Magic. Why is it always magic.
Creative Staff:
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Doug Braithwaite
Colors: Brian Reber
What They Say:
In December of 2015, a covert military intelligence unit sent a team of 20 agents and one special operative into a parallel dimension. Only one came back.
The purpose of their mission was classified. Now, out of options, MI-6 has recruited their most elite operative – codename: NINJAK – to follow the doomed mission’s sole witness back into the dimension called Deadside…and bring her missing teammates home.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ninjak over its first nine issues often gave me a very engaging story with some great artwork, even if it barreled through a story that could have run for a hundred issues and not been boring since there was so much to explore with it. But with it done and over with, the series enters its next arc, a four issue one with artist Doug Braithwaite stepping on board. This one delves into the realm of magic and events that have happened outside of this series, which means I’m mostly unfamiliar with it. Thankfully, Kindt covers it fairly well even if it means this issue is mostly about the setup as we dig into magic and other worlds through dangerous portals and all that entails.
The premise is interesting enough as we learn through the narration from Neville to his superior that a creature known as Ember broke into one of their storage facilities and took Fakir, one of those that Ninjak captured from the whole Seven Warlords storyline. Fakir was being researched because of his physiology, being made up in intriguing alchemical ways that dove deep into magic, and that’s of interest to the governments in knowing what it is that they’re having to fight and deal with out there in the world. Fakir is a highly valuable target, however, and can’t be left out in the wilds. Unfortunately, Ember took him to Deadside, which is your basic other dimensional and otherworldly place where it’s filled with magic and bad times and things. Ninjak has been there previously, though not in my reading of him, and that has him less than thrilled about it.
While Colin’s not exactly thrilled with all of this, it’s the job and he’s ready to take on the challenge – one that he’s overly prepared for now as he looks like X-O Manowar’s little brother in terms of suit design. The intriguing part of it is that we get to see the process of getting to Deadside, which involves using agent Punk Mambo, and the kind of surreal and bizarre rituals and beings needed to traverse between the two. It’s a weird kind of ride, an interesting ride, but one that essentially plops us down in this new place without any real sense of bearing. But that’s what it needs, to put Colin in this kind of strange place and really do the whole fish out of water thing in a bigger way. In a sense, I can see this as being a kind of necessary break after such a mystical and intense physical arc like we just had, but at the same time it almost feels like it goes too far.
In Summary:
Sending Colin to another dimension to retrieve a stolen prisoner is an amusing kind of plot point to leap off of and I like the concept, though I’m not on board fully because it’s not the kinds of stories I thought Ninjak itself would work on – especially after what we just had with Weaponeer. Kindt puts it together well, introducing the weirdness for those not reading other Valiant books, and it definitely speaks of a bigger world that I’m still wary of entering. What helps sell it more so is the artwork from Doug Braithwaite. The man illustrates the hell out of this book, aided with some fantastic coloring work from Brian Reber, and the two of them really make the whole Loa thing fascinating to watch. I love the detail to all of this and the generally darker coloring that doesn’t go all murky and indecipherable. This arc is one that has me wary because it feels like we’re taking Colin too far out of his element, the Moonraker arc in a sense, but I’m trusting Kindt to deliver as he largely did so with what came before.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: December 9th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99