LWLies #28 On Sale Now

Way back in the early days of 2010, TCOLondon’s film magazine Little White Lies was ushered into a screening room in London’s Soho for a low-key preview of a little-known comic-book adaptation. We were warned that the soundtrack wasn’t quite locked and some of the colour correction was yet to be completed, but we were assured that what we were about to see would blow our minds.

And it did. That was the start of two months of work on Issue 28 of LWLies, dedicated to Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass. Adapted from the comic by maverick Marvel writer Mark Millar, Kick-Ass is the first ever indie superhero blockbuster, and one of the purest expressions of movie fun ever to grace the cover of the magazine.

Duly inspired, we tracked down the film’s major players – Vaughn, Millar and young star in the ascendant Aaron Johnson – to get the inside story on their remarkable achievement. We chatted with Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean about the new crop of comic-book writers-turned-film directors. We commissioned six illustrators to offer their own vision of a new breed of superhero. We explored the lost age of atomic comics. We investigated the trial of Superman raging in US courts. And we looked forward to a new era of indie comic heroes hitting the big screen.

As if that’s not enough, we’ve reviewed all the big hitters coming your way in March and April, from Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone to Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime, via Ricky Gervais’ Cemetery Junction, Roman Polanski’s The Ghost, Neil Marshall’s Centurion and many more.

We also found time to interview Lu Chuan, Chinese director of City of Life and Death; The Scouting Book For Boys’ Tommo Turgoose; and I Am Love’s Tilda Swinton; not to mention David Morrissey and Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire.

And that’s not even the big news. This issue carries a unique, bespoke cover portrait of Kick-Ass, drawn by none other than comic-book legend John Romita Jr, Mark Millar’s artistic partner on the original Kick-Ass comics. Romita Jr is also the judge of our third Creative Brief – to design a six-panel comic strip inspired by a favourite film. It was one of our best yet. But then, that’s true of the whole issue.

Go and buy it.