Books: Kick-Ass 2

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Kick-Ass 2
Written by Mark Millar
Art by John Romita Jr. 
2012




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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The introduction is by Joe Carnahan. I didn't know who Joe Carnahan is and he's much too full of himself to bother to include a little description underneath (he just signs off with his name and "Los Angeles, March 2012" - because - hey - that's all you need to know - right?). So I googled him and got:   "Joseph Aaron "Joe" Carnahan (born May 9, 1969) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, producer and actor best known for his films Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, Narc, Smokin' Aces, The A-Team, and The Grey." I haven't seen any of these films but it felt like the first few paragraphs of the introduction told me everything that I would want to know (warning: contains potty-mouth): "Hey fucker. Let's face facts, you're one of these fucking fetishistic "fanboy" jerkoffs who secretly wishes that he could be Dave Lizewski, beating the shit out of muggers, gangbusters and mob heavies with those akimbo batons as a comely, prepubescent Hit Girl slashes and burns by your side. It's cool. Me too. I mean good money says that most of us already have our dicks in our hands and we're not even out of the intro... but just pace yourself pal and don't pop that nut just yet 'cuz what follows in these pages is one great white whale of a wank."

And - wow. I haven't even started to read the actual comic part of the comic and already I'm feeling well - uncomfortable and uneasy and a little put off. First of all it's all the swearing which just seemed a little - I dunno - unnecessary [1]. Then there's all that stuff about jacking off which is just kinda gross. I mean - yeah: birds do it, bees do it - even educated fleas do it: but that doesn't mean that I want it all over my introduction. And it's this whole sorta male jock thing that I just don't get: this macho pride in recounting your penis-related forays. That kinda stuff is an image that I just don't want to carry around inside my head. Plus: I don't really get why he describes it as being "one great white whale of a wank"? I guess - to give Joe Carnahan the benefit of the doubt it's a play on "whale of a time" (maybe?): but instead it just brings up associations with Moby Dick [2] and white whale meaning something that you obsess over to the point that it takes over your life until it destroys you which just makes the notion of one great white whale of a wank seem like something best avoided. But I guess the main thing that had me going "urg" was the description of prepubescent Hit Girl (who's supposed to be - what? - 11 years old?) as "comely." Because - well - (let me just put this as simply as I can) I'm not a paedophile. Sorry Joe.

So with an introduction that feels a little like someone spitting in your mouth [3] before you start eating your meal - once you get past that - what's the actual food like? Well: I guess I should have been prepared for something that was gonna taste that pretty but - well....

There was a part of me that was just thinking as I started reading this - maybe I'm just too old for this sorta stuff. Maybe I'm like a grandfather listening to Eminem or Odd Future or something and complaining it's all much too loud and violent while I shake my walking stick in the air ("damn kids!") and obviously it's the sworn duty of the younger generation to make and enjoy things that us oldies just can't fathom (I think I say all this because the reason Islington have Kick Ass 2 is because a teenager wanted a copy of it - and so in mind there's a big fat Kick Ass to youngsters correlation type thing). Except Mark Millar is (sorry Mark) no spring chicken and - well - since when did teenagers know which things are good and which things are bad? They're teenagers for godsakes!

So - no. If someone's just got beaten up and then they come up with a line like: "I feel like Rihanna after a quiet night in." - that's not really that funny: it's just kinda depressing. I mean - I don't want to get up too high on my horse of righteous indignation (I might fall off for one thing) but there's that line about how if you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem. And Kick-Ass 2 feels very much part of the problem of a culture that's well - you know: mean and ugly and stupid (obviously culture has always been mean and ugly and stupid - but that's no real excuse). I mean - you don't want to finish reading a book and feel like you need to take a bath in order to wash all the dirt off. I mean - I don't want to sound like too much of a prude: but I prefer my entertainment without images of people shooting kids and depictions of sexual assault [4].

