Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, hot off the most talked about streamer news of the summer in his jump to Mixer, will be getting a graphic novel called Ninja: The Most Dangerous Game, created by comics veterans Justin Jordan and Felipe Magaña. Ninja is, by most counts, the most popular streamer and content creator in the world, having made his brand chiefly on Fortnite despite a notable career as a Halo pro player before he took a chance on the Epic Games title while it was still a niche hit rather than global phenomenon.
Ninja made his name on Twitch, where he streamed nearly every day and garnered millions of followers. This past summer, however, Ninja shocked the world when he announced he would be departing Twitch for an exclusive deal to stream on Microsoft’s Mixer streaming platform. Ninja’s deal was surprising because he was easily one of the biggest draws to Twitch at the time of his departure, and he has since brought millions of new viewers to Mixer. Since then, other popular streamers like shroud have followed Ninja to Mixer, while another of the most popular content creators in the world, CouRage, made the leap to YouTube Gaming.
Still, it was Ninja who broke ground on the new competitive landscape of streaming platforms, and it appears he’s set to do it again – this time in the world of graphic novels. According to the book page on PRH.com, Ten Speed Press will be releasing Ninja: The Most Dangerous Game on December 3, 2019. The graphic novel begins with the end of a “fateful stream” from Ninja where he is given a mysterious contraption that teleports him into an alternate universe, where he must save the world by competing in a real battle royale. It’s not surprising to see the graphic novel lean into the fact that Ninja is known for battle royale titles, but it’s still an interesting conceit that works hard to make sure streaming and what Ninja is generally known for take center stage.
It will be interesting to see how well the graphic novel performs, given that it’s such a vastly different medium than the one that Ninja is so prominent within. Still, Ninja’s brand has proven malleable in the past, with the content creator dancing on New Year’s Eve for millions of people or singing in disguise on a competition. It will also be interesting to see if publishers see this and, pending potential success, begin looking at other streamers for potential deals.
It’s also yet another encouraging development for streamers at large, though of course, it’s not surprising to see Ninja leading the charge. The more that content creators are able to branch out from the grind of streaming – which can be brutal, all-day affairs with virtually no days off – and into a world where they’re not always required to perform themselves, the healthier their workload will be. Even Ninja has acknowledged the grind involved in getting to where he is today, and being able to translate that into things like book deals and graphic novels helps insulate streamers from losing valuable income because they fall ill or need time away from their platforms, whether they be Twitch, YouTube Gaming, or Mixer.
