Finally...Praise for VH-2 Ninjak

WoodyQuantum · Post by **WoodyQuantum** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 12:34 am

Since this is my first post here, I want to start by saying hello to everyone. I'm a longtime fan of both the original VALIANT line and Acclaim's relaunched VH-2 line. Anyway, on to the point. Finally, one of the more under-appreciated titles from Acclaim's VH-2 line gets some praise. In his newest Pipeline column at http://www.comicbookresources.com, Augie De Blieck Jr. mentions how some comic writers have a signature piece of work, such as Kurt Busiek's work on Marvels and Astro City. He then goes on to point out some other works the writers have done that are worth checking out:

No matter how long they may contribute works to the field, popular creators will inevitably be remembered best for the one or two works that struck a nerve in the most number of fans.

Forget about those books, though. I want to think of The Others. What are the other works by those creators that are worth looking back on? They might not be the most important works or the most groundbreaking. The Others are the books that entertained us for a few months but now are overshadowed by their more popular brothers. Let me throw out a few of my choices, and then I'll open it up to the floor. I want to know which books from which creators you think are too easily forgotten, but don't deserve to be.

Kurt Busiek has done a wide range of superhero comic books, including memorable runs on THUNDERBOLTS and AVENGERS and UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN.

But Busiek also did a very fun book for Acclaim, NINJAK. It was the story of a teenager who garnered the powers of his favorite superpowered video game character. He also inherited all the enemies of those characters, and thus did mayhem ensue. Illustrated perfectly by Neil Vokes' cartoony style, the book remained fun while filled with angst and drama.

My favorite book of Busiek's to fit in this The Others category, however, is now available from Dark Horse. DH might have shrunken it down from its original size, but it's still a beautiful book with a strong story structure that more comic book writers should emulate as the way to make stories interesting in both the pamphlet format as well as the collected trade paperback format. Illustrated by Stuart Immonen and lettered in Richard Starkings' trademarked Hedge Backwards font, SHOCKROCKETS is a complete package crying out for a sequel.

It's great to finally see some praise for the Busiek Ninjak series. I always thought it was very underrated. I'm particularly happy to see praise for Neil Vokes' art from the book. I don't usually like the more cartoony style of art in super hero books, but I loved Vokes' art from this series. I even own several pages of the original art.

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 12:46 am

Welcome to the boards!

I never liked Busiek's Ninjak although I'm a big fan of his other stuff. That said, I own a crapload of VH2 Ninjaks. I can't lay off 'em when I see 'em cheap.

Then again I didn't think much of the Vh1 Ninjak either. Both characters seemed contrived (the first was "we need some kind of James Bond type" and Busiek's was "hey, let's do a character that can lead to a video game."

When it comes to VH2, my favorite book is still Bloodshot.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:21 am

Welcome to the boards! I'm going to have to echo the others on Ninjak though, VH1 Ninjak was bad enough but it really took a turn for the worse when Acclaim revamped it.

mike rok lok · Post by **mike rok lok** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 3:26 pm

Welcome to the boards! Something about Ninjak but the character just never appealed to me. I remember my younger brother had the first 5 issues of the original series so naturally i read through them but I wasn`t to impressed. This past weekend I saw quite a few different runs of Ninjak in the 50 cent bins at the Big Apple Con and even at 50 cents I feel reluctant to give the guy a try.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 7:28 pm

VH-2 Ninjak is one of the few VH-2 I liked. Would have been cool to see more issues. I thought the characters were well developed and the art was solid.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 11:19 pm

I DID love it when Quesada was drawing it... just seemed super cool.

Quesada was perhaps Ninjak's only saving grace.

dellamorte · Post by **dellamorte** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 11:57 pm

I'm one of the few guys who really liked VH2,but Ninjak just didn't do it for me. It had great art and was well written but I just couldn't care for the characters. While not awful its far from what Kurt is capable of.

jk20000 · Post by **jk20000** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:51 pm

I really liked the Vh2 Ninjak. I wish it would have continued. Then again Busiek probably could have made the Vh1 Ninjak actually work. Its too bad he wasn't writing when Quesada was drawing the books.

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:16 pm

Well I Loved VH-2 Ninjak....when I found out it was going to be the first Acclaim title canceled I started a "save Ninjak petition" I also was put on Jeff Gomez *SQUEE* list for doing that....I was told before it was made public.....Were better now though

VH-2 Ninjak was Acclaim's spider-man in many ways it was fun and different in ways no other Acclaim book was at the time. They printed like 4 letters of mine in the 12 issues.....so reconition for this title was long overdue.

