There’s a line near the end of VeeFriends #7: Notorious Ninja that quietly sums up the entire comic: “Maybe legacy’s not what they say it is.”

What Do We Actually Inherit?

VeeFriends #7: Notorious Ninja looks like a story about ninjas, skateboarding and a decades-old family feud. And technically, it is. But underneath all of that, we think it’s telling a much more relatable story about legacy, identity and deciding how much of our past gets to determine our future.

The issue opens in 1987 with two rival families, Shinoda and Yamori, locked in a conflict that has apparently been going on for generations. We don’t get a neat history lesson explaining every grievance between them, and honestly, that almost makes the point stronger. These families have been fighting for so long that the feud itself has become part of who they are. Even when an earthquake puts both sides in danger and someone suggests a truce, the idea is immediately challenged: how could one act of kindness erase generations of blood?

That idea stuck with us, because it introduces one of the most interesting questions in the comic: What happens when something has been passed down for so long that nobody stops to ask whether it should still be carried?

Three years later, we meet Renji Shinoda, and he couldn’t seem further removed from that world. He’s a teenager in Southern California who cares about skateboarding, hanging out with his friends and building a future that feels entirely his own. Then his uncle drops a fairly significant piece of family history on him: Renji’s father was the Notorious Ninja.

Renji remembers his dad as a good guy. Now he’s being told that his father was also an assassin and protector for the Shinoda clan—and that Renji is expected to eventually take his place. Renji wants absolutely nothing to do with it. He leaves, goes home and tries to focus on the life he was already building.

Of course, this is a comic book, so the past doesn’t politely wait outside.

When ninjas come crashing into Renji’s home, he discovers that he can fight. Really well. There’s an instinct there that even Renji doesn’t completely understand, and his uncle eventually tells him that he was “born for this.”

And this is where Notorious Ninja gets much more interesting to us than a simple “kid discovers his secret destiny” story.

Because being good at something doesn’t necessarily mean it has to become your destiny.

Inheriting Something Doesn't Mean Repeating It

Eventually Renji does put on his father’s ninja gear, but he doesn’t suddenly become his father. Instead, he combines that inherited identity with the person he already is. He takes the mask, the skills and the history—and brings his skateboard along with him.

Visually, we think that’s one of the best ideas in the issue.

The ninja represents the world Renji inherited. The skateboard represents the world Renji chose. Instead of completely rejecting one or surrendering to the other, he combines them.

That changes the question at the center of the story. It’s no longer simply, “Will Renji continue his father’s legacy?” It becomes, “What will Renji do with the legacy he was given?”

There’s a pretty big difference between those two ideas.

We tend to talk about legacy as something inherently positive. Someone leaves a legacy behind, another person carries it forward, and the story continues. But Notorious Ninja complicates that idea because Renji hasn't just inherited his father's abilities or reputation. He has inherited his enemies too.

When he encounters a member of the Yamori clan, Renji is accused of belonging to the family that stole everything from them. Renji’s response is basically: You’ve got the wrong guy.

And he’s right.

Renji didn’t start this feud. He barely knew it existed. Yet someone on the other side has also inherited a story—a story in which the Shinodas are the enemy. So these two people meet carrying the weight of decisions made by generations before them.

That might be the part of Notorious Ninja that matters most outside the comic itself. We all inherit things we didn't choose: family expectations, traditions, beliefs, habits, grudges and ideas about who we're supposed to become. Some of those things are worth carrying forward. Others probably deserve to stop with us.

Maybe That's What Legacy Actually Is

The comic eventually jumps forward again, this time to 2025. Renji is older, the Shinoda company is still around, and the story makes it clear that the past hasn't simply disappeared.

But Renji is looking at it differently.

He wonders whether legacy is actually what everyone told him it was and asks whether the story ends with him or with the generations that came before him. It’s an interesting way to end the issue because Renji hasn't necessarily rejected his family history. He has started questioning who gets to define what that history means.

And maybe that’s the takeaway we like most from this story.

We don’t get to choose everything we inherit, but we do get some say in what we pass on.

Renji can carry his father's courage without carrying his father's war. He can use abilities that came from his family without allowing that family to dictate his entire identity. He can acknowledge where he came from while still creating something different.

Legacy doesn't have to mean repetition.

Sometimes continuing a legacy means changing it.

If You Like Notorious Ninja, Try These

One of the things we want to do more often with comics on Is It Canon? is connect them to other stories. If something about Notorious Ninja worked for you, there are several comics, movies and shows exploring similar ideas.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is probably one of the strongest comparisons, particularly through Zuko. He spends much of the story trying to live up to the version of honor and destiny handed to him by his family before realizing that he has to decide what those things mean for himself.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has an obvious martial-arts connection, but the bigger similarity is Shang-Chi's relationship with his father. He runs from the world he was born into, eventually has to confront it, and then decides what pieces of that inheritance belong in the person he wants to become.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gives us the ninjas, skateboards and street culture, but many versions of TMNT also deal heavily with family, loyalty and younger generations being pulled into conflicts that started long before them.

Star Wars explores a similar question through Luke Skywalker. Learning the truth about his father completely changes Luke's understanding of his own story, but discovering who his father was doesn't automatically determine who Luke will become.

And if you want to stay in comics, Batman Beyond is another great legacy story. Terry McGinnis inherits the Batman identity, along with a lot of Bruce Wayne's unfinished business, but what makes Terry interesting is that he doesn't simply become another Bruce. He has to figure out what Batman looks like when the person underneath the mask is him.

Different worlds. Different characters. Same underlying question:

How much does where we came from get to decide where we go next?

That’s what we walked away thinking about after Notorious Ninja. Not the ninja fights or even the mystery surrounding the two clans, but Renji standing between the person his family expects him to be and the person he was already becoming.

Maybe our past gives us the pieces.

What we build with them is up to us.

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