Kick-Ass #1 launched amid such a massive wave of self-aggrandising hype and viral marketing that yours truly managed to remain blissfully unaware of its existence until about three days before it was released. This, naturally, demonstrates just how perfectly qualified I am to write a comics review column. Anyway, once it had been pointed out to me, the names were of course enough to draw me in – Mark Millar may have his critics, but you simply don’t ignore the man who wrote The Ultimates; while John Romita Jr. remains, for me, one of the absolute greats of the business.

So it was pleasing all round when that first issue turned out to be such tremendous fun. Millar’s clearly working very firmly in that “obnoxious” mode of his, but as the whole thing is comparable to Nextwave in terms of a writer cutting loose and fully indulging their sense of humour, tongue wedged firmly in cheek, for once it actually fit rather well. It’s a shame, then, that the now-much-anticipated second issue has turned out to impress me rather less.

It’s not that there aren’t neat moments. It’s just that the first issue, though not as original as it thought itself, was something of a breath of fresh air, and the consequences of Dave’s first attempt at superheroism were genuinely shocking. Here, though, after being shown his rehabilitation and recovery from his injuries, we know that despite his assertions to the contrary, it’s only a matter of time before he gets back into costume. And sure enough, so he does – but despite the entire story being narrated from his point of view, we never feel like we’re really getting inside Dave’s head, to discover just why he’s persisting with this after everything that’s happened. One simple line of dialogue – “The beast was friggin’ in me, man” – isn’t really enough to explain how he suddenly goes from “Never again” to being back pounding the streets.

Once he’s back in costume, of course, it’s even easier to see exactly where things are going – and, again, so it proves, with a more successful attempt at vigilantism seemingly vindicating his decision to get back on the horse. But part of the problem with following such a straightforward set of story beats is that, so far at least, Dave isn’t really a hero you find yourself rooting for. It’s possible to empathise with his general nerdiness, and I suppose he is driven by a desire to do something of genuine worth – but on the other hand, he’s a bit of a pillock. And for all the hype about this being a “realistic” book about someone trying to be a superhero… well, the idea of a recently-recovered spinal injury victim single-handedly taking on a group of thugs and winning means that the book is still rather more rooted in comic book rules than it perhaps feels it ought to be.

It’s still a very well-made comic, of course - the writing is brazenly confident, and JRJr couldn’t do poor work if he tried. And hey, it’s hard to argue with that front page tagline. But if there aren’t going to be any further twists in the story of Dave going out and kicking the crap out of people, then I’m going to lose interest fairly quickly. It’s the expectation that Millar surely has a lot more in his pocket, though, that’ll keep me reading for now.

Tags: John Romita Jr., Kick-Ass, Mark Millar
Publisher: Icon, Marvel