Seeing as
Kick-Ass 2 followed on so seamlessly from the first volume, some might wonder whether there's any real need for
Hit-Girl to fill in the gaps between the two. While that's certainly a part of this series, writer Mark Millar does the smart thing by making it a self contained story of its own. This means we get a fascinating glimpse at the inner workings of Mindy McCready, a.k.a. Hit-Girl, and while the character has already been fleshed out rather well in the past, placing this solo series from her point of view finally gives us the same sort of insight for her as we had for Dave Lizewski in the core series. Millar covers all the bases here, including her current home life and what it was like to grow up with a (deranged?) father like Big Daddy. Elaborating on her past makes for a fascinating read and adds a great deal of depth to Mindy AND Hit-Girl as Millar paints the picture of a damaged little girl who might be able to kill bad guys indiscriminately, but still struggles to fit in at school.
This element of the story proves to be particularly fascinating and it's not at all hard to imagine that even a kid as tough as Hit-Girl might end up being picked on by her peers in high school. This actually forms the backbone of the story as Kick-Ass is taken on as her sidekick (that's right, this series also looks set to expand on his story before we caught up with him in
Kick-Ass 2) as the duo decide to take on a new threat which ties-in neatly to the events of the first volume. It also appears as if we'll be finding out a lot more of how Red-Mist went from being beaten by Kick-Ass to the leader of his own team of super-villains as the Mother [frick]er. However, don't let the fact that a lot of this series looks set to fill in the gaps between each volume put you off because there's a lot more to it than just that.
John Romita Jr. is back to handle the art duties on this series and his work is just as fantastic as it was in both volumes of the core book. Despite the fact that the artist and co-creator is credited for breakdowns, his frequent collaborator Tom Palmer does a fantastic job of finishing and inking the pages, while Dean White's colours are as perfect for these characters as ever. It's a great looking book, simple as that.
Hit-Girl #1 makes for a compelling read and it's impossible to find any major faults with the series at this point. As brutal, violent and exciting as you might expect from a Millarworld title set in the
Kick-Ass universe, it also looks set to tell a compelling story which may end up being even better than those told in the two volumes of the main series. Millar has previously said that parts of
Hit-Girl will be incorporated into Jeff Wadlow's upcoming big screen adaptation of
Kick-Ass 2 and judging from this first issue, hopefully that will indeed be the case.
A spin-off which feels entirely justified and necessary, fantastic storytelling and stellar artwork make this an essential part of Millar and Romita Jr.'s Kick-Ass saga.