Now a major motion picture.

Kick Ass reminds me of Fight Club. Really. Not because I think gratuitous violence is a legitimate symbol of societal remonstration, or because both films equate sex and death for a young audience ready to embrace that message. It's because Roger Ebert hates both movies, and a Louisiana high school senior named Kohen just wrote a letter to his local newspaper calling for Ebert's retirement because the critic found "Kick Ass" to be morally reprehensible. I did the same thing eleven years ago when Ebert condemned "Fight Club." I don't know if Kohen got his article printed verbatim, but I remember my poor letter had the misfortune of being dissected and de-contextualized in an op-ed counterpoint piece. (If there's one great thing about the internet, it's that deconstructing another person's argument to make them look foolish is no longer the exclusive privilege of douchey newspaper editors.)
Kohen feels that Kick Ass mirrors Thoreau's message of Civil Disobedience, and contains a heartwarming story about family. He also claimed that it made him want to read the comic. I wonder how much Thoreau he'll find in it.
Kick Ass and Fight Club are just two examples of how Hollywood can sometimes improve upon the source material, or at least make it palatable to large audiences (apologies to you hardcore Chuck Palahniuk fans.) The Book is always better than The Movie of the book, right? Right?
There are times when this just isn't true. Going back to at least The Graduate, there are books that are actually more enjoyable as films. Add Jaws and The Godfather to that list, as well as Interview with a Vampire. It is somewhat infuriating that this ever happens, because I WANT the book to be better than the movie. (In the case of Mark Millar books though, it isn't hard to find things to improve upon.)
These kinds of films are rare and Kick Ass is certainly one of them. After ten years, I'm still on the fence about whether Fight Club is or not, but I certainly connected to the film more. I do wonder though, if Kick Ass has the staying power of Fight Club. That film still sparks heated debates on message boards, and many of its catchier lines have been absorbed into the pop culture vocabulary. A decade from now, will we be quipping "Fuck this shit, I'm getting the bazooka"?