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    Indy publisher founded in 2005 of such comics as Red Sonja, Project SuperPowers, The Boys and Army of Darkness. Many of their titles are adaptations or revivals of prevously existing properties

    THE NINJETTES Interview with Al Ewing

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    gmanfromheck

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    Edited By gmanfromheck
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    Erupting from the pages of Garth Ennis' JENNIFER BLOOD comes the Ninjettes. Said to contain an "ultra-violent odyssey of sin, scandal, brutality and branding" we had the chance to ask writer Al Ewing what we could expect from this bloody comic from Dynamite Entertainment.

    Comic Vine: What's the premise of the series besides a bunch of blood and violence?

    Al Ewing: More blood and more violence... no, I'm kidding (OR AM I). There are two of them - one, we're looking at who the Ninjettes who appeared in JENNIFER BLOOD #4 are and how they came to be, which ties in a little with events unfolding in my first arc on that title. And secondly, we're introducing a new team who'll be taking over the name and carrying the book forward.

    What I'm personally trying to do... when I was a kid, there was a book on the shelves called Joe Bob Goes To The Drive-In - how it got there I don't know, but it presented to my young eyes a fascinating, thrilling world of trash, sleaze and wierdness. When I finally saw things like 1000 Maniacs, the reality was a lot less than what I'd imagined, but the idea of the drive-in sleaze-flick still held a strange and terrible power for me, and I wanted to do something that reeked of it. There's a lot of Russ Meyer in there, especially the first one - his 'gothic period', the hard, nasty black-and-white flicks from before he'd started calling himself The Rural Fellini. (My girlfriend and I are reviewing his films one at a time on Freaky Triggerat the moment, albeit on what's approaching an annual basis.) But he's far from the only one. As the series progresses, we'll stir the pot until it's bubbling and fermenting with all sorts of down-and-dirty tropes, fresh from the landfill of pop culture and dripping with fierce ichor. It's going to be a fun ride.

    == TEASER ==

    CV: How far out do you have the series planned?

    AE: I've got it plotted out to #6, which is the origin/introduction arc - after that, I've got a few done-in-ones planned, where they'll be jetting around the world doing missions. So we'll start throwing in all the Bond and Man From U.N.C.L.E. stuff, probably. I have an idea of them going to Britain and getting into some Emma Peel style sixties-era hijinks, mostly so I can do lots of mean jokes about the Bullingdon Club and our current political elite. Also, after sitting through 99 Women and The Big Bird Cage, I feel like savaging the women-in-prison genre a bit, so I imagine we'll have a crack at that sometime down the road, in all its dubious glory.

    No Caption Provided

    CV: How did you get involved with the series?

    AE: Well, I'd already written a couple of Jennifer Bloods, and the people at Dynamite were interested in doing a series focussing on the Ninjettes - something that was both an origin for the old team and also introduced a new team to carry things on past their horrible death in the pages of Jennifer Blood #4. I was already using some of the fallout from that as a major plot point of the second arc of Jennifer Blood, so I ended up working some of that into the series - although obviously either can be read independantly without any trouble.

    CV: Will the vibe be purely dark or will there be any light moments?

    AE: It's actually a lot lighter than Jennifer Blood, despite all the blood and thunder in every issue. Jennifer Blood works in a universe where the rules that apply are those of reality, rather than the rules of the action movie - but in Ninjettes, despite them ostensibly being set in the same universe, the opposite is true. The Ninjettes use different narrative laws. (I'd argue that the only reason the original Ninjettes die so quickly in Jennifer Blood #4 is because they've made the mistake of taking on their enemy in her own comic, where their narrative physics no longer work.) So I get to use the kind of smart-stupid, absurdist comedy that's a fixture of things like Zombo, and layer in more comedy as things progress.

    CV: What's the one thing you'd like the book to be known for?

    AE: Honestly? I'd like it to be known for being good. And for being open for readers from the whole spectrum of people who like comics. I mean, I'm aware that I'm aiming to recreate some fecund drive-in pit of the imagination, and I've gone and used words like sleaze in a positive context earlier in this very interview, but... even when - in my capacity as The Yorkshire Fellini - I'm writing about improperly-dressed assassins going sickhouse on the collective ass of all that is right and proper, I still want to write a comic that anybody can pick up and find something they like in.

    Check out the premiere of these interior pages. THE NINJETTES #1 is on sale February 22, 2012.

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    Blizaga101

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    #1  Edited By Blizaga101

    wow...brutal much :O

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    FoxxFireArt

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    #2  Edited By FoxxFireArt

    This preview is kind of confusing. Naturally, we have no dialog to put events into context. To me, This looks like the character just shot and killed some child who was about the be molested or something. There's a half-naked dude, a crying child, she kills the guy by slicing him in half, shoots a gun, then there is a dead child on the floor.

    I see no appeal to what this preview is suggesting.

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    Blizaga101

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    #4  Edited By Blizaga101

    @FoxxFireArt: yeah i agree, seems too indecent, but i guess if its the genre of the comic we cant change that. Isnt my cup of tea either :P

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    Joygirl

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    #5  Edited By Joygirl

    And on International Ninja Day no less. But yeah, murdering small children seems like overcompensation. "Look how brutal! How gory! How toadilly epik!"

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    The Impersonator

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    #6  Edited By The Impersonator

    It makes no sense. Why would she shoot the child who was about to be molested? That's just insane.

