Unity #15

by Matt Kindt, Pere Perez and Brian Reber

Unity #15 steps right into the mind of everybody’s favorite assassin, Ninjak, and short of getting his new ongoing series early, it’s like Christmas in Jul… February.

Matt Kindt takes a step back from the larger picture of Unity and focuses on Ninjak after a particularly brutal mission with the rest of the Unity squad. To turn the camera on a character like this and really get to see him outside of the mask not only made for an excellent issue, but it also made the anticipation for Ninjak that much greater. Ninjak isn’t a one-dimentional character, and slowly Kindt is starting to reveal who he is, layer by layer. Kindt’s writing and even the character of Ninjak himself are just a few more reasons that Valiant is as good as it is.

Pere Perez and Valiant colorist veteran Brian Reber step into a largely action-less issue of Unity which, considering what’s been happening, feels like a deep breath before we jump back into the madness that Kindt has been cooking up. The pages with Ninjak, or Colin since he’s out of his gear, in an almost day-to-day existence after a hard mission might not be the most exciting but Perez manages to make it all look great and continue to live up to the Valiant standard. Both Perez and Reber shine particularly brightly during the momentary flash backs during some of the down time. The odd flicker of Gilad on fire, or all hell breaking loose is phenomenal. The colors contrast so well with the tone downed look of the rest of the book that you can’t help but be drawn to the panels and it almost lets you feel the disconnect from the rest of the story, similarly to the way Ninjak must be feeling. It really is brilliantly done from two great artists.

Once again, Unity impresses and they didn’t even have to show a giant, alien robot to do it. There was no crazy action, by Unity standards, and nothing major really took place except for the beginning of a deep look at one of the major Valiant players. Ninjak is an amazing character who Kindt has really taken to the next level. If this issue doesn’t get you excited for Ninjak the series, there might not be anything that will. Don’t feel like you have to read the rest of Unity to get into this issue either. If you’re curious about Ninjak or Unity or the Valiant Universe in general, grab this book.