My name is Cristian and I am one of the new Contributing writers here at Movieviral.com. My two biggest passions in life are comics and cinema, so for my first article, I’m going to write about one of last years critically acclaimed comics and upcoming movie, Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass.
For those of you who don’t know, Kick-Ass is about high school student, David Lizewski, a nerdy comic book fan who one day puts on a costume and fight crimes like all his comic book heroes.
As they were working with the comic, Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. worked closely with Director Matthew Vaughn (Layercake, Stardust) on a movie adaptation of the comic. Earlier this summer at Comic-Con San Diego, footage from the movie was showed for the first time. The people who saw the footage were very impressed, and it even got standing ovations.
As a way to promote the comic on the internet before the release of the first issue in early 2008, a Myspace site was set up for a “Kick-Ass, a real-life superhero.” On the page, “Kick-Ass” asks for other crime-fighters to contact him and join his group. He also mentions that Mark Millar is making a comic book about him and his adventures. To me that is very smart, because the comic is set in our world not the world of Superheroes. It gives the comic another level of realism.
The most interesting thing on the site though is a video from Youtube. I actually saw the Video before I found the Myspace and I thought it was really awesome. You can watch it below:
Editors Note: Video contains strong language.
The text attached to the video says that the video was taken by a fan with a mobile phone when he helped someone who was getting mugged at a car park outside a supermarket. Kick-Ass also asks other people with footage of him to post a link on his Myspace.
After the Comic was released the viral kind of died out. The blog at the Myspace page hasn’t been updated since February 25th. A shame really, because the Myspace and Youtube video were really cool ways to create an interest for the comic. It certainly woke my interest for the comic, and now when the movie is coming out sometime next year, it wouldn’t take much to create a great viral since the foundation is already there with the Myspace page.
I would love if they started up the viral again. Why not do something like the District 9 viral, but instead of asking for alien sightings ask for superhero sightings. Another cool thing would be to create local superhero teams in different cities and involve the fans by asking them to create their own masked crime-fighter and join the teams. Personally, I would love to create my own character and make my own costume. That’s just some ideas I have to kick start the Kick-Ass viral again. What do you guys think?
Give me your ideas in a comment below, or join the forum and discuss it with me there.