How many lives must the lethal assassin Roku take in her first series? Roku #1 begins a journey to find out!

Killing her way around the globe, the deadly weapon called Roku will face a challenge she can’t simply execute.

Being bad has never been so fun.

There has always been something fun about reading a comic about the bad guy. Roku is another character to come from Ninjak, following on the heels of the spectacular Killers series. Roku features a mercenary assassin with a tragic past. Don’t all great characters have tragic pasts, really? And the first issue delivers a fast pace as she completes a couple of missions within the comic.

Perhaps one of my favourite things about the character is that she can use her hair as a weapon. She’s able to control it and then use it to slice and dice her opponents. That gives the artists some excellent chances to flex their muscles and get creative with her free-flowing locks of red hair. Think Carnage’s symbiote tendrils.

Writer Cullen Bunn’s story in this book seems pretty straightforward. Through his narration and the dialogue Bunn’s able to give readers unfamiliar with the character enough context that they understand who she is and her motivations. It serves as a great ground zero for those familiar with the character get refreshed and see where Bunn’s take begins.

The primary job of any first issue is to pull the reader back for more. With Roku #1 Cullen Bunn, artist Ramon F. Bachs and colorist Stephane Paitreau do just enough to entice me back for the second issue, although there seems to be something lacking from the comic. There was magic (pun intended) about Bunn’s first issue of Punk Mambo, a series he recently wrapped up for Valiant as well, that just isn’t repeated here.

Now comparing the two characters isn’t exactly an apples to apples view point; they’re both different characters, and one has had a lot more time in the limelight recently than the other (and my own personal bias toward Punk Mambo isn’t helping here either). That said, I’m confident that by the end of this book I’m going to want to read a lot more about Roku – whether I love the character, or love to hate her.

Ultimately a fun book, and one that Valiant fans should pick up. Whether it’ll attract new readers remains to be seen.

Story: Cullen Bunn Art: Ramon F. Bachs
Colors: Stephane Paitreau Letters: Dace Sharpe
Story: 8.6 Art: 8.2 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review