J. TORRES TALKS NINJA SCROLL

[MattBrady]

For a story that originally began as an animated movie in 1993, Ninja Scroll has had a healthy life.

One of the most popular anime outside of Japan, Ninja Scroll tells the tale of Jubei Kibagami, a samurai hero, just looking to keep to himself, but seemingly always drawn into conflict with men and monsters – namely, the “Eight Devils of Kimon,” a collection of mystical beasts that he is tasked with killing in the film. The original animated film spawned a 13 episode series in 2003, and a sequel to the original movie is reportedly in production.

In September, the property branches out to comics with a new series at DC’s Wildstorm imprint, written by J. (Teen Titans Go!) Torres, with interior art and covers by Michael Chang (and a variant cover to #1 by Jim Lee, debuting here). Wildstorm’s solicitation for issue #1 reads:

Jubei comes upon a nearly abandoned village on a foggy mountaintop. After drinking some tea from a kind old woman, he falls into a deep sleep and awakens to the greatest nightmare of all: the long-thought dead villains from the Ninja Scroll film — Mushizo, Benisato and Tessai — have returned and will stop at nothing to destroy Jubei!

We caught up with Torres to talk about the series and his part in it.

Newsarama: First off, what got you on the gig?

J. Torres: It was one of those right place, right time things. I was talking to Wildstorm about another possible project when they offered me Ninja Scroll. Although I knew my spring/summer was going to be busy enough without helping launch a new title, I was too big a fan of the anime to say no.

NRAMA: For those who don't know him, can you give us a brief character sketch of Jubei?

JT: His background is still somewhat of a mystery, but we hope to get into it a little bit in the series. What we do know about Jubei is that at one point in his past he got caught in the middle of a clan war; in fact, it appears as though this was part of a power struggle for who would rule all of Japan. And it seems that ever since then, Jubei's been fated to get caught in the middle of other people's battles, which is fine for him as long he somehow gets compensated or sees the "right" side win.

NRAMA: Where does this first issue find him, related to the anime?

JT: Well, without revealing too much I can say that the first arc takes place between the movie and the TV series. By the end of the movie, a lot of characters, including fan-favorites, had met their end... but some of them return in the comic book. Where do things progress from there? This is purely speculation on my part, but let's just say if they ever do another Ninja Scroll movie or TV series, I'd like for the comic book to lead into that. In the meantime, I'm going to try and bridge the first movie and TV series and show what Jubei was up to between those two adventures.

NRAMA: So what’s coming up in the series? Are you going to be playing with characters and situations fans would know from before, or are you going off, following the beat of your own drum?

JT: A little bit of both. The first arc involves the latter and in the second arc we introduce some new characters. One of the things I'm looking forward to is having fun writing the "samurai genre" but at the same time play with the archetypes and tropes as the anime does by bringing in elements of horror or the supernatural, plus some other unexpected surprises.

[Batdevil]

Oh my God, Ninja scroll.... quite one of the few anime's worth mentioning... Ah, my pull list is FULL!!!!! Why are you guys doing this to me... Must increase.... wallet.... capacity......

Edit: Wow, this is the first time I have first post in any forum ever. Hooray! Sorry...

[Don Mega]

Ninja scroll. Oh yeah. One of the few anime I love watching. Fantastic movie.

Well, we got a fantastic movie, a terrible tv series and now?

I´ll buy the first couple of issues and hopefully they can capture the magic of the original movie.

[shady878]

Itll be hard to live up to the anime...seriously it was that good.

[liewkw23]

Is it popular just in the western world? strange that it took 10 yrs to follow up on the movie

[kingofcities]

That Lee cover is very nice but the regular covers just kill.

[Evilomar]

That is the worst Lee picture I have seen in a long time. I love Ninja Scroll as much as anybody, but this just doesn't seem like a good idea. Didn't Joe Madueria already use some Ninja Scroll characters in his Uncanny X-men arc 328-330? Ohh yeah I went there.

[JoeGKushner]

The movie and the OVA are supposed t obe connected? been a while since I've seen it, but doesn't Jubai not not the old Monk making them just using the same character designs with no relation whatso ever?

[Johnny Triangles]

I have my doubts about American creators pulling this off, but I'll wait and see...

[Vyper]

Originally Posted by Evilomar

That is the worst Lee picture I have seen in a long time. I love Ninja Scroll as much as anybody, but this just doesn't seem like a good idea. Didn't Joe Madueria already use some Ninja Scroll characters in his Uncanny X-men arc 328-330? Ohh yeah I went there.

