The old dudes continue to travel in style and chaos.
Creative Staff:
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Khari Evans, Andres Guinaldo
Colors: Ulises Arreola, Chris Sotomayar
Letters: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Riddled with an uncanny disease in the present, Colin King has seen what the future holds – and it is death! Decades from today, destruction looms…and Ninjak and the Eternal Warrior will be our only hope! But even after years on the battlefield, are these weathered veterans still strong enough to forestall an evil that now threatens all of humanity? Glimpse the future of Valiant’s two most dangerous men here as Ninjak and the Eternal Warrior baptize their formative partnership in the blood of many men!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ninjak continues to be just one odd book in terms of how it works to me, jumping to different concepts and ideas with some continuity between it that allows it to work but still feels weird and jarring. After a pretty good arc that was more personal for Colin, coming after a less than interesting Deadside arc, this one keeps us a couple of decades in the future where he’s off and running with Gilad, the Eternal Warrior. The book is working well enough in that kind of loose sense with the story that Kindt can pull off but this issue just feels weaker in terms of art for me, especially combined with some almost overpowering coloring that simply doesn’t click well. I liked some of what Khari Evans did the last time around but this just feels a bit lighter and a little more rushed.
With the pair having gone through the portal in order to give chase to Fakir, we get a kind of weird use of Deadspace as a way to travel elsewhere. It’s actually a little fun watching how Colin just focuses on the mission while Gilad is distracted by all the weirdness here. With Colin having understood how to navigate these kinds of places it makes sense and is fun, especially since it lands them in Vegas and Colin is even more comfortable here. With his connections and basic spycraft, we get a decent bit of suaveness mixed in, some action, and leads toward Fakir. That in turn brings us to the bigger player of Silk here who is orchestrating something quite decidedly magical in order to gain power and immortality. It’s like we jump from point to point without much depth to it while enjoying the superficiality. It’s definitely fun watching Gilad and Colin together since they’re the definition of the odd couple and the humor works, but it also feels like it needed more space instead of the quick push from point to point. The dynamic between the pair is definitely enjoyable though and is what salvages things.
The backup story is the more interesting piece for me here as it keeps us in the present and after the events of the last arc. With his life in ruins he’s now in a super meditative state and that’s got Neville concerned and Livewire as well as she’s come to help. There’s some fun high tech moments here as they try to figure out what’s going on with him and it gives hint to some dark magical things from Deadside that may be involved – and may date back quite some time. This’ll bring us back to some of the Deadside elements in the real world that could be fun, though I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled to end up back in Punk Mambo’s orbit. While there are things I like in the main story I do wish that this was the main story.
In Summary:
Ninjak is working two tracks that work well enough for different reasons but neither is really compelling. The future storyline is fun just in seeing how this pair work together and how Colin has aged and the dynamic of it all but the whole Fakir and Silk thing just doesn’t click for me as it’s not all that compelling. It’s like just something that’s there. The present day story in the backup is a lot more fun since it’s smaller and more personal and it’s looking to set up other things, which are likely to impact the future storyline as well, but I just liked seeing what it is that’s going on after the recent arc. Ninjak is a book that has a lot going for it but just keeps working at weird pacing and story ideas that just feel weirdly rushed. After nineteen issues I keep hoping things will even out some but I’m just not expecting it at this point. Thankfully, there’s plenty of fun things along the way and the taste of what could be.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: September 7th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
