So...um...can someone explain to me...

What the heck is so cool about ninja?

I mean, in a historical sense, I get what's cool about them. Folks dressing up in black, using peasant equipment as weapons, to kill and terrorize local governmental officials into taking the desired course of action...

And yeah, they look cool all in black...

But I mean when you take them out of that social context, they just become vaguely eccentric assassins. Japan's not the only place to have developed particularly visually representative assassin/terrorist figures. Pretty much every court and government in the world has them.

And if you're going to go with a blatant anachronism, I'd think Byzantine court assassins would be cooler. Or the Hashashin, though that's got its own political sort of iffy-ness.

And for the record, I wish someone in an Elektra comic would make a point that sais traditionally can't be used to stab things. They were a seed planting device adapted for use in parrying, a good twist of the wrist would break a sword. But they're not sharp in the least. They're very blunt and heavy. The points are actually quite dull. They're not like daggers, at all, and they're kind of impractical to use against a non-Japanese sword carrying enemy. The only other thing you could really do with it is club someone with it.

I've nothing against Elektra being able to go stabbity with the sais, I just wish it'd be pointed out that sharpening them to do that isn't normal. Well, maybe they have, and I just never read the issue. But still, it seems like a surprised villain pointing that out would just enhance her coolness level, as it's a pretty creative thought.

I don't know though, it just seems like where once I could understand the novelty appeal of ninja, it seems like everyone and their cousin are either ninja, trained by ninja, or use their powers in ways that replicate ninja moves in movies.

It's not like the ninja are the only martial artists in the world (especially as traditionally many were peasants and thus had no fighting training at all!), nor are they the only stealthy assassins in the world. But in comics, (and movies/tv) they're *everywhere*. It's to the point where 7 out of 10 characters in comics have mad ninja skillz!

You know, Europe's got it's own traditions of martial arts too. Melee weapons *and* hand-to-hand. Fighting traditions that are possibly as old as the Japanese and Chinese traditions and are equally as formidable. Just because something's Asian doesn't make it immediately better or worse.

By the way, fellow geeks? If a samurai faces a fully armored knight in combat, and they're even remotely evenly matched? The samurai's going down. Japanese steel is weak, Japanese swordsmiths had to use a technique called "folding" the steel, which is pretty much what it sounds like, to get it to hold an edge. Thus Katana/No-Dachi/Kodachi and other single edged folded steel swords are very very sharp and light, but they're very very weak. And they're slashing weapons. European steel is much thicker and stronger. Katana vs armor, the katana *breaks*.

Now what does do really well against suits of armor are smaller, stabby-pokey weapons. Rapiers and crossbow bolts. Stuff that can find and exploit the weakpoints of the armor. Which is why as you head into later years, you end up with fencers instead of knights. The knight hasn't a prayer.

Now a samurai vs. a fencer? The samurai has extra reach, momentum and speed. A katana has a very wide arc that a fencing foil's not going to be able to touch.

Basically, it's a game of rock paper scissors. Knight beats Samurai. Fencer beats Knight. Samurai beats Fencer.

Anyway, I guess I'd just like to see something other than l33t Asian Martial Artist/Ninja once in a while. Just for variety's sake. Please?

(ETA: To clarify, the use of the term "ninja" in this rant refers to the Western idea of ninja, most commonly derived from the peasant fighters known for stealth and unexpected weaponry. Not to be confused with actual ninja clans, or for that matter the later shishi political assassins, who are different kettles of fish entirely. :-))