The "Crimson Dawn" arc? Yeah, definitely seemed like it. Also, there was the Psylocke and Archangel: Crimson Dawn miniseries by Ben Raab and Salvador LaRocca, where the main villain (Kuragari) looked suspiciously like the rock-skinned demon from NS.

[Don Mega]

Originally Posted by Evilomar

That is the worst Lee picture I have seen in a long time. I love Ninja Scroll as much as anybody, but this just doesn't seem like a good idea. Didn't Joe Madueria already use some Ninja Scroll characters in his Uncanny X-men arc 328-330? Ohh yeah I went there.

Now that you mentioned it...yes, Joe Mad had some seriously Ninja Scroll influenced charakters in that story.

[Dave Elliott]

I really like what J. Torres has been doing with Teen Titans GO, so I'm willing to try this book based on the fact that he is writing it. Loved the anime.

Dave

[Floodnado]

Originally Posted by shady878

Itll be hard to live up to the anime...seriously it was that good.

Eh, I loved Ninja Scroll back when I was 14. I went back and watched it a few years later, though, and jeez... I think it's terrible. No plot at all, no characterization, bad voice acting, the works. It's more or less an excuse to show blood and anime boobs. Plus, all the genuinely screwed up stuff. Then again, I'm fairly certain Ninja Scroll's director is the same guy who did Wicked City so I'm going to assume he's either screwed up in the head or has a ton of really weird fetishes.

[Weremole]

Originally Posted by Floodnado

Eh, I loved Ninja Scroll back when I was 14. I went back and watched it a few years later, though, and jeez... I think it's terrible. No plot at all, no characterization, bad voice acting, the works. It's more or less an excuse to show blood and anime boobs. Plus, all the genuinely screwed up stuff. Then again, I'm fairly certain Ninja Scroll's director is the same guy who did Wicked City so I'm going to assume he's either screwed up in the head or has a ton of really weird fetishes.

Yup, Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The same, also did Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust AND Demon City Shinjiku. He is also making the animated Highlander movie right now.

Anyway. His works are mostly popular in the western world and he is a big fan of Fantastic Four.

There are better ninja stuff than Ninja Scroll. If you want one with the same gore style but with much better pacing, art and story get Basilisk: Kouga Ninpo Chou. "Adult minded anime" isn't even an excuse because somethings "adult" properties are all subjective.

Generally people who condemn something does so out of simnply not knowing enough. It's fine, you can't demand that all have seen Mushishi or Honey And Clover. But they are fine, fine peices of animation wich should be part of everyones meta-diet.

[Frankfurt]

None of those covers do justice to the original Animated Movie artwork. Not even close.

They look better than the recent lame cash-in tv series, sure, but not even close to the lush, gorgeous art style of the movie. I don't know why even bother when you clearly can't do it justice (oh, that's right - because they want easy money from the growing manga fans). I also doubt they'll have the explicit nudity and extreme violence of the original. Let's not even mention the kinetic energy of the action...

So in the end, this will be Ninja Scroll without the extreme gore, sex and action. Sure, they'll say it'll have blood and it'll have good action, but... hey, they always say that. They said the same about the tv series too, and it was simply awful.

If it's not really extreme, kinetic and in-your-face, it's not Ninja Scroll.

Period.

And Kawajiri is directing the animated Highlander:Vengeance movie (you can see a nice trailer on the web - goggle it) and have already announced a Ninja Scroll 2 movie (i guess they haven't started work on that one yet). They announced it a couple years ago, even - right around the tv series announcement.

[trialsze]

I agree with Frankfurt 100%. These covers are not Ninja Scroll. If you are going to try and push a product that is anime based and the fans are anime based fans why the heck are you getting someone like Jim Lee to do the cover? Makes no sense. Yes I know it is his company but I can not stand people who buy a property and do whatever they want with it. Granted they can because they have the money but it will fail. Just like Alex Ross screwing up Battle of the Planets. "I am going to make them look like they are still in the 70's". People did not want to see that crap. Man I hope the interior art is better suited to the product.

[homelander01]

I agree. there are tons of artists out there who could bring an anime flair to something as sacred as ninja scroll. I respect Mr. lee's acomplishments, i just dont think he's a good fit for the cover work (or the other two artists up there). Too "american mainstream."

This project sounds like something an artist like LeSean Thomas would be fantastic on:

OR UDON:


clearly looks like a "wouldnt it be cool if jim lee drew the covers?" idea here. No real fan or person who understands ninja scroll as a series and project would make a descision like that. Ahh well....another one bites the dust.

[Doom the 3rd]

Even if this sucked, I'd still get it just because it's Ninja Scroll. The cover art looks okay, though weird that there was never a manga adaptation or anything (or maybe there is?).

[Frankfurt]

LeSean would definetly be better. He's got an animator's eye, his stuff is very kinetic.

But Udon? God, no. They can't draw action to save their lives (which is ironic, since they have multiple comics based on fighting games).

Originally Posted by Doom the 3rd

weird that there was never a manga adaptation or anything (or maybe there is?).

There isn't. Ninja Scroll was never popular in Japan. Stuff like that was a dime a dozen there back then. It was only a hit outside Japan. The tv series was actually made for the american market, believe it or not.

[trialsze]

I agree with homelander01. Lesean or Mark Brooks would have been great. And I know we haven't seen the interior art and these are just the covers but dang does Jim Lee have to do covers for everything? He aint that freaking good.

[homelander01]

Originally Posted by trialsze

And I know we haven't seen the interior art and these are just the covers but dang does Jim Lee have to do covers for everything? He aint that freaking good.

Mr. Lee is awesome at what he does. He deserves all the praise he gets. i just think he's best suited for american comics, not anime - turned comic book franchises. I think the cover leaves a lot to be desired. but Jim Lee fans will eat it up.

Originally Posted by trialsze

I agree with homelander01. Lesean or Mark Brooks would have been great.

Yeah, but Mark brooks is tied up with Marvel it seems and LeSean Thomas, from what i have seen is busy Directing and Character Design Supervising in animation for The Boondocks, so no go on either.

Udons not bad. i think they would do well if they put their top artist on this (alvin lee does good fight scenes, but Mr. Thomas is the animator guy so,)

[Frankfurt]

Originally Posted by homelander01

alvin lee does good fight scenes

...

You need to read some better action comics.

You know, if they absolutelly wanted to go with some american-style artist, at least they could've gone with someone like Lienil Francis Yu or something... Some of his stuff is already pretty Ninja Scrollish.

[beta-ray]

To whoever put the huge graphics in, thanks. I know now why it is called Ninja SCROLL.

Regarding Basilisk, that sounds cool and I will probably check it out, but it wasn't around in '93 and ya gotta start somewhere.

I don't mind trying this... it's a bit early to be judging whether it is good or bad though isn't it? I mean how much have we really seen yet?

[Batdevil]

Originally Posted by beta-ray

To whoever put the huge graphics in, thanks. I know now why it is called Ninja SCROLL.

Regarding Basilisk, that sounds cool and I will probably check it out, but it wasn't around in '93 and ya gotta start somewhere.

I don't mind trying this... it's a bit early to be judging whether it is good or bad though isn't it? I mean how much have we really seen yet?

Hehehehehee.... Ninja Scroll alright... those are VERY 56k FRIENDLY pics... hehehe... don't mind me. Peace.

Anyway, yeah. Do we have to judge it so soon? I just wish the original artist would draw it... Well, maybe not.

I hope this book rocks though... I wanted to know what happened to jubei after the film...AND NINJA RESURRECTION is TOTALLY not the sequel of Ninja Scroll... as other people say.... because it kinda sucks and is utterly not connected with Ninja scroll...

Anyone seen that? Ninja Resurrection?

[Frankfurt]

Comic Book Resources has a more detailed, longer interview. And guess what? NO violence. Torres even jokes about it.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/ne...em.cgi?id=7881

Be real. Ninja Scroll without ultra-violence is not NInja Scroll. They're doing this for the name recognition (and money that comes with it) alone. Really sad.

Originally Posted by Batdevil

I hope this book rocks though... I wanted to know what happened to jubei after the film...AND NINJA RESURRECTION is TOTALLY not the sequel of Ninja Scroll... as other people say.... because it kinda sucks and is utterly not connected with Ninja scroll...

Anyone seen that? Ninja Resurrection?

I've seen it. Jubei is an archetype. He's based on a real samurai, so you'll have dozens of "Jubeis" in manga and anime and japanese books. Same for Kageros and so on.

And i personally don't like Basillisk (anime or manga... not even the Shinobi movie, based on the same book as Basilisk).