Ariel Olivetti Joins Valiant’s Ninja-K For Backup Stories Featuring “Ninja-A”

Valiant’s new ICONS series spotlighting major characters is turning toward Ninjak for Ninja-K in December. We knew that the book would be written by Christos Gage and illustrated by Tomas Giorello, but the book actually contains multiple storylines and time periods, and Valiant have announced that Ariel Olivetti will also be joining  the book to bring his art style to the narrative.

The series, previously touted as 40 pages per issue, is now growing to 48 for the first issue, according to Valiant, and will continue at 40 thereafter. Olivetti’s contribution to the series will be “essential back-up features” which reveal the origin of the first operative who launched Britain’s “Ninja Programme” during WWI’s Western Front.  This will be the saga of “Ninja-A”, a “Japanese master of weaponry and deception”. Olivetti’s back up stories will start appearing in issue #2 in December.
Valiant Editor-in-Chief Warren Simons says:

With NINJA-K, Christos Gage and Tomás Giorello are diving deep and unearthing a previously unexplored cornerstone of the Valiant Universe. This is a hard-edged, espionage-driven look into the world of secret agents, spies, and suspicion that built Ninjak to be the best of his kind. But he wasn’t the first. Christos and Tomás have crafted an absolutely terrific history of who founded MI-6’s ‘Ninja Programme’ and how it came to be – and now we’re proud to add the incredibly talented Ariel Olivetti to the formidable team that’s rapidly shaping NINJA-K into one of the most intense books on the stands.

Here’s what Valiant have to say about what’s coming up in Ninja-K:

For nearly a century, MI-6, the most elite branch of Britain’s clandestine intelligence service, has honed a ruthlessly effective, top-secret division – THE NINJA PROGRAMME – into one of its nation’s most finely wielded weapons. Tasked as the first and last line of defense for queen and country, this small shadow army of agents and assassins has produced a succession of notable assets, including NINJA-A, the Queen’s silent weapon of World War I; NINJA-E, the globe-trotting secret agent that pulled the Cold War back from the brink of Armageddon; and, most recently, NINJA-K, aka Colin King, a brash but fearless instrument of lethality that has saved the world from madmen and terror at every turn. But now… an unknown enemy is hunting and killing members of THE NINJA PROGRAMME one by one – and NINJAK is next on the list.

And here’s a pretty extensive look at Olivetti’s artwork for issue #2 of Ninja-K:

NINJA-K #1
Written by CHRISTOS GAGE
Art by TOMÁS GIORELLO
Cover A by TREVOR HARISINE (SEP172019)
Cover B by LUCAS TROYA (SEP172020)
Interlocking Variant by KENNETH ROCAFORT (SEP172021)
Ninjak Icon Variant by DAVID MACK (SEP172022)
Brushed Metal Variant by MICO SUAYAN (SEP172023)
$3.99 | 48 pgs. | T+ | On Sale NOVEMBER 15 (FOC – 10/23/2017)
NINJA-K #2
Written by CHRISTOS GAGE
Art by TOMÁS GIORELLO with ARIEL OLIVETTI
Cover A by TREVOR HAIRSINE (OCT171919)
Cover B by LUCAS TROYA (OCT171920)
Interlocking Variant by KENNETH ROCAFORT (OCT171922)
Ninjak Icon Variant by BEN TEMPLESMITH (OCT171923)
Blank Cover Also Available ( OCT171921)
$3.99 | 40 pgs. | T+ | On Sale DECEMBER 20th (FOC – 11/27/2017)