4 out of 5

Aw, Hastings loves King Radical.

There exists some magical balance for Dr. McNinja between scrambling-to-pick-up-the-pieces (Volume 3, Timefist) and gloriously mainlined, no-looking-back randomness (Volume 2, Night Powers).  King Radical is absolutely much for the latter than the former, which is a good thing of course, only suffering a bit from how focused it is on the titular characters for its 300 pages, which keeps Chris’ mighty creativity (mostly) on rails while he finally puts the puzzle pieces together for this tale.  But overall, the hills and valleys to get here are worth it, and the patience in resolving things is ultimately for the best given how massive it is; even if the experience feels a little bloated, I can’t say I’d cut any of it.  Rather, it would’ve taken impossible foresight to set some things up beforehand, so we dock a star but we forgive.

Yes, this is the end (for now) to all of the time travel and zombie and Radical stuff, and it’s huge.  The final timeline provided is hilarious in its complexity and simplicity, and the storyline feels fully laid out by this point, so Hastings is able to stay on target the entire way through, bringing back the wonderful momentum that fuels the best McNinja tales.  His art teamwork with Anthony Clark has also greatly improved; foreshortening is no longer a problem: Chris is a pro by now, complex layouts and fun character designs tossed off at a whim.  He’s also learned where to use commodity when necessary without it looking sloppy.  The visuals are pretty breathless, honestly, with the same lightness of touch Mike Allred brings to things but with (sorry, Mike) much more variation panel to panel and character to character.  And Clark’s blends are slicker, better matched to Hastings’ compositions.  Pages are a joy to read, even when text heavy; that aspect of the book has nothing standing in the way.

And I prefer the extras here: an added prologue by the same art team.  It fits in with the story instead of seeming like the odds and ends the previous extras (guest strips) have.

Did you predict the ending?  I didn’t.  Perhaps I should have, but kudos on that, Chris.  Volume… 6? is it? …Jesus… of Dr. McNinja has a difficult task of wrapping up years and hundreds of pages of storylines, and it damn well sticks to it.  Sometimes you wish there was a new tale around the corner, but I’d also criticize if this was dragged out any further, so it is what it is, and on the whole, it’s supremely enjoyable, slickly written and arted McNinja ridiculousness.