Review: The Ninjettes / Author: Al Ewing / Artist: Eman Casallos / Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment / Release Date: January 22nd

The Ninjettes started out as a bloody silly gag in Garth Ennis’ Jennifer Blood ongoing series – a band of teenage girls armed with katanas, who promptly got butchered by a professional killer. Told you – very silly and quite bloody. Given their brief lifespan and one-dimensional nature, it seems odd that Dynamite Entertainment decided to give them their own prequel. Mind you, when you consider that The Ninjettes are a trio of scantily clad hotties, maybe they know what they’re doing after all.

Luckily, Al Ewing is a master of making absurd and stupid ideas work, and does extremely well in tidying up Ennis’ utterly asinine characters and rendering them, if not believable, at least likeable. What we get is a chain of events that explains why a band of bored valley girls decide to become a warped version of Charlie’s Angels. The backstory also features far more interesting characters, and the cast is expanded in such a way that there can be even more comic books called The Ninjettes. Make no mistake, this a very dumb book, but it is kind of fun.

All in all, The Ninjettes will appeal to fans of works like The Punisher and Jennifer Blood, as well as people who really liked Kill Bill Vol. 1. Ewing is one to watch, and he’s done an admirable job of making a pretty clichéd and substandard idea into something that is at least worth reading. It’s not Ewing’s best work, by any stretch of the imagination, but if bloody silly violence with hot sexy female assassins is your thing, then you should pick this up – or consider getting out of the house more.