The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
Author(s) Chris Hastings, formerly inked by Kent Archer (2006-2010), inked by Christopher Hastings (2010-present) colored by Carly Monardo (2008-2009), colored by Anthony "Nedroid" Clark (2009-present)
Website http://www.drmcninja.com/
Current status / schedule Weekly: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Launch date August 3, 2004: Issue 1/2
Publisher(s) Raptor Bandit Industries
Genre(s) Action, comedy, superhero

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja is a webcomic written and drawn by Christopher Hastings, and inked formerly by Kent Archer and since 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 has been in regular publication since late 2005. The site also sells Dr. McNinja merchandise.

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

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 is slated for release by July 2012. The project is using the Kickstarter platform for funding, to avoid the need for a publisher.[1]

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."[2] Shortly afterward, Chris made a full-length comic about McNinja for an art class.[3]

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. Anthony "Nedroid" Clark was chosen to replace Monardo.[4]

Characters

Dr. Patrick McNinja

The eponymous character. His first name is never given until "The End,"[5] and could not be revealed without triggering the release of a powerful ghost wizard. When the ghost wizard attacked the young McNinja, his grandfather John McNinja sacrificed his grandson's name to imprison the wizard, the spell only lasting as long as Patrick's name remained known only to himself.[6] He is a cliché ninja, with the exception that he is a practicing medical doctor as well. He has amazing speed (fast enough to dodge bullets) and agility, plus superhuman strength (the latter of which is attributed to the fact that as a proficient doctor and ninja, he has supreme understanding and control of his own anatomy).[7] He studied under the clone of Benjamin Franklin in medical school,[8] and his medical expertise ranges from general medicine to podiatry and dentistry. In fact, he has a degree in virtually every field except agricultural science thanks to a cloning experiment during his college days with the help of his professor, Ben Franklin II. 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.[9]

While a skilled superhero, Dr. McNinja has several personality quirks. He desperately wants to be Batman[10] and has obsessively studied his movies, comics and TV shows to that effect[11] (despite this, his personality is rather more similar to Spider-Man in terms of lighthearted banter), even telling others he trained with Batman (which is patently false, even in the McNinja universe) and owning a pair of Batman pajamas. It is later shown that his parents introduced him to Batman as a child in order to foster enthusiasm for his training, which subsequently led to the doctor's attachment to vigilantism and perception of distinct good and evil sides, unlike most ninja. He is also highly sensitive to criticism by his parents, who are disappointed that their ninja son is also a doctor.[12] The fact that he is both a doctor and a ninja has also caused several problems for him, chiefly due to his twin obligations to heal and to kill.[13] He also has an intense hatred for pteranodons, having encountered members of the species on an isolated Pacific island,[14] and in an alternate future ruled by dinosaurs from space.[15]

Though Dr. McNinja's full face is never seen, he has blue eyes and auburn eyebrows – probably stemming from some combination of his Irish and Jewish ancestry, as his father Dan is of Irish descent and his mother Mitzi is a Jewish "convert" to the McNinja clan.

Donald McBonald

An evil mime who owns a fast-food empire. Possesses superpowers that allow him to actually apply the invisible things he mimes. Similar to Ronald McDonald in appearance, but blue-haired and with thinner, blood-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.[16]

Gordito Delgado

A 12-year-old Mexican boy whom Dr. McNinja took on as a sidekick at the end of the third storyline. He was able to grow a full moustache with sheer force of will due to his desire to become a "man", as he puts it. Normally, Gordito is the only person Yoshi lets ride him. He uses two revolvers and is an excellent shot. Gordito inherited his guns from his father, a circus performer who Gordito claims was killed by a P.E.T.A. assassin. He is also a decent hand-to-hand fighter, besting one of Dark Smoke Puncher's robots after using all of his bullets up.

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). In "The Dark Tower" series, which Gordito has quoted and is familiar with, one of the primary characters shares the surname Delgado.[17]

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. For example, when Dr. McNinja was possessed by a ghost, she successfully performed an exorcism with ciprofloxacin hydrochloride in a parody of a scene from The Exorcist. She transfused Dr. McNinja's blood soon after he was shot by several of Frans Rayner's ninja henchmen. She can also communicate with sign language, but Dr. McNinja cannot understand sign language and never knows what Judy is saying – though Benjamin Franklin's clone can, as he has apparently studied sign language. Judy is also seen to be able to drive a car and operate earthmoving equipment.

