Everyone’s favorite character from ‘Kick-Ass’ is back in her own miniseries and this time, rather than organized crime, she’s got to deal with something far worse… high school. Well, and organized crime. That too. My initial reaction was “They should have just started with this. Who cares about Kick-Ass? It’s all about Hit-Girl!”
The book opens with the mafia going after self-appointed super heroes, interrogating them under the false belief that they all know one another. They are searching for Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl, after their actions in the first Kick-Ass miniseries, which served as the basis of the movie. (This series takes place before ‘Kick-Ass 2.’)
Hit-Girl, a.k.a. Mindy McCready is now living with her mom as well as her mom’s husband who happens to be a cop, following her dad’s death. There’s a brief recap of her origin then she’s off to school, where she promptly gets schooled by a pint-sized Queen B who makes fun of her pants and calls her a “dumb whore.” (These are eleven year-olds, by the way.) She makes a mental note about the fact that kids her age wear makeup and have cell phones. But this is just her “secret identity.” At lunch, she meets with Kick-Ass, secretly Dave Lizewski, and outlines her plans to take down the mob, currently in a state of disarray.
Later she visits her father’s grave and laments not her life as a crime-fighter, which she seems born to do, but her situation with the mean girls in school. We get a brief interlude with crime boss Ralphie Genovese, who runs his organization from prison, then Kick-Ass gets hit up for cash by a homeless man. Hit-Girl chides him for wearing a winter coat and a scarf, before showing him around her high tech lair. She offers to train him in exchange for him helping her fit in better at school. Then they have a solemn ceremony, like Batman and Robin.
Elsewhere, the Red Mist returns home to collect his comic books and statues, before embarking on a life of crime.
Honestly, I hate to admit it, but the entire appeal of Hit-Girl is that she’s a 56 year old veteran trapped in an eleven year-old girl’s body. I kept waiting for it to get old, the swearing and such, but it doesn’t! Kids cursing is HILARIOUS! Hit-Girl is the real “Kick-Ass” of this book and I found it funny that Kick-Ass is flat out referred to as her sidekick. She’s like a likeable Damien Wayne. She’s not arrogant or cocky, she’s just… kick ass!
There’s not enough of the organized crime subplot to really judge yet and while the idea of Mindy not fitting in at school seems a tad stereotypical, it’s actually handled pretty well and I’m curious where it’s leading.
This is definitely for adults only. The language alone would determine that, but there also the graphic violence. But for the non-squeamish, this is a fun, violent, funny book, definitely worth picking up.
Verdict: Buy
HIT-GIRL #1
Written by Mark Millar
Art and Cover by John Romita Jr. with Tom Palmer
Variant Covers by Leandro Fernandez and Phil Noto
