Comic Info
Comic Name: Ninjak (Volume 3)
Publisher: Valiant Comics
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Clay Mann/Juan Jose Ryp/Seth Mann/Marguerite Sauvage
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2015
Ninjak (3) #1 Variant
Reprints Ninjak (3) #1-5 (March 2015-July 2015). Ninjak has one of his most dangerous assignments ever. Tasked to infiltrate the international illegal arms dealership called Weaponeer, Ninjak must first ally himself Kannon of the Shadow Seven in the hopes of rooting out the other members of the Shadow Seven. Colin discovers gaining Kannon’s trust might be impossible and if he does manage to succeed that he still has to deal with Kannon’s trained lackey Roku. Plus, Colin’s past as an agent is revealed and the mistakes he made as he began his career.
Written by Matt Kindt, Ninjak Volume 1: Weaponeer is a Valiant Comics superhero comic book collection. The volume contains art by Clay Mann, Juan Jose Ryp, Seth Mann, and Marguerite Sauvage and was also collected as part of Ninjak Deluxe Edition—Volume 1.
Generally, I don’t necessarily like spy comics, but I do like martial arts comics which leaves Ninjak is a weird position. Of Valiant’s first run characters, I found Ninjak to be one of the least dynamic and essentially he just always had the skills he needed to get by. The Valiant relaunch gave Ninjak a bit more depth and this series fleshes out the “new” Ninjak even more.
The nice thing about Ninjak is that he generally throws no punches (as opposed to a Marvel or DC character). If Ninjak needs to kill a man, he kills a man. It is a brutal realism that is lacking in many comics. Will he spare a guy if he can? Yes…but in general, he’s will to put down a bad guy if the bad guy serves no purpose to him.
Ninjak (3) #5 Variant
While the collection is kind of a contained story, it is part of a bigger and incomplete story. Today, comic books try so hard to give neat, gift-wrapped collection that stand-alone and I sometimes admire comics like Ninjak that simply tell a story with less focus on how it is going to be collected. The plot against the Shadow Seven is just starting and this collection doesn’t even reveal what Kannon and Roku are really up to before moving onto the next of “the Seven”.
The story also intermixes two back storylines for Ninjak. One has Colin and his “battles” with his abusive guardian Alain and the second collected in “The Lost Files” deals with Colin’s initial action as a spy for MI-6. Both do a decent job of giving a rather bland character some structure for future stories and attempts to make him more interesting.
Ninjak often feels “too good”. The character will have all his ribs broken in a fight and still take down the bad guy with ease. Superheroes almost always win, but sometimes writers manage to make it seems like the characters are doing more than breaking a sweat. It doesn’t always feel that way with Ninjak in this volume, but the story is compelling enough to read on. Ninjak 1: Weaponeer is followed by Ninjak 2: The Shadow Wars.
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