
Valiant Entertainment 2015
Written by Matt Kindt
Penciled by Trevor Hairsine
Inked by Ryan Winn
Coloured by Allen Passalaqua
His name is Ninjak--spy and mercenary for hire. He is also Colin King, wealthy son of privilege.
A childhood of abuse, torment and neglect gave way to a life of brutal violence and devious espionage for Colin as he traveled the world to become an expert assassin, technological mastermind and unparalleled fighting force. But is conscience kept him grounded and ensured his lethal skills fought for just causes.
The Book of the Geomancer was brought to the present by a young girl named Tama. The tome records a dark future for the Valiant Universe and speaks of the fates of many of it’s heroes.
This is the story of the fall of Ninjak…
Alright so this was more than a surprise for me. Part of this story screams that while Harada has somehow managed to take Livewire and change her into one of his puppets he’s also Father to the floating city of Japan that Rai’s series takes place in. Now i could be wrong but it all makes such complete and utter sense after this issue. For me that’s one of the things I love about Valiant and Matt’s writing is that he can take what’s already there expand upon it and create something fantastic.
That Colin would still be alive 100 years in the future is a stretch of the imagination but then again he is Ninjak and who knows what kind of techniques and technology he’s had at his disposal to assist in that. With his talk and final confrontation with the being known as Livewire we learn why she’s there and what she wants. Her plan to put New Japan in orbit around the Earth so it’s free of the trappings of war is her master plan. Colin doesn’t agree with it and tells us why this isn’t a feasible action and his logic is as ever pretty solid.
That this story also shows us his former teammates in Unity and how he and Gilad had become such close friends was both heartwarming and sad at the same time. You have to admire the writing and characterization here. Regardless of what we are reading in the here and now it’s still nice to see how they overcome all that to move forward.
Taking Gilad’s advice we he has a nice surprise for Livewire. We do hear of Aric’s fate of sorts but it’s really another member of Unity that takes center stage in Colin’s plans. Gin-Gr and Colin working together along with his students have been trying to keep the world safe. While this is Ninjak’s last adventure it does leave his legacy intact and that’s nice to see.
I like that while Colin sees the flaws in Livewire’s plans it’s a suicide mission for him and Gin-Gr. So does he manage to fix what could potentially be the hazard to Earth’s ecosystem we don’t know all we are left with is seeing New Japan floating in space. Will this become Rai’s home in the future, it’s possible if they continue building the floating city it could become what we’ve seen but that’s another story for another book.
That Matt is exploring the Valiant Universe and giving us endings and beginnings at the same time is what makes reading his work so wonderful. There’s so much that happens that has ramifications the mind wants to explore. This keeps the interest alive and the fascination growing and why Valiant has not only come back strong but has made such an impact with comics fans new and old.
Trevor, Ryan and Allen do some absolutely stellar work here. They really keep things so alive and just incredible to witness. The aged Colin and the being known as Livewire with their vast difference in appearance to his students to seeing New Japan in space they really captured everything perfectly.