DAREDEVIL NINJA #1
Comic review

There's no denying that the comic book industry is flagging at the moment, maybe this is because nothing is really changing, especially for Marvel, the same old characters doing the same old things every month. Marvel's answer seems to be to knock out more titles of the same comic, and this may work for the hardcore fanatic, but for the casual comic book collector it's fairly obtrusive.

However, now and again a small gem of a mini-series will be launched, without necessarily interfering in the plot of the main title. And the usual bonus of these mini-series is they can be fairly experimental, giving up and coming writers and artists a platform to exhibit their talents.

Daredevil Ninja is a new mini-series from Marvel Comics, under the Marvel Knights range, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Rob Haynes. Bendis seems to be everywhere lately, not content with winning the Eisner award for his 'Torso' series, he's also created one of the quirkiest titles of the year 'Powers', written the first stories of the Spawn spin-off, 'Sam And Twitch', re-launched Spider-Man in 'Ultimate Spider-Man' and I'm sure if I read DC Comics I'd find he's done something for those too. So from the start, with Bendis' name adorning the cover you know this will be a quality title.

The first book in the series introduces us to Matt Murdock (Daredevil), his history and his special abilities. However, he soon discovers that while lying in bed someone has sneaked in and stolen the staff that belonged to his old Master (as in martial arts, not S&M). Thus begins the hunt. A young ninja girl soon confronts him and a fight takes place between the both of them, and a little later, a male ninja belonging to the Japanese Osaka. The comic ends with Daredevil discovering that he's not quite where he should be.

This is a great title with very distinctive animation cell looking artwork from Haynes, looking like each frame is a still from a cartoon series. The dialogue is limited, and for most of the comic redundant to the fight scenes, but such is the talent of Bendis, if you pick up a 'ninja' title you expect action.

I'm not sure whether this style of artwork would stand up in a monthly title, but for a mini-series like this it's first-class, and definitely a refreshing change from the usual Marvel style.

8/10

david twomey

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