Valiant Entertainment 2016
Written by Matt Kindt
Penciled by Diego Bernard
Inked by Allison Rodrigues
Coloured by Ulises Arreola
Lettered by Dave Sharp
"THE SIEGE OF KING'S CASTLE" spirals out of control! Roku continues to tear down Ninjak's world brick by brick?and, now, the world's most dangerous MI-6 operative has just found himself disavowed, out in the cold, and on the run. With no allies left to turn to, can Colin King get his bearings before Roku takes everything - including his life?
I cannot believe what Matt’s been doing with this story arc. Colin has always been a very enigmatic character, sometimes too cold for his own good and always effective in everything he does. Yet here thanks to his actions and not following through in eliminating one of the Shadow Seven’s top assassin’s his life is now like it’s never been before. I am enjoying the characterization here immensely as Colin slowly but surely realizes things about his life that he’s never thought about.
I love that Roku has had time to plan this out to the most minute detail and all Colin has been able to do is follow his blind rage from person to person as he tries to play catch-up. What we see through all this is amazing characterization from Matt on Colin. The frantic pace of this story has this amazing feel to it that you wouldn’t think was possible. Thanks to the combined efforts of Matt and Diego however you get this whole feeling of desperation as he races from one thug to another in the hopes making some sense of what’s happening.
The whole way this is set-up is so much better than some movies. For instance the Bourne franchise would love to have this kind of feeling emanating from a scene. That and it’s got all kinds of these great panels that showcase just what a man on the edge, wanted by one of the world’s premiere spy organizations is willing to do to find the answers he seeks.
Diego has nailed Colin, he’s this gorgeous hunk of a man with a disarming smile or letting the darkness out through his eyes shatter your own soul. The Fat Man panel for instance is where you it in his eyes and it’s crazy scary good. It’s also when you notice just how classic Hollywood good looks he has. The flow of this story through pages and panels demonstrate one hell of a great eye for storytelling.
As Collin goes from frantic to in charge of what is happening around him the whole thing tone of the book changes. This is one of those cases where you are so caught up in what’s happening when the big reveal is presented and the story starts to end you have idea what to do you want to over. It’s so strong as story that it actually takes you by surprise. There’s no getting around the fact that Valiant has found some of the best talent for storytelling around.