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Kick-Ass - 2 (2013)

by Mark Millar(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1781167044 (ISBN13: 9781781167045)

languge

English

genre

Graphic Novels & Comics

publisher

Titan Books

review 1: Millar, despite being Scottish, is part of a second-wave British Invasion comic book writers. While most American writers would tend to write comic books as straight superhero and traditional comic book fair (not that it's a bad thing, it varies from person to person), British (and Scottish) writers such as Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, and Grant Morrison tended to subvert the usual comic book trends, giving acclaimed works such as Watchmen, Planetary, and Doom Patrol. Mark Millar, former protege of Grant Morrison, had moments of brilliance, but usually that was under the guiding hand of more talented writers. Where once we had a starry-eyed young writer, now we are left with a jaded man who writes every story like a movie pitch. I decided to skip a review for the first Kick-A... moress book because I didn't have as much interesting things to say about it that I couldn't say here. Kick-Ass is a movie pitch, though not a very good one. The resulting movie got much needed refinement to make a product that audiences could enjoy. I enjoyed it at first, though subsequent viewings left me less satisfied. It seems to me that the Kick-Ass wants both to deconstruct the superhero comic book, while also be the thing it deconstructs. I read Kick-Ass after I saw the movie, and it left me with an uncomfortable feeling, not just of the story, but of the man writing it.After reading Kick-Ass 2, I vowed never to read another work by Mark Millar again. My problem with Millar is how he tends to use violence and rape to show how evil somebody is, but does little else with it. Millar writes rape into his stories just as easily as some of my friends will write about what they had for breakfast on their Facebook pages. The main villain rapes a teenage girl, but its only purpose is to make us hate the villain. He also murders a bunch of elementary school kids for the same reason. Aside from showing us how bad the bad guy is, these actions have next to no weight on the book, even though they should. The story is crap, not much to say there. Violence and rape is meant to be portrayed here as disgusting, but the way its showcased, one cannot help but think that the story is secretly saying, "Look how edgy this is. That's cool." No it is not.It's not the subject matter that bothers me. It's the way it's written that's bothered me. The stuff that creeps into Millar's work underlies problems I have with the writer. Probably what gets me the most is the blatant misogyny. Superman: Red Son, an otherwise good book, is tainted by making Lois Lane powerless, where normally she's portrayed as headstrong, unafraid to throw herself into danger for the sake of a story, despite knowing the risk. In the same story, Wonder Woman is easily defeated by Russian Batman, off-page, then used by Superman, leaving her permanently aged. In the Ultimates, Janet van Dyne's main purpose is to get beat up by her abusive husband, a far cry from her depiction in the mainstream Marvel Universe where she merely got backhanded by Hank Pym in a fit of anger, which he felt super guilty about. While she's in intensive care, it's the boys that duke it out. I overlooked these at the time. My eyes were opened when I read that Millar once joked in an internet forum that his plans for a Wonder Woman one-shot would have her raped for the entire comic. There's black comedy, then there's the fact that Millar uses rape as a joke in of itself. The comment was taken down, but the internet remembers. Just googling "Mark Millar Wonder Woman," will yield an article about Millar's post as the first result.I would give Kick-Ass 2 a rating of zero. However, I need to give it more to show that I rated it at all, so 1 out of 5 stars.
review 2: If you thought Kick-Ass book 1 was the apogee of ultra violence and bloodshed, well, think again!It seems that Mark Millar was aiming for utter epicness here with all the murders, rapes, torture and suffering galore. My opinion is that the story had a lot of the potential, but it was ruined by very far-fetched plot developments... we're not talking 11-year-old-mass-murderer-far-fetched, but worse.The book had its very heart-wrenching and sad moments. The plot was fast-paced and overall captivating, no doubt. However, the fact that 100 kids going out murdering innocent people just because guru Red Mist asks them to just does not fly with me. I know that Kick-Ass is far from being the most realistic comic book out there, but give me a break. Furthermore, a little backstory on Red Mist and his gang would have made the story more credible and solid, and would have perhaps justified why these villains were so overly violent in their approach to revenge.The book ended on a pretty interesting cliffhanger. I will stay tuned. less

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