So yeah - in terms of sequelness it's not exactly The Dark Knight Strikes Again. There are no major revolutions: a different approach or a different style or anything like that. If you've read Kick-Ass then you can probably work out just what kind of things will happen before you ever start reading Kick-Ass 2. It's all just know - pushed a little further: more violent, more gross, more extreme (yeah bro: stands on a snowboard and makes devil-horns). It makes a few movements in the direction of being about empowerment or something ("How many rock stars settled for accountancy? How many astronauts grew up to be psychologists?" / "It's making a statement and being who you want to be.") but by the end it disintegrates into fighting and bloody noses.

On the back pages it promises that two more parts to the Kick-Ass saga (only maybe "threatens" would be a more accurate word): something which I regarded with a sense of despair rising up from the pit of my stomach. Which I don't think is so much of a good sign. Mark Millar has always had his haters who have grown more and more in number as the years have gone on. I mean - the first Kick-Ass left me a little sceptical but I remember there being a few meetings of the Comic Forum where I tried to stick up for (back when I was still a little wet behind the ears I guess): but this I guess is the point where me and Mark break ways.

See you later dude.

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[1] And that's coming from someone that still loves Preacher (the Garth Ennis and Steve Dillion comic book that pretty much makes swearing into some sort of beautiful art-form) and thought that The Aristocrats (the documentary not the Disney film) ended up feeling a little bit too tame (but then I guess that's sorta bound to happen when something is sold as being "the most vile, disgusting and vulgar film of all time.")

[2] And I can just imagine Joe Carnahan seeing that title and falling into fits of giggles. But let's try our best to move beyond such simple pleasures as dick-related puns (at least for the time being).

[3] What is this? New York?

[4] Of course just in case you think I'm being a hypocrite there are some books that I've talked about on here that depict the same sort of awful and horrendous things (Garth Ennis' Punisher Max series springs to mind). I guess the difference is that with something like the Punisher MAX it's all presented as being bad things and there's a sort of moral repulsion that comes with it. While Kick-Ass 2 just treats all these awful things as popcorn entertainment.

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Links: Comic Book Resources Review of 1# / #7, Guardian Review.

Further reading: Kick-Ass, Superior, Nemesis, Wanted, Preacher, The Boys,

Profiles: Mark Millar.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Avengers: The Avengers (2011 - 2012)

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The Avengers
Vol 1
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by John Romita Jr.
2011



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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The Avengers
Vol 2
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by John Romita Jr. and Bryan Hitch
2011



Available now from Islington Libraries
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The Avengers
Vol 3
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Daniel Acuña, Renato Guedes and Brandon Peterson
2012



Available now from Islington Libraries
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In Vol 2 of Tony Stark gives this speech about how he could create an utopian paradise: "a world without alcohol or drugs."

What I'd really like to know is if Brian Michael Bendis included that line because he really believes that a world without alcohol or drugs would be something great and beautiful or if he's being snide and just playing up to the genre: you know - it's superheroes and stuff - so we need to pander to like: an 8 year old level: and 8 years olds look at the world and think stuff just like how much better things would be if there was no alcohol and no drugs [1]: because well: they're 8 years old and everything when you're that age is simple and black and white and the stuff people tell you is bad is bad and the stuff that people tell you is good is good and never the twain shall meet. Not that I'm saying this to be mean: no sir - I got a kick out of it: it fit so nicely into the mood and tone of the comic that when I read it I just smiled.

But - of course: by the time I finished reading I realised that if you want to talk about destructive influences and the cycle of addiction and compulsive urges and all that kind of stuff then maybe what Tony Stark should have been wishing for was a world without alcohol or drugs or mainstream superhero comics. Because - goddamn it: they're the worst.

Please don't get me wrong here: I am not having a go at the whole medium of comic books and I'm not talking about the genre of superhero comics (they are so many great superhero books out there that I don't even know where I should even start: so maybe just click on that Genre: Superheroes tag on the bottom right hand side and just find some of whatever): I'm talking specifically about the mainstream superhero comics pumped out by Marvel and DC: those ones are the in particular that are: well leaving me with all these feelings of guilt and emptiness and blah.

