Written by Jeff Parker
Art by Javier Pulido
Published by Valiant
The first issue of this new Ninjak series absolutely surprised me, and I’m happy to report that the second issue delivers more of the same.
A straightforward action tale of assassins killing each other while the big bad’s plot is slowly taking shape? It’s in there.
The unflappable hero who always chooses calculus-level violence, paired with an everywoman MI6 analyst who has never touched wetwork and acts as the readers’ POV character?
Oh, totally.
And that violence will be swift and bloodless, yet disturbing as all get-out?
Mmm-hmm.
A Bond-ish supervillain getting a neckrub at a pool party, wearing sunglasses at night, with flacks at said party IDing him as Kingmaker based on “the rule of massage”?
Affirmative.
The 21st-century flavors of a villain who goes by a moniker given to him on social media and telling the gathered spies that investigating his prior identity will reveal nothing that can help them defeat him?
You’ll definitely see that.
And the brilliantly stylized, Jim Steranko-meets-Marjane Satrapi art of Javier Pulido? You’ll thank the stars above that you get more of that eye-popping, perspective-shifting work.
A splash page of Ninjak and Myna flying a prop plane to an MI6 leader’s vacation home in the Scottish Hebrides dares you to just stare at its patterns of panels first before diving into the dialog. Then those panels take you through chutes and ladders to tell the story.
Grab this one and enjoy it, folks.
