REVIEW: Kick Ass #3

Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.“s Kick-Ass is getting better with each issue. Kick-Ass #3, out this week (Image Comics), picks up the story via a character sketch of Violencia, a criminal underworld enforcer whose moniker tells you just about all you need to know about him. The issue“s opening takes you back into history (sort of) and the visualization of the re-enactment scenario proves once again that John Romita Jr. is still one of the great comic book artists working in this business today. That said, Violencia“s backstory is compelling and told with just enough depth to clue readers into the impending confrontation with Patience, the latest Kick-Ass vigilante with a healthy dose of Robin Hood-ness running through her veins.

Readers will love the way that this story is starting to come together; it just requires a little bit of patience. The “Kick-Ass”“ brand, if you will, is really about regular people doing extraordinary, even heroic, things to protect and cultivate their community. Patience is true to this form. She doesn“t have superpowers, advanced tech, or an uncanny arsenal of weapons at her disposal. She is a single mom ”“ a point I have quibbled with in an earlier review of this title; she is a war veteran, and most of all ”“ she is a concerned citizen. In this sense she is anathema to the criminal underworld that plagues her community. She“s not really a hero; in fact, she isn“t really a vigilante in the ways that vigilantism has been defined and reified in comics. The darker attributes of traditional comic book vigilantism escape her. She is not an eternal pessimist; she“s not a billionaire; she isnt“ white and she is not a man. Her character is most fully realized in this comic when she isn“t kicking ass ”“ and that“s saying something given John Romita Jr.“s powerful pencils.

Mark Millar has organized an intricate tapestry of narratives and backstory that continue to reveal new and more important connections amongst this cast of characters. Some of this is hinted at in previous issues and there are some key reveals in Kick-Ass #3 that help to establish and distinguish this title“s comic identity. One theme emerging in the series is the idea that the America that“s been left behind in the age of Trump ”“ poor folks, the unemployed, post-war veterans, etc. ”“ is far more racially and culturally diverse than the #MAGA bots are willing to acknowledge or accept. This kind of subtle political underpinning is what helps to make Kick-Ass a must-read title for our times. 4/5.

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(W) Mark Millar (A) John Romita Jr (CA) Daniel Warren Johnson