Following the failed Batman: Year One re-enactment on the new mobsters in town and the recently released Chris Genovese, Kick Ass and Justice Forever flee back to their hideout - only to discover Juicer is recruiting his own superhero team! Outside of the costume, Dave's life improves as his and Valerie's relationship goes to the next level, but Hit Girl is still in prison - and doesn't look like she's about to escape anytime soon. This is the first issue in this third series (discounting the Hit Girl book otherwise this is the fourth) where I wasn't totally in love with the story. Reason being, it feels like at the halfway point that we're at now, there should be more momentum and direction. So far, Kick Ass has failed to get Hit Girl out of prison, failed to keep his superhero team together, and failed to warn the mobsters about their attempt at rebuilding the Genovese Crime Syndicate - so far, so Kick Ass, he's always been an ineffective superhero without Hit Girl. But now he has no story and we see that in this issue. He works out, he argues with fellow nerds online about comics, and he sees Valerie - so what's the next move? This is the halfway point of the story and it's like Mark Millar's run out of story! All Dave does in this issue is figuratively tread water. It's made worse by the fact that he knows what he's got to do - because he tells us - but doesn't do anything to move forward on any of them. Meanwhile, Hit Girl is still in prison, still attempting to get out, still not getting out - that's it. She too is basically treading water - how's she going to get out? Just keep trying whatever she's trying until she escapes or dies? Of course she'll escape but there's no indication of how. Rocco Genovese does some evil gangster stuff with an ice pick - the one on the cover of issue #2 - as you'd expect, and doesn't do much else. Most of this issue shows the main players emphasising their roles in the story without advancing it, and it's frustratingly dull to read. Why slow down at the midway point when the story should be building up speed? It was sweet to see Valerie (who looks a lot like Mary Jane albeit with a hearing aid) and Dave get together. Dave deserves something good to happen to him after all the crap he's gone through so far. But cute moments and romance don't feel like Kick Ass, the series that is drenched in blood for being so over-the-top violent! Instead, this issue feels more like Millar being comedic - Juicer's dialogue is pretty funny, as are some of the scenes in Dave's downtime, plus I'm sure the cover is deliberately leading the reader on to the anti-climactic scene when Justice Forever splits, playing off of one of Millar's most popular books, Marvel's Civil War. But usually Millar is able to weave in the humour into the story rather than rely on it to carry an entire comic while he waits to begin the story later down the line. The ending is pretty interesting as another popular Marvel character looks to receive the parody treatment in the next issue, but it's to do with this new set of characters that frankly aren't particularly interesting, while the main characters continue to appear static. Maybe this is the calm before the storm, the necessary table-setting for the larger story to emerge, and I'm sure the series will pick up, but Kick Ass 3 #4 is a disappointingly average issue in an otherwise excellent series.
Published by Icon, Kick Ass 3 #4 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr is out now