Taking place between KICK-ASS and KICK-ASS 2, we now get to see what Hit-Girl was up to and what happened in between stories.
The Good
There's something about reading a Mark Millar KICK-ASS comic. When it comes to them, you pretty much know what you're going to get. The nice thing is, Millar delivers and doesn't let you down. In KICK-ASS 2, there were some moments that felt as if he were trying to push the boundaries and go completely over the top. But he sticks to the theme of the book. This is about normal kids trying to be superheroes and there happens to be an incredible amount of violence and foul language.
A good (and bad) thing is being able to go back and see Hit-Girl before everything hit the fan in KICK-ASS 2. The idea of her trying or forced to live a normal life is fascinating. There's a surprisingly tragic nature to Hit-Girl even though it's great seeing her beat the $#!& out of everyone. The mixture of flashbacks, scenes at school and preparation for her next move is like a roller coaster ride of fun.
It's in the KICK-ASS comics that I really enjoy John Romita's Jr's art. His breakdowns combined with Tom Palmer's ink washes and Dean White's colors defines who these characters are. I couldn't and wouldn't want to imagine any of them being replaced when depicting these characters.
The Bad
I mentioned above that it was nice to be able to get this story set in between the two KICK-ASS series but on the other hand, how come we didn't see this before? Going back and reading the events that we didn't get to see can be great but we also know where the characters will end up by the end. It removes some of the excitement and suspense when reading. We know which characters have to survive this series and so forth. It's still an enjoyable issue but it's something that can be hard to overlook sometimes.
I also mentioned that I do dig Romita Jr's art here but there are times when Mindy's head looks a little too big.
The Verdict
It's time to get some more of your KICK-ASS fix with a focus on Hit-Girl. Kick-Ass does also appear here and we get to see what happened with Mindy and Dave in between two series. Not only do you get plenty of violence and foul language, there is some character development as well. Millar is showing us that this isn't going to necessarily just be more of the same. The unfortunate aspect of this taking place between the other two volumes is we have an idea how the events will play out. We know which characters have to survive by the end. It's not a major concern but it takes away from Millar's 'anything goes' approach. This is the calm before the storm and if you've been loving the other series, you'll want to be on board for this as well.