The Webcomic Watchman

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Review #9: While We're Talking About Ninjas...

Title: The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
Artist: Chris Hastings (with inking done by Kent Archer)
Collective: None Now with Dayfree Press
Genre: Comedy/Action
Updates: Mon-Wed-Fri
Link: http://www.drmcninja.com/index.html

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

"Oh great, another fucking ninja comic! Lemme guess, is this the one where a bunch of kids get together to save the world from the slowly escalating power of evil over the course of several enlightening adventures?"

"No."

Hold on, a manga about some douche wanting to avenge his former master who got killed cuz he's a pussy?

"No. And you're thinking of Frank Miller's Ronin."

"So what's original about this strip?"

"He's a doctor. He knows science."

"Oh really? Then explain how he can be fighting old-fashioned pirates with a portable electric system, wrangling velociraptors, and turn frozen shamrocks into makeshift shuriken? This shit isn't scientifically possible!"

"Michael Crichton would say otherwise."

"The same guy who created State of Fear, a fictional book that Republican politicians cite as proof that global warming is bullshit despite several years worth of research by actual scientists?"

"I didn't say he was right, I just said he'd disagree with you."

"Whatever. Why is this dude named Dr. McNinja anyways?"

"Chris claims that he used the character in some forum battle over on the Something Awful forums, and he somehow transplanted the idea over its own comic."

"Okay, you've got 30 seconds to show me what's original in this comic."

"You just said it a moment ago."

"What?"

"It has a ninja doctor who fights pirates, velociraptors, Paul Bunyan, stereotypical Mexicans, and plenty of more crazy characters like that."

"Fuck that! I can just read Plotless Violence! Screw you, Doctor Haus!"

(insert door-slamming sound)

"Hey! You forgot your Viagra perscription!"

Art: 4/5 (Nice inking, but the backgrounds are a tad inconsistent)
Story: 3/5 (Well, the story of Dr. McNinja being a descendant of Irish ninjas is a bit hokey, even if it is funny. Oh, and if you haven't read the comic yet, don't read that last sentence)
Humor: 3.5/5 (Pretty good, but some of the jokes are predictible [i.e. the "Ninja vs. Pirate arc])
Action: 4/5 (Whether he's throwing a clipboard at a Mexican on a raptor or slicing a pirate in the shoulder with a frozen shamrock, the action looks pretty sweet.)
Characters: 2/5 (Outside of the McNinja family, most of the characters are little more than fodder)
Overall (not an average): 7/10
Evil Stuff: Plenty of cartoon violence and blood.
Final Thoughts: Initially, it's one of the funniest comics on the Internet. However, the humor slows down a little as you progress through the strips. Still, this comic is bookmark-worthy.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

"Where Are They Now?" #1: Guns, Swords, and old-school stabbing.

As a special edition to The Webcomic Watchman, I've decided to also showcase a webcomic that I thought was very awesome, yet has disappeared. Unless I can think of a better title, I'm calling this the "Where Are They Now?" review section.

Ninjastyle strip #9

Today, we look at one that might've been, yet never truly was. It was called Ninjastyle, drawn by Jet Paine (likely a psuedonym, though I never really bothered to ask). With the 20 strips it had, it featured a very detailed, late-1800's Japan where a cowboy from Texas (you know, that place in the USA) had come to meet with someone for a reason that would be revealed later. The cowboy gets attacked by ninjas with masks, and then saved by not-evil ninjas. Then the story switched to a day of training that went awry as one of the trainees had an attack of conscience and helped free a prisoner only to find out she was decieved. That's kinda where it ended. The comic had a nice Samurai Champloo feel to it, and I really wanted to see more, but alas, it was not meant to be.

Happy Mercenary Co.

Jet decided to focus more on his one-shot gag strip that he called The Happy Mercenary Co. It featured references to life, movies, and whatever else popped up at the time. The last strip I think he made for this one was a comment about that crappy horror movie, The Cave. After that, he simply disappeared, and the domain www.happymercenary.com followed soon after.

Where is Jet now? We may never know, but hopefully he'll come back and continue his amazing artwork for Ninjastyle one day...

UPDATE: I just checked out the above URL for the hell of it, and the site seems to be back up! Perhaps Jet is planning to make a comeback? Further news as bulletins warrant...


UPDATE #2: I haven't seen any action in awhile. If I can dig up this guy's E-Mail, maybe I'll have a more definitive answer.