It feels like an eternity since I read an issue of Ninjak, so seeing a new one come across my desk I got excited, but the fight I was waiting/hoping for to take place just wasn’t meant to be. A bittersweet disappointment, but maybe the book holds up even without it.
Since this was a sort of a clash between future and present day, taking place on a different plane with new rules, Ninjak #20 can be a little strange at first, It deals with with a curious plot line: two friends traveling across planes and realities. The whole thing sounds like the idea for a movie I’d like to see, if you ask me.
What surprised me most here was the extra chapter, giving more information on Ninjak’s past, and, despite the fact that I liked it a lot, it worries me what things will be like from now on with our title character standing still as life keeps going on around him. The whole thing is risky in terms of plot, but only time will tell.
Also, I was beginning to ask myself when we would get a little more magic, and, thankfully, it was here. A single character gave that touch, and despite being just a spoonful of it, it gives us promise for good things yet to come. A very colorful creative work that I hope to see more often.
It also surprised me how the mythology changed so much in Ninjak #20, turning an action comic more into a fantasy one, which is what makes me have more expectations on what we will see next issue. A good background story and new character development for who we’ve seen in the “present” sequence would be the perfect complement.
The coloring was a little better than past issues, and I could see some interesting contrast on more than one page, many of them in the new-plane-kind-of-place, which was a cool choice! I would have liked to see more of that spirit and its stunning reds, but hope is the last thing you lose, right?
I find it a curious thing to see the same sequence from two different points of view. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice change of pace, as well as a graphic change that I really liked, despite the fact that it doesn’t give as much information as it probably should have. It all makes sense in terms of story, but to see it again, it maybe didn’t work quite as well as proposed.
However, the tones for the “spirits” and those kind of phoenix-guardians really amazed me and suited the environment in a cool way. It really added more atmosphere to the whole plot. The pages looked wilder, harder, with a tougher touch at the end. We may not get a massacre like I had hoped, but a good fight could match that scenario, don’t you think?
Ninjak #20 could be considered a kind of weak issue, but there’s still tons of cool material, characters, plot lines and mystery to work with. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea you may want to skip this issue, but the rest of you will dig it. Still, I’m pretty excited to see where things go from here.
“Ninjak #20 could be considered a kind of weak issue, but there’s still tons of cool material, characters, plot lines and mystery to work with”
3.5/5
“Good”
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