A Black Military Veteran Mother of Two Is Coming for the Game in ‘Kick-Ass’

Writer: Mark Millar / Artist: John Romita Jr. / Image Comics Kick-Ass is back ladies and gentlemen. Kick-Ass is coming for your favorite superhero’s lunch money! Kick-Ass is Patience Lee, a black military veteran and mother of two! This is monumental fam. After the original comic and eventual movie, it seemed highly improbable this role could ever be filled by a strong woman of color, but here we are. Here we are. Our brand spankin’ new titular character comes out the gate swingin’ and runs all the jewels before the bad guys can make a lame Spiderman joke.

Millar and Romita Jr. waste no time getting back to the upper cuts, broken bones and murder music while fleshing out Patience’s military background beautifully. You get an excellent sense of her tactical prowess and natural born killer tendencies as the first couple of pages get under way. Whereas Hit-Girl had the Arya Stark skills on fleeky, Patience leans a tad towards Mikasa Ackerman and her stone cold ways. It’s a treat to see her unleash the beast within early on. Sticking up for the weak has always been the Kick-Ass focus, but this new run excels in an area the original couldn’t even touch; truly giving back to your family and community. Doin it for the hood and puttin’ on for your city. Patience leaves Afghanistan a celebrated hero, but returns home to Crooklyn levels of problems. She winds up having to make some huge choices, leading to her current predicament with The Dude’s best friend. One thing is for sure, Alb…