Between new character posters, movie clips and the approaching series-concluding release of the comic book source material's 8th issue, fans have plenty of reason to wonder if the pre-release buzz for Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s "Kick-Ass," could already amount to a second helping of costumed vigilante brutality. Now, Millar's begun projecting the series' pending publishing schedule for 2010 and beyond.

While discussing the upcoming "Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie" book set to arrive in stores on February 23 from Titan Books, Millar clarified his vision for the franchise, even before it saw print.

"We always saw this as at least a trilogy. There might even be more. I had the whole second series worked out two years ago," Millar told Comic Book Resources.

Read more...

“Sin City 2” producer Stephen L'Heureux’s Solipsist Films has picked up the options for two more comic book adaptations: Joe Casey and Caleb Gerard’s “Full Moon Fever” and Glen Brunswick and John Romita Jr.’s “The Gray Area.”

According to Mania.com, Casey and Brunswick are both attached to adapt their respective titles.

“Full Moon Fever” was originally published as a graphic novel in 2005 by AiT/PlanetLar. The story follows an interstellar plumber—or “lunar waste disposal technician”—named Zeke Kirby who encounters a werewolf on a moon-based space station. Director Renny Harlin optioned “Full Moon Fever” a month before it was published, but the rights subsequently reverted to Casey. Read more...

Most comic-to-film stories seem marred when a fan-favorite detail gets lost in translation, but in the case of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s "Kick-Ass," one character seems to have gained something in the comic's transition to the silver screen.

The title character's cohort in crime fighting, The Red Mist, has inherited a righteous mop in place of his Zorro-style bandana from the comics—a stylistic variation actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse seems pretty keen on.

"[The look] fits for the character," Mintz-Plasse told MTV News, "The character is very in his dad's shadow. He doesn't get to hang out a lot with friends because he always has a bodyguard around. He kind of wanted that wild side—that '80s glam-rock kind of look. And I love [David] Bowie—I love that kind of hair." Read more...

"Kick-Ass" kicked off production with writing, design and ready-made storyboards from two of the biggest names in comics when Matthew Vaughn stepped up to direct the adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s miniseries. But the duo's involvement didn't stop with the comic book, though.

Romita already revealed that he contributed artwork for an animated sequence in the film, and now he's disclosed exactly how that material will be used—as well as what it will explain about Nicolas Cage's character, Big Daddy.

"The animated sequence is about a minute, minute and a half, and it's a very wild computer program that allows us to do this," Romita told MTV News. "I don't need to do as many drawings as you think, but they're able to do the animation with models that I've drawn." Read more...

For a film without a release date and a comic without a strict publishing schedule, Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s "Kick-Ass" continues to intrigue fans of over-the-top crime fighting. Now, as both projects proceed toward their respective conclusions, Romita has started to open up regarding how the source material and the adaptation will likely diverge.

In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Romita offered an update on his current comic book progress stating that he was almost done with issue #7 and into issue #8 -- the series' final issue. That being the case, Romita said he's well aware that what he draws might not match up perfectly with director Matthew Vaughn's ending for the film. Read more...

He's a member of the seminal Wu-Tang Clan, one of the hardest-working rappers in the game and has the tough-as-nails street cred to back it up. So it's probably surprising that in a money-down, hardcore comic book trivia game, our bet would be on Meth, no questions asked.

Owning an astonishing 25,000 comics, Method Man knows his stuff. During our interview, we covered everything from his upcoming graphic novel to "Secret Invasion" to his love for creators like Mike Mignola, Peter David and John Byrne. But there's one title at the top of his pile right now, and that's Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's "Kick-Ass." We've been covering it a lot lately, from the announcement of it becoming a film to the casting of Nic Cage. And hopefully soon you can add Method Man to the list; the MC-turned-actor is throwing his hat into the ring, enthusiastically hoping for the role of the "black cop." Given his passion for the material we'd love to see it happen...tell us what you think in the comments below.

Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.'s "Kick-Ass" is certainly living up to its namesake this week in terms of news, as The Hollywood Reporter has now announced that Nicolas Cage will be joining the cast, playing the role of a retired cop who, with the help of his daughter (played by the recently announced Chloe Moretz), sets out to take down a lethal druglord.

Adding to this news, THR also reports that the two main characters of "Kick-Ass" have also been cast. As reported yesterday, the films lead character, Dave Lizewski, will be played by Hollywood newcomer Aaron Johnson, and Lyndsy Fonseca ("Big Love") has been cast as Katie Deauxma, his love-interest. Read more...

After months of battling with numerous Hollywood studios, director Matthew Vaughn ("Layer Cake") is finally prepared to "Kick-Ass."

The film will adapt the super-violent Marvel-Icon series by Mark Millar ("Wanted") and John Romita, Jr. ("Spider-Man") about a high school nerd who tries to reinvent himself as a superhero, but runs into real world bad guys who in turn give him a serious reality check. According to Hollywood Reporter, Vaughn had been attempting to bring "Kick-Ass" to screen for months, but due to the intense graphic nature of the series, all of the major studios turned the project down. Therefore, Vaughn has decided to move forward on his own, raising $30 million to produce the film himself.

The trade says casting is already underway with some big names in the running, including Christopher Mintz-Plasse ("Superbad") and Chloe Moretz ("Dirty Sexy Money"). Mintz-Plasse would take up the role of Red Mist, the angry son of a mafioso who attempts to uncover the identity of Kick Ass.

Is going independent the route the right move for Vaughn? Let us know in the comments.