Round Robin Review: Unity #15

Every week we get together to discuss the latest books in our advanced round robin reviews. Here are our thoughts on Unity #15.

Amy’s take

Overall, Unity has been a solid book. There has been some interesting backstories and battles played out in the title, and now readers are getting to know more about the players themselves. This arc of Unity will give each team member its own book. The previous issue focused on a temporary member, Faith from Harbinger. This book focuses on the enigmatic Ninjak, of whom we knew little about outside of his superior spy and combat skills. We are given an overview of what his life looks like from the outside as well as how he internalizes his lifestyle. While he may battle against tough opponents, the hardest one he has to face is himself. Pere Perez takes over art duties for the book. He does a good job of emoting Ninjak’s feelings in the artwork as well as visually displaying how off-kilter Ninjak is through the use of interesting perspectives within panels.

Paul’s take

It looks like we’re in line for a series of character specific Unity one-shots, which I think is awesome! This one is focused on Ninjak and how he copes with the physical and mental strain of the missions that Unity has to accomplish. It also gives much more of a glimpse into the non-Ninjak side of his everyday life. Kindt does a great job adding more to the layers of Ninjak and makes me even more excited for his own series!

Scott’s take

This solicitations promotes this as a good jumping on point as it’s the start of a new arc, and they certainly weren’t exaggerating; this could easily be the first Valiant issue for a reader, and they’d have no problem following along. That said, this issue is entirely devoted to Ninjak’s life outside of Unity (in preparation for the debut of Ninjak next month, no doubt), which makes for an interesting read for someone who has invested into the character, but probably will have less impact on a new reader. I do like that Matt Kindt has suggested a Bruce Wayne comparison for Ninjak without turning him into nothing more than a Batman copy. As far as art goes, Pere Perez is great although the script doesn’t ask for anything much. That said, Pere is a master of the mundane, especially when it comes to conveying facial expression. There’s a couple panels where Ninjak is being pitched to invest in a product, and Perez perfectly captures every ounce of boredom and contempt that he is feeling.

Originally from ValiantCentral.com