It’s a grudge match for the ages, with a couple of unexpected twists. Your Major Spoilers review of Kick-Ass Vs. Hit-Girl #1 from Image Comics awaits!

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KICK-ASS VS. HIT-GIRL #1

Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Marcelo Frusin
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Rachael Fulton
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 11, 2020

Previously in Kick-Ass Vs. Hit-Girl: Old allies become enemies when Mindy screeches into Albuquerque to kill the imposter who’s been running gangs in New Mexico. And as Hit-Girl sets out to avenge Dave and stop Kick-Ass’ criminal operations for good, Patience fights to survive as the target of the best assassin in the biz-and questions whether she could ever kill a child to save her own life.

“I MURDERED MY SISTER’S HUSBAND.”

After Dave Lizewski gave up his masked identity, Patience Lee took it for herself, taking over Albequerque’s cartel in her masked identity. Unfortunately, she’s also had to make some bad decisions, including killing her brother-in-law. This issue opens with the funeral, then transitions to her as Kick-Ass destroying her own product and stealing a huge cut of the profits to leave for her sister. She then gathers her lieutenants to burn the rest of their drugs, leading to a mutiny by her criminal associates. This naturally leads to murder on a grand scale, with Kick-Ass the last woman standing in the desert. Not far away, a group of bikers trying to carjack a rich couple runs afoul of a girl on a motorcycle who proceeds to decapitate, shoot and or kill the $&@^ out of all of them. Once that chore is complete, Hit-Girl continues on her way, passing a sign that says “Welcome to Albuquerque.”

A VERY BLOODY ISSUE

First and foremost, this isn’t truly a number one, but a continuation of Patience’s story from previous minis. That’s not necessarily a problem, especially in today’s comic book market, but it does make things a bit obscure for those of us who haven’t been reading regularly. Both of our characters get to show off their lethal moves in this issue, which makes for a couple of fun fight sequences, but doesn’t really constitute a plot. It feels like a #0 issue, a feeling amplified by the fact that the main characters don’t actually meet at all. The art is more successful than the story, thankfully, making both Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass look great and delivering on the head-chopping, face-exploding, burning-corpse action. Frusin’s art reminds me of Richard Corben in certain places, with similar skillful use of ink, texture and anatomy that’s exaggerated but never too much so.

BOTTOM LINE: ALL SIZZLE, SHORT ON STEAK

In the final analysis, I wanted to like Kick-Ass Vs. Hit-Girl #1 more than I did, mostly because of the feeling that nothing really happened in this issue. but the art helped to overcome at least some of the plotting issues, leaving the issue with a right-down-the-middle 2.5 out of 5 stars overall. There’s clearly more to come, but this issue doesn’t really set up the conflict so much as hint at what that might be, and while I appreciate the attempt to build suspense, it didn’t work for me as a reader.

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