Benjamin Franklin II

A clone of the original. Some time ago he cheated death through cloning, earning the interest of Death himself, and has spent the intervening years attempting to cure death. Ben taught Dr. McNinja various schools of medicine, and considers him his best student. He was killed (again) by Frans Rayner's drug-enhanced ninja, but has returned to life thanks to his "Eternal Life Serum" which he ingested prior to his second death. However, as a side effect, bodies in graves near his returned to life as zombies, including the original Benjamin Franklin. The serum was apparently created in collaboration with Dracula, explaining the problems it has caused.

This serum gave Ben the blood of a Headless Horseman. He became required to ingest hair to prevent him from turning into a Headless Horseman, but on a flight to Transylvania, he ran out of hair to eat, and transformed into a Horseman, crashing the plane. He rode out of the plane wreck on the horse that was stalking him. He appears on the Moon after Dracula summons him to his Moon Base. Dracula questions Franklin about the afterlife, and becomes upset when Franklin reveals that he has only been to purgatory, "A restaurant with poor service...the worst." Dracula throws Franklin's head to earth, and Franklin is seen chasing after it. In the Epilogue Part II it is explained that, like all ghosts, a Headless Horsemen is bound to our realm by its last unfinished affairs. The last thing Benjamin Franklin II had been doing before he was killed by Franz Rayner's men was going to get pizza with Gordito so Dr. McNinja brings a pizza to the graveyard which transforms into Franklin's missing head. In Epilogue III, Benjamin Franklin II returned to the Purgatory restaurant with a resigned, but not altogether unhappy look on his face.

Yoshi

A Velociraptor who wrecked McNinja's office in a previous storyline. McNinja, upon finding out that similar raptors had riders, claimed the unconscious raptor for his own. He was named by Dr. McNinja after the Nintendo character Yoshi, since Yoshi serves as Mario's steed. Yoshi does not like having McNinja ride him. Gordito can ride him with no trouble, but Yoshi will only allow Dr. McNinja to ride him when Gordito is in danger.

Yoshi is also a valuable fighter. He has engaged Frans' drug ninja in a major battle and won. He also attacked the zombies roaming Dr. McNinja's hometown since dinosaurs are immune to zombies (see episode 5, page 28). He even single-handedly defeated the Raptor Force, the dinosaur president's elite bodyguard, in order to save the McNinja brothers. In this alternate timeline, Yoshi can speak, albeit in fragmented sentences.

He has served as comic relief several times, such as engaging in a battle with Judy over hot dogs (which Yoshi ate, despite Judy clearly marking them). He especially got in trouble when he nearly ate Judy's kitten named Ice Cream Cake.

Yoshi can be more accurately described as a Deinonychus or Utahraptor, 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, Dan McNinja, is an Irish-American ninja with an impressive moustache. He is very talented as a ninja, especially at hand-to-hand combat, but his conduct as a father is notably average – or below it, though he's generally better than his wife is. He is disappointed at his son's choice to be a doctor, but he isn't as hard on his son about it as his wife. At one point he took control of the American Ninja's Guild after defeating his rival Frans Rayner, winning over the other ninjas with the sheer power of his moustache alone.

He sometimes works with the FBI, as seen when he aided them in getting rid of a dangerous drug that gives people ninja-like abilities. He is a powerful ninja, perhaps the doctor's equal in combat, and uses bizarre tactics; one of his favorites is to set himself on fire so other people can't catch him. He can also, oddly, suck poison out of food with his body and store it in his eyes, where he shoots it out later, similar to a horned lizard's ability to shoot blood from its eyes (although Dan claims it is "like a toad"). He, his wife Mitzi, and their son 'Dark Smoke Puncher' live together in a house located deep in a cave.

Mitzi McNinja

Dr. McNinja's mother, Mitzi McNinja, is a Jewish-American "convert" to the McNinja clan. Like Dan, she is a ninja who disapproves of her son's choice to be a doctor- unlike Dan, she is exceptionally angry about it, and lets him know at every possible opportunity. Despite not being a ninja by birth (she was a normal assassin until she married into the McNinja clan), she is one of the best ninja in the family, and guards the entrance to their home. Every time Dr. McNinja wants to visit, he must either sneak past or fight her. Her ninja specialties are poisons – especially delivered secretly via pickled beets (though Gordito claims it is not such a secret, as the beets taste terrible) - and "precisely aimed demolitions" - for instance, early on in the series, she blew up a pirate boat in such a way that it was not only sunk to the bottom of the ocean but that the contents of its treasure hold fell on the McNinja family, standing on shore nearby.

