It wouldn’t be far from the truth to call fan-favourite comics writer Mark Millar’s latest miniseries KICK-ASS a phenomenon. From store shelves to movie production in the time it takes most people to earn a week’s holiday, Millar’s story of a young super-hero fan imitating art is well on its way to cult status. Oh, and it’s ultra-violent, foul-mouthed and brimming with character.

So if you wanna know about the source material of one of next year’s most anticipated Summer movies, read away..

The Story So Far…

Millar’s story is about Dave Liezewski, a young, un-hip and un-cool riff on the angst-ridden teen made popular by a certain web-slinging Stan Lee creation. The difference here is Millar’s angsty teen occupies a world with entirely different rules to that of the Daily Bugle. Millar’s world is one without super-powers and one where a fight, even a quick skirmish on a sidewalk, can lead to hospitalisation.

KICK-ASS’ first three issues are a master-class in simple, effective, high-concept story-telling. You’ll kick your own ass for not having come up with the idea first – unless you did, in which case Ouch! Whilst there’s nothing particularly synapse firing about Millar’s prose, he does manage to gleam some sense of genuine humanity from his characters. The troubled myriad of relationships in Dave’s life – with his Father, his romantic obsession and his relationship with the city as a wannabe crime-fighter – is brought to the page with an integrity rarely seen without cliché nowadays. By avoiding stereotyping Millar infuses his book with a credibility that grounds the reader before spin-kicking them off their feet.

Make no mistake – KICK-ASS is violent. For it’s first two issues the violence is almost a physical culmination of the emotional issues of the protagonist – perhaps a twisted confrontation with Dave’s own insecurities – but as we turned the corner into issue 4 last month, it became clear that the creative team really do love themselves some ultra violence. Which is almost a shame, because the book was plodding on just fine before Hitgirl and Big Daddy (to be played by Nic Cage in the film) turned up and started over-acting and over-killing. Another potential pit-fall arises in the form of a mob-boss a little rattled by the presence of costumed heroes on his streets, but hopefully Millar will use skills with characterisation to sidestep Mafioso clichés.

John Romita Jr. carries on his father’s baton of great, muscular art but as Millar’s script heads more for the cartoonish and over-the-top, so too does Romita’s art lose some of it’s initial bite. And this is going to be a big problem for KICK-ASS over the next crucial installments: Millar needs to avoid shock-tactics. There have been flashes of brilliance thus far, and some inspiring ideas (Youtube for example) but there’s a danger decapitations and explicit one-liners will over-ride the simple, interesting story of a young Dave Lizewski.

To call KICK-ASS a classic at this early stage would be premature. To call it overly indulged in violence and profanity but full of potential would be closer to the mark.

The Future

Matthew Vaughn is shooting the film adaptation right now and seems to be a popular choice at the moment, even though his previous work with an urban character piece was the mediocre LAYER CAKE.

If anyone out there’s had themselves a read of the script for the project though, feel free to kick V’s ass (with your opinion)…