The bubble just wrecked the look of an otherwise excellent cover. Clean, efficient... And this makes it look so juvenile. But the story. First - great set-up. Really, we're jumping in halfway through the story, again - and great to see the set-up for Ninjak. I guess that I am still stunned that the writers keep coming up with pretty effective ways to keep him somehow involved in the story itself. In the old Ninjak arcs - it just seemed so strange when he was involved - and the establishment of even the Harbinger kids at times seems a little too balanced in one direction or another. But the skillful writing here kept him in the story - and I think from a disguised perspective, too. I loved putting the 'guard' on the armor there. At least IO never saw what in the world was really happening! The team distracting Harada was an excellent idea, as well. I like that they all seem relatively put together as a group - and dedicated to overthrowing him, as well. Gilad on the 'distraction' team with Harada was a great idea. As an experienced fighter - he could calm himself - and then flip if necessary, as well. And Livewire was the pun that made this one really work. With her having the connection to the armor - and presenting it to Aric - sweet. That really showed something. She may be the best re-invention of the old Valiant era - certainly first time around was a train wreck. This time, her level of honor - strengthened more here, too. Love her. She still bears some honor, as well. Finally, the closing vignette between Harada and Gilad - very strange. WHy would Harada still show such a level of reverence for him - and admit to Gilad that he was going to hunt down Livewire - strange. Well, understandable, but strange. Gilad also betrayed - as did Ninjak. And Harada knew that the betrayal was coming. Perhaps because she had shown such allegiance before...
I really enjoyed this book - perhaps a bunch more than I should have. It really picked up the reins left behind when Nightmask was cancelled - as well as grabbing the D.P. 7 characters left behind - and worked to establish a logical next point of the universe. While I am not certain exactly where the characters would or could be scheduled - or if at this point the writers had some pointed idea to commit to these kind of additional stories - I don't know. But I really liked the strong attempt here. I actually believed that it led directly into the War - but placing it here was a great idea. Also interesting to make the character of the Preseident into a paranormal. Neat ideas throughout.