Sean "Dark Smoke Puncher" McNinja

Dr. McNinja's younger brother, Sean McNinja, is named after the author's brother, Sean Hastings. His attire consists of a mix of ninja gear and modern gangster styles of clothing. Dr. McNinja openly mocks both his name and his poser-like ways, and even Dan admits that his skills are inferior to those of Dr. McNinja, though this is probably because he is younger. However, he is a genius with technology, especially robotics, his main ninja specialty and asset to the family. In Dr. McNinja's letter to Gordito after sending him near his parents place, he implies that the deadly robot animal guards that have been modified by Sean are more dangerous than the average deadly robot animal guard. He also uses technology to imitate magic like a "technomage" even creating a freeze ray. This is similar to Babylon 5 but Sean refuses to admit it. He recently confided to Gordito that his 'gangster' attitude is mostly a front, to hide his geeky interests. He is a fan of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.

In the Dinosaur Future timeline, Sean leads the human resistance with an adult Gordito and King Radical against the dinosaurs and takes the name "Dr. McNinja". When Doc asked if it was an homage to him, he angrily rebuked that it was because he was a Technomage. His suit contains an advanced holographic disguise and various weapons. He has a scar over his left eye and, initially, a deep resentment for his brother's failure to prevent the dinosaur takeover years before.

Frans Rayner

Frans Rayner is a former member of the Guild of American Ninja who quit and began a genocide of ninja (and made movies about it) after he lost leadership of the guild to Dan and his moustache. Frans later distributed a drug that gave people ninja powers in an extremely convoluted scheme to become President of the United States. He employs a dwarf scientist named Knickerbockers as well as numerous ninja who become ninja with his drug. He supposedly died when Dr. McNinja's anti-ninja drug stripped him of his powers and he got thrown off a cliff. He later returned and used cloning and the "Inverse Ninja Law" in attempt to kill Dr. McNinja.

He is one of Dr. McNinja's most deadly enemies as he is both an extremely skilled ninja, but also holds that ability to manipulate his organs and bones so only one part of it is weak (originally it was the center of his butt cheek.) He actually feared Dr. McNinja because he could find the weak point when other ninja couldn't. Later, after being thrown from a cliff, he gained a prosthetic rocket leg (and, having transferred it to the real leg prior to its amputation, removed his weak point) and a laser eye, but also a severe fear of death. He appears to be inspired by parodies of Michael Dudikoff – especially the American Ninja movies – and Jean-Claude Van Damme in movies such as Bloodsport. After cloning McNinja many times, Rayner and Knickerbockers now know what Dr. McNinja looks like.

Death

Portrayed as a skeleton with a pencil thin mustache and a maître d’ outfit, he brings people to purgatory, a restaurant with bad service (death is also the only waiter there and all of humanity is being served) where people eat their sins to cleanse them. Dr. McNinja seems to have gained the ability to see him after he refused to die.

Dracula

An old Transylvanian vampire who became bored with life and wishes to see what happens in the afterlife. However, unlike most versions of the famous vampire, this Dracula has a teleporter, a moon base, a moon laser, and a cure for cancer hidden on Mars. The moon base holds many of Dracula's treasures and science projects including baby Dracula, super Dracula, Hitler, the real Paul McCartney, the real Michael Jackson, Tupac, and Bruce Lee (whose final act of superhuman feats was jumping to the moon.)

Dracula funded Benjamin Franklin's experiments in an attempt to see what the afterlife holds and after that failed, attempted to kill Dr. McNinja (who has previously come back from the dead) and tell him what happened. He is apparently still on decent terms with Dr. McNinja as he didn't try to kill him with his moon laser when Dr. McNinja sat outside and wrote "We Cool?" with giant letters and answered his call for help in the alternate timeline.

Martin Monster

The owner of a series of supermarkets who attended the same college as Dr. McNinja and was part of the same superhero team. Dr. McNinja hated him early in the comic because Marty revealed the team's secret identities in a trick to discover who they actually were (and the action figure contract was for figures with removable masks.) He eventually came to Dr. McNinja to get help when he had trouble transforming between his human and monster forms. It was revealed that his stupidity in monster form is what caused him to reveal his team's secret identities and also caused him to become indebted to the Cumberland mafia. With Dr. McNinja's help he is freed from the mafia and regains his control over his transformations.

