Ninja Week the Conclusion: Comic book ninja!

This site being mostly about super-heroes, I think it would be best to close out Ninja Week with a look at ninjas in one of our most popular topics, comic books. Ninjas have been a major part of comic culture since the ninja craze of the eighties.

The first major character to get related to ninjutsu was none other than the X-Men’s Wolverine. His connections to a ninja clan in the Marvel Universe came in to play in the mid-eighties. It would only be a few more years before Kitty Pryde would become involved, and his evil master Ogun would appear. The Hand would become major villains around the same time in Daredevil, as we also learn that DD went through ninja training. Several other ninja would appear over the years including the revamped Psylocke, Hawkeye as Ronin, Elektra, the Shadowmasters, etc. They would also give the world an alternate reality featuring World War III

Meanwhile, Marvel’s G.I.Joe title would quickly start overflowing with ninja. Snake-Eyes started the ball running, but he would be followed by Storm Shadow, Jinx, Firefly, Slice, Dice and an entire team of ninja known as Ninja Force. Newer comics would give Snake-Eyes an apprentice in Kamakura as well. Often the military action of the series would fall completely to the wayside as the ninja took complete control of the book.

DC on the other hand would remain relatively ninja free. With the exception of the ninja-like Shadowdragon, DC has avoided ninja in just about all forms. Certain characters, like Lady Shiva and Cassandra Cain (Batgirl III) seem quite ninja like without ever being mentioned as such. And of course, Batman Begins gives us Bruce as a ninja.

Independent comics in the eighties and nineties gave us dozens of ninjas, such as C. J. Henderson’s Ninja, the fantasy comic Adventurers tie-in Ninja Elite, Valiant’s secret agent Ninjak, independent magazine Tales of the Ninja Warriors, and Zen the Intergalactic Ninja. Later we would get the ninja of Kabuki and the often quite ninja-like Sohei of Shi. Ben Dunn would rise to success with his parody of manga in all its forms, including ninja, with Ninja High School, a book currently on hiatus (with a planned come back some time this year) but with 175 issues under its belt. And of course, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

TMNT actually started out as a parody of the aformenetioned Uncanny X-Men and Daredevil with the turtles and the evil ninja Foot Clan (a clear play on the Hand). But over the next twenty years of being a multi-media empire, they would become ninja royalty. The Archie published spin-off Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures would even introduce a fifth ninja for the team in the form of the fox-woman Ninjara. I highly doubt more famous ninja exist in the world today.

In recent times, ninja have often become more of a joke, popularized by the internet meme pirates vs. ninja. Antarctic Press, publishers of Ninja High School even created a series about that fight, called... Pirates vs. Ninjas. Adam Warren’s Ninjette is slightly (ok, very slightly) more serious than most, but otherwise funny ninja are often all you can find. Humor web comics like White Ninja, No Need For Bushido, and the ninja doctor named Dr. McNinja. While all fun, this reviewer would appreciate some more serious ninja fare outside of new issues of G.I. Joe.

So, I will leave it open to the audience. Any more ninja I should mention here?

Ninja Week Movie: Ninja Assassin

It depresses me quite a bit when I read reviews for films like Ninja Assassin. It of course comes out with some overly terrible reviews (26% on Rotten Tomatoes and 34% on Metacritic). Mostly because critics don’t get flicks like Ninja Assassin. No one going in to making this movie wanted to make the next Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Speed. They wanted to make the next American Ninja.

And they did a pretty good job.

I was unsure going in if a film starring Korean pop star Rain (Speed Racer) could be that good. But he does a superb job of playing Raizo, the super-cool good guy with the dark past. Naomie Harris (28 Days Later, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3) plays the agent that stumbles upon the true nature of ninjas in the modern world. This draws the attention of a secret society of killing machines. Ninja come to eliminate her, but a former member of their clan comes to her rescue.

Raizo must do his best to protect her while continuing his one man war against the clan that gave him the abilities he uses to destroy them. These include shadow-walking, super-speed movement, mystic healing, and of course, some real B.A. fighting moves.

The plot isn’t overly substantial, but it does a good job of setting up the movement from one fight scene to another. The flashbacks that fill much of the film’s first act also tend towards tedium, but once the film moves past them the action heats up.

And the action is amazing. Though they often scar it with an obsessive need to throw in CGI blood everywhere, the film still gives you some of the best weapon-based fighting I’ve seen in awhile. And the heavy use of the manriki-gusari brings back fond memories of my days playing TMNT & Other Strangeness as a youngster. It is just an awesome weapon and used to perfection in this film.

So here’s my final take on Ninja Assassin.If you like action, you will like this film. If you like ninjas, you will love this film. If you like either, give it a chance. Recommended.

Ninja Week Video Games: Shinobi & Ninja Gaiden

I don’t normally review video games on this site, but when it comes to ninjas I think that they are a little hard to ignore.

When in comes to video games, ninja are about as old as the games themselves. I have no clue where they first made their appearance (although Moby Games tells me it’s Ninja Warrior for the TRS-80), but it was in the late eighties that the two longest standing ninja franchises were born.

SEGA got to the arcades first with the release of Shinobi in 1987. Joe Musashi uses his shuriken throwing, sword swinging, and ninja magic-wielding as he tries to fight the criminal syndicate Neo Zeed. The game is a classic of the side-scrolling arcade genre and was regularly known for its more intelligent enemy motions. The game would quickly be ported to every system available at the time, even SEGA rivals Nintendo.

The very next year, Shinobi met its greatest competitor in the form of Ninja Gaiden. The original arcade Ninja Gaiden was a side-scrolling beat-’em-up in the tradition of Double Dragon with only a hanging kick and an occassional ninja sword to differentiate it from the rest of the genre. It was also well known for its product placement, as Coca-Cola signs appeared everywhere. But it was probably best known for its continue screen, where your character faces a descending saw blade that slices the character in half should you not continue. It would have been utterly forgettable, if not for an NES port a year later.

The NES version of Ninja Gaiden revolutionized action games in a way still being built on after two decades.
It may not quite have been the first game to do it, but Ninja Gaiden brought cut scenes to the masses as it unfolds the growing plot of Ryu Hayabusa’s quest level after level. It also borrowed very heavily from Shinobi as it moves to a 2D side-scrolling perspective and ninja magic becomes an integral part of the franchise.

Both games would spawn sequels over the next several years. Ninja Gaiden gained two more games to complete the franchise as a trilogy with Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos and Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom. Each game got increasingly hard. (While I beat the much maligned difficulty of the first Ninja Gaiden, I could only get to the second to last level in Ninja Gaiden II and not even to the halfway point of the third game.) A prequel game, Ninja Gaiden Shadow, came out for the Game Boy, but was ignored by most players. In a strange turn, several parts of the world got adaptations of the first game made for various SEGA systems as well, by SEGA themselves.

Meanwhile, Shinobi became the hallmark of the Genesis with the sequels Revenge of Shinobi and Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi. Each game brought the graphics level up another notch. Shinobi became one of the prettiest side-scrollers available in its era. Three more (mostly original) games appeared for the Game Gear. The franchise moved forward on to Sega Saturn with the release of the final original side scroller in the franchise, the absolutely gorgeous Shinobi Legions. I still have fond memories of playing this one in a store Japan months before the Saturn’s US release. It wasn’t as mind-blowing an experience as the PlayStation floor at Sony headquarters, but I digress. With this game, Joe was gone, replaced by Sho, and many of the franchises fans went with it.

Both games remained mostly dormant for two generations of video game systems until Shinobi returned much transformed for the PlayStation 2. Ninja Gaiden would follow, becoming one of the first major Japanese-developed releases for the XBox, in 2004. Call me old fashioned, but I didn’t think either franchise captured the spirit of the originals, but that didn’t stop anyone from buying either franchise. Two more Ninja Gaiden games followed with Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword for Nintendo DS and Ninja Gaiden II for XBox 360. Less fortunate was Shinobi. The female-centric follow-up proved less than satisfying for fans. 2004’s Nightshade would be the last game in the franchise.

Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden have now shaped two generations of gamers experience with ninjas. Perhaps more so than any other stories I review this week, they have had a major influence on the modern view of the ninja. While I cannot recommend the newer games to anyone other than very experienced gamers, the classic side-scrollers for both franchises come Recommended.

Both Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi are available at Amazon by clicking their names here.

Ninja Week Movie: American Ninja

In much the same way Lustbader innovated The Ninja as an American icon, the 1985 action film American Ninja made the ninja every kid’s personal favorite. I still remember the ninja costumes I wore every Halloween through so many of those years.

The story revolves around action movie tough guy Michael Dudikoff as Private Joe Armstrong. His first mission on base goes terribly wrong when the Black Star Ninja Army (yes, that is seriously their name) attacks his convoy. His four fellow soldiers die, but Armstrong uses his own skills to save the colonel’s daughter (who was allowed to tag along for no particular reason) and escape back to the base.

He gets stuck on cleaning duties in the aftermath, but befriends a karate buff named Curtis Jackson after he easily beats Jackson in a sparring match. We learn that Joe is an amnesiac. His only memories are his utter mastery of the martial arts.

Joe uses his martial arts skills not only to uncover the secrets of the Black Star Ninja Army, but also his own origins. With only the aid of Jackson, he eventually takes on the entire Black Star Ninja Army (yes, I am going to try and type that name every time I can) and their leader, a traitorous local merchant.

I’ll be honest the story is nothing to write home about and the acting is flimsy at best. But that isn’t really the point. The point was to make a B-grade chop socky flick with a distictively American protagonist. The movie accomplishes this goal perfectly. It ain’t find art, but it is a fun film that gets increasingly cheesy as time goes on. Mildly Recommended.

Ninja Week Prose: The Ninja by Eric Van Lustbader

One of the first major pieces of ninja fiction I am aware of is a novel by suspense novelist Eric Van Lustbader, simply titled The Ninja. Published in 1980 it combines martial arts intrigue with a ton of international intrigue.

Nicholas Linnear is born in Japan during the days after World War II to an American general and his Chinese wife. He grows up in Japanese schools and quickly becomes adept in a variety of martial skills: aikido, kenjutsu, and eventually “white” ninjutsu. He comes in to conflict with a cousin, Saigo, who despises him in every way. He also falls in love with a young woman named Yukio (very possibly the inspiration for the later X-Men character of the same name). Saigo will do anything for vengeance on his cousin and begins the study of black ninjutsu.

But things end terribly in the past for Linnear. He eventually flees Japan, alone, soiled and virtually destroyed by Saigo.

In the modern day, he is living comfortably and living a peaceful life in America. That life ends as a businessman dies, apparently at the hands of a ninja. A detective named Lew Croaker latches on to Nicholas Linnear as an aide in the investigation. It doesn’t take long for Linnear to realize the culprit is his old foe. He must overcome his own memories of the horrors Saigo put him and Yukio through before he can hope to stop the merciless killer.

A vein of international intrigue runs through The Ninja. That vein would burst in to the plots for five more books in the series, all sadly drifting farther away from Linnear’s ninja roots. A warning to readers: The Ninja graphically depicts its sex scenes, including a brutal rape, although later books in the franchise go much, much farther. Still this novel represents its genre well, digging deep in to Buddhism and Shintoism to present as realistic a portrayal of Japan and the ninja as could ever be possible upon its release. Recommended.

It's Ninja Week at Take the Helm!

To celebrate the upcoming release of Ninja Assassin on DVD this Tuesday, I am officially declaring the next week NINJA WEEK! We will have reviews of some of the finest ninjas in cinema, television, and comics come through this site as we count down the days to the release of the latest greatest ninja movie on the market today!

So stay tuned and enjoy as Take the Helm goes to the ninjas!