Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Dynamite | Tagged: dynamite, fred van lente, ninjettes, squid game

Fred Van Lente & Joseph Cooper's The Ninjettes As Squid Game Squared

Published Tue, 14 Jun 2022 11:59:12 -0500

Last updated Tue, 14 Jun 2022 16:36:57 -0500

Originally created by Garth Ennis, then developed by Al Ewing, Fred Van Lente, and Joseph Cooper are bringing back Jennifer Blood characters, The Ninjettes, to a new Dynamite Entertainment series in September.

Bursting from the pages of Jennifer Blood, writer Fred Van Lente (Incredible Hercules, DIE!namite) and artist Joseph Cooper invite readers to meet the Ninjettes in their new spotlight series this September! With a story evoking the likes of Hunger Games, Squid Game, and more, this is going to be a can't-miss action romp!

Corrupt and twisted government forces think they've got their solution to stop violence among young people. They've devised a "Profile," a range of personality and attitudes that they feel can pinpoint those prone to these acts before they strike. So then, what better way to deal with these identified students than whisking them away blinded by black hoods, and forcing them into a brutal battle royale death match to determine which will move on to an elite black ops assassin training program? That sounds just perfect!

Readers will meet a new roster of potential Ninjettes, as some distrust and rebel against their captors and the system, while others buy in and are eager to become trained operatives with a license to kill. Readers should be warned though, this title is set to stack up a significant body count, maybe even starting on the first page. One can't get attached to any one Ninjette too much. Except maybe Steph, a politically active cartoonist who believes she's only been targeted for her beliefs. She doesn't have a violent bone in her body, but in order to escape the Concrete Dojo and exact revenge on her captors, that may need to change.

"My favorite thing to do in comics is to put characters in extreme situations and see how they react–and how they're changed by the experience," said writer Fred Van Lente. "This is definitely an extreme instance of that! Steph doesn't want to participate in the Ninjettes program–she wants to bring those behind it to justice–but in order to do that, she might just have to come in first place in this murder contest. How does she reconcile that with her ideals? So even though this series has got bloody ninja action, it's also got heart, is what I'm saying."

The Ninjettes first appeared in the early arcs of Jennifer Blood as created by the legendary Garth Ennis. In that iteration, they were a crew of misguided teenagers who dressed as Japanese schoolgirls and wanted to be mercenaries – only to be slaughtered by Jennifer. Al Ewing would go on to reveal their origin in their first spinoff series. Now fans can discover a new take on the concept with Van Lente and Cooper.

To depict this new era of Ninjettes on covers, artists Lesley "Leirix" Li, Jonathan Lau, Dave Acosta, and Sebastian Piriz have been recruited – not kidnapped – to contribute stunning variants on the title.