When a comic features a 10-year-old girl who decapitates, packs and shoots guns and curses like she’s in a Tarantino movie, there are sure to be huge obstacles every step along the path from print comic to feature film.
The character, called Hit-Girl, according to John Romita Jr., acclaimed artist for such popular super hero series as Spider-Man and World War Hulk, is one of the reasons his comic book Kick-Ass had to be published in a different way. The book, which he penciled and co-created with popular superhero writer Mark Miller, known for such comic book hits as Civil War and Wanted, is about a young comic book fan named Dave Lizewski who, like many of us, secretly dreams of being a superhero. Unlike us though, he actually goes through with it and becomes a real world superhero named Kick-Ass.
Kick-Ass was originally released as a periodical comics series through comic shops in February 2008 under Marvel’s ICON banner. Merely six issues later, it has been already adapted into a feature film directed by Matthew Vaughn, director of such films as Layer Cake and Stardust, and Lionsgate has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights. The film will be released sometime in 2010. But with its hard R-rated world of pop culture references, extreme violence, language and tween serial killers, Kick-Ass has never had a simple route to the public.
Kick-Ass Origins
Romita and Millar had been eager to work together ever since the pair collaborated on a story arc for Marvel’s Wolverine in 2004. Some time later Mark said to John, “’I have an idea I’d like to work on with you that’s creator owned,’” Romita Jr. recalled. “I, of course, said ‘Yes.’” Around the same time, Millar was drinking with director Matthew Vaughn at a party. Vaughn was about to leave another Marvel project, the Thor movie, and asked Millar if he had any ideas he could work on. Millar mentioned “Kick-Ass.”
The first step, though, was making the comic. Millar and Romita decided that the controversial subject matter necessitated creator-owned publishing. “The whole point is that there is a lot more room in the creator owned template to do R-rated material and R with and edge,” he said. Romita Jr. has an exclusive deal with Marvel and since Marvel created the ICON label to keep its talent happy, the pair went there first. ICON is a specialty imprint at Marvel and its titles are creator-owned projects that are not a part of the Marvel Universe of characters. To sweeten the deal, Millar and Romita Jr. decided to take no upfront salary for the book, getting paid only in backend sales. “This way we showed Marvel our confidence in it,” Romita Jr. said.
Meanwhile, Millar was already working closely with Vaughn on the movie. The collaboration between of the two was so symbiotic that Romita even had to run his drawings by the director. “Normally I’d have 100% input on the visuals, but they were also run past a third party, which was Matthew,” he said.
Viral Marketing and Promotion
Because Kick-Ass is being published by ICON, not Marvel proper, it was up to the creators to market the book themselves. Millar, whom Romita Jr. calls “The P.T. Barnum of Comics”, was up to the challenge. For Kick-Ass he got comic shops worldwide to promote the book for free and helped create an online viral campaign that tied directly in with the comic book (check www.myspace.com/kickass_comic to get a better idea). “Mark knew it was going to sell well because he’s confident in his success,” said Romita, who also pointed out that the two creators have scores of enthusiastic fans. a.
The first printing of Kick Ass #1 sold out completely and has since gone into “Umpteenth” printings. Romita called numbers like that “astonishing” for a creator owned property. And with each concurrent issue, that number has only grown. Issue #6 has been on shelves since April and, according to Marvel.com, the long delayed issue #7 will be out Sept. 9 with the final issue, #8, out a few weeks later. At San Diego Comic Con earlier this year, Millar hinted that he might have two more eight issue “Kick-Ass” arcs in him, but Romita Jr. refused to comment. “If I did know I’d be smart not to mention it until things are more contractually agreed upon,” he said. But either way, a trade paperback collection of all eight issues is currently scheduled for release Oct. 28.
Meanwhile, Back in Hollywood
As the Kick-Ass comics were enjoying huge success, Matthew Vaughn and his co-writer Jane Goldman were busy working on the screenplay for the film. (Romita won’t say how far the screenplay goes into the story, only that at least the first eight issues are covered). When that was up to everyone’s standards, they began to look for financing and—much like with the comic—realized it wasn’t going to be easy. “The studios, while they were interested, did not want a young girl to do what Hit Girl is doing,” Romita said. “They wanted it to be an older teenager. But Matthew stuck to his guns,” Romita said, emphasizing that they knew they could make this work as a creator-owned property with their original vision of the characters intact.
And they did. Vaughn was able to raise, through private investors, around $50 million dollars. Actor Nicolas Cage signed to play Hit Girl’s father Big Daddy and the film began shooting in late 2008. When the film was about 90% completed, Vaughn once again had to deal with Hollywood to ensure people could eventually see it. First, though, he brought it—along with Millar, Romita and several of the stars—to the recent San Diego Comic-Con to build buzz. They screened several scenes, the footage received a raucous standing ovation and, Paramount, Universal and Lionsgate—the final winner—were among the studios fighting over the rights.
“The mind set was underdog all the way,” Romita said. “The process [for the comic and the movie] was the same. It’s an us against the world type of thing. [Creator-owned books] tend to be that way.” But he’s confident and so are Millar and Vaughan. Why wouldn’t they be? They’ve got a legion of Kick-Ass fans along with a hard-core girl-character Millar describes as “Dakota Fanning meets Death Wish 4” in their corner.
