed this first issue. We are introduced to the character of Patience who is a veteran, that is on her last mission before she leaves the army. She comes back home and instead of having an easy life after fighting for her country, she is introduced to a whole host of problems. This is a very different take on how it is for veterans, as usually PTSD is the avenue that writers tend to go down. Faced with all these problems, Patience decides to steal the money from the bad guys and give it to people that need it, which includes herself. From what i've seen this is a departure from the original Kick Ass but is definitely really interesting.
Stephen
Upon hearing such divided reviews of this issue from the other writers at CTG I had to read for myself what was causing an extreme differences of opinion. I’m a fan of both creators and the original Kick-Ass title so I expected to be at the very least entertained with this issue. Which I have to say I was. I’m not saying I was blown away by it but I walked away from it satisfied.
The writing from Millar was exciting as always. By now, we know he writes in hopes of being able to share his creations with the TV and movie world so his work is script-like with lots of action and little narrative. I find it very to the point writing with no interpretations required. What we see and read we are getting full force. I did find the back-story of the new Kick-Ass somewhat drawn out. I didn’t need half an issue of her military mission to be told in order to know she had a background in the military. To me, it seemed like a waste of pages. I was also confused as to how she got the idea to wear the kick-ass uniform. It seemed out of no where. I mean I get she wanted a disguise to do what she had to do but why pick that uniform? What was her connection to it or the original Kick-Ass? I feel like I’m missing something.
The art was standard Romita work. I know lots of people aren’t fans of his work but I’ve always enjoyed his style. I find his work has a great flow to it. I’m never unsure where to go to next. His panels always guide me in the right direction, which makes for a most enjoyable read. I’m not a fan of guessing where or what to read next.
All-in-all a solid addition to the world of Kick-Ass. I’ll stick around to see where it goes.
***
There you have it folks another New Comic Book Day group review from CTG. This one was more divided than reviews of the past. We had a couple of “don’t waste your time with this” and a few “well that was entertaining let’s see what happens”! Let us know what you thought in the comments below, our Twitter feed, or on our Facebook page.
A Look Inside