He has the ability to change into a giant purple ogre, reminiscent of The Incredible Hulk. His powers are a result of his father's attempts to cure his own paralysis (which failed) and relies on high emotionality to transform. (His father can transform into an ogre-like creature, but remains paralyzed.) He becomes a very stupid, overly-emotional brute when transformed. 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.

King Radical

"The most radical man in the Radical Land", formerly Sir Sicknasty of Spades before his ascension to royalty, formerly Chuck Goodrich before being knighted. A crime boss that dresses in a style similar to a stereotypical king, the Burger king, or even the Bicycle Playing card Joker with sunglasses and tattoos on his fingers that read "MOST RAD." He is the head of the Cumberland Mafia, and has invoked Dr. McNinja's ire by blowing his office up as retribution for his refusal to treat one of Radical's thugs (who had been impaled by a swordfish). In a secret epilogue page, it is discovered that he had also hired one of McNinja's ex-girlfriends to sabotage his most recent mission and secure for him a book detailing highly advanced technology. In an ironic twist, despite antagonising McNinja and fulfilling the basic role of an nemesis, Radical is arguably not a villain as all his activities are intentionally beneficial to Cumberland and in the dinosaur takeover future he leads the resistance forces with Gordito and Sean McNinja. However, since his operations are performed illegally (and since he blew up McNinja's office and has repeatedly taunted him), McNinja persists in trying to defeat him and take down his operations. Though King Radical's intentions have usually been on the right side, Dr. Mcninja distrusts him and his intentions and both future and present King Radical have admitted at a hidden agenda Dr. McNinja would not approve of. He has recently revealed to Dr McNinja (in the guise of Dr McLuchador) that he is both a time traveler and from an alternate universe. He founded the ancient Inocktek civilization, granted them several highly advanced technologies, and apparently invented pizza, basketball, skateboarding, jet skis and tennis. Radical claims they are pale imitations of the technology and culture of his original universe, The Radical Land, and that his goal is to make this universe a more 'comfortable' place to live by introducing as much Radical technology and culture as possible. It is eventually revealed that he is the Radical Lands' counterpart of Chuck Goodrich and was known as such before becoming Sir Sicknasty of Spades.

Hortense

Dr. McNinja's ex-girlfriend from college - an athletic redhead, and antihero type, also a ninja, of high skill and caliber. Rather less inclined to moral dilemmas than Dr. McNinja, she has no compunctions about killing - so Dan and Mitzi both view her as one of the family, of course. They want so much for her to get back together with their son that when she was seemingly hired to unwittingly stop Dr. McNinja from saving the world, both McNinja and Hortense assumed it was some ploy by Dan and Mitzi to get them back together. It was revealed that she actually was hired by King Radical to replace a book full of ancient technology with a useless substitute. She eventually gets together with Old McNinja (Dr. McNinja's clone, a farmer, and not actually old — the name is a pun) instead, when both are working for Radical.

Chuck Goodrich

The mayor of Cumberland, plays an integral role after he is introduced during the Zombie plague. He is a former astronaut, and devised a zombie-defense plan long before zombies were proven to exist. This is because he is actually a time traveler, and came from a future where zombies have taken over. Even after the zombies are defeated, more versions of Chuck start popping up from alternate apocalypses; one comes from a future where Dinosaurs have taken over Earth. This Chuck works alongside Doc to prevent this alternate timeline, but ends up dying at the end of the story. The original Chuck goes into hiding when a demon samurai starts hunting him, causing a hobo to take over his position through an obscure legal act.

Nasaghasts

These are the result of a NASA mission gone horribly wrong. The Nintendo 64 mission (named by a fourth grader) exploded in flight, and exposed the astronaut to "space radiation". The astronauts turned in to the Nasaghasts and now protect all astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center. 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, and use that communication multiple times with Chuck Goodrich. All but one of the Nasaghasts were killed by Dr. McNinja.

