The Coalition may have been defeated…but the mission’s not over yet!
With the fate of the Eternal Warrior hanging in the balance, Ninjak must use all the super-spy skills at his disposal to track down The Dying One – a being who takes on a new body whenever they die – and free Gilad from the control of his deadliest nemesis. But stopping an immortal genius, especially one armed with the full might of the Eternal Warrior, is a fight that not even MI6’s best and brightest secret agent can prepare for!
It’s a face-off between fist and steel as acclaimed writer Christos Gage (Netflix’s Daredevil), and spectacular artists Roberto de la Torre (THE DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE) and Larry Stroman (X-Factor) bring “FALLOUT” to Colin King’s doorstep!
Ninjak has one last chance to save the Eternal Warrior from the Dying One's clutches, but to do so, he'll have to sell his soul to MI6 and sell out Livewire, the woman he loves. Or, he could do things his way.
Christos Gage's Ninja-K series comes to a very satisfying conclusion in these five issues. We open with a one-and-done about another member of the Ninja program who went rogue, which has at least two twists I didn't see coming, so I really enjoyed the story. Larry Stroman's art on the other hand isn't great, with some super deformed faces that detracted from the action a hell of a lot.
The next three issues depict the battle between Ninjak and the Dying One, while tying in to Harbinger Wars II and propelling Colin straight at the end of this series with blades drawn. It's mostly just a knockdown brawl, a far cry from the cleverness of the Coalition in the previous volume, but it's more about Colin trying to save his friend than impress the reader so that's understandable. The final issue rounds everything off nicely, slamming the book shut on this series by changing Ninjak's status quo probably the most since Valiant relaunched. Roberto De La Torre's use of shadows and motion makes the fight scenes very frenetic, but he dials it back when it counts making for some great splash pages as well.
Ninja-K stands well apart from the other Ninjak solo series that Valiant has put out in the past - it's revitalized what could easily become another stale ninja character and reminded the reader exactly why Colin King is a character to be both pitied and feared. I just want to give the poor guy a hug.
H (#10). More of the past of the Ninja program, more evidence that MI6 are total dicks. We've seen this before, and so this issue isn't as good as many of its predecessors [3+/5].
Aftermath (#11-13). The final confrontation with the Dying One is somewhat disappointing. We lose all of the big-screen menace of the Coalition, and instead we just have zombie guy/gal and their zombie minions. The ugly artwork really doesn't help. The best thing about this is the simultaneous issues between Colin and MI6, which have been building over the whole run [3+/5].
Finale (#14). The run ends with a pivotal change in Colin's life, but it's undercut by this being a big fight with more ugly art. Sigh. [3/5].