Ninjak #5 Discussion

[JCP]

Another excellent issue. It had a very noticeable "Kill Bill" vibe. The mental connection between Kannon and Roku is intriguing. Ninjak could sense it, but is unable to listen. Will the remaining of the seven have this ability? Why wouldn't Roku assist Kannon from the pool and leave him to be captured?

Another solid issue with a fun cliffhanger.

[greg]

The mental connection between Kannon and Roku is intriguing. Ninjak could sense it, but is unable to listen.

It looked like the spike in the back of Roku's neck was lit up when they were mentally connected.

[BugsySig]

Interesting issue. Wrapped up the arc pretty well. Also now we know Roku is not Angelina, and that Collin's parents are not only alive (in the flashback), but were spies themselves. The butler is still a bit of a mystery to me, including his relationship with Collin. I think I've gotta do a read through of the whole arc at once to get a better handle on everything. Enjoying the series thus far, though.

[brialt1]

Probably my second favorite title right now coming from Valiant, right after Imperium.

Funny thing, Deathstroke annual 1 came out this week as well and all I could think after reading both of them back-to-back was how much cooler Colin was than Slade...

[agent_graves]

Pretty decent end to the first arc, Ninjak to me, is one of Kindts stronger Valiant books, he's doing a great job balancing all three stories, although, I felt the present day story suffered because it wasn't enough pages to flesh out the fight we all been waiting to see between Kannon and Ninjak. His childhood scenes had a nice little revalation about his parents, which was triggered by Colin outwitting his pops, that was cool.

I liked the little epilogue with Roku, and the Lost Files was really strong this issue. I'm hoping with the next arc having rotating artist, that it gives Clay the time to get ahead on the third arc.

[apainter]

Also now we know Roku is not Angelina

Do we know that? No. No we don't. There's still room for her to be alive. Maybe her death was staged by MI-6? Maybe it was a real hit, but her body was spirited away by the shadow 7 afterwards? Darque is a necromancer after all, and Roku's story last week read like a death and resurrection of sorts.

Both Roku and Kannon had glowing implants in their necks. That's how they were able to communicate.

Ninjak seemed skeptical of magic. I would have thought undead monks and other stuff he'd seen recently would have made him a believer.

That freaky shadow 7 guy was in the last issue, and looks like the original VALIANT spider aliens.

Anyone else notice the state of Kannon at the end of the story? His left arm is explicitly gone, and it looks like all his limb were removed. He had scars across his eyes, and we don't actually see his eyes. I'm guessing he's been blinded. Nasty, nasty stuff there. It's almost hard to see Ninjak doing that, considering he tends to use non-lethal means to subdue people (the slaver at the zoo; the guards in issue 3).

[BugsySig]

True...I guess we don't know she's not Angelina...

Not sure if Collin did that to Kannon or not, but I wouldn't put it past him if he felt their deeds deserved it.

[Blood of Heroes]

Also now we know Roku is not Angelina

Do we know that? No. No we don't. There's still room for her to be alive. Maybe her death was staged by MI-6? Maybe it was a real hit, but her body was spirited away by the shadow 7 afterwards? Darque is a necromancer after all, and Roku's story last week read like a death and resurrection of sorts.

I'm with you on this one. I still think it's got to be her. Besides the fact that we see that both of them have blonde hair and green eyes, every issue goes out of the way to hint that they know each other from somewhere in their past. It could just be a red herring, but I'm still holding out hope.

Besides, it's Angelina Alcott! They've got to keep her around!

Anyone else notice the state of Kannon at the end of the story? His left arm is explicitly gone, and it looks like all his limb were removed. He had scars across his eyes, and we don't actually see his eyes. I'm guessing he's been blinded. Nasty, nasty stuff there.

Yeah! That's some brutal *SQUEE* for sure. I got to see this issue on Warren's phone at SDCC. When Ninjak tied Kannon's foot to the pool bottom I was expecting Kannon to rip his own foot off. I was not expecting him to be a quadruple amputee. Holy *SQUEE*!

