A Kick-Ass Concept, Not Character

by Vince Brusio

For Mark Miller, covering all the numbers is what allows him to run the table. His ideas are unique, he knows how to present them, and he waits for the right time to switch his game so that the odds are in his favor. It’s a strategy and it’s worked for him, which he believes will work again when readers pick up a reinvigorated Kick-Ass #1 (DEC170560) from Image Comics next February. What he did before with Kick-Ass put the property in movie theaters. Now what he wants to do is capitalize on 10 years of Kick-Ass, and take it to a point that has yet to be identified.

Kick-Ass #1 (DEC170560) is in comic shops February 14.

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Vince Brusio: Why choose a new character rather than have Dave Lizewski behind the mask?

Mark Millar: Kick-Ass was always intended to be a legacy character. Like Doctor Who and James Bond, The Flash and Green Lantern, I think it suits having a new face in there. He’s a concept rather than the last survivor or a doomed world. He shouldn’t be unique, and he isn’t necessarily a HE. He’s just someone who wants to put on a costume and make a difference, and as the world moves on I think the character should be very different. Dave Lizewski was the perfect 00s hero in a decade where Toby Maguire and Jesse Eisenberg were headlining movies. Now Patience Lee feels like who I want to see. She’s a mother. She’s in her thirties. She’s someone I’ve never seen in a superhero suit before, and that immediately makes me interested as a reader. She feels likeable and fresh.

Vince Brusio: Will you build on past continuity, or is this a new universe?

Mark Millar: These characters all exist in the real world. They should be in the world outside our windows. So although this takes place in New Mexico, Dave Lizewski is exactly where we left him in New York at the end of the fourth volume of the Kick-Ass books. Did I mention that we’ve remastered and edited these for new editions out from Image? The 10th anniversary seemed the perfect point to do this so nice, clean editions of all four volumes that will be available to buy at exactly the same time you pick up the new Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl monthly books.

Vince Brusio: What was the timeline for when you and John Romita Jr. decided to produce this project?

Mark Millar: It’s something Johnny and I have always talked about. This franchise changed our lives. Within two years of creating the comic we had a Hollywood movie and later a sequel. We had Pez dispensers, toys, hoodies, dolls. I even saw two people out as Hit-Girl for Halloween one year in my neighborhood. It was insane. We sold over a million copies of these books so it seemed insane not to do them just because we’d been busy with other things.

Vince Brusio: Why is Kick-Ass now at Image Comics?

Mark Millar: Icon is a “thank you” for people working at Marvel, and I left Marvel 7 years ago. All my books are over at Image now, though I obviously remain pals with the Marvel guys. I talk to them a few times a week and never go to New York without going out drinking with them.

Vince Brusio: Why are you still jazzed to write about Kick-Ass?

Mark Millar: Kick-Ass is the greatest superhero of all time. I know I’m biased, but I can’t stop writing it.

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Vince Brusio writes about comics, and writes comics. He is the long-serving Editor of PREVIEWSworld.com, the creator of PUSSYCATS, and encourages everyone to keep the faith...and keep reading comics.