Review: Ninja to the moon!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 2, 2013
I am a big fan of ninjas in general. I mean, the dudes can pop out of shadows and twist you into any number fatal positions or just stick a sharp object into you and you never see it coming.Unfortunately, most of the ninjas out there on television and movies are mostly a bunch of Star Trek red shirts in black formal wear. Their sole purpose in life is to be knocked down by Daredevil, Wolverine, Bruce Lee or - god help us - the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.I know that you could argue that they were ninjas in their own right - but I am sorry - they're turtles, dang it - and not even those proper gooey caramel-filled, pecan-ated Turtles that sometimes haunt my dreams late at night.But THE BEAR THAT FELL FROM THE STARS changes all that.It is a straight forward story that would make an absolutely rock-solid sci-fi adventure flick - like say PREDATOR or THE TERMINATOR. It seems this pack of scallywag aliens accidentally abduct themselves and honest-to-katana ninja. It seems they want to study the human race to judge their ripeness for conquest.Well - turns out that this ninja dude is about as UNRIPE as you can get.Keith Blackmore does an amazing job of creating the alien race and there is a lot of room for growth there - but the real star of the show is Jimmy "Kuma" Kazaka.Jimmy is a ninja.He is about one of the toughest ninjas you could imagine.I mean - the dude would make The Wolverine wet his yellow-and-brown panties - he is that tough.Jimmy's nickname is "Bear" - which is what "Kuma" apparently means.I don't really know if "Kuma" means "Bear" or not - but I wasn't going to argue with a dude who can make Wolverine make lemonade in his BVD's.I'm not going to tell you much more than that - except this is the sort of an adventure that ought to be read at a gallop. Sit yourself down with a cold bottle of beer - or better yet some Sake - and some sweet and sour pretzels - and chew right through this nasty little yarn. It is the perfect reading material for a rainy Saturday when there isn't much more to do than to sit around on the back stoop, sharpening your katana.If this story was a baseball, Blackmore just knocked it out of the park and clean clear over the highest stratovolcano of Mount Fuji. If you are holding out for a hero - look no longer.yours in storytelling,Steve Vernon