[bribri]

Anyone else notice the state of Kannon at the end of the story? His left arm is explicitly gone, and it looks like all his limb were removed. He had scars across his eyes, and we don't actually see his eyes. I'm guessing he's been blinded. Nasty, nasty stuff there. It's almost hard to see Ninjak doing that, considering he tends to use non-lethal means to subdue people (the slaver at the zoo; the guards in issue 3).

Ninjak says, "Calm down. I'll cut you loose in a few minutes." Perhaps it was Ninjak...?

[possumgrease]

Maybe they're all named Alcott. Like some sort of generic code name.

[JCP]

Anyone else notice the state of Kannon at the end of the story? His left arm is explicitly gone, and it looks like all his limb were removed. He had scars across his eyes, and we don't actually see his eyes. I'm guessing he's been blinded. Nasty, nasty stuff there. It's almost hard to see Ninjak doing that, considering he tends to use non-lethal means to subdue people (the slaver at the zoo; the guards in issue 3).

Ninjak says, "Calm down. I'll cut you loose in a few minutes." Perhaps it was Ninjak...?

That's totally brutal...and awesome. Nice catch.

[BugsySig]

Anyone else notice the state of Kannon at the end of the story? His left arm is explicitly gone, and it looks like all his limb were removed. He had scars across his eyes, and we don't actually see his eyes. I'm guessing he's been blinded. Nasty, nasty stuff there. It's almost hard to see Ninjak doing that, considering he tends to use non-lethal means to subdue people (the slaver at the zoo; the guards in issue 3).

Ninjak says, "Calm down. I'll cut you loose in a few minutes." Perhaps it was Ninjak...?

I definitely think it was him. He doesnt kill the guy at the Zoo because he says he doesn't deserve it, but he picks out three options (if I remember) who at least deserve to be hurt. Then in this issue he discusses tagging the arms buyers for future "termination." Plus the "cut you loose" comment and the message he sends Neville saying he's "shipping" Kannon to him.

The more I think about it, Roku being Angelina makes a lot of sense and adds future storyline possibilities with Neville and MI:6. In VH1, Neville's daughter wound up with Bloodshot nanites and birthed him some creepy looking twins in the future IIRC.

[Blood of Heroes]

Maybe they're all named Alcott. Like some sort of generic code name.

Could be.

[Blood of Heroes]

In VH1, Neville's daughter wound up with Bloodshot nanites and birthed him some creepy looking twins in the future IIRC.

I don't think it was the future. It was at the end of the run but it was in the present day during the whole Proteus story.

[kjjohanson]

The mental connection between Kannon and Roku is intriguing. Ninjak could sense it, but is unable to listen.

It looked like the spike in the back of Roku's neck was lit up when they were mentally connected.

My take is that she was being controlled, and maybe now she's free and will be one of Valiant's protagonists.

[NinJZA]

Also now we know Roku is not Angelina

Do we know that? No. No we don't. There's still room for her to be alive. Maybe her death was staged by MI-6? Maybe it was a real hit, but her body was spirited away by the shadow 7 afterwards? Darque is a necromancer after all, and Roku's story last week read like a death and resurrection of sorts.

Both Roku and Kannon had glowing implants in their necks. That's how they were able to communicate.

Ninjak seemed skeptical of magic. I would have thought undead monks and other stuff he'd seen recently would have made him a believer.

That freaky shadow 7 guy was in the last issue, and looks like the original VALIANT spider aliens.

Anyone else notice the state of Kannon at the end of the story? His left arm is explicitly gone, and it looks like all his limb were removed. He had scars across his eyes, and we don't actually see his eyes. I'm guessing he's been blinded. Nasty, nasty stuff there. It's almost hard to see Ninjak doing that, considering he tends to use non-lethal means to subdue people (the slaver at the zoo; the guards in issue 3).

I kinda got the opposite impression of Ninjak after he sliced up those perimeter guards in the Valiant. Love those pages.

I like to think he'll slice n dice anybody who might deserve it.