Dr. McLuchador

An old foe of McNinja's, McLuchador's methods of healing, while apparently eventually effective, involve forms of extreme, combative therapy, and often considerable amounts of pain to the patient before the cure is enacted. Before the events of the comic, McLuchador and McNinja battled and McLuchador was defeated. Rather than humiliate his foe by unmasking him, McNinja banished McLuchador from Cumberland and took his patients for his own practice, filling McLuchador with resentment. Years later, he apparently returned when McNinja was missing and presumed dead to reclaim his former patients and McNinja's as well. The current incarnation of Dr. McLuchador was revealed to be a ruse by Dr. McNinja himself as an attempt to infiltrate King Radical's organization. According to McNinja, the real McLuchador died in obscurity some time previous, but that has not been verified. In an earlier scene, McNinja and McLuchador appeared to encounter one another in a hospital room, and engaged in a brief fight that ended with McLuchador being thrown out the window. This originally cast doubt on McNinja's claims, but he later explains that the "McLuchador" of this scene was McNinja in disguise, while the "McNinja" of this scene was actually Chuck Goodrich wearing McNinja's attire. King Radical, who at the time was tracking down McNinja's former enemies (including McLuchador), was led to believe that both McNinja and McLuchador were alive. King Radical, expecting McNinja to continue to operate against McLuchador, declined to act further, opening the door for McNinja's infiltration.

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. He speaks in an overly-dramatic manner, and is prone to extreme moods and outbursts of violent emotion. His over-the-top style and obvious combat skill, however, managed to impress King Radical, who has observed McLuchador's methods while attempting to track the missing Dr. McNinja.

Old McNinja

In order to obtain expertise in virtually every field, Dr. McNinja subjected himself to a cloning experiment run by Ben Franklin II, in which many clones were made of him, instructed to master a specific area of science, and return in eight years to be recombined into the original. Though the experiment was successful, chrononaut Chuck Goodrich appeared and managed to disrupt the experiment causing an explosion. One of the clones, who had become an expert in agricultural science, returned late and, upon viewing the mayhem, disappeared. Calling himself "Old McNinja" as he is a farmer, Old lived for years on a farm before being captured by Frans Rayner, who used him in his second plot against Dr. McNinja. Old disappeared after Rayner was defeated again, and it is said that he is more skilled at stealth than most ninja. Recently, it has been revealed that Old is working for King Radical. Dr. McNinja has stated multiple times that he hates the name "Old McNinja".

Dr. Knickerbockers

A dwarf scientist who works for Frans Rayner, Knickerbockers attempted to surgically remove Gordito's mustache and determine its root in order to provide Rayner with the same ability. He is also the creator of the genetic experiment Mongo, a massive "uber-ninja" who uses chainsaw nunchaku. After Rayner's defeat, Knickerbockers fled with Mongo and lived in hiding until crossing paths with the missing Old McNinja clone.

Sparklelord

An evil unicorn, King Radical's primary antagonist and the destroyer of the Radical Lands, described as "like Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Atomic Bombs, and Seabiscuit all in one". Sparklelord was formerly the knight Sir Hellacious of Hearts, but betrayed the previous king and the Radical lands out of revenge for the invasion of his forest. By the time King Radical arrives in Cumberland, Sparklelord successfully devastates the Radical Lands, though he too is exiled in the time portal and is warped into a motorcycle, as it is the only form the prime universe can handle. He tries to convince Dr. McNinja to kill King Radical, but Gordito convinces Doc that Sparklelord is evil. McNinja throws Sparklelord back into the time portal, where he's forever trapped in a time loop.

Universe

Dr. McNinja exists in a universe which is in between our world and the Radical Lands of the King Radical character. Where the Radical Lands are nigh incomprehensible in their sheer awesomeness, the world in which Dr. McNinja resides is equal parts mundane and incredible. This leads to the existence of medical doctors...who are also ninjas; crazy ex-girlfriends...who are also competent mercenary assassins; and secretaries...that are also bazooka wielding gorillas. The running theme of duality in the comic's story is interwoven in the very nature of his world.

Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu

Cliches from old fighting movies are akin to laws of nature when it comes to fights involving ninjas. As according to the "inverse ninja law" one ninja is an unstoppable force, whilst a horde of ninjas is just cannon fodder for one heroic foe. One of the series' recurring villains, the 80's-movie martial artist Frans Reyner uses this to his advantage when releasing a horde of Dr. McNinja clones to make the original a faceless and easily beatable 'stormtrooper' in the crowd. The advantage is cancelled out when Dr. McNinja conforms to the trope laws and pairs up with Frans (against the villain's will) to form a dynamic fighting duo. This allows Dr. McNinja to survive (by killing his own clones) until only he and Frans are left, which again makes him an individual ninja and thus unbeatable.[18]

