Reviews

The concept is simple; a teenage comic fan-and not the cliched zit-faced uber nerd, but a regular kid-decides to get up from the couch, turn off the tube, and become a superhero. He possesses no powers, but, hey, neither does Batman. Kick-Ass creator Millar offers a whirlwind history of the comic book's creation, which rocketed from an idea he'd put on the back burner to print to film adaptation in a few months' time. The initial trailers created a buzz in the geekosphere, and controversy, too, over the character of Hit Girl, a foul-mouthed, sword-wielding, gun-toting, purple-haired, leather-clad killing machine-who's 11 years old. The breezy text provides background on the creation of both print and film versions, emphasizing the latter. This is a companion book and not a hardcore, detailed making of (if the film rocks the box office that might come later). The text sports brief interviews with cast and crew including director and writer Matthew Vaughn, cowriter Jane Goldman, top comics artist John Romita Jr, and actors Nic Cage (Big Daddy), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Red Mist), ChloeMoretz (Hit Girl), and Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass). Verdict There are discussions on getting the right look and feel of the film through the sets and wardrobe, etc., plus snippets of the script that include some of Hit Girl's more colorful dialog-this is definitely not for the kiddies! Best of all, there are tons of cool pix of the weapons, costumes, props (a jetpack with miniguns attached-oh baby!), the Mist Mobile, and more. All that awesome coolness for only $20, you're damn right this kicks ass!-Mike Rogers, LJX/LJ Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.