Kato Origins #8 – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors)

The Story: The Hellfire Club: Kato investigates some mysterious activity in 1942 Chicago. Businessmen and criminals. Strange meetings. What are criminals and businessmen up to? Kato investigates in clandestine ways and gets some help from both Green Hornet and his new friend/former hobo James.

The Review: Jai Nitz, from word one, grips us in another one of those effective and powerful sets of metaphorical comparisons that I love. Here, Kato’s inner monologue turns over war and crime, secrecy and openness, like a pebble that has been palmed repeatedly and has smoothed in the process. The theme of secrecy and hiding things runs through the book, effectively, like a spine tying concepts together. And Kato’s voice, that of an experienced, lonely martial artist, steeped in Eastern philosophy and education, deepens the narrative, showing his trademark cynical view of men and the world through ironic humor. Nitz takes us a step further in Kato’s development and keeps the character fresh by surprising Kato in this issue, morally. That’s not easy to do without having the worldly character seem naive, but Nitz found some human tastes that fit the bill and did the job of giving Kato some room to grow as a person. That’s a very good thing for a writer to be able to do.

I loved the addition and growing role of James the Hobo, even though some of the stuff he has to do isn’t all that comfortable. Adding James to Kato’s cast is a natural and effective expansion of the mythos that pays dividends now and later (more character to explore, more potential for conflict, more ways to strike at Kato). The role reversal for Green Hornet and Kato seems to be strengthening, as I got the impression that Green Hornet really seems to be the chauffeur and overall second banana. I don’t mind, as I’m far more interested in Kato than in the Green Hornet, but it runs counter enough to my expectations to be a further positive surprise as the story progresses.

Kato Origins #4: Way of the Ninja – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (artist), Romulo Fajardo (colorist)

The Story: Nazi and Japanese spies have shot Kato, thrown him from a moving train and kept on going towards San Francisco with what looks to be an experimental aircraft engine.

What’s Good: Once again, Nitz has knit together a dense, dynamic tapestry of culture, love, action, social commentary, international espionage and of course, ninjas. Remember my review of issue #3 when I went on about how the metaphor for the issue was trains and how knowledge and wisdom and not knowing were all caught in the neat metaphor about knowing trains? This issue’s metaphor circles around a tiger Kato once saw slap down on a bear. Everything in this issue (war, ninjas, stealth, will, complacency and patriotism) fits into this clever framing metaphor in Kato’s voice. It’s a narrative that sucked me in, and wouldn’t let me go until it spit me out at the end of the issue with the surprising character reveal. What I loved about the tiger metaphor was how the tiger was feared, reviled, respected in turn, before its basic flaws were revealed, much like Kato’s. The series of psychological reversals was a lot of fun to read and gave me a better window into Kato.

Worley’s art, especially the ninja fights, was good. Kato against thugs and spies is one thing, but against another ninja, with some weirdish weapons, was pretty cool. And Worley’s cover is worth framing.

Kato Origins #3 – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (artist), Romulo Fajardo (colors), Joseph Rybandt (editor)

The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part Three: Kato is on the trail of the ninja assassins who killed the Korean grocer (the father of his beloved) and left with a mysterious package. They’ve left on a train, so he becomes the hunter.

What’s Good: Kato Origins #1 blew me away, but #2 had down-shifted a gear and hadn’t left me so satisfied. In this issue, Nitz has hit all those elements that made the first issue so good for me. The writing is richly layered. Kato’s monologue never shows a man thinking in linear tracks. Kato thinks in themes and parallels. Take the statement he makes on page one: “I know nothing about trains.” Where do you think Nitz takes this enigmatic opening? Well, the monologue reaches into the interests of the heart, the essence of the ninja, Kato’s knowledge of cars, and his insight into the essence of the racist experience of the Asian coolie in the building of America. Nitz does the same thing with a love letter. The current of racism continues to run through the book (like it did in the first issue) to great effect. The racism, poverty, and persecution, the hero on the underside, the guy who has less options than the white man to solve any given problem because of the color of his skin, all adds great depth to this story. While many heroes have to disguise themselves from time to time, Kato has to hide his features here, because an Asian couldn’t well get on a train in World War Two America, hero or villain. This not only brings Kato the stoic hero closer to the reader, but it depicts the persecuted hero in a more visceral way than that X-Men ever did in all their splash and color. I also love Nitz’s more realistic treatment of Kato’s “super-powers.” Kato is an awesome ninja, but against someone with a gun or four guys, you’re not going to see him solve the situation without breaking a sweat or taking a hit. As a last point on the writing, I was wondering how Nitz was going to keep this series fresh. The scope seemed pretty local so far, but boy did he crack this story wide open in this issue. All in all, hats off to Jai Nitz.