Multiple timelines

Characters are on several occasions sent back into time in order to fix a problem of the present by going to its roots in the past. It is, however, not possible to alter the future the time-traveller is sent from. If the time-traveller succeeds in altering the course of history, an alternative timeline will instead branch off from the point where the problem is "fixed", and its future exists in parallel to the home timeline of the time-traveller.[19]

Mustache of Authority

Certain individuals manage to grow impressive mustaches through sheer force of will. Examples include Gordito Delgado (who grew it at age twelve, no less) and the doctor's father Dan. The commands of such people are uncommonly hard to resist. Frans Rayner, the martial arts guru, has been trying to understand the secret of the mustache after Dan McNinja beat him to the leadership of their old dojo partially through the commanding power of his impressive mustache.[20]

Paul Bunyan's Disease

The doctor is frequently called out to cure children afflicted with this nefarious disease which causes people to transform in to skyrise-high, raging lumberjacks. A key challenge of the doctor is to cure the children before they are hunted down by poachers who stuff them and sell their corpses to roadside taverns, gasoline stations and amusement parks. The cure has the unfortunate side of making the patient unable to ever grow facial hair. The doctor possesses a serum which re-triggers the disease, and he on one occasion uses this to raise an army of giants.[21]

Pirates versus Ninjas

In the Dr. McNinja universe, this is a real and ongoing conflict which dates back to the formation of the McNinja clan. Their village was attacked by pirates, but they resisted by demonstrating a genetic predisposition to ninjutsu through their fighting style and by instinctively picking up frozen shamrocks to apply them as shurikens. A passing ninja observed this, and taught them the arts of ninjutsu.[22]

Purgatory

Purgatory is a real, existing place which we see several characters be transported to. Upon dying, one is met by Death, who escorts one to a table in an infinitely big restaurant with exceptionally slow service (there is only one waiter, and all of humanity is being served). The menues are individual and consist of eating one's venial sins.[23]

The existence of dinosaurs

In the McNinja universe dinosaurs are not extinct, but still alive and thriving on a remote island owned by Rupert Murdoch[24] and a deserted, Pacific island housing the ruins of an old Amerindian civilization.[14] Also, when Earth was hit by the meteor that killed off most of the original dinosaur population, some of them were flung into space and exposed to "space radiation" which allowed them to live until they crashlanded on another planet, and develop human-level intelligence.[25] There are at least two timelines where the dinosaurs have returned to Earth and subjugated the human race, having become infuriated by our usage of fossil fuels.

Parallel universes

Besides the prime universe, there are apparently others, referred to variously as parallel universes, alternate realities, and different dimensional planes. The most prominent of these is the "Radical Land" where King Radical, Sparklelord and Ron Wizard are from. Elements of the Radical universe are implied to be on some greater form of existence, and that they cannot be replicated or comprehended in the prime universe. When brought from the Radicalverse into the prime, they become a "pale imitation" of their former existence, as they manifest as the closest approximation of themselves in the prime reality. King Radical has lamented that he cannot fully remember parts of his home, and that when he attempts to re-create or even describe them, they too are lessened by the prime universe. One other universe has been mentioned, an extremely dull universe which influences the prime universe as much as the Radicalverse does. King Radical has stated that he believes that the prime universe, with its time-dimension portal, is the result of a collision between the two. Travel between realities is possible through the pink time-dimension portal in the caves below Cumberland, though it is extremely unstable, making it ineffectual to use for travel.

Story arcs

Dr. McNinja's story has many absurd plot twists, and often makes allusions to outside works, most prominently Dr. McNinja's quote of "What would Batman do?" Starting with "So What Is A McNinja?", each page also uses alt text to add background information and in-jokes, such as the author comparing the comic's visual style to Frank Miller's comic Sin City. There are also text boxes marked "Ed" that give occasional comics and reference past storylines.

Dr. McNinja vs. McBonald's

Dr. McNinja must face off against McBonald's, which happens to be a corporation of robot workers run by evil mime Donald McBonald. McBonald releases a new product, the McNinja burger, which contains large amounts of methane and nitrogen, since a corporate advisor mentions that "kids like farts.....and ninjas." Naturally, the product offends Dr McNinja, who hunts out McDonald at a local McBonald's filled with "Burger Zombies" and the McBonald's robot workers. McNinja finally enters a showdown in McDonald's "Final Boss Lair". After the clown stops McNinja's ninja stars with a mime shield, McNinja has "no problem fighting fire with fire" with a mime rocket launcher. Despite being written and presented first, the website urges readers not to read this story first and instead, to read the first two "official" issues before reading this one.

