By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors), Joe Rybandt (editor)
The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part One: The police come to the home of the Green Hornet to ask Kato for help. A Korean grocer has been killed, and they need a steady hand doing translation. Britt (the Green Hornet) tells Kato to go, despite knowing that Kato is Japanese and can’t speak Korean. Kato finds a whole lot of racism (this is just after Pearl Harbor), a beautiful woman, a dead Korean with broken fingers, and a message that makes this whole case look a whole lot more personal that he thought.
What’s Good: This is a very sophisticated story. The action is gritty and noir. The panel layouts are brisk and dynamic, and despite the fascinating and insightful monologue by Kato, the narrative almost feels terse. The art says a lot through body language (check out the detective pulling Kato towards the corpse, or the tense altercation with McLaughlin) and facial expressions (look at Kato’s expressions as he looks at the body – there is menace in his curiosity, a bubbling anger that complements the ironic narrative). The fight sequences are awesome, with silent panels showing panicked, strobed movement before loud blows land and decide the outcomes. Worley and Fajardo do brilliant work of making us feel the setting, the emotions and the action in equal measure.
The subtlety of the book, though, is in Kato’s brilliant narrative and the cycling of images he draws. Card games. Western versus eastern card games. The subtlety of eastern cards. The role of chance and odds. The impacts of personality and of wild cards. Most importantly, the cards and the action and the characters link the variety of the eastern cards to the variety of Asian national types (essentially the races and how those types were seen through racist western eyes in 1942). This provides a lens to see Kato’s mixed contempt, stoicism and bitterness simmering in this clot of metaphors. Nitz never lets character get away from theme or action or plot. He’s delivered some smooth and complex writing.
What’s Not So Good: Dynamite usually brings first class writing, but falters on the art. Not here. First class words have been paired with first class pictures. Stylized, to be sure, but the art fits the story. So, nothing to complain about.
Conclusion: Kato Origins #1 is as good, or better, than most of the Marvel or DC offerings in any given week. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Gritty action. Noir setting. Sophisticated, ambiguous view point. Ass-kicking ninja. Dynamite just locked in my money for the next issue of Kato Origins!
Grade: A-
-DS Arsenault
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