Both an epic 80-page graphic novel and a document of his vibrant drawings, collages and posters, Ninja is the first book by Fort Thunder co-founder and Lighting Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale. The graphic novel, a work 5 years in the making, takes readers through a fantastic landscape delineated in Chippendale’s dense pen and ink line-work and starring a Ninja hunted by the forces of evil. It functions as both a great fantasy story and a social allegory about an artist’s struggle with money, gentrification, and city politics. Nearly every massive comics page is drawn in a different elaborate style somewhere between Darger, Panter & illuminated manuscript. In between each chapter of the story is a related section of fine art: from bright, exuberant paintings to visionary drawings to the posters for which Chippendale is internationally recognized. Half art book, half graphic novel, this collection is a unique adventure in art and comics.