Let me describe the cycle: you take a mainstream superhero comic - oooh: it looks nice huh? Check out cover. And look: it's Brian Michael Bendis - he's one of the good ones - (top of his field) he did that solo stuff with Goldfish and then got his big break and totally smashed it with his Daredevil run and then became Marvel maestro and it was like: woo! Yeah: you see? Talent is key and the cream rises to the top - this is a guy that knows what he's doing.

So then you find somewhere comfy to sit and you settle down and start to read. And then you're inside: and it's warm and it's comfortable and there's all these great ideas hitting you every which way: loads of bright colours and crazy stuff happening all over the place and John Romita Jr. [2] sure knows how to draw a punch so that you can feel it (and I much prefer to have him drawing the light silly superhero stuff with Bendis rather than the messed up torture-porn-whatever with Mark Millar on Kick-Ass: because - you know - like I said: he's a comics legend - and: well - it's like watching your grandfather dressed up in a leather one-piece or something (you know?) - it's - a bit yucky). And then when we move from Vol 2 to Vol 3 and Daniel Acuña [3] steps in - and - it's like it's a whole different book: but still full of awesomeness. I mean - it's obviously still the same thing because it's still The Avengers, it's still Bendis behind the wheel and it's still (mostly) the same characters - but if you ever wanted an example of just how much an artist can affect the same a comic can feel then I'd say you should compare the way these series shifts between it's first two volumes and it's third: its like going from a Saturday morning cartoon to a late-night serious drama or something: ok - yeah - it's still superheroes - but the sheen that Daniel Acuña brings to things makes everything feel somehow more weighty and realistic - it's like if someone dunked Sean Philips into some gloss paint: and - well yeah: it's great.

And there are the little moments of stuff: I mean - the very first issue is full of these great little moments from beginning to end: Captain America making his big state of the union-style speech ("Our president asked me what the world needs now... I told him the world needs what it always needs." [4]) trying it directly into the 2010 Marvel "Heroic Age" theme [5] which then cuts to the Bendis' trademark of a page full of responding head-shots and then with a small preliminaries with setting The Avengers up and running there's big explosions, a twist nicked straight from the end of Back to the Future (namely: "It's your kids, Marty, something has got to be done about your kids!") and a tantalizing final page ("Those Avengers are going to learn...): it's just - well: it's great - total comic book heaven. And then: scattered throughout: (well) the way Acuña draws Norman Osborn with his hands in his pockets like Richard Nixon's evil kid brother, #11 in Vol 2 is pretty much all done in single page panels: which - you know: is kinda nifty - no? And gives things a different kind of rhythm (makes things feel more giant and momentous and all-caps EPIC somehow) and Bendis (as has been said before and will be said again) is exceptionally good at doing the lazy back-and-forth and general superhero chit-chat (I mean there are dozens of examples I could choose from but my favourites are: (in Vol 1) "What? He wants us to cook him an egg?" "It could be silly putty. Evil silly putty... from the future." (from Vol 2): "So Steve Rogers would be the mother and Tony Stark would be the father" (and from Vol 3 - which I think might be my favourite) the bit where Norman Osborn speaks to Madame Hydra about her head (trust me: you'll know it when you get to it): it's all these little bits that make it feel like it's worth the time it takes to read - like you're getting your money's worth or whatever.