-Brian

davidb · Post by **davidb** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:33 pm

I've got to admit that I enjoyed the VH2 Ninjak as well. I liked the idea of the whole Dark Dozen, and it was fun to see some of the artistic influences on their designs. I also liked how they brought Colin King in as well - a nice tie to VH1 (in a universe where there weren't many).

That said, I'm glad that they did get to finish the story before the book ended. I'm thinking that on one of the later letter pages they said that they did have more plans for him. Did anyone ever hear anything about any of those promised plans, like possible plot ideas?

xoken · Post by **xoken** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:35 pm

I've read an interview with Busiek where he mentions what they had planned. I remember thinking they had some really great ideas in store. I think it was Ryan's original transcript from his VALIANT DAYS VALIANT NIGHTS article. It might be hosted somewhere on this site.

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:35 pm

davidb wrote:I've got to admit that I enjoyed the VH2 Ninjak as well. I liked the idea of the whole Dark Dozen, and it was fun to see some of the artistic influences on their designs. I also liked how they brought Colin King in as well - a nice tie to VH1 (in a universe where there weren't many).

That said, I'm glad that they did get to finish the story before the book ended. I'm thinking that on one of the later letter pages they said that they did have more plans for him. Did anyone ever hear anything about any of those promised plans, like possible plot ideas?

Well the Valiant voyeur had VH-1 Ninjak squaring off with VH-2 Ninjak....
Kurt was going to write if I remember right....

-Brian

IMJ · Post by **IMJ** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:54 pm

Thanks for coming, we love new recruits!

I've gotta say though, that although I'm a big Busiek fan (IMO, he's one of the only REAL, TRUE comic book writers still going nowadays. I believe that his style is the evolution comic writing SHOULD have taken), I'm not impressed with the Ninjak V2 stuff..... just... ugh.

But hey, I'm a bigger goofball than some of you guys, at least some of you bought it because you liked it. I bought it even though I hated it just because I'm a completist! LOL

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:09 pm

WoodyQuantum wrote:It's great to finally see some praise for the Busiek Ninjak series. I always thought it was very underrated.

Then I won't tell you that me and my best friend's nickname for VH-2 Ninjak was "Ninjack-Off"

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:44 pm

Todd Luck wrote:
WoodyQuantum wrote:It's great to finally see some praise for the Busiek Ninjak series. I always thought it was very underrated.
Then I won't tell you that me and my best friend's nickname for VH-2 Ninjak was "Ninjack-Off"

Too late!

-slym

Sect · Post by **Sect** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:26 am

I thought Ninjak VH1 was going to be cool...after a few issues, it was like..bleh. Now that I've picked up almost the entire series, I must say it was bleh

VH2, Ninjak, it could have been cool, the premise was somewhat neat, but I didn't feel like it belonged int he VH universe. It was too comical for my tastes and didn't seem to fit in with the likes of Bloodshot, Magnus, etc (not that those were any good, IMO).

Still, I think it could have been decent, though I definitely wasn't a big fan of the art. I know art is subjective but wow....let me just leave it at that...

jsbt · Post by **jsbt** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:21 pm

I remember all the heavy promotion for VH1 Ninjak due to the Quesada art, etc. I never got around to reading it - the most I saw of Ninjak back then was in the Deathmate books - but I finally picked up #1 the other day in a 50-cent sale (along with a lot of pre-Unity and the first issue of The Visitor) . Seemed okay, if derivative. I didn't know how far another suave sophisticate/cunning warrior could go in VH1, on the heels of Gilad or super-agile monks like Archer.

What was the connection between VH1 and VH2 Ninjak? Where did Colin King come in?

magnusr · Post by **magnusr** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:05 am

jsbt wrote:I remember all the heavy promotion for VH1 Ninjak due to the Quesada art, etc. I never got around to reading it - the most I saw of Ninjak back then was in the Deathmate books - but I finally picked up #1 the other day in a 50-cent sale (along with a lot of pre-Unity and the first issue of The Visitor) . Seemed okay, if derivative. I didn't know how far another suave sophisticate/cunning warrior could go in VH1, on the heels of Gilad or super-agile monks like Archer.

Turns out he's a bit super-human as well.

What was the connection between VH1 and VH2 Ninjak?

None as far as we saw.

Where did Colin King come in?

He existed in VH2 and showed up in Ninjak. One can only guess what the plans were.

Btw, over here Ninjak was one of the best-selling VH2 titles (I believe second after Quantum and Woody).

/Magnus

myron · Post by **myron** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:00 am

VH-2 Ninjack is one of the few VH-2 titles that I actually read the majority of...it's alright...better than the tail end of most VH-1 titles, but probably not something that I would have enjoyed paying cover price for...I'm kinda like depluto on this...when I see it I pick it up on the cheap but eh, whatever...

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