Kick-Ass 2

This book took the concept that Mark Millar first introduced in back in Kick-Ass Vol. 1 & cranked it up.  Everything was edgier I even found myself cringing at times.  There is no way a lot of this material will make it into the upcoming movie due to some recent events.  For as awesome as Jim Carry looks dressed up as Colonel Stars & Stripes in the new movie he really doesn't get a lot of screen time in the book.  His fate is something that is straight out of the Song of Ice & Fire series; I can only speculate that Millar was inspired by the third book in that series.  I hope he gets more screen time in the movie than he did on the page.  Another big moment which shocked me to the point of almost putting the book down is that blatant & graphic display of gun violence against children especially since the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings that occurred near the beginning of the year.  Granted this book was published before that but it is still disturbing.  That scene then snowballed into the rape of Katie Deauxma in the book which was shocking but less so compared to the massacre of  small children.  Pile on the atrocities to give Red Mist his hat trick by killing Dave's dad & Mark Millar has created the sickest adolescent villain since King Joffrey.  I will be truly shocked & will probably even walk out of the theater if kiddie massacre is included, but the rape could be eluded to & have even more of an impact story-wise since Katie & Dave are actually dating in the movie.  Overall where the previous book showed that this series had a heart & soul this volume decided to rip it out & stomp on it.  I am really glad to know that the next volume Kick-Ass 3 will be the final volume other-wise the main character would eighty-six himself due to how depressed he is becoming.  If you think about it how has something like Kick-Ass survived if not thrived in a time where violence involving children has been in the news on a frequent basis.  Its not just Kick-Ass what about books like the Hunger Games series both of which have gotten the Hollywood treatment.  There is even a Marvel comic focusing on the subject by pitting teen heroes against each other in a fight to the death called Avengers Arena.  There are also other movies coming out soon that are touching on this same subject of violence involving children & even young adults Fruitvale Station & I Declare War.  The first of which is based on or inspired by an actual event where as the second looks to be more of a social commentary.  So it begs to question is this the new norm?