But then there are the niggles. The same niggles that come with all mainstream superhero comics (and from now one I'll just call them MSCs - because typing it all out each time is starting to wear a little thin: ok?): like how every single issue just has to have some form of big superhero crazy battle punching whatever [6] - that I dunno all just feels like it's been done before and before and before and (well) done better and that all this trying to make everything bigger than anything bigger before (like it says at one point (some self-awareness slipping through?): "The power of a God and all he can think to do is fight.") - it's like being dropped into inside the mind of an 8-years old head as they play with their toys [7]: which - you know: is kinda fun and exciting and all - but doesn't really give you much in way of any actual nourishment (you know?): it's just - well - MSC: business as usual (and - yeah - ok: I mean it's easy to set up possibilities and there's always going to be a shortfall between your nebulous hopes and the fact that a story can only ever go one way [8]. Like - seeing how the first issue of this was released in the big build up to Joss Whedon's first Avenger's film I guess I kinda thought that maybe these books were gonna act as a convenient jumping on point for new readers and that maybe - just maybe - this was going to be a comic series that was going to showcase just how much potential there is in superhero comics: and something maybe that used it's position as a market-leader (or whatever the right term is) to try something a little different and further reaching... - but no - everything is as much to thrall to continuity as every other MSC book out there (so before you start on this you might want to read the past Avengers books plus: Civil War, The Illuminati, Red Hulk ("There's a red hulk?") and - erm - Marvel Boy if you want to be understanding exactly what and who are fighting for why [9]).

And (I think is the kicker) it goes through the same cycle again and again and again: bad guy comes along to destroy the world and upset the status quo and usher in some big new crazy world (that always sounds - if you forgive me for saying: somewhat cool and exciting) and you get to the mid-point where everything seems bleak and hopeless for our heroes and somehow (even tho you know it's stupid) you think - this is it! This is gonna be the big one! This is going to be where everything changes and you can almost hear your heart jumping around in your chest and then - and then: just when you think it's going to reach somesort of - well - climax (ahem) as it's building and building to some bigger and bigger point of something: then - well then the forces of good prevail and everything goes back to how it was before and so you've left with that - well: slightly empty feeling: a world where all change is only temporary and as soon as one big bad eveil enemy is defeated - the next is already getting started to take it's place: always and and forever and forever without end.

The feeling that you're left with then isn't one of satisfaction - it's just this kind of unfilled promise: like you thought that you could reach the end of the rainbow only to realise that it's all just a trick of the light. And that - well: that is MSC in a nutshell: a total waste of time: worlds where nothing changes and there's no end to anything - not even in death. Which: well - leads me to think: well - what's the point? When the best of the best can't make something that's going to leave you feel like you've put in some time well spent then why am I even still bothering to read these things? And: I guess - well - it kinda acts like a drug - because there are moments of this almost ecstatic pleasure when you think you're going to get to this amazing high and I guess that's what keeps pulling me back - this hope that maybe the next one is the one that will hit that elusive space inside me: even as (at the exact same time) I think that maybe I would be happier if I just quit them altogether.

I dunno.

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[1] And please note: I'm in no way saying that alcohol and drugs are like good things (unlike some people): but I just think it's a little simplistic (to say the least) to suggest   that the world would suddenly be perfect if someone (somehow) magiced them away.... And surely I'm not alone in this - right?

[2] Who - pointing out the obvious - was an industry legend well before Kick-Ass (he started off doing Iron Man all the way back in 1978) - altho I get the feeling that's where most readers will probably now know him from: like those who think that Orson Welles is just that guy who did the voice for Unicron (wow - check out my dated references).

[3] Ok - yes: Renato Guedes and Brandon Peterson do stuff too (and they're also both pretty good at bringing the realism on): but it's Daniel Acuña who wins my heart - and he's the one I miss when he's gone. So.

[4] Shockingly - the answer to this isn't "love sweet love" (oh well).

[5] Or as they put it on the wikipedia page ""The Heroic Age" is a 2010 comic book branding that ran through a number of books published by Marvel Comics." - but that just makes it sound so unnecessarily ugly - you know? But - well: what can you do? Corporate synergyness hangs over this series like a bad smell. But - hey - that's mainstream superhero comics for you!

[6]  I mean: maybe that's a silly thing to say about a mainstream superhero team comic (which we can all agree are pretty much the lowest of the low - no?) but - well - there's a bit in Vol 1 where a character voices his displeasure at his (supposed) friends by smashing through a window and then punching them in the gut: which just makes me think - like: couldn't they have selected this over a phone-call? Or by going out to lunch? Or something? I mean: yeah - ok they machine needs to be feed etc blah I know: but still... It's kinda hard to put much stock in the characters when they act more as plot devices than as actual - well: people (even if they are dressed all up in purple or whatevers).

