The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

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DADOES?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, duh.

[Punchy]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, duh.

Oh, I didn't know the comic was still going, it doesn't exactly leap out at you.

[Victorian Squid]

Consistently some of the best covers in the industry.

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New thread will probably be a bit late this morning.

[SilverPhoenix]

Kick-Ass 2 #1

Real World Superheroes are back in action, but does it show the prequels early season promise?

At this point it really doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you only have a passing knowledge of comic books from Movie and Television shows, or whether you one of the hardest of the hard-core, and buy virtually every new comic off the rack on Comic Book Day, you have heard of what has become Mark Millar’s biggest creator owned property, simply known as Kick-Ass.

For those of you who have only heard of the property in passing, here’s an extended, but quick rundown of the setting so far. Kick-Ass (according to Mark Millar), takes place in our world, where the superheroes we’ve come to know and love are also their superheroes. In fact, Dave Lizewski loves Superheroes so much that he ends up becoming the first real life superhero. From there Kick-Ass becomes such a phenomenon that he ends up spawning a whole fleet of Superheroes who take the war for justice into their own hands.

By the end of the story, Kick-Ass (along with Hit Girl) takes down a Mafia Boss, becoming a cultural icon along the way. Kick-Ass would also enjoy one of the fastest (if not the fastest) Graphic Novel to Movie Conversion rate in history. With such popularity, there was no surprise that a sequel was announced, something that the reviewer was more or less not looking forward to, due to general dislike of the first series. This doesn’t mean that I hate Kick-Ass with wanton abandon, because I really enjoyed the first 2 parts of the first series, it just means I wasn’t pleased with the overall storyline (mostly due to Hit-Girl). Realizing that I came into this issue with an open mind, and I was surprised with the result.

Make no misjudgments here; the writing is the reason why this book succeeds on the levels it does. Mark Millar brings his A Game as we get to see a different side to these characters. The more human side that was on display in the first couple issues of the first series. This issue also does go out of its way to show us the layers of depth the Super Hero Game has in this world. Dave, especially has to start making choices as to what kind of Superhero he wants to be himself, and from what the book reveled so far, it seems like that choice will have its consequences. The best part of this however, was the characterization given to Hit-Girl. No longer is she just a rule-breaking meme, as we’re reminded that she’s an actual character, and in her own way, Kick-Ass’s guide to the world that he inadvertently created. Overall, it was refreshing to see a glimpse of potential in the writing.

The one thing I’ve learned this year is that John Romita Jr. has a style that most people will either love or hate. For me, it really depends on the book, because while I can’t stand his Avengers, I think that he draws this world pretty well. If you’re looking for something drawn outlandishly, with vibrant colors then you need to find another book to look at, because Romita really does try to draw the world as realistically as possible. It’s not my favorite art style, but it does work given the setting it’s in. A stand up effort by one of the game’s legends, even though some will balk at the now unconventional style.

Overall, I found quite a few things to really like about this book, and it took me back to 2008 where I thought it was very good read. At the very least, I’ll make sure to follow this series in some form, unlike certain books which I can’t wait to be over.

Overall Score (Due to lateness): 7

(Sorry for the lack of effort, and the lateness. I've been down on my writing skills, big time)

[malcolm reynolds]

KICK-ASS 2 #1


Kick Ass Volume 2 #1 has hit the stores, and after the multitude of positive and negative reviews about the movie, it will be interesting to see how this new series is received. The first issue catches us up with what everyone has been doing since the conclusion of the mini-series and also gives us a small glimpse of what is to come in the following issues.

The issue centres on our central character Dave Lizewski, Kick Ass, as he tries to form the real world’s first Superhero team. Mindy is front and centre as she tries to train Dave to be a better superhero. Mindy’s new step-father figure is a lot more prominent in this issue and discovers that she has been skipping out on school to train with Kick-ass, he implores her not to anymore as Mindy’s mother seems to be hanging by a thread, psychologically and any stress could see her fall apart again. So reluctantly Mindy plays family and leaves Kick-ass to fend for himself as he takes to the streets and teams up with one of the many heroes that seems to have popped up since the end of the last miniseries. The issue ends with Kick ass entering an underground “lair” and coming face to face with the real world’s first superhero team.

It was interesting to see that on the super team they’ve put together, we have every marvel archetype you’d expect to see. I found myself a little annoyed at first, but then as I thought more I realised that if there ever was a time when people were stupid enough to don super hero costumes and go around trying to fight crime that of course they would copy off the likes of Spider-man, Thor and Captain America. The glimpse into the future we get as Dave seems to tell the story in past tense, seems a little standard in terms of storytelling, but it has enough of a hook, to have me interested enough to keep reading.
It was a concern going into this how compromised John Romita Jr's pencils would be due to the fact that his pencils on the monthly Avenger's title are already a little looser than what we're used to seeing. As soon as you open up the front cover you’ll notice that Romita is only credited with doing the breakdowns for this issue, with full art duties going to Tom Palmer. At the end of the issue they have a step by step process of the artwork for the book and you get an insight as to what part of the art process belongs to which contributor. Romita lays down the basic layout and some very rough pencils, and then Tom palmer has cleaned up the artwork and inked the book. It’s interesting to see two artists work together in this manner, with a by-product that show’s influences from both artists’ styles, with an overall package that looks neat and tight, but still holds onto that style that we have grown accustomed to from the pages of Kick-ass.

To tell you the honest truth I was a little sceptical when this was announced as Mark Millar is always a bit hit-or-miss, more so lately, and the constant hype that is produced for his works gets more than a little too much to bear. With this book, I was engaged enough to read the rest of the mini and see where it takes us. This first issue was a nice first step, let’s see where Mark Millar’s crazy head can take us now.


ART - 7
STORY - 7

OVERALL - 7


Sorry for the lateness took me a while to get a copy of this.