Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass 2

I have a confession to make. I haven’t read the first Kick-Ass book nor its follow up, Hit-Girl. To the best of my knowledge, the first movie pretty much nailed what went on in the first two hardcovers and by the looks of the trailer for Kick-Ass 2, it’s set to do the same. I can’t imagine them losing anything in the transition from comics to film.. well, aside from one key factor: the violence.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Kick-Ass was a violent movie. Any movie that depicts a gangster exploding inside of a giant microwave is plenty violent but even with THAT, I was not prepared for what lied ahead in Kick-Ass 2.

After her father’s death, Hit-Girl is still seething with rage. However, with her new stepfather aware of her violent alter-ego, he forbids her from ever suiting up and fighting crime again. This becomes even harder to abide by when a new super-team is formed named, Justice Forever, bringing Kick-Ass into the fold.

While the group is working hard fighting crime and helping the needy, Kick-Ass’ arch-nemesis The Red Mist, is putting together his own legion. When Red Mist takes out a member of Justice Forever, tensions escalate between the two factions. Can Kick-Ass and Justice Forever put a stop to Red Mist before he embarks on his most ambitious plan yet?

I’m a big fan of the characters Mark Millar has established. Dave Lizewski playing the lovable loser Kick-Ass along with a wise-beyond her years, Hit Girl, are one of my favorite duos in superhero fiction. Millar’s writing is both emotional and hilarious with one line specifically that I can’t wait to hear Chloë Grace Moretz utter on the big screen. So on one hand, I loved this. On the other hand however, I couldn’t get passed a few specific panels where violence seems to be used for the sake of violence.

I guess I should have expected what I was getting when I took on a Mark Millar graphic novel as I did just read a Wolverine book a few weeks ago but with characters and stories so compelling, I don’t see the reason for the over-the-top gore at certain points.

That being said, I still really enjoyed reading this and am very interested in backtracking to the first two collections. There’s still two more hardcovers to be written and I’m certainly looking forward to it.