KICK ASS 2 #1

The best comic book of 2008 is back. This sequel certainly feels strange in a lot of ways. One reason is that artist John Romita, Jr. is busy drawing The Avengers, which means that JRJr. is only providing the pencil breakdowns on this series. Another reason is that the film version came out in March and thus this feels bigger than it did when only comic book geeks knew about Dave Lizewski. A lot of people hated the first series. Movie critic Roger Ebert even wrote a scathing review about the film because it depicts a nine year old girl slaughtering people. I loved the first series, though. The film changed a bit to make it more viewer-friendly (in the film, Dave got the girl...and in the film, Nicholas Cage was actually an ex-cop and not a comic book fanboy playing make believe), but the book was hardcore in the most ridiculous sense. It was over-the-top in every category and it was funny, damn funny. It didn't have a moral or a point; that was the point. It was just a real kid becoming a superhero in the real world. This first issue is missing the carnage, but the humor is still there: Dave gets “laughed at in school” when he asks “a babe to go see Prince of Persia.” Dave meets a fellow wannabe superhero that has a “gravity pole.” “What does it do?” Dave asks him. He replies: “Just hit the button and you can make something twenty times its actual weight. Flip the reverse and you can float.” Dave asks, “Seriously?” The guy says, “Are you nuts? It's a baseball wrapped in tinfoil, man. How can anyone build a gravity pole?” This leads into the main storyline that has Dave joining the superhero team Justice Forever. Meanwhile, Red Mist is “traveling in Eastern Europe, out of his face on drugs and collecting all his little Twitter bastards for the shit that was to come.” Mindy is training Kick Ass, but she's still trying to go to school and play nice with her new family. The one problem that I have is that writer Mark Millar gives away the ending to the series; a Times Square battle against Red Mist. The rest of the book isn't as alive and thrilling as the early issues of the first series, but it's still a very entertaining book. JRJr. only did the pencil breakdowns, but it still looks terrific, although not as sharp. If you hated the movie or first series then you'll probably hate this, but so far it's pretty much in step with what's come before. Now bring on the carnage. After all, the original title of this second series was “Balls to the Wall.” ***

SUPERIOR #1

Superstar writer Mark Millar is unleashing three new creator-owned series this year, Nemesis, Kick Ass 2, and this book, his “family” title. He's definitely thrust himself into the creator-owned world which is good. It's probably even better for him that Marvel is accommodating him with their new Icon imprint. Twenty years ago if you wanted to put out your own comic and keep the rights you had to quit Marvel and join a company like Image. It didn't particularly work for writers, though, and thankfully for Millar he gets to have his own books and tap the awesome arsenal of Marvel artists. This new book is penciled by Leinil Yu, the dude that drew the Secret Invasion mini-series (or started to...they went to a different artist after Yu took too long). Leinil Yu is a phenomenal artists. He reminds me of Robert Liefeld's bigger than life superheroes but also Jim Lee's detail. The one problem is the heavy inks by Gerry Alanguilan. There is too much black in most of the panels which loses some of the crispness and ferocity of Yu's pencils. The major problem is the story. Mark Millar is infamous for profanity and violence and this is more or less his meat-and-potatoes family superhero story. It's aw-shucks cute: a kid with multiple sclerosis gets one wish from a space monkey (no, that part hasn't been explained yet). His wish is to become the famous Superior movie superhero. Over night he turns from a kid in a wheelchair into the muscled superhero. This issue is all set-up, so who knows where it goes from here. Will it turn into a regular superhero book or will Millar add some much-needed gonzo action to the mix? So far it's rather dull stuff. The art is great, but it pales in comparison to Millar's other books which have bite. **

UNCANNY X-FORCE #1

First off, is “uncanny” the only adjective that Marvel knows? Secondly, why is Wolverine in this book? Wolverine is currently a member of the X-Men, the Avengers, and the New Avengers. How the fuck can he be a member of four teams at the same time? That, plus...isn't he in hell in Wolverine and stuck in an alternate reality in Astounding Spider-Man and Wolverine? And I guess Marvel knows two adjectives, but they should have really come up with a more original title for this new book. I suppose using the “uncanny” tag will make people think this is sort of like Uncanny X-Men which is the main X-Men book (and also probably the worst). Anyway, this is the new X-Force. It features Deadpool, Archangel, Fantomex, Wolverine, and Psylocke. Basically they threw together a bunch of characters without rhyme or reason, presumably because writer Rick Remender likes them (and also because Deadpool and Wolverine are two of the most popular Marvel heroes these days). The story has this new team on a mission to stop Apocalypse...who is now just a child (this does seem to be a rip-off of Savage Dragon's Darklord as a kid storyline). I enjoyed a lot of the amusing dialogue in this issue. Rick Remender is the infamous writer that turned The Punisher into Frankenstein. So far this isn't half as ridiculous. It's a little confusing, though. The art by Jerome Opena is a little messy, but the colors are vibrant and alive. I haven't been following the X-books lately, so perhaps I'm a little lost because of that, but at least this issue has a killer ending. Otherwise it's terrific in spots but mostly a mediocre misfire. ** (out of ****)