When JRJR took over uncanny x-men after Brandon Peterson joined the image defections, i hated him.  All his heads looked like squares!  he couldn’t draw round edges!  Why couldn’t Andy Kubert draw people with their eyes open?!?

I’ve learned a lot since then and I’ve learned to appreciate Romita’s style, which is far better than many of the Image pioneers at depicting facial expressions, conveying emotions, showing movement and dynamism on the page.

But even better than Romita’s art in this book is Millar’s writing.  Millar is so brilliant at pathologizing comic book masculinities, the desire to be “special,” the psychosis of heroism in a way that’s far less obscene than, say, Garth Ennis, and far more insightful and thought provoking.  That’s what made Wanted so provocative, and it’s clearly the impetus behind this book.  But where Wanted was about the horror of identification – “I can’t believe that i idenitfy with this sexist racist murderer,” Kick Ass is a timely story for a week when the New York Times is publishing stories about “reals,” geeks much like Mr. Lizewski who dress up in spandex and fight crime for kicks.  The first great depression in this country created the superhero.  What will this one do?