Writer: Matt Kindt

Artist: Doug Braithwaite, Juan Jose Ryp

Color Artist: Brian Reber w/Soto, Ulises Arreola

Valiant’s number one ninja, Ninjak, is tasked with venturing to the “DeadSide”, but not without the help of the mysterious Punk Mambo.

Matt Kindt keeps the story interesting with taking Ninjak and throwing him into something that he is not experienced with. The reason why he goes to the “DeadSide” is intriguing because it involves one of the Shadow Seven that Ninjak previously captured. It is a very simple story and going to a whole different side of the Valiant Universe is nice. Seeing him out of his element and relying on Punk Mambo for help is different. The interaction between the two is priceless and brings in some nice chemistry between the characters. Sarcasm and quips aside, I love Punk Mambo and her unorthodox style of magic. She is a great character and it shows in this issue. I don’t have any problems with the story, but it’s just a locate the target and retrieve mission.

The secondary story written by Matt Kindt is about the Magpie, a collector of sorts and used by Master Darque to hunt down artifacts the latter destroyed. The Magpie is an interesting character because he is eternally bound to find  lost artifacts by Master Darque. The set up for him is great and I was getting scared of this guy, but I didn’t like the ending of this story. There is little dialogue in this issue and relies more on the visuals to tell the tale of this wandering warrior.

The art is split in this issue with Doug Braithwaite with Brian Reber and Soto, in the first story and Juan Jose Ryp with Ulises Arreola, in the following one. Braithwaite’s art is good, but not great. The characters do look good in some scenes and the next they don’t look as detailed as they were before. I do love the world of the “DeadSide’, in which they ended up in Shambhala. I wasn’t expecting it to remind me of “Soul Eater”. The colors help a lot in the giving this world a distinct feel to it.

Juan Jose Ryp’s art is okay, the look of the Magpie is okay, but nothing special. I did like the look of the chains and landscape used in the story. Characters are drawn very well and the look on the faces of the characters at the end looked creepy. The chains look great and the colors of them stand out.

Ninjak #10 is a nice reintroduction to the “DeadSide”. The story is simple and brings us to a new side of “DeadSide’ as well. Interaction and dialog between the characters are great. Artwork for both stories is good at best and colors lend well to both stories. I didn’t find this setup issue to be strong but if a few things were changed it could have been great. I’m curious how the story will end, so I’ll stick around.

3 Loa’s out of 5