Writer: Matt Kindt
Artists: Stephen Segovia with Ulises Arreola
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Over the past few months I’ve found myself dipping my toes into the Valiant Universe. I read a lot of their material in the ‘90s when they were in their Jim Shooter heyday but fell off after a few years and really haven’t had much to do with Valiant since. But on a whim I picked up the first Divinity mini-series and loved it. I next delved into Bloodshot by Jeff Lemire and purchased a bunch of their older trades during a Comixology Sale and got a good feel for the universe and enjoyed many of the books I read but my favorite among them was Ninjak. Ninjak has had everything a fun comic book needs. Ninjak has an interesting protagonist, high caliber action, levity, and suspense. I have enjoyed every issue of Matt Kindt’s Ninjak and Ninjak #26 was no different.
Ninjak #26 ends the Seven Blades of Master Darque storyline that not only has been an incredible story but also perfectly wraps the entirety of this series. Over the course of the story Ninjak has gathered the Shadow Seven, who are seven powerful individuals trained by the Undead Monk who most have gone on to become world class villains. That is except for Ninjak who we recently found out is the Seventh member of the group and he has gone on to be a Billionaire British Lord who moonlights as a heroic paid operative for Britain’s MI-5. Master Darque, most notably a Shadowman villain, needs the Shadow Seven to feed his dark magic while Darque’s sister, Sandria, hires the Shadow Seven to kill her brother and end his reign of terror. Ninjak has an ulterior motive as well, since Roku, one of his fellow Seven, is also the love of his life who he thought was killed years before, and he wants to free her from the endless agony her life has become. Roku has other thoughts and everyone of these plot elements comes to a head here and it is a hell of a ride. The story is told in flashbacks as his MI-5 handler debriefs Ninjak about the events of the final conflict with Master Darque. Ninjak #26 has wonderfully rendered fight scenes, incredibly tense moments, as well as a highly emotional conclusion that makes both perfect sense and no sense at all and a final page that is the perfect cap to this wonderful series.
Matt Kindt has been doing some excellent work at Valiant but his Ninjak has been a highlight. Each issue has been a high flying adventure as well as an excellent character study of why a rich billionaire British Lord would want to become a hired mercenary for the British spy agency MI-5. The artwork has been consistently good and Stephen Segovia nailed this issue. The fight sequences were exactly what one would expect from a Ninja centric hero and the pages were detailed and had a perfect flow to the story being told. I was sad to see the issue and storyline end but I know that Ninjak will be back before to long and I can’t wait to see what is next.
Verdict: Ninjak has become a book I look forward to each month and Ninjak #26 is very much a Buy! From start to finish this book has been a compelling read and any fan of action and intrigue should definitely read Ninjak.
