Ninjak, real name Colin King, is a Valiant Comics character created by Mark Moreti and Joe Quesada. First appearing in the pages of Bloodshot, he quickly became one of Valiant's most popular characters, landing his own series.
The premise is pretty simple: To most people, Colin King is a British billionaire playboy, heir to the great King estate and living without a care in the world. However, he lives a secret double life known only to a small handful of people. Armed with a lifetime's expertise in ninjutsu, an arsenal of custom-made gadgets, and, most importantly, his massive amount of money, he serves MI6 as Ninjak, the world's greatest superspy.
If that sounds like James Bond meets Batman, that's because it basically is. And it's as awesome as it sounds.
The Acclaim Comics era Ninjak, however, was a very different animal. In that series, Ninjak is no longer a ninja superspy, but a character in a video game. The main character of the series is Denny Meechum, a child who can transform into Ninjak by saying the character's catchphrase from the game. A separate version of Colin King exists in this universe too.
In 2012, Ninjak began appearing in the rebooted Valiant Universe, this time first appearing as an (accidental) adversary to X-O Manowar. After appearing in several other comics, primarily as a main member of Unity, he once again regained his own series in 2015, written by Matt Kindt (except for the final issue, which was written by Kevin Maurer). The comic focuses on Ninjak's various adventures, primarily dealing with a mysterious cabal called the Shadow Seven. The series is particularly noteworthy for it's two-plot structure: the first story is the main plot, while the second is a sub-arc that provides further context. The book ended after 28 issues, including a #0 issue.
A new series, Ninja-K, started a few months after the previous book ended. Written by Christos Gage, the book explored the history and nature of the Ninja Program, of which Colin King is the most recent operative. The book ended after 14 issues, the last of which was published in 2018. Ninjak's next book began in 2021, written by Jeff Parker, and only lasted 4 issues. In 2023, there were plans for a new 4-issue miniseries about the character, Ninjak: Superkillers, again written by Jeff Parker, meant to begin in February of that year. However, after Valiant Entertainment decided to outsource its comic books to a smaller indie publisher, Alien Books, the book was retooled into just two 48-page issues meant to serve as a kind of anniversary special for the character and its release pushed back to late December 2023.
The character also headlined a digital web series titled Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe.
The current (2012 on) Ninjak series contains the following:
- Abusive Parent: Dr. Silk's dad.
- Afro Asskicker: Ninja-G, when she was active in the 1970s. Also in Killers.
- Anti-Climax: The Adjustment Bureau turns out to be a shadow of what it was during the peak of the Cold War. When the conflict cooled down, the manipulation it was carrying out was deemed counter-productive and MI-6 reduced it to just a skeleton crew keeping track of old operatives.
- Asshole Victim: Augustus aka Dr. Silk's dad, who got what he deserves.
- The Conspiracy: The first story arc of the 2017 book, Ninja-K, introduced The Adjustment Bureau, a secret faction within MI-6 dedicated to training Ninja operatives, starting when they're children, and keeping its Ninja operatives from straying from their duty, even preventing them from forming romantic relationships. Ninja-C suspects them of having a woman he was in love with killed under the cover of her moving to the U.S. and suggests that they are behind the death of Colin's parents, ensured that he would be raised by his abusive butler, that they have aided his enemies and manipulated him in other ways, all to make sure he stays Ninja-K. Ninja-C's love turns out to really have been living happily in the U.S. the whole time, but was sent there by the Bureau to keep C in check. As far as Neville Alcott can tell from making inquiries, it's not responsible for Colin's present day situation, but he can't dig up if they something to do with the death of his parents.
- Contract on the Hitman: Ninja-K too many times to count.
- Also all five ex-Ninja operatives in Killers.
- Evil Mentor: The Jonin is this.
- Gentleman Thief: Fakir of the Shadow Seven fancies himself to be one of these — and he certainly has the skillset for it.
- Handicapped Badass: Ninjak, in a one-shot set in the distant future, is missing an arm.
- The Handler: Neville Alcott to Ninja-K.
- Ki Manipulation: The Jonin, apparently the first Valiant character to demonstrate this ability, channels his life force into a sword so as to better cut through Punk Mambo's magical loa.
- At least five other graduates of the Ninja Program as seen in the Ninja-K spinoff Killers have varying degrees of ki ability. Ninja-J for instance can reinforce his skin with ki, rendering himself bulletproof.
- Legacy Character: In the Valiant Entertainment era, Ninjak, or Ninja-K, is the latest in a line of operatives belonging to the Ninja Program, which started during World War I as a partnership between the British and the Japanese, who were allies in the war, with the Japanese agent Ninja-A. Over time, more agents were introduced, with Ninja-B being a Brit who fought alongside Ninja-A, followed by Ninja-C, Ninja-D and so forth until Colin King became Ninja-K.
- Master of Your Domain: the key component of Colin's training, allowing him to heal injuries by meditating, ignore pain, purge toxins and, in a one-shot set in the distant future, squeeze his own recurring cancer cells to death before they can metastasize.
- The Shadow Seven, the graduates of the Ninja Programme and the Jonin have the same ability, seeing as they have functionally the same training. It also allows for slowed aging.
- Muggles Do It Better: Ninjak's adventures in Deadside show he excels at using tech to survive hostile magic.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Fakir possesses a collection of magic arms that he can use as if they were his own.
- Old Master: Ninjak toward the end of his prolonged but not immortal life.
- Older Than They Look: Training with The Undead Monk or The Jonin generally results in drastically slowed aging. Ninja-G and The Jonin himself are particular stand-outs.
- Perception Filter: Ninja-G can channel her ki to become imperceptible
- Prehensile Hair: Roku's weapon. A single strand of hair can act like razor-wire, while a whole braid can work like a club or extra limb.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Shadow Seven.
- Technicolor Ninja: he likes purple.
- Training from Hell: The Undead Monk's training includes learning to metabolize poisons by eating poisoned food and the graduation ceremony requires a duel to the death with a fellow student.
- You Are Number 6: "Ninjak" is actually a slight nickname of "Ninja-K", his official call sign. And yes, MI6 does indeed have a whole alphabet of others.
