Ninja Legend! is the 68th issue of the Ninjago Magazine. Kai appears on the cover, and the comic, written by Jan Dinter, is called Mother Earth. 892068 Richie (Richie with a katana and floating surfboard) is included. It was released in October 2020.
Mother Earth[]
P.I.X.A.L. and Misako are working on a new ship while the ninja and Wu are away at Shintaro Mountain. P.I.X.A.L. decides to take a break to play some video games. Misako comes in and scolds her for wasting time when they have so much equipment to bring onboard. P.I.X.A.L. returns to work and goes to move Wu’s teapot into the ship. In doing so, she knocks a stack of photos onto the floor. As she picks them up, she notices a young Wu with someone she doesn’t recognize. She shows the photo to Misako, who tells her it is Lilly.
After P.I.X.A.L. expresses confusion as to who Lilly is, Misako tells P.I.X.A.L. that she was a ninja who trained with Wu many years ago. She described Lilly as one of Wu’s most promising students and grew in power tremendously when she reached her True Potential. She used her Earth powers to protect the citizens of Ninjago City. She later acquired two blades representing light and darkness, the Blades of Deliverance.
Misako goes on to describe some of Lilly’s missions and adventures. One of these was to descend into the Underworld to spy on Garmadon. She infiltrates his Dark Fortress and eavesdrops on a conversation between Garmadon and Samukai, relishing in the capturing of Dr. Julien for the purpose of designing new vehicles. Shocked, Lilly escapes to tell Wu the bad news. Another mission was answering a distress call from Jamanakai Village. She is ambushed by some Venomari. They prepare to spit their venom into her eyes, but she covers her eyes with a blindfold. Despite being voluntarily blinded, she defeats the snakes with ease.
Misako then tells P.I.X.A.L. that her greatest adventure came later, when two tribes came to her from a far off kingdom for help with defeating a dragon threatening their lives. Lilly leaves the Monastery of Spinjitzu to set off towards Shintaro to face off against the beast. When she returned to the Monastery, she didn’t bring the Blades of Deliverance back. Misako assumes that the blades are still in the caves of Shintaro.
Later on, Misako tells of Lilly retiring and giving birth to Cole with Lou. She said that Lilly recognized young Cole’s destiny to be a great warrior and that he’d inherited her power. In her final moments, she made Cole promise that he would always stand up to those that are cruel and unjust. Of which, Misako recognizes, Cole has more than lived up to.
Trivia[]
- "Mother Earth" is set sometime during Master of the Mountain.
- P.I.X.A.L. is playing Prime Empire at the beginning, using Digi Zane as her avatar.
- This marks the first and only time Digi Zane appears in a canon installment.
- "Mother Earth" is one of the only magazine comics to be explicitly confirmed as canon to the TV series,[1] though the comics are generally intended to be canon.[2]
- While Nuckal had his Legacy design in this comic, Kruncha had his original design.
- The Australian release includes 891958 Jay as a bonus toy.
- An info box on the Spinjitzu Burst page reveals that Lilly was the first Elemental Master to use the Burst.
- A citizen on page 6 resembles Eileen.
Errors[]
- Despite being confirmed canon by Tommy Kalmar,[1] this comic's timeline does not match with the TV series. In the TV series, Cole is older than Lloyd, who was born before Garmadon was banished to the Underworld. However, in this comic, Cole's birth is placed after Garmadon's banishment, which would make Cole younger than Lloyd. Additionally, this comic shows Wu with his young appearance after the point in time when Dr. Julien was captured, even though Wu appeared as an old man when he was shown in "Snake Jaguar" to have met Dr. Julien before Dr. Julien's imprisonment. Also, in the TV series, the Serpentine were imprisoned in their tombs before Garmadon's banishment.
- The comic also states that Lilly fought the Venomari, but at that time the Serpentine tribes were locked in their tombs at the end of First Serpentine War, in which Lilly didn't participate because her father did, while she wasn't even born.
- These make this comic the second confirmed canon installment to have major inconsistencies with the TV series, the first being The Realm of Shadows stage play.
- The comic also states that Lilly fought the Venomari, but at that time the Serpentine tribes were locked in their tombs at the end of First Serpentine War, in which Lilly didn't participate because her father did, while she wasn't even born.
- In the panel depicting Lilly attacking a Skull Motorbike, the Blades of Deliverance are drawn as standard katanas.
- Grief-Bringer is drawn in its skeletal form while Lilly is battling it.
- In page 11 of the magazine, Jay's Digi hood incorrectly has the ninjargon letter "N" instead of "J".
