Hit Girl has been arrested - the cops have her and shes going into a maximum security prison. Kick Ass is now the leader of Justice Forever and has to execute Hit Girls contingency plan for when she would get captured. Here we go - superhero prison breakout! except things dont work out like that. In real life, Kick Ass is just a kid in a wetsuit. Justice Forever are just ordinary men and women in costumes carrying around non-lethal weaponry. Hit Girl was the only one in the group who could legitimately pass as a superhero with her enhanced martial arts abilities and extensive knowledge of weaponry. Without her, what are a group of ordinary people going to do when stood in front of the daunting walls of a prison? Cut to 6 months later and Hit Girls still in prison - but getting her out is at the top of Justice Forevers to-do list! Dave Lizewski is still Kick Ass, going out on patrols at least two days a week when hes not working his fast food job and enjoying independent living after graduating high school with his best friend Todd aka Ass Kicker. Together they go out on late night patrols and investigate neighbourhood burglaries while Justice Forever languishes and its members become more and more content to simply dress up as heroes rather than perform heroic acts. Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. return in the final story arc of their excellent Kick Ass series. For a superhero-esque first issue comic that features no action, its a brilliant start. The way Millar goes from the out-and-out crazy violence that closed Kick Ass 2 to the extremely ordinary story that opens Kick Ass 3 is actually far more involving than if hed come out swinging. Its the perfect bait n switch. The swipes at comic book culture are still there with Dave and Todd taking turns posing in front of their families gravestones mimicking Bruce Wayne for their social networking profiles to the attempts Ass Kicker makes at mimicking Spider-man by printing up cards reading With compliments, your freindly neighbourhood superheroes and misspelling friendly. That, the opening non-prison break, and Romitas portrayal of Dave and Todd that show them as the really young men they are, serve to underline the difference between superheroes in comics and what happens when you introduce superhero elements into real life. But wheres The Motherf*cker in all of this? His fate at the end of the last book, where he was crippled, remains unknown, a tantalising question mark to be addressed in upcoming issues. Kick Ass 3 #1 is an excellent start to this brilliantly conceived series and continually fascinating cast of characters. What will happen to Hit Girl and Justice Forever? I cant wait to find out. Welcome back, Millar and Romita Jr.!
Kick Ass 3 #1 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr is out now