Marvel/Icon: Kick-Ass #4

Writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita, Jr. just keep the “kick-assery” coming with the fourth issue of this highly entertaining and gloriously violent book.

In this issue, the book’s star – teenaged Dave, discovers that his emergence as a superhero is inspiring people from all walks of life to do the same, simply in appearance and/or action. The most prominent of these being a duo called Hit-Girl and Big Daddy who are targeting those associated with the mob and I’m sure we will see some beautifully gory stuff from this duo in future issues as we do in this one. The first five pages of this ish are grotesquely fantastic and, as always, Millar knows how to write some of the most realistic dialogue in comics today. If you haven’t picked this up then get off your ass right now and buy it before it sells out like the other issues have. The book is accessible and the art itself is worth it. This one has already been greenlit by Hollywood so be one of the lucky people who know what it’s all about! Grade: A+

DC Comics: Superman #679

Hmm. I’m not feeling it. Writer James Robinson has done two books in the past that I loved – Doom Patrol and Starman. So I’m expecting him to really do some wonderful things with the Man of Steel and partnered up with phenomenal artist Renato Guedes, how can they miss? Well, this is just a so-so book. We’re on the third chapter of this story involving a mysterious military figure using the mythological Atlas to seemingly destroy Superman. The guy seems unstoppable and basically what we get this issue is Atlas beating the snot out of Supes. There is a nice flashback scene with Clark and Lois but this whole issue is just a beatdown. The final page is pretty cool but I have my doubts about it. I’m pretty disappointed with this but maybe Robinson and Guedes are going to pull something off that will blow us away. I hope. Grade: C-

Marvel Comics: Runaways ( Vol. 3) #1

Okay, I picked this up solely for Humberto Ramos’ art alone. I’ve always been a fan of his manga influenced style and then I saw that the writer of this was Terry Moore of “Strangers In Paradise” fame. The guy writes interpersonal relationships well and the Runaways, superpowered kids that are the offspring of supervillains, are perfect for his talent. This issue is actually a lot of fun and you really don’t need to be familiar with the previous volumes of this series to enjoy this. The story involves the group returning to L.A. after some time in New York (and timetraveling) to set up a new base in one of the old hideouts left behind by their supervillain parents. They just want to live and maybe do some good along the way. Unfortunately, one of the aliens of the group, Karolina, has some of her race hunting her in response to her possibly destroying their planet. This isn’t a great read but it’s got some fun stuff going on and artist Ramos is on fire here! Grade: B+

Until next time–Peace…