My theory: Mr. and Mrs. King are somehow involved with or are part of the Shadow Seven. Also, I'm thinking that maybe the parents' spy activities are at the behest of the Shadow Seven, and the butler isn't actually babysitting Colin, he works for the Shadow Seven and is actually holding Colin hostage so the parents have an incentive to complete their assignments

[jmatt]

Lotta good speculation going on here.

[tiredofmyself]

Is Angelina Neville's sister? That would line up with the Roku's fairy tale where the little girl is looking for her brother. In this case then both Ninjak and Neville have a personal interest in bringing the Shadow Seven down (Ninjak because of his parents, Neville because of Roku/Angelina).

[dornwolf]

Anyone else notice the state of Kannon at the end of the story? His left arm is explicitly gone, and it looks like all his limb were removed. He had scars across his eyes, and we don't actually see his eyes. I'm guessing he's been blinded. Nasty, nasty stuff there. It's almost hard to see Ninjak doing that, considering he tends to use non-lethal means to subdue people (the slaver at the zoo; the guards in issue 3).

He slaughters several people in his X-O debut. Long before he knew about the Vine infiltration.

Also now we know Roku is not Angelina

Do we know that? No. No we don't. There's still room for her to be alive. Maybe her death was staged by MI-6? Maybe it was a real hit, but her body was spirited away by the shadow 7 afterwards? Darque is a necromancer after all, and Roku's story last week read like a death and resurrection of sorts.

Both Roku and Kannon had glowing implants in their necks. That's how they were able to communicate.

Ninjak seemed skeptical of magic. I would have thought undead monks and other stuff he'd seen recently would have made him a believer.

That freaky shadow 7 guy was in the last issue, and looks like the original VALIANT spider aliens.

Anyone else notice the state of Kannon at the end of the story? His left arm is explicitly gone, and it looks like all his limb were removed. He had scars across his eyes, and we don't actually see his eyes. I'm guessing he's been blinded. Nasty, nasty stuff there. It's almost hard to see Ninjak doing that, considering he tends to use non-lethal means to subdue people (the slaver at the zoo; the guards in issue 3).

I kinda got the opposite impression of Ninjak after he sliced up those perimeter guards in the Valiant. Love those pages.

I like to think he'll slice n dice anybody who might deserve it.

My theory: Mr. and Mrs. King are somehow involved with or are part of the Shadow Seven. Also, I'm thinking that maybe the parents' spy activities are at the behest of the Shadow Seven, and the butler isn't actually babysitting Colin, he works for the Shadow Seven and is actually holding Colin hostage so the parents have an incentive to complete their assignments

My guess is that the Butler is essentially secretly training Colin to become a spy.

[Blood of Heroes]

Is Angelina Neville's sister? That would line up with the Roku's fairy tale where the little girl is looking for her brother. In this case then both Ninjak and Neville have a personal interest in bringing the Shadow Seven down (Ninjak because of his parents, Neville because of Roku/Angelina).

That's how I understand it. Nice catch in that fairy tale. I'm going to have to re read that one.

[kjjohanson]

Is Angelina Neville's sister? That would line up with the Roku's fairy tale where the little girl is looking for her brother. In this case then both Ninjak and Neville have a personal interest in bringing the Shadow Seven down (Ninjak because of his parents, Neville because of Roku/Angelina).

That's how I understand it. Nice catch in that fairy tale. I'm going to have to re read that one.

I'll say this again: at NY Special Edition, we were told that the backup story in Ninjak is eventually going to come full circle and link up with the main story, such that you're going to want to re-read the entire first year.

[jmatt]

Maybe they're all named Alcott. Like some sort of generic code name.

Maybe she's Alcot-T.

[possumgrease]

Maybe they're all named Alcott. Like some sort of generic code name.

Maybe she's Alcot-T.

yes! FTW!

[Brother Darque]

Kannon reminded me of E. Honda from Street Fighter.

[leonmallett]

Hmm. This issue's main story felt a little choppy compared to last month, partly because of the jump to a new status quo. It didn't feel like a neat ending to the arc, and for me that is a negative, but from the positive comments above I accept that is likely a minority view.

I am increasingly feeling that the book will read far better in collected edition.