By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colorist)
The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part Two: A Korean grocer has been murdered. Kato, our favorite Japanese ninja sidekick, recognizes signs of ninja involvement that can only imply that he is a target too. The problem in tracking down people people with ninja training is that they don’t leave tracks, or if they do, they lay them right through rival gangs….
What’s Good: Nitz has a solid grip of his character, how he perceives the hostile world he’s immersed in, and the sort of deadly playfulness he needs to survive. Nitz has Kato take two philosophies of conflict (one by Doc Holliday, the other by Sun Tzu) to be the thematic frames of this book. How Kato compares each philosophy, while he is implementing one that is a mix of both, is really cool, and gives depth and resonance to this gritty, brutal world. At the same time, Nitz cleverly applies sun Tzu’s work to what it’s like to be Asian in racist America of the 1940s. This gives the readers a different lens through which to look at the persecuted and how they might deal with an ignorant, hostile world. Nitz does this all with crisp dialogue, sardonic monologue boxes and appropriate reliance on Colton Worley.
Worley is a great choice for the art on this period book. He delivers the dynamic movements and stances of a martial artist, without exaggerating as might have happened in another superhero book, or leaving things so realistic that the dynamism has no room. The cover itself is a great example of coiled energy manifested in a simple fighting stance. The gangster’s poker game, something that could easily be without artistic conflict, has a raw vitality to it that builds up to the first, explosive splash page. Jung Noh is appropriately beautiful, and realistic and period-authentic. The environments are dirty, used and gritty, like the racist society Kato has to navigate. Fine, fine work.
What’s Not So Good: My only criticism of this book would be that I wouldn’t read it without having read issue #1. This part of an arc would be unforgiving to the new reader. My solution: Go pick up issues #1 and #2.
Conclusion: Kato’s is an original story, which is a rare thing in comics. In this bizarre, and unfortunately real, world, our hero adventures through racist historic North America as the persecuted minority. Go pick this up. Well worth the cover price of $3.99.
Grade: B+
-DS Arsenault
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