Surviving Darquewood!
Creative Staff:
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Stephen Segovia
Colors: Ulisses Arreola
Letters: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Darque destinies! Once sworn enemies, Ninjak and the Shadow Seven have forged an uneasy alliance to accomplish their singular goal: kill Master Darque! But why can’t Colin King shake the feeling that he’s leading a suicide mission, or that his mysterious benefactor, Sandria Darque, isn’t giving him the whole story? Ninjak’s about to confront a terrifying truth…and the answers just might destroy him!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The penultimate issue of this arc, Ninjak works a pretty good piece of background here even if it is largely an information dump for the reader. Being someone that’s really only reading Ninjak at this point, it definitely worked well for me with what it presented to fill in the blanks and details that are likely common knowledge elsewhere. Kindt’s able to deliver this kind of information in a solid and compelling way but it’s Segovia’s artwork that elevates it and really makes it engaging. With so much flashback material in the first half he gives us some things that really makes you feel for the characters and their situations and then shifts easily to action storyteller in the second half.
The background material is something that really does click well, set against the period where we know in the present that Darque has set up in North Carolina and is beginning to feed more. Dipping back to 1812 when he and Sandria were children and their power hungry father worked their bodies over with magical texts for his own advancement paints a brutal childhood picture. One that makes it clear that the siblings had only each other, yet they diverged in approach to life along the way. With Darque going into a mode similar to his father and far more intense and capable, Sandria found her own path and now fears her death at his hands, hence her hiring Roku for this job. That’s actually an amusing twist as we see Roku’s interactions with Darque in the recent past but I keep expecting a twist so I’m not taking it at face value.
The back half has the team arriving at Darquewood to get the mission going, though it’s a disaster from the start with the ship destroyed and a lot of new uncertainty about it after seeing how corrupt the area is and the feeling that they’re being lead to slaughter. But these are not people that are easily afraid and they all have much to gain if it all actually works out. The interactions between the characters isn’t too strong considering their personalities but it works well enough to keep it flowing. The time spent between Ninjak and Roku is a little more problematic as he’s still trying to do his best to help her get back to who she was now that he knows the truth and it feels like it’s honest and true from him but still something of a huge distraction considering what they’re facing. And that’s something he should be far better prepared to handle considering his job over the years.
In Summary:
Well, at this point I want a book that takes place back in the early 1800’s and follows Sandria and her Brother with Segovia doing the artwork. There was a lot to like here and a lot of untapped potential considering the long term influences of Darque. The backstory material is definitely important and it plays out well here, though part of me wishes we had it earlier in the arc. The present day side felt weaker in comparison but I enjoyed the action as Segovia’s artwork really makes it exciting and engaging with a lot of detail and a great sense of power about it. There’s a lot to like here even if some aspects of it may be a mixed bag for others. It clicked well for me.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: March 29th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
