Kick-Ass #1

History

Writer Mark Millar has said the core idea for Kick-Ass dates back to a conversation he had with a schoolmate around age fifteen, when both boys earnestly believed that becoming a professional superhero was a viable career path. Millar began scripting the first issue in 2007, and John Romita Jr. — with whom Millar had previously collaborated on the 'Enemy of the State' arc of Wolverine in 2004 — joined soon after, bringing a street-level, gritty visual sensibility to the pages; inker Tom Palmer and colorist Dean White completed the production team. The issue was released on February 27, 2008 (cover-dated April 2008) through Icon Comics, Marvel's creator-owned imprint, and Millar and Romita drove awareness through an unusual guerrilla digital marketing campaign that included a viral YouTube video of 'Kick-Ass' performing a heroic act and an in-character Myspace page supposedly maintained by Dave Lizewski himself. Remarkably, director Matthew Vaughn — who met Millar at the premiere of Stardust in 2007 — began developing a film adaptation almost simultaneously with the comic's production, and Vaughn has stated that the script and the comic were written in parallel, a genuinely unusual creative arrangement that influenced the back half of the eight-issue run.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Dave Lizewski (Kick-Ass), Mr. Lizewski, Mrs. Zane, Todd Haynes, and Marty — all created by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
• Full creative team: writer Mark Millar, penciler John Romita Jr., inker Tom Palmer, colorist Dean White, letterer Chris Eliopoulos, editor John Barber.
• Millar and Romita Jr. had previously collaborated on the Wolverine 'Enemy of the State' arc (2004), making Kick-Ass their second major team-up.
• The issue launched with a guerrilla online marketing campaign: a viral YouTube video and an in-character Myspace page attributed to Dave Lizewski; a charity auction was held to name the protagonist, won by a fan named Dave Lizewski who donated his own name.
• Issue #1 shipped with multiple variants for the first printing, including a Steve McNiven retailer incentive cover and a John Romita Jr. limited-edition sketch cover; a Director's Cut edition was also published, reprinting the sold-out first issue with scripts, character designs, and penciled artwork.
• Note: Hit-Girl (Mindy McCready) and Big Daddy do not appear in issue #1 — they debut later in the run (Hit-Girl first appears in issue #3; Big Daddy's full debut is in issue #4).
• The series was adapted into the 2010 film directed by Matthew Vaughn (screenplay by Vaughn and Jane Goldman), with Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Dave/Kick-Ass, Chloë Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl, and Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy; Romita Jr. served as one of the film's producers and directed an animated flashback sequence.
• The original eight-issue run was initially published by Marvel's Icon imprint and was later republished under Image Comics; collected editions were retitled Kick-Ass: The Dave Lizewski Years.

Full credits

Key issues in Kick-Ass

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#3 1st appearance — Hit-Girl

Variants (4)