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    NyxEquitis

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    #7  Edited By NyxEquitis

    @FoxxFireArt said:

    This preview is kind of confusing. Naturally, we have no dialog to put events into context. To me, This looks like the character just shot and killed some child who was about the be molested or something. There's a naked half-dude, a crying child, she kills the guy by slicing him in half, shoots a gun, then there is a dead child on the floor.

    I see no appeal to what this preview is suggesting.

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    Gordo789

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    #8  Edited By Gordo789

    I liked when the dude got cut in half. not sure how i feel about murdering children though.... I think I'll pass on this.

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    rico_3088

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    #9  Edited By rico_3088

    Why would she shoot a child who was about to be molested, or am i missing something?

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    iLLituracy

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    #10  Edited By iLLituracy

    ...Yeah, shooting a kid in the face is too much and this seems like a major gimmick. Pass.

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    Mayo88m

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    #11  Edited By Mayo88m

    I dunno, looks neat enough I guess. I like violence in my comics though. I'll hold judgement until we get some letting and colors put in.

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    RedheadedAtrocitus

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    While interesting, the subject of the panels appears to be ambiguous to me. Looks like the female character was killing a perv, but then there's a clear indication that she did more than killing just him. If the point is to confuse us to the point that our interest is stirred, then it is working in my case!

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    BatteredArmor

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    #13  Edited By BatteredArmor

    The Child was a witness and thus had to die, because for some stupid reason she's not wearing a mask apparently the people she kills thinking that she looks nice is more important than the lives of innocent children.......what a nice lady but in her defence she does look good so mission acommplished.....I guess

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    Joygirl

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    #14  Edited By Joygirl

    Maybe the kid has a demon in his belly and was the target. o.o

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    scifi_superstar

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    #15  Edited By scifi_superstar
    Well, which is it? Is she a zword person or a gun person? Its stupid to carry thr two. Also, bullets fired dont look that way when they come out of a gun barrel. Im confused and getting angry.
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    moywar700

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    #16  Edited By moywar700

    I don't understand, why go in and rescue somebody and kill the people who were gonna be saved?

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    Eyz

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    #17  Edited By Eyz

    Hahaha, okay, I'll bite :P

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    cody1984

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    #18  Edited By cody1984

    @FoxxFireArt: @NyxEquitis: @rico_3088: @iLLituracy: @Joygirl: @moywar700: I take it you all have never watched a Roger Corman or Russ Meyer movie or similar then? Look this whole comic is basically exploitation films. This comic is not suppose to be about a great stories its about outragous violence, sex, drugs, outlandish behavior, and most of all sleaze and filth. If you all ever watched something like White Mama Black Mama, Ilsa She Wolf of the SS, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, etc. then you know what to expect.

    Here are some videos of exploitation movies to give you all an idea of what to expect.

    Or as the writer said in another interview

    "Ninjettes is where I get to look at some of the classic exploitation tropes," says writer Al Ewing. "Hopefully I will twist them into something that appeals to a broad spectrum of readers, while remaining a rich, raw, red slab of bleeding meat torn straight from the mooing flank of pop culture, given a gun and told to go out and kill! Kill! KILL!"

    If you still don't get it well maybe the image below might help you get the idea

    No Caption Provided

    Essentially that is what exploitation movies are if your a fan. They are so damn horrible that they end up actually being good. Which is what the writer is trying to do with this series.

    Personally I'm looking forward to this series since exploitation movies especially the WIP ones do need to make another come back!

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    FoxxFireArt

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    #19  Edited By FoxxFireArt

    @cody1984:

    Did you miss the part in the interview where he said:

    " AE: Honestly? I'd like it to be known for being good. And for being open for readers from the whole spectrum of people who like comics. I mean, I'm aware that I'm aiming to recreate some fecund drive-in pit of the imagination, and I've gone and used words like sleaze in a positive context earlier in this very interview, but... even when - in my capacity as The Yorkshire Fellini - I'm writing about improperly-dressed assassins going sickhouse on the collective ass of all that is right and proper, I still want to write a comic that anybody can pick up and find something they like in. "

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    Edgeworth_11

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    #20  Edited By Edgeworth_11

    Looks like the Stepford Cukoos the first pic lol

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    cody1984

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    #21  Edited By cody1984

    @FoxxFireArt said:

    @cody1984:

    Did you miss the part in the interview where he said:

    " AE: Honestly? I'd like it to be known for being good. And for being open for readers from the whole spectrum of people who like comics. I mean, I'm aware that I'm aiming to recreate some fecund drive-in pit of the imagination, and I've gone and used words like sleaze in a positive context earlier in this very interview, but... even when - in my capacity as The Yorkshire Fellini - I'm writing about improperly-dressed assassins going sickhouse on the collective ass of all that is right and proper, I still want to write a comic that anybody can pick up and find something they like in. "

    That's not going to happen and me, you, and the writer of this series already know that. You can't have a comic that reaches across the whole spectrum of people its just not going to happen and not everyone will enjoy this type of comic.

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    I'maDC/ImageGuy!

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    #22  Edited By I'maDC/ImageGuy!

    Edgy and dark! what the comic book public needs! Screw cape stories with recycle ideas, I say we need more leather clad ninja women who are trained psycho killers. YEAH! Reagan, beer, Star Fox, America, dynimate!

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