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WEBCOMIC OF THE WEEK: JULY 7 | | A look at the comics you should be reading this side of the internet! This week: Robots and Ninjas and Air Pirates, Oh My! | | | By Steve Sunu and Anne McNally | | Posted 7/07/2008 | |  | | The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
by Chris Hastings
Updates: Monday – Wednesday – Friday
You wait nervously outside the doctor's office, dreading a shot or a cold stethoscope against your back. The nurse (a gorilla, but you didn't want to say anything for fear she'd be offended) calls you inside, and grunts at you until you sit. A thermometer suddenly appears under your tongue, and your masked doctor emerges from the shadows and grabs your throat to take your pulse. Instead of testing your reflexes with a rubber mallet, he tests them by throwing shuriken at you and seeing how many you dodge. After it's over, he offers you a poison lollipop, pats you on the head and sends you on your way. You buckle into the back of your minivan, grateful to have survived another appointment with Dr. McNinja.
Yes, it is as cool as it sounds. The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, the ongoing webcomic by Chris Hastings, is everything you want from a comic. Dr. McNinja and his sidekick, the mustached Gordito, must defend their town against pirates, dinosaurs, ghost wizards, lumberjacks and zombies! Plus, he's got family troubles on the side—the McNinjas are disappointed in their son for going to medical school, and constantly try to kill him as a result. It's a hilarious look at the action-packed life of a simple ninja who just wants to help people.
Wizard had a chance to talk to creator Chris Hastings on the birth of Dr. McNinja, and what he's got planned next.
| |  WIZARD UNIVERSE: How did you get the idea for Dr. McNinja?
CHRIS HASTINGS: I was signing up for Something Awful web forums, and I wanted to come up with a new Internet name for myself to sign my work with. I made a list of stuff I liked that I might combine into a name, such as ninjas, monkeys, and Chicken McNuggets… I was this close to being Dr. McNuggets, but at the last second fate intervened and it became Dr. McNinja. I then photoshopped up a picture of a doctor wearing a ninja mask to use as my avatar. At the time, there were these forum drawing fights, in which each person would draw his or her avatar, and then people would go back and forth drawing them all fighting each other. It was a lot of fun! And that was the first time I actually drew Dr. McNinja, and I realized I had a comic character on my hands.
Why did you decide to do it on the web?
HASTINGS: I submitted Dr. McNinja to some small press comic publishers, but none of them bit. I just wanted to get it out there. I was already a fan of a number of webcomics like PvP, Diesel Sweeties, and Dinosaur Comics, so I took a look at how they did it, and worked out how to adapt the long stories into a serialized webcomic.
Where do you get the ideas for your stories?
HASTINGS: Initially I was just thinking about what sort of things would happen in a world where a doctor could also be a ninja. From thinking up the answer to that question, a sort of bizarre logic began to form that has become the backbone for the comic. Beyond that, I get ideas the same way anybody else does… they just show up.
What's the response been like from fans?
HASTINGS: My readership grew very large, very fast. I think I may have just stumbled on to a mix of action and comedy and fun weird stuff that people had a hankerin' for. I have very good fans who write me nice letters, and just recently a very talented lady sent me a pint glass that she hand-etched Dr. McNinja on!
What do you think is the most important thing about webcomics?
HASTINGS: The Internet has become the distribution model to kill all distribution models. The most important thing about webcomics is that people are reading comics they would never have read before the internet, just because they wouldn't have known it was out there!
What do you have planned for the McNinjas next?
HASTINGS: This month I'm wrapping up a story line that took over a year to tell. So I'm going to let myself do some of the shorter stories I've thought up. I've also got a site redesign that should be done sometime this month, so I'm pretty excited about that
Click here to check out The Adventures of Dr. McNinja and check back next week for more free webcomicy goodness! | | | | | | | | |
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