A temporary ending.
Creative Staff:
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Stephen Segovia
Colors: Ulisses Arreola
Letters: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Battle royale! The moment you’ve been waiting for is here—the final, steel-splintering showdown between Ninjak and Master Darque! But when Valiant’s top assassin and lord of death come to blows, you can bet there’s going to be serious collateral. What will become of the deadly crime cartel known as the Shadow Seven? What final fate awaits the life of Ninjak’s former lover and most hated enemy, Roku? All will be revealed as Ninjak enters a blistering barrage of revelations and revenge…and exits with a brand-new place in the Valiant Universe!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ninjak has had some interesting stories over the course of its run so far and this one has had its moments as well. While Matt Kindt has brought things together in quick form once again, much to my frustration when there’s so much to explore, it’s at least kept things moving in an engaging way. With Segovia back on the full art duties this time around, the book looks fantastic once again as he really captures some great action sequences and the sense of power that comes with some of these characters as they fight and grapple with each other. I’m not totally sure that Darque comes across as sinister and powerful as he should, but it works well enough.
After so much time spent with members of the Shadow Seven, this installment keeps things more tightly focused on just Roku and Ninjak. Their foray into Darquewood isn’t given a lot of time with the way that it’s essentially a living fortress for him to control but the sense of power is there and the dynamic between the two as they get closer to him works very well. Colin is still very hopeful to find Angela inside of her and save her because of just how much meaning there is there with his own redemption. The problem, of course, is that Roku is pretty much nowhere near wanting to focus on this aspect of things and is simply trying to achieve and accomplish her goals, which is to bring Ninjak to Darque. And that’s because Darque wants to feed on his energy along with the other Shadow members that will totally revitalize him.
Colin’s realization of what’s at stake is pretty solid and knowing that he is largely the kind of person that will do what’s necessary in the bigger picture view is what makes him enjoyable to read, because he will forgo things that he wants because of it. The problem here is that with Roku playing both sides and only Darque giving her what she wants in final release, Colin has to give up the rest of the Shadow Seven to their freedom, however temporary, in order to deal with Darque. That sequence itself isn’t too much but watching as we see Colin fight Roku while trying to reach Angela but failing is really well done. And that the closest we get to Angela is in Roku’s death, and in turn Angela’s death, really does work right. Of course, all of this is told by Colin who hides the truth of what he’s done from Neville, giving Roku/Angela a new chance at survival and redemption someday, and it’s a complicated piece. Mostly because as much as I enjoy Roku I wanted him to put this story piece to bed and move on knowing that he couldn’t save her and that she did in the end get what she wanted. But no, we’ll revisit it again someday.
In Summary:
Ninjak essentially does what it did with the other arcs in its run in doing some interesting and fun things with great artwork and concepts but fails to really make them feel cemented and weighty. The material has so much going for it but is moving at such a quick pace that it ends up lacking the presence that it should, which when combined with what happens to Roku here at the end just makes it feel even lighter than it should. Kindt can do some great stuff as we’ve seen over the years but there’s that need in these kinds of shared universe pieces to not let things end, nor to really dig too heavy into character, that it ends up harming the story. I still contend that the first twenty-six issues we now have could easily have sustained a hundred issues of story material and exploration and would have been a hundred times more important and properly epic. This is fun and enjoyable with great artwork and designs but its long term resonance won’t be there.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: April 19th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
