The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja is a webcomic written and drawn by Christopher Hastings, and inked formerly by Kent Archer and after 2010 by Hastings himself. Published three times a week on its own website, it features the fictional adventures of a character named Dr. McNinja, a thirty-five-year-old doctor who is also a ninja. Dr. McNinja is highly story-driven, with twenty- to ninety-page issues. The first story was published in the summer of 2004 as a one-off, and the comic was published regularly from 2005 to 2017.

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
Author(s)Christopher Hastings, inked by Christopher Hastings (2010–2017), formerly inked by Kent Archer (2006–2010), colored by Carly Monardo (2008–2009), colored by Anthony "Nedroid" Clark (2009–2017)
Websitehttp://www.drmcninja.com/
Current status/scheduleCompleted
Launch dateAugust 3, 2004: Issue 1/2
End dateJanuary 19, 2017: The End: Part 2
Publisher(s)Raptor Bandit Industries
Genre(s)Action, comedy, superhero

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja is a member of Dayfree Press.

History

In 2003, when Chris Hastings was a forum member of Something Awful Forums, his screen name was "Dr. McNinja". During a drawing contest involving a characterization of user screen names, Hastings drew an image of Dr. McNinja behind his desk with a sword on his wall and a speech bubble reading, "Should anyone need the services of a ninja or a doctor, my office is always open."[1] Shortly afterward, Chris made a full-length comic about McNinja for an art class.[2]

Strips were presented in a high contrast black-and-white, and then for a period of time were shaded digitally. Starting on 11 August 2008, comics began to be drawn in full color, provided by Carly Monardo. On February 9, 2009, Monardo stepped down to focus on her job on The Venture Bros., and Anthony "Nedroid" Clark replaced Monardo.[3]

List of characters
A cosplayer as Dr. McNinja

McNinja family and associates
Dr. Patrick McNinja
A cliché ninja as well as a practicing medical doctor whose medical expertise ranges from general medicine to podiatry and dentistry. He is usually seen wearing slacks, a button-down shirt and tie, a lab coat, a ninja mask, and a stethoscope around his neck. He is 35 years old.[4] Though Dr. McNinja's full face is never seen, he has blue eyes and auburn eyebrows.
Gordito Delgado
A 12-year-old Mexican boy whom Dr. McNinja took on as a sidekick at the end of the third storyline. His last name, Delgado, was revealed on his grave stone on Hastings' April Fool's page. His first name means "little fatty" in Spanish, while the last name is the Spanish adjective for "thin" (Making his name an oxymoron).
Judy
A large gorilla and Dr. McNinja's secretary and receptionist. She is extremely strong and possesses intelligence comparable to a human; she cannot speak, but she can not only understand spoken English but also read and write and even perform emergency first aid and blood transfusions. She can also communicate with sign language and operate machinery.
Yoshi
Dr. McNinja's Velociraptor, named after the Nintendo character Yoshi. Yoshi can be more accurately described as a Deinonychus, and should be portrayed with feathers, but Chris Hastings has stated in the alt-text of "There is a Raptor in My Office" on page 7 that this confuses his brain and he is just going by the Jurassic Park version.
Dan McNinja
Dr. McNinja's father, an Irish-American ninja who is disappointed by his son's choice to be a doctor.
Mitzi McNinja
Dr. McNinja's mother, a Jewish-American "convert" to the McNinja clan who strongly disapproves of her son's choice to be a doctor.
Sean "Dark Smoke Puncher" McNinja
Dr. McNinja's younger brother, named after the author's brother, Sean Hastings.
Old McNinja
One of many clones of Dr. McNinja created by Ben Franklin II. He became a farmer and expert in agricultural science.