[7] Have I already linked to this before? (I mean - not that it matters: sometimes I think I should link to it in every post up here with the message: "I mean - it was good - but not as good as....").

[8] Unless of course you're Jason Shiga: but that's literally - a whole other story.

[9] Of course (then again) you don't really have to: I mean - you can pick up more than enough of the basics as you go along (ok: so that's the good guy and that's the bad guy and - they don't like each other): I guess it's just a matter of perspective - the sneaky trick that they pull is that the more you read the more stuff makes sense and so the more the want to read until - well - I guess until the point that you end up reading every single superhero comic ever. And then you die.

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Links: Panel Patter Review of Vol 1, Comics Alliance Review of #4.

Further reading: The Ultimates, The Ultimates 2, The New Avengers, Ultimate Comics: The Avengers, The Avengers: The New Avengers: Illuminati, Kick Ass, Civil War, Red Hulk, Marvel Boy, Goldfish, Daredevil (2001 - 2006).

Profiles: Brian Michael Bendis.

All comments welcome.

Books: Kick-Ass

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Kick-Ass
Written by Mark Millar
Art by John Romita, Jr.
2010




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/


Of course if you mention Kick-Ass to someone they're all like: "oh yeah - isn't that the comic that's all about how what would happen if someone dressed up as a superhero for real?" [1] And when I don't really think about it I guess that's my impression of it too. Except - well - what would happen if someone dressed up as a superhero for real has been a comic book staple for years and years and years (waves hello at Watchmen, Kinetic, The Boys and Black Summer) all the way back to Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli who did Batman: Year One all the way back in late 1980s (and in fact they're an acknowledged influence (in more ways than one [2])).

But then I guess no one else had done this kind of thing so - well - teenagely (that's a word - right?). I mean: there's Peter Parker who's been an adolescent for over 50 years now but he doesn't count because he's always been happy to keep things a bit less than completely real with one foot in a crazy fantasy world of green goblins and spider-senses: there's a line early on in Kick-Ass where Dave Lizewski laments "Why do people want to be Paris Hilton but nobody wants to be Spider-Man?" but that's not quite right (or rather just ignores the pertinent details): every boy-child in the world (young and old) wishes that they could be Spider-Man - it's just not that easy to get yourself bit with a radioactive spider (and I mean - we've all tried - right?). The beauty of Kick-Ass is that - for the first part at least - it removes all the fictional scaffolding standing between you (the reader) and the superhero and yells: hey - check this out! You don't need to be super-rich, you don't need magic powers, you don't need special radiation - you can just get yourself a one-piece costume and a mask and you too can take on the bad guys and make the world a safer place to be! You can be a hero. You too can: kick ass!

With a title like "Kick-Ass" (and with a tagline like - "Sickening Violence: Just The Way You Like It! [3]") - I really don't really know what else to say to help enlighten you as to what exactly you should hope to expect... Just don't start whining when people start getting electrodes attached to their testicles (which happens way sooner than you might think). In other words: this is Mark Miller writing like he's still going through puberty (again) and ideal for people who like to laugh like this: "hur hur hur." As for the rest of you - if you're planning on going in you should probably hold your nose. It's not big and it's not clever - but it is immensely crude and cruel.

