Advance Review: Ninjak #1

Valiant, much like Marvel to some degree, never seem to give up on a character. This time around its Valiant’s Batman type character, Ninjak, that gets another go around.

The secret is out; Colin King has been disavowed. Known within the black ops community, he is now taking jobs that interest him regardless of queen and country needs. A killer with a conscience, when it appears that the identities of all deep agents are comprised, it may be up to the somewhat forgotten one to save the day.

Jeff parker is the writer charged with this new run of Ninjak. Parker has a writing style that seems to bring out the esoteric. Take his X-Men First Class run as an example where he re-imagined the start of the merry mutants. Here, there is a lot, story wise, going on; there is there main setup, the introduction of the big bad and the re-introduction of Ninjak albeit in a different manner that long term fans will recognise. Readers will need to pay attention throughout. The dialogue works well, though I did find the changing ideals of the journalist ironic. With his new situation, we see a slightly different Colin; he has always been confident in his abilities; now though there seems to part of him that is out to prove himself to his peers yet again. With elements of loss to deal with, Colin’s world is changing; how this affects his mindset will be interesting to see.

Never ever and I mean ever judge a comic book by the cover. The falling in style with sword unsheathed from David Nakayama may look great, but it has absolutely nothing in common with the interior art from Javier Pulido. Pulido has had an interesting career, with time spent at both Marvel and DC along with some indie stuff to boot. I will say from the out set that this style, whilst fun and unique, for me, doesn’t fit the world of super spy. The cartoon style art with heavy lines and bold colors in the lieu of actual backgrounds gives the book an animation feel that feels miles away from the usual superhero stylings. There is movement and pace within the art, in places, but for the most part, you will have to look too Parker to provide the energy. Letters are provided by Dave Sharpe and Javier Pulido, both of whom have fun with different fonts for different situations.

I am sure that fans of Ninjak will love the continuing adventures of Colin King and to some extent, you have to give Valiant credit for trying a different art style, that may not appeal to everyone.

Writing- 3.5 Stars
Art & Colors -3 Stars

Overall – 3 Stars

Written by; Jeff Parker
Art by; Javier Pulido
Letters by; Dave Sharpe with Javier Pulido
Published by; Valiant Entertainment

Ninjak #1 is schedule to ship on July 14th

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network