Antagonists
Donald McBonald
An evil mime who owns a fast-food empire and is similar to Ronald McDonald in appearance but with blue hair and thinner red makeup. Initially, Hastings actually used the famous character, but as the comic became more popular he retroactively altered the character's name and appearance to avoid any future copyright issues.[5]
Frans Rayner
An enemy of Dr. McNinja who appears to be inspired by parodies of Michael Dudikoff – especially the American Ninja movies – and Jean-Claude Van Damme in movies such as Bloodsport.
Dr. Knickerbockers
A dwarf scientist who works for Frans Rayner.
Dracula
An old Transylvanian vampire and an homage to Count Dracula.
Hortense
Dr. McNinja's athletic redheaded ninja ex-girlfriend from college.
King Radical
Formerly Sir Sicknasty of Spades and Chuck Goodrich, a crime boss that dresses in a style similar to a stereotypical king, the Burger King mascot, or the Joker on a playing card.
Sparklelord
An evil unicorn and King Radical's primary antagonist.
Nasaghasts
Astronauts who have been exposed to "space radiation." They have the physical properties of astronauts surrounded by black smoke that follows them wherever they go. They can also use this smoke to change their size and form, indicating that they can make the smoke solid or gaseous at will. Inside their helmet is a floating skull which is capable of movement. Nasaghasts communicate telepathically.

Other
Benjamin Franklin II
A clone of Benjamin Franklin who taught Dr. McNinja various schools of medicine.
Death
The personification of "death", a skeleton in a maître d’ outfit.
Martin Monster
Attended the same college as Dr. McNinja, was his superhero teammate, and is the owner of a series of supermarkets. He can transform between the forms of human and monster, much like The Incredible Hulk. Stress causes his transformation to become unstable, eventually leaving him stuck partially-transformed between human and monster. Upon becoming truly enraged, his monster form is significantly larger and more powerful.
Chuck Goodrich
A former astronaut, the mayor of Cumberland, and a time traveler.
Dr. McLuchador
Has a similar appearance to Doctor McNinja, save that his tie is golden-colored yellow, and he wears a yellow Luchadore-style mask. He also appears somewhat burlier, has a swarthier complexion, brown eyes and black eyebrows.

In print

The first three volumes of Dr. McNinja are published and sold online by TopatoCo. Dark Horse Comics took over publishing beginning with the fourth volume,[6] although Dark Horse numbers their volumes of the series as Vol. 1, Vol. 2, etc. All of the printed comics include comics not available on the Dr. McNinja website.

  • Volume 1, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, contains the first three issues Meet the Doctor and his Friendly Staff, So what is a McNinja?, and There is a Raptor in My Office, as well as some bonus material including a comic created for .Net Magazine and alt text for Meet the Doctor and his Friendly Staff, not present in the original web version.
  • Volume 2, Dr. McNinja: Surgical Strike, contains parts one and two of D.A.R.E. To Resist Ninja Drugs and Ninja Violence, with bonus comic Black Ninja White Ninja.
  • Volume 3, Operation Dracula! From Outer Space, contains the issues Revenge of the Hundred Dead Ninja, I Told You That Story so I Could Tell You This One, Spooky Stuff, and Punch Dracula, with bonus comic A Death in the Family.
  • Volume 4, Night Powers, contains Monster Mart, Death Volley, and Doc gets Rad, with bonus comic Beyond Winter Wonderdome.
  • Volume 5, Timefist, contains Army of One, Judy Gets a Kitten, Space Savers, Future Trading, and includes the Axe Cop crossover with the Nicolle brothers, Stolen Pizza, Stolen Lives.
  • Volume 6, King Radical, contains AWOL MD, A Cumberland Ninja in King Radical's Court, All the King's Dirtbikes and All the King's Men, and a bonus new prologue comic.

Awards

Dr. McNinja won the 2007 Web Cartoonist's Choice Award for Outstanding Superhero / Action Comic.[7]

Cameos

Dr. McNinja has been featured in a few other webcomics, examples of which are listed below:

  • Bunny – February 3, 2006 (here[8]) –The comic depicts a bunny in Dr. McNinja garb with the caption "The Adventures of Dentist MacNinjaBunny."
  • Shortpacked! – August 31, 2006 (here[9]) – Dr. McNinja is shown in a single-frame reference to "Filthy Cartoonists." The reference indicates that Dr. McNinja is an exception to "those who pose as ninja."
  • EddEgg – July 12, 2006 (here[10]) – In the eighth frame, the artist has a list of potential comic ideas. One of the ideas is "A doctor who is also a ninja".
  • Hookie Dookie Panic – #112 (here [11]) – Dr. McNinja is seen in the background with wide eyes as Wilcow is in a fight with a mysterious fighter.
  • Overcompensating – Multiple (here,[12] here,[13] and here[14]) – Several references to Dr. McNinja and author Chris Hastings.
  • Bigger Than Cheeses – #737 (here[15] – One shot image of Dr. McNinja in a group of webcomics characters. He also made a cameo on #793 (here [16]) like in the previous cameo, he is shown with other webcomic characters.
  • Diesel Sweeties – #2133 (here[17]) – Zoha tells Dr. McNinja what it's like to be a Muslim on Halloween.
  • I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space – (here[18]) – A special one-story arc called The Search for the Fourth Wall features Dr. McNinja.
  • Least I Could Do – DrMcninja appears in the April 10th, 2009 comic,[19] along with a variety of other webcomic characters.
  • Flaky Pastry – #153 (here[20]) – The Neighbour is dressed as Dr. McNinja for Halloween.
  • Dr. McNinja also appeared on CBS's How I Met Your Mother on the second episode of the sixth season as a poster in the back of Barney Stinson's room.
  • Dr. McNinja also appears in the special features of the movie Ninja Assassin in the history of the ninja segment.
  • Dracula, as drawn by Christopher Hastings, appears on the cover of the Halloween album "The Worst Music Dracula Ever Heard".[21]
  • Dr. McNinja had a crossover appearance with Axe Cop in "Stolen Pizza – Stolen Lives".
  • Dinosaur Comics featured a crossover with the "Futures Trading" storyline.[22]

Proposed video game

It was announced on April 11, 2012 that Christopher Hastings had entered into a partnership with Fat Cat Gameworks to create a video game based on the comic for mobile and web. Titled "Dr. McNinja's Radical Adventures", it was slated for release by July 2012. The project used the Kickstarter platform for funding, to avoid the need for a publisher.[23] However, the project never came to fruition due to financial issues.[24]

See also

References
  1. "What about the Adventures of Dr. McNinja?". Drmcninja.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  2. "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  3. Dr. Hastings  # 1:30 PM (2009-02-09). "The Adventures of Dr. McNews: Our new colorist, and Carly's goodbye". Drmcninja.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  4. "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
  5. "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 23p33". Drmcninja.com. 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-10-09. Retrieved 2010-09-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) 'The Adventures of Dr. McNinja' Comes to Dark Horse [NYCC]
  7. "Outstanding Superhero/Action Comic". ryanestrada.com. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
  8. "bunny plagiarism theatre (# 513) – Bunny". Frozenreality.co.uk. 2009-07-14. Archived from the original on 2009-06-28. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  9. "Shortpacked! webcomic by David Willis – Toys Are Serious Business". Shortpacked.com. 2006-08-31. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  10. Eddie Bowley. "Edd Egg by Eddie Bowley – We're Greatastic". Bolloxcomics.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2007-10-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "The Journal Comic With a Seething Disdain for Reality". Overcompensating. 2007-08-17. Archived from the original on 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  13. "The Journal Comic With a Seething Disdain for Reality". Overcompensating. 2007-08-20. Archived from the original on 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  14. "The Journal Comic With a Seething Disdain for Reality". Overcompensating. 2007-11-08. Archived from the original on 2010-01-12. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  15. )
  16. "793: Eight You Hear Me".
  17. "Diesel sweeties".
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-11-03. Retrieved 2009-11-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. "20090410".
  20. "Flaky Pastry - 153. Trickster's Treat".
  21. "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Christopher Hastings. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  22. "Dinosaur Comics".
  23. Fat Cat Gameworks (2012-04-07). "Dr. McNinja's Radical Adventures". Fat Cat Gameworks. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
  24. Fat Cat Gameworks (2015-12-10). "A Sincere Apology". Fat Cat Gameworks. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
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