After four issues of Kick-Ass I find myself wondering only one thing: how the hell does Mark Millar fall asleep at night? This issue is probably one of the most blood soaked comics I’ve read in a long time. The first five pages are crammed with viciously violent panels that are likely to stick with me for some time to come. But hey, that’s certainly not a bad thing.

Kick-Ass #4 deals with the aftermath of the small, costumed, sword toting savior of Kick-Ass himself. Dave went to confront a drug dealer for a person in need only to find a nice and easy launching pad for shit aimed directly at a fan. Sure as science, the shit does hit the fan and it rains down on Dave and his teenage angst. Here, Millar deals with those that rescue Dave and Dave himself after the incident.

Now, the rescuing situation may simply be a coincidence. As we find out in the issue, the girl that comes to the scene of the crime has actually been involved in several other murders of degenerates. That simple fact goes a long way in directing the length of this plot. As more and more intricacies unfold, so to goes the length of the story. As of now, there are a lot of loose ends that need tying up and it will be interesting to see how Millar handles them. Yet up until now he has been firing on all cylinders. So let’s just hope that his momentum continues on into the climax of this opening arc.

Romita’s art is still fantastic. The violent scenes in the story are brought about with the visceral and bloody feel the book has been serving up so far. Swordplay is introduced here and the motions Romita delivers work well and demonstrate the power of wielder perfectly. It really is a gruesome mess that Romita slaps down on the page; add Palmer’s inks and White’s colors to the mix and this issue will be a memorable one. I know I’ll be considering the opening pages in Kick-Ass #4 next time I am confronted with an absurdly gory scene in another book.

My only solid complaint comes from the speed of the book. It reads incredibly fast. Don’t be surprised if you feel like this issue is over well before it begins. I literally blew through it in less than five minutes; that includes the time I took out to stare at the disgusting moments (like the part where the man gets crushed to death by a dump trash compactor…AWESOME!). Some fans might be upset that their three dollars vanishs so quickly. Millar does state that he managed to get rid of some in-house ads in order to bring several pages of Romita’s sketch work into the book itself.

But overall this issue does not disappoint. Millar even manages to squeeze in a Marvel 1985 reference; this is, of course, his own series. Fans of the storyline, and there are plenty of you out there, will be excited enough to continue with the next installment.

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