Hit-Girl #1 (of 5) Review

Superheroes don't wear helmets.

Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. follow up the success of Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 with Hit-Girl, a new series that bridges the gap between the two previous installments. Hit-Girl finds Mindy struggling to come to terms with her family life, which is surprisingly not based around the Punisher-esque vigilantism, but rather, becoming normal girl.

Picking up a little while after Kick-Ass ended, Hit-Girl's first issue seems focused on establishing the relationships that currently define Mindy's life: including her mentoring of Kick-Ass, trying to be a normal girl for her oblivious mother, and trying to convince her (good) cop stepfather that she has hung up her weapons for good (she hasn't). Bullied at school, by a group of popular girls unknowingly playing with fire, Mindy turns to Dave Lizewski, better known as Kick-Ass, to help her better assimilate in exchange for making him, well, a competent hero. As Hit-Girl, she sets her sights on a new mob boss who runs several crime families from behind bars, and all the while Red Mist begins to assemble his gang.

Millar seems to have brought the series back down to reality after the breakneck-hyper-violent tone of Kick-Ass 2, which is a relief, because these characters are in desperate need of character development, though there are still four issues remaining for Millar to amp up the fighting. Focusing on Hit-Girl rather than Kick-Ass is refreshing, because the extant of her character up until now seemed to be her being a pint-sized, foul-mouthed ninja, in a wig; so seeing inside her head and what makes her tick was certainly a nice change of pace.

The art done by John Romita Jr., finished and inked by Tom Palmer, seems to be crisper and more detailed than in the previous installments. The art was technically fine, though the book seemed overly dark, not in tone, but in regards to the color palette, some scenes taking place in the middle of the day look like they are set in the early evening. The series tends towards the dark anyways, but the dark coloration seems to make the book less fun than it should be, though that is a minor quibble.

The main issue thus far with this comic is that it seems so unnecessary, I am not averse to prequels, but it seems too many of the book's plotlines lack any sort of tension seeing as Kick-Ass 2 takes place after and was released before. In addition, having Red Mist be a major character again seems redundant, when his character did not change all that much between the first and second volumes. Though, I have still have hope this series' plot will become relevant to the overall plot Millar and Romita have been building, aside from some character development for Mindy.

On the whole, this comic is just okay and that isn't okay, okay? What I am so eloquently trying to say is that for Hit-Girl to have a reason to exist, it should be good, if not great, and certainly not redundant. And at this point it is, even if the focus on Mindy rather than Dave is refreshing.

6/10