Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, john romita jr, Kick Ass, Mark Millar, marvel, Marvel Comics

The End Of Kick Ass – It's All About Being A Movie

Published Wed, 06 Aug 2014 07:00:25 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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The final issue of Kick Ass is out today, Kick Ass 3 #8 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Who lives, who dies, that's for you to read. But the boys do something interesting that will enrage and delight readers, depending. See, there are some that see Millar as just making comics to be turned into films. Or trying to promote his work at every opportunity, appropriate or not. And so they'll see the following and flip.

But there's more going on here. Yes, in Kick Ass's world, there are movies being made of Jupiter's Legacy and Supercrooks (and in upcoming panels, War Heroes, Starlight and Superior)…

Oh yeah, there have been five of those.

…but also MPH, Nemesis and The Secret Service are not films, they are set in the same reality as Kick Ass. And, indeed, in some ways Kick Ass may have inspired them. Just as the Marvel movies cross over and build a continuity, so do the Millarworld comics. Some occur within the others' world, some are fictional within that world.

And it ends with a climatic scene that refers right back to Kick Ass' very first scene back in 2008.

Millarworld expands.

But as the comic ends, it also does something new. A splash page logo and a credit scene to mirror the experience of watching a film. With every masked character, dead or alive, portrayed as being played by their real identity

And then? After all that? Because this is a superhero movie, doing what superhero moves do, we get a post credits scene. So make sure you stay to the end.

I think it's the first time such a cinematic experience has been directly copied in a comic book form like this, certainly pulled off with as much cinematic bravado as this does. Some will hate that. I don't.

Applause.

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics of London. Who, tomorrow have a special guest, the CBLDF's Charles Brownstein.

Thursday, August 14, entitled Legacy of Fear: The History of the Comics Code. We'll start at 7.30pm with some light refreshments, then hand over to Charles, so don't miss this wonderful opportunity to learn more about the history of the Comics Code and the CBLDF's role.

And on Friday evening launching the Lords of Infinity exhibition, featuring the works of Cristian Ortiz, Andy Poyiadgi and James Harvey running until September 7th.

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