Chris Hastings later edited the trademarked names and logos, which he originally used, to avoid legal issues. "McDonald's" was changed to "McBonald's", "Big Mac" to "Big Mike", and the iconic golden arches logo was edited to include a rounded "B".

Meet the Doctor and His Friendly Staff

The first official comic: Dr. McNinja is called upon to investigate a young boy's illness. The boy, whose condition causes him to frequently vomit large amounts of maple syrup, is soon diagnosed as Paul Bunyan's Disease. The boy then turns into a giant lumberjack and bursts through the ceiling, enraged at how many trees stand within the area. Dr. McNinja infiltrates a facility (rather violently) to get a lotion that removes the lumberjack facial hair permanently, thus returning him to normal. Judy also fights off a group of poachers that hunt giant lumberjacks for a living. Ten years later, the former patient's girlfriend leaves him due to his inability to grow a beard, and he swears revenge on McNinja.

So What Is a McNinja?

Dr. McNinja returns home for "Katanakka" (a Ninja holiday celebrated on the same day as Thanksgiving so "that we still get the day off"). After a heated discussion with his mother and father, McNinja storms out and (after getting drunk) betrays his family to a crew of pirates. After sobering up and revelation through hallucination, Dr. McNinja storms off again to save his family and restore his own honor at the same time.

There Is a Raptor in My Office

Dr. McNinja comes to work and finds that a Velociraptor has wrecked his office. A trio of raptor-riding banditos attack Dr. McNinja in order to try to get their raptor back, but are foiled and retreat. The following day, Dr. McNinja gets an anonymous tip on Myspace, and follows the leads to a self-obsessed villain the riders dubbed "Ab Man," upon whom they have sworn vengeance for "stealing their leader's internet girlfriend". Dr. McNinja assists them. They find "Ab Man" at a warehouse filled the McNinja burgers that he uses to power his organic jetpack. Battle ensues, but a mysterious third party shooter, who is actually the weather reporter shown earlier in the story arc, claims the final shot. Afterwards, the riders depart as promised, but leave Gordito in McNinja's care.

D.A.R.E to Resist Ninja Drugs and Ninja Violence

A two-issue story involving a drug that heightens one's ninja skills, the McNinja family's attempts to handle the situation, Dr. McNinja's training of Gordito, a clone of Benjamin Franklin who is working to make eternal life medically possible, and an evil Danish martial arts film star named Frans Rayner. Twenty years ago, Rayner fought Dan McNinja for leadership of the American Ninja Guild and almost won, until a young Doc determined Rayner's weak spot. Now, Rayner is plotting to kill Dr. McNinja with the aid of his midget henchman, Knickerbockers, in hopes of baiting McNinja's father into the open. The goons succeeded in dispatching both Dr. McNinja and Benjamin Franklin, resulting in Dr. McNinja splitting into two different spirits (one for his ninja half and one for his doctor half). However, when Death came to claim their souls, the two work together to dispatch Death and reunite in their old body.

The second half of this storyline involves Dr. McNinja's return to life and mission to get revenge against Rayner and his ninja minions. Teaming up with his father (who is disguised as a pirate to evade detection) Dr. McNinja synthesizes a drug to temporarily rob ninja of their abilities, and launches an attack on Rayner's mansion. The entire story is an homage to 80's action movies. Specifically, 80's films that involved ninjas as disposable enemies, as this is referred to as "The Ninja Holocaust of 1980", which Rayner was responsible for.

Revenge of the Hundred Dead Ninja

Focused around the consequences of the events in D.A.R.E. It is a spoof and homage to horror films with an opening sequence that parodies the video clip to Michael Jackson's Thriller. It's also revealed that Dr. McNinja's home city is Cumberland, Maryland,[26] and has an anti-zombie defense system which was put in place by Dr. McNinja and Mayor Chuck Goodrich.

I Told You That Story So I Could Tell You This One

While Gordito is sent away to train with Dr. McNinja's family, Dr. McNinja continues to search out the cause of the zombie outbreak. Also, a superhero called Beeman is shot to death and ends up in Purgatory where he has a conversation with the deceased Ben Franklin.

Here, we learn that Ben completed (at least with enough confidence to ingest it) his eternal