Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Kick-Ass #6
Icon Comics (Marvel)
Millar & Romita Jr
After a lengthy layoff the sixth issue finally ships and it primarily deals with the origin and character development of Big Daddy and his daughter Hit-Girl. This series has a lot to offer those that like violence mixed in with humor. This particular issue provides plenty of both but may be the weakest thus far in the series. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad issue, but just that the first five were so very good that the bar has been set ridiculously high.
Big Daddy is a lot like the Punisher, and even Dave makes the same connection. He was a cop and his wife was killed by the mob so he’s vowed revenge. The difference being that his daughter survived and through some deranged Batman and Robin syndrome he decides to enlist his ten year old daughter in on his quest.
The obvious observation here is that this just doesn’t add up. He was a cop and he fancied himself as a good one, yet he has taken to cold blooded murder furthered by endangering his own adolescent child’s welfare in the process. However, the story is told almost tongue in cheek and it becomes laughable when Big Daddy “trains” his daughter by making her take a round in the chest and while he watches with glee as she unwraps automatic assault rifles for Christmas. Even the violence the girl partakes in, though gruesome, has a cartoon element to it that I couldn’t help but laugh at.
While we get a fast track to the characterizations of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl it still seems very out of character that Big Daddy would allow Dave and his pot smoking friend Red Mist to join in on their “team”. There is something missing to this and I can’t help but wonder if Big Daddy isn’t quite all he seems to be. After all, he drags around a trunk that the daughter doesn’t know the contents of. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s his dead wife’s body.
The downside to the issue is that Big Daddy and Hit-Girl take up the bulk of the issue leaving Dave almost no page space. In fact, the limited face time he gets makes him almost less interesting of a character because he seems boring compared to the others. His growth was definitely stunted in this issue.
The artwork is outstanding as always. With Big Daddy and Hit-Girl going through various iterations of disguises you would think the characters would drop some of their own similarities but this is not the case at all. The highlight of the issue is the shear brutality when the violence breaks out. Whether it’s compound fractions or sniper bullets to the head you’d be hard pressed to not be left with the impression that this comic knows its violence.
No one does cliffhangers like Millar and this comic has a very good one. This issue was good but when juxtaposed against the others in the series it doesn’t quite hold the same high interest level. It does build two characters very well, but does it come at the expense of the lead character? If you like shocking violence (especially from children) mixed in with some humor than pick this one up.
3 out of 5 geek goggles