It almost seems like a waste of time to try and critique it. I mean: it is what it is and I'm sure that for any boys under the age of 20 it's up there as one of the greatest works of art of the modern age. And speaking as someone who's kinda always been willing to give Mark Millar the benefit of the doubt I must admit that the first time I read it I was willing to try and look past the totally excess violence and brutal deceptions of people getting the top of their heads sliced open and all the other crazy stuff like that. But - well - reading it through the second time I was struck by all the classist/racist stuff that stuck out at me: I mean for most of his time Kick-Ass is up against black guys or Puerto Ricans and they're all pretty much depicted as being dirt poor (at one point Hit-Girl even mocks one of them by laughing: "Hoping someone cares about your underprivileged childhood?" which - I dunno - struck me as being a little harsh). I mean obviously the reason for this is that the book is not much more than a power fantasy for white middle-class kids: except except it also does it's very best to undermine it's main character as much as possible: Hit-Girl runs rings around him and makes him look - well - like an ameuter (which is what he is) and he's continually unlucky in affairs of the heart (and that's putting it gently). So: in conclusion - I guess it's a power fantasy for masochistics maybe? I dunno. Let's just say that reading it left me feeling kinda dirty and soiled: I guess because of it's lack of any real humanity. It just kinda hates everyone and only ever really seems to enjoy itself when it's showing people being hurt: be it emotionally or - you know - being decapitated by axes and swords. Of course that's complicated by the fact that underneath all that - Mark Millar still knows how to spin a good story and John Romita Jr knows how to draw things so you always knows exactly what's going on but - yeah - well - put it this way: I don't think that this is a book that I'm ever really gonna feel a need to read again.

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[1] Or rather: "oh yeah - isn't that the film that's all about how what would happen if someone dressed up as a superhero for real?" Because - as much as mostly I like to ignore the film adaptations of comic books on here: let's face it - it's kinda hard to do that when the front cover for this book isn't a John Romita Jr picture - but a photo of Aaron Johnson in his Kick-Ass kit.

[2] From this article: CraveOnline: "How much was Kick-Ass influenced by real life?" Mark Millar: "Oh, it was very autobiographical. When I was 15, my best friends and I were reading Frank Miller comics, like Batman: Year One. I don't know how wee you guys are but do you read comics? We were so into it, we should have been studying for exams at the time. We wanted to become superheroes like Batman. It was pathetic. We were five years too old really to be doing this. The story was really about what would have happened if we hadn’t come to our senses and actually gone out and done this. Most funny is the character I created was called Mr. Danger. I thought it was quite cool. My friend’s idea was Batman. It was Batman’s exact costume. “I see you’ve put a lot of effort into this. If DC get wind of this, you’re f***ed.” He was like, “They’ll never know who’s under the mask.”"

[3] Woo! Yay!

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Links: Sean T Collins Review, The M0vie Blog Review.

Further reading: Kick-Ass 2, Wanted, The Avengers, Wolverine: Enemy of the State, The Boys, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Wolverine: The Best There Is, The Death Ray.

Profiles: Mark Millar.

All comments welcome.

Books: Wolverine: Enemy of the State

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Wolverine: Enemy of the State
Vol 1
Written by Mark Millar
Art by John Romita, Jr.
2005



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Wolverine: Enemy of the State
Vol 2
Written by Mark Millar
Art by John Romita, Jr.
2005



Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

Simple, uncomplicated sugary pleasure from the creators of the infamous Kick-Ass (and the writer of Old Man Logan) comes this hard-hitting gut punch of a comic starring everyone's favourite short-ass, foul-mouthed, bad-tempted Canadian with adamantium retractable claws and (always-handy) mutant healing power. Starting off in Japan where Logan's called in to help out an old friend but eventually spanning the entire globe (causing untold destruction along the way)- and featuring such Marvel favourites as Elektra, Nick Fury, not to mention top level bad guys like Hydra and The Hand - this is an all-out explosion of cool one-liners, shocking twists and over-the-top superhero action. I don't want to say too much because it would ruin the fun: but let's just say you've never seen Wolverine in this much trouble before (which seeing how he's Marvels favourite bad boy anti-hero is really saying something). Enjoy.

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Links: The M0vie Blog Review.

Further reading: Spider-Man: Down Among The Dead Men / Venomous / The Last Stand, Kick-Ass, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, The Ultimates, X-Men: Astonishing X-Men, Wolverine: The Best There Is.

Profiles: Mark Millar.

All comments welcome.