Kick-Ass #11 review

Kick-Ass #11 sees Patience strike back after taking some major losses to Santos’ crew. It’s another exhilarating issue that writer Steve Niles makes fly by despite some significant storyline advancements.

Establishing that back and forth is important. It’s why Kick-Ass creating a strike force out of gangs has been such a smart storytelling tool for the title. Patience can lose men and trigger some of her feelings as a former soldier and allow her to take some collateral damage.

Since Kick-Ass doesn’t have any powers there’s only so many times she can get stabbed or shot before she starts to have a cone of protection. But her men? They’re totally vulnerable and perfectly able to get killed off at any time.

Santos isn’t the typical lame crime boss and has smartly approached his next conflict with Kick-Ass. It’s always fun to see a competent villain square off with a hero, especially one without any powers. Kick-Ass could actually be defeated/killed with a better strategy.

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It’s also cool seeing how Niles is making Kick-Ass such a modern character. Patience has a crappy job and has to arrange for her sister to take her kids before she can fight crime. It’s not as easy as a character telling their folks they’re out with friends or a single hero with no responsibilities having fun. Patience has to juggle a lot before she can even start busting heads.

Artist Marcelo Frusin is such a strong storyteller. There’s not a lot of wasted panels or pages, but Frusin doesn’t rush the story to the point that there’s huge gaps from Point A to Point L.

Frusin went with some odd perspectives a few times on a couple of pages. On one, it showed a very true to life shot of a kid desperately trying to make the bathroom before an accident. But the shot of Patience’s daughter on the toilet seemed a little weird. Patience has never really been sexualized despite her costume, but one page seemed to emphasize her backside or at least Frusin paid homage to the now infamous Rogue/Apocalypse scene in X-Men.

Sunny Gho’s colors are such a surprising component of the series. They’re bright and bold, with just the right mix of shadows. Big primary colors shouldn’t work on this title, but Gho makes it seem like such a natural and obvious fit it’s hard to complain.

Kick-Ass #11 ends with a strong cliffhanger as things go from bad to worse for Patience. I like the set up and this is a title that always seems to be in position to deliver another entertaining issue. This remains one of my favorite reads each month.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Photo Credit: Image Comics