A ‘Kick-Ass’ (get it?) REVIEW of TWO Mark Millar Comics: Kick-Ass 2#1 AND Superior#1

Kick-Ass 2#1

Written by: Mark Millar

Breakdowns by: John Romita, Jr. with finishes and ink washes by Tom Palmer

Colors by: Dean White

Price: $2.99

Publisher: Marvel/Icon

As many of my faithful followers know I was not impressed by the first volume of Kick-Ass. But I decided to go against my better judgment and bought this anyway to see if Millar has improved his writing since The Ultimates 2 (waaaaay back in 2006-2007). It appears that NO his writing HAS NOT improved since then BUT, much to my surprise, nothing in the book insulted my intelligence or offended me. It seems that in the last few years of Millar’s comics at the very least ONE THING in his books would ALWAYS offend me or irritate me. Instead Millar managed to bore me to death because this comic was ÜBER BORING. All this book was is a bunch of talking and frequent appearances of some ‘four-letter words’ that pop up frequently in Millar’s books.

The start of the book is a bunch of flash-forwards of what will happen later on in this story (which is done in a very UNCLEVER and PLAYED OUT way). You get a glimpse of Red Mist, who is apparently going to be called ‘The MotherF****r’.

MINI-RANT: Are you KIDDING me Mark Millar?!? Is that the BEST name for a “super villain” you can COME UP WITH? A second-grader could’ve come up with a better name than that! (I should do that as an experiment…) Surely not ALL of the POSSIBLE names for characters have been taken have they? MINI-RANT OVER.

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Feel free to grab a drink or something right now. I’m just decompressing the review in hopes of dragging this ON and ON. It’s a technique I learned in Kick-Ass 2#1.

Also Kick-Ass joins a super team that looks a bit like the Justice League of America. What’s the superteam’s name you ask? Why it’s: JUSTICE FOREVER. (No joke).

The only good thing I can say about this book is that I liked that Romita, Jr. art a lot and nothing in the story angered me (as I expected would happen). Beyond that there isn’t much else to this book.

RATING: 2/5

 

One magic wish? I've got one: I wish Mark Millar could write better comics!

Superior#1

Written by: Mark Millar

Drawn by: Leinil Francis Yu

Inks by: Gerry Alanguilan

Colors by: Dave McCaig

Price: $2.99

Publisher: Marvel/Icon

Again I went against my better judgment and bought another recent Mark Millar book. I read the preview of this book and it actually got me interested in checking this book out. The GORGEOUS Leinil Yu art helped my interest in the book. I ended up buying this book. I disliked Kick-Ass. Don’t even GET ME STARTED on Nemesis. Out of my curiosity I picked up this book. Curiosity killed the cat, right? Well not in this case it didn’t. I actually somewhat enjoyed this book.

It had relatable characters and had some heart. In a nutshell, Superior is about a kid with MS who is granted the powers of a superhero named Superior. As far as originallity this book doesn’t score much points because as I’m reading it I’m thinking, “Man, this comic reminds me of the movie Big.” And wouldn’t you know it a week after this comic is released Millar HIMSELF admits that Superior is basically a “superhero version of Big…” That aside this book is boring in some points, but not as boring as Kick-Ass 2#1. The energetic art by Leinil Yu keeps at least some interest in what is going on. The action scenes are better in terms of excitement.

And, again, much to my surprise NOTHING in the book that irked me or caused me to throw the comic on the ground (I have done that to a couple Mark Millar books). This book DOES have heart in some moments and has me interested in what’s going to happen next. Oh, also more ‘four-lettered words’ show up. In case no one knows what I’m talking about, ‘four-lettered words’ = SWEAR WORDS. The only thing that I felt was missing from this book is:

A). Originallity

B). A lot of excitement

C). A lot of heart

I know I said there was excitement and heart in the book, but if Millar could enhance those elements in the story I think Superior would be a well-packed story with great art. I’m trying REALLY hard not to use the title of this book into what I feel about this book. All of that said I will buy the next issue to see if Millar stays at this quality or improves (knowing Millar he’ll probably screw everything up 🙂 )

RATING: 3/5

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@comicbookdude89