Ninjak #16

Ninjak #16

Written by: Matt Kindt

Main story art: Diego Bernard

Back up story art: Andres Guinaldo

published by Valiant Comics

So in this third Chapter of the Seige of King's Castle story we follow Ninjak as he continues to try to find the person who has been destroying
Ninjak starts at the bottom rung of the criminal ladder, moving step by step towards his ultimate opponent Roku. It almost plays out like levels in a video game. I have two complaints about the main story. The first is that at the end of the last issue/ the start of this one Ninjak gets his face burned. He has the burn marks for a couple pages and then they disappear. So either I missed the reason they disappeared. Second there just isn't a lot going on in this issue other then the reveal of Roku's bait in her last trap for Ninjak. That really is more of an issue with modern comics with decompressed story telling, so a story that really should only take 2 issues is being stretched out over 4 or 5 just to have enough pages for a trade paperback. I am enjoying the story it's a fun read but I want resolution quicker or at least more story beats.

One really nice thing about the Ninjak series is the use of the Lost Files and how it dove tails in with the main story. The story the past few issues is telling is that of the birth and early life of Colin King, Ninjak, with him being a toddler in this book. The Lost Files are being outstandingly used to fill in the background of characters not just Colin King but also his supporting cast. As is the case with the family butler who turns out to be Colin King/Ninjak's father. This was introduced in the back up feature towards the begining of the series and the story is now being explored more in the current back up.

Diego Bernard's art does a lot of the heavy lifting conveying the emotions of the issue. I love the backgrounds. People reacting the way normal people would when they see a man fall out of a window buring, crash onto a bus then get up. They take pictures of course! The pages of Ninjak kicking the rear ends of crimials are excellent. I also enjoy that Colin makes a low rent Ninjak costume. Andres Guinaldo's art in the back up feature is equally well done.

I enjoyed the issue, Ninjak is one of my favourite characters and this series has been excellent so far. Hopefully next issue finally gets around to the big fight and it seems we are going to get some answers to questions raised during the first story arc.