NINJA SCROLL #1

[MattBrady]

Wildstorm has provided Newsarama with a five page preview of this week’s Ninja Scroll #1 by J. Torres and Michael Chang. When we spoke with Torres in July, the writer explained how the comic series will fit into the property’s larger continuity as:

“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.”

And as for this preview? Torres said:

“Jubei wakes up from his first good night's sleep in a very long time to find himself in a nightmare of a situation... But you know, in some cultures snakes are seen as good luck. So, everyone spread the word: ‘Jubei gets lucky in the first issue of Ninja Scroll!’”

[vjamesv]

Chang must have had a lot of free time since he retired from tennis.

[Jon Snow]

Originally Posted by vjamesv

Chang must have had a lot of free time since he retired from tennis.

Yeah, what next, Agassi writing Rurouni Kenshin?

And by the way, how cool would it be seeing a comic that had Himura Battousai, Jubei, Itto Ogami, and the guy from Blade of the Immortal?

[Toneloak]

great inside art, but i'm not sure about the covers. But, Better then any Manga you'll find for Jubei.

[JustAnothaSucka]

not a fan of the Jim Lee cover, but might pick it up in trade just cause the original movie was pretty kick ass.

[jimbo887]

Pretty cool preview, but I was picking this one up regardless. I love that movie, never even heard of the tv series, though. Is it any good? Annyway, i'm about to go pick this up in a few minutes. I think I'll pick up the variant cover, which I generally don't do, but it is far better than the other one.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by Toneloak

great inside art,

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Toneloak

but i'm not sure about the covers.

[AlexLothos]

WOAH!!!!!!!!!

I gotta have this! Always loved the movie, but never watched the TV series (I'll get around to it eventually). The preview has the feel of the movie, so I'm game!

[NightRiver]

The Jim Lee cover is lame, (I think thats the first time i ever said that ).

[comicfanuk]

Yeah, I'm gonna pick this up for a few issues, give it ago. I hope I do like it though. I'm a big fan of Samurai/Ninjas.

[Bluefire]

they bring back the bee man but kagaro stays dead? you have got to be kidding me?

[J. Torres]

Originally Posted by Bluefire

they bring back the bee man but kagaro stays dead? you have got to be kidding me?

The "bee man" is named Mushizo. And as for Kagero (with an "e")... wait for it

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by Toneloak

But, Better then any Manga you'll find for Jubei.

But, there haven't been any mangas made about Jubei/Ninja Scroll.

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by Bluefire

they bring back the bee man but kagaro stays dead? you have got to be kidding me?

Well, he was one of the "Eight Devils of Kimon".

[Acroyear]

The series was a train wreck of a show but the preview of the comic looks promising. My only question is, why bring back previously vanquished villians? Was it part of the licensing agreement or is there a particularly clever story that remains to be told with them?

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by Acroyear

The series was a train wreck of a show but the preview of the comic looks promising.

Obviously, since Yoshiaki Kawajiri didn't even direct it. But he is directing Ninja Scroll 2.

[Elliot Mears]

Originally Posted by Lucky Luke

But, there haven't been any mangas made about Jubei/Ninja Scroll.

Yagyu Jubei was real, and has been fictionalized many many times. He's also been played, on a number of occasions, by the legendary "Sonny" Chiba Shinichi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubei_Yagyu

[Doom the 3rd]

Originally Posted by Acroyear

The series was a train wreck of a show but the preview of the comic looks promising.

I didn't think the series was that bad. Not even close to the movie in terms of quality, but some of the later episodes are really good. It's the lame rock, techno, whatever music they use that drags it down.

[Frankfurt]

The art is better than i expected. But the writing is far worse. This is Youngblood bad. Dumb one-liners and random screaming. Whoop-dee-doo (newsflash, second-rate writers: you can have intelligent, nicely-written lines during an action scene also! Imagine that!)!

And yeah, the Jim Lee cover is just weak.

[tiso_spencer]

Here's my problem with it. Ninja Scroll, the anime that started it all, was fantastic even to this day. That short lived anime series wasn't. The art in this book isn't too bad, but they really should have done what UDON did. How do you make a comic book about a Japanese anime and yet not get the actual artists guides to how the original looked? Sadly I expect this to be canned by 6 issues in. What's even funnier is that the first cover, regular, had nothing to do with what was going on in the issue.

[Frankfurt]

Ok, this comic (like the tv series) completelly misses the point. If you're going to do a spin-off, you don't do something completelly different... and you don't do the exact same thing either!

This comic is basically a dull, PG-13 (there's a lot of random blood flying, but that's it), reader's digest of the much superior, gorgeous movie. Jubei even comments about it, calling it "déjà vu".

This comic is a complete waste of time. Instead of creating new, interesting villains in the same vein of the ones in the movie (something the tv series failed at), they seem (?) to simply bring the old ones back, looking (obviously) far worse. The snake chick looks so bad it's funny. I'm certain the way they'll handle her nudity next issue will also be hilarious.

What were they thinking, really?

"Hey, let's make a Ninja Scroll comic, but without the awesome action, violence and nudity! There'll be nothing of the original left, but hey, we can still make a quick buck off the recognizable name! Woo-hoo!"