Capitalizing on Ninja

Amazing Comics Premieres #1 (Amazing, 1987, $1.95)
"Ninja*Bots" Created, Written, and Illustrated by: Roger McKenzie and Kevin VanHook, Lettered by: Lee Harmon.

Offered by the publisher of Ex-Mutants and New Humans, this is Amazing's showcase book, intended to be a tryout book explicitly similar to DC's Showcase and New Talent Showcase, Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated, and Comico's Primer. What began as a joke on a car trip to the Chicago Con capitalized on the mid-'80s love affair with ninjas and giant robots—and the result is quite impressive.

The 32-page black-and-white comic seems a lark on VanHook's well-drawn cover, but the interiors are anything but silly or dismissive. Instead, writer McKenzie weaves the tale of centuries-old ninja caretakers, tenku (supernatural beings), and warriors. Tao-Sun, the ancient one, encounters wayward student Ratu after defeating a group of ninja, remembering their time together serving as "sworn guardians of the sleeper from the stars."



Power hungry, Ratu slayed their mentor Sin before confronting Tao-Sun, who, as tengu, exacts justice. Now, Tao-Sun returns to the hidden shrine of the sleeper from the stars, where he realizes Ratu has taken control of the sleepers, alien shells in the form of enormous Ninja*Bots, seemingly biomechanical battle bots. Tao-Sun transforms into a tengu demon, the star-lizard, who fights Ratu's Ninja*Bots.

Personally, I could do without the giant robot, but McKenzie's scripting is excellent, and VanHook's artwork is sublime. His style reminds me slightly of Gene Day's work on Master of Kung Fu, and the inking—while brilliantly black and white—isn't heavy handed or muddy. The issue features "The Premiere of Amazing Comics Premieres;" Kevin VanHook's "The Creation of a Comic Book," which further describes the ideas behind the comic; and a couple house ads. Pied Piper later published a Ninja*Bots Super Special.