Kick-Ass – The New Girl

Kick-Ass – The New Girl, titled Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl for its fourth and final volume, is an American superhero crime comic book limited series written by Mark Millar and Steve Niles, and illustrated by John Romita Jr. and Marcelo Frusin. Published by Image Comics,^[1] the series is a stand-alone sequel/spin-off to the Icon Comics series Kick-Ass – The Dave Lizewski Years by Millar and Romita Jr., and the second series in the franchise, set in the Millarworld. The first three volumes follow villain protagonist and former soldier Patience Lee as she takes up the Kick-Ass mantle to become "boss of all bosses" of Albuquerque, New Mexico, while the fourth volume follows Mindy McCready / Hit-Girl as she travels to Albuquerque to kill Patience. The series, published from February 14, 2018 to March 17, 2021, was followed by Big Game, written by Millar and illustrated by Pepe Larraz.^[2]

Kick-Ass – The New Girl
Cover of Book Four; art by Marcelo Frusin.
Publication information
Publisher	Image Comics
Format	Limited series
Publication date	February 2018 – May 2021
No. of issues	23
Main character(s)	Patience Lee / Kick-Ass Mindy McCready / Hit-Girl
Creative team
Written by	Mark Millar (vol. 1) Steve Niles (vol. 2–4)
Artist(s)	John Romita Jr. (vol. 1) Marcelo Frusin (vol. 2–4)
Collected editions
The New Girl	ISBN 978-153431-1688

The series received a positive critical reception.^[3][4][5]

Premise

When black ops soldier Patience Lee to Albuquerque from Afghanistan to find her family broke, she resorts to stealing from the local crime bosses; in a twist ending to the first volume, Patience kills the crime bosses and takes their place, taking on the Kick-Ass mantle as a supervillain after being mistaken for the superhero herself (whom she had never heard of, due to being in-combat overseas during the events of The Dave Lizewski Years).^[6] Over the next three volumes, Patience sees her position challenged by rival syndicates, the Mexican cartel, the Russian mafia, her own brother-in-law, and finally Mindy McCready / Hit-Girl, the latter coming to Albuquerque to kill Patience on learning what she has been doing.^[7][8][9]

Characters

Main article: List of Hit-Girl & Kick-Ass characters

• Patience Lee / Kick-Ass – A 40-year-old soldier who is mistaken for a superhero whilst robbing a crime boss, before becoming a crime boss herself.
• Mindy McCready / Hit-Girl – A 12-year-old "lonely" assassin, who seeks to kill Patience for using her former partners' name.^[10]
• Maurice – Patience's brother-in-law, a career criminal whose connections Patience uses to enter the crime world of Albuquerque.
• Violencia – An insane hitman with full-body burns, who joins Santos after Patience kills his boss.
• Hector Santos – The head a rival syndicate, who comes to blows with Patience.
• Wallace – Santos' sociopathic representative, who likes wearing sunglasses.
• Coop – A war veteran and former comrade-in-arms of Patience.

Reception

Volume #	Publication date	Critic rating	Critic reviews	Ref.
1	September 2018	7.3/10	119	^[11]
2	April 2019	8.3/10	51	^[12]
3	December 2019	8.3/10	32	^[13]
4	May 2021	7.8/10	36	^[14]
Overall		8.0/10	238	^[15]

References

1. Phegley, Kiel (February 21, 2018). "Mark Millar Reinvents Hit-Girl As 'Our F--ed Up Version of Tintin'". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
2. Pereira, Sergio (July 26, 2023). "REVIEW: Image Comics' Big Game #1". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
3. Schedeen, Jesse (February 14, 2018). "Kick-Ass #1 Review". IGN. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
4. Lix, Dan (February 13, 2019). "Review: Kick-Ass #12". Impulse Gamer. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
5. Cullen, Ian (October 29, 2019). "IN REVIEW: Kick-Ass #18". SciFiPulse. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
6. Johnston, Rich (February 14, 2018). "Is the New Kick-Ass Trying to Do a Breaking Bad?". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
7. Lapus, Emjay (February 14, 2018). "REVIEW: 'Kick-Ass #1' Chronicles the First Test of Patience". Flip Geeks. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
8. Allen, Todd (July 2, 2018). "Ass-Kicking Has a New Face – Kick-Ass: The New Girl, Vol. 1". Comics Beat. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
9. Adams, Tim (June 27, 2018). "Image Comics' September 2018 Solicitations". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
10. Wood, Robert (October 29, 2020). "Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl Promises A Comics Bloodbath This November". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
11. "Kick-Ass – The New Girl Volume 1 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. September 12, 2018. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
12. "Kick-Ass – The New Girl Volume 2 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. April 10, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
13. "Kick-Ass – The New Girl Volume 3 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. December 4, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
14. "Kick-Ass – The New Girl Volume 4 (Kick-Ass vs Hit-Girl) Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
15. "Kick-Ass – The New Girl (2018–2021) Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.