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I kind of conflated the Jackass and Kick-Ass franchises in my head without having had more than a passing familiarity (i.e., film trailers, quick book ads) with either of them. As it turns out, both are funny, violent, and undermine the idea of what it means to be a "man." Like Shakespeare's Prince Hal with Falstaff, we get to debate the nature of true courage and manhood, and choose Falstaff's buffoonery. So Kick-ass is so violent and the language so bad that I had to hide the language and pictures from 8 year old Henry as I was trying to read it (and later, had to hide myself away to finish it). It IS sort of Jackass for Superhero lovers, in a way, as we get to see what it would due like for teens to take on the mob� you end up in the hospital, natch! But the idea from the makers of Superman through Jeffrey Brown through today, that nerds, losers, weaklings who want to prove they are tough(and maybe do good in the world) will put on a costume and fight the bad guys and overcome their own weaknesses and accomplish some good� well, that is there, with a kind of cynical edge, since these boys are not just altruistic do-gooders� but mainly this is entertainment and not a serious reflection on superhero-dom. It's played for fun and laughs, and pretty much works, though I like Jeffrey Brown's less violent and profane version of this approach to Kick-Ass. But I liked it more than I thought I would, and the art is really great (okay, there IS a lot of bright red blood color in it, a warning to the squeamish�) from John Romita.