Comic writer Mark Millar is revisiting one of his most popular creations, ‘Kick-Ass’ but Dave Lezewski is gone. Instead, the lead in the new comic will be an African American female. (Millar did not reveal her name.)
The new series will be set in a different city with an all-new supporting cast. John Romita Jr. returns for the new book, which will be a monthly series, instead of a miniseries. Romita Jr. has signed on for three years, according to Millar.
The new ‘Kick-Ass’ comic also joins a revival of ‘Hit-Girl’, which Millar will also pen for the first story arc before handing it over to Daniel Way. ‘Hit-Girl’ will be drawn by Rafael Albuquerque. Both books are due to launch in January.
Why the switch? Millar explained:
“Comics is not short of white males aged around 30; that demographic seems pretty well catered for in popular culture. I don’t think many blonde white guys around 30 feel under-represented when they pick up comic or watch a movie. Being older or younger or female or African-American just seems more interesting to me as a writer because this character is quite unique and opens up story possibilities that haven’t been tried in almost eighty years of superhero fiction. This woman has a completely different take on Kick-Ass.
“Kick-Ass is like James Bond or Doctor Who, where with a new face and a new situation and it suddenly feels very exciting. Every four volumes or so I want a different person in the mask. Sometimes it might even only last a single volume or even a single issue.”
‘Kick-Ass’ is just one of Millar’s popular comic stories that have been adapted into movies. The first ‘Kick-Ass’ was a low-budget hit and kicked off the careers of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz. (Fun fact: The first movie costarred Evan Peters, meaning that both movie Quicksilvers shared the silver screen once.) The sequel was less well-received.
He also saw moderate success with movies based on his comics ‘Wanted’ and ‘The Secret Service’, which became ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ for the film, and is getting a sequel, ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ next year. He also has ‘Empress’ in the works and penned the comic book story ‘Civil War’ which inspired this summer’s hit ‘Captain America: Civil War’.
Why revive the concept at all?
“I really just missed Kick-Ass. It was a funny book because it was about a guy who had no powers, no gadgets and wasn’t very good and yet it was massive. We had two movies in our first five years, games merchandise and so on. It’s been three years and Johnny and I both just really missed the concept. It’s fun to write and after all the fantasy and space opera and vast budget superheroes it’s actually been amazing to get into something grounded again.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
