Kick-Ass 3 is the final sequel to Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass 2. It was written and drawn by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. [Here are my reviews of all things Kick-Ass.]
Finished on: 25.02.2015
Plot [with SPOILERS for Kick-Ass 2]:
After the events of Kick-Ass 2, things aren’t very good. Mindy is still in jail. Justice Forever is severely reduced. Dave still wants to fight the good fight, but he can’t bring the rest of Justice Forever to break Mindy out of prison, and without Hit-Girl they are all a little aimless. It also doesn’t help that Dave meets a woman, Valerie, who he really likes. But when the Motherfucker’s uncle Don Rocco comes to town to take over the legacy of his brother and to clean the mess up, starting with the masked heroes, they are facing a challenge on a whole new scale.
Kick-Ass 3 is not only on the same level as the other books (warts and all), it provides a very satisfying end to the story that makes it okay that there isn’t any more to this series.
When I say that the book is on the same level as the other books, I mean that they are equal both in strengths and in weaknesses. The strengths are the pacing, the tongue-in-cheek, very dark humor and the pure fantasy of the story and its characters. This time there are even a few more women that get to do more and are not just accessories for the guys. So yay! Double yay for Valerie being hearing-impaired and it not being a plot-point. Plus, Mindy in prison was just funny:
But the weaknesses are there, too: I generally liked the darker turn of Kick-Ass 2, but Kick-Ass 3 makes everybody pay but Mindy and Dave. I would have hoped that they would have to work through actual consequences again. Kick-Ass 3 feels gorier than the previous (though that might just be an impression that doesn’t add up on closer inspection), but less serious and that is unfortunate in my opinion.
I will never particularly love John Romita Jr.’s style. Kick-Ass 3 was no exception, but it would probably have been extremely weird to switch now, so that’s okay.
Altogether though, I was very happy with this final installment.
Summarizing: a good ending.
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Btw, here‘s a SPOILERy theory about an Easter Egg in this. You can choose your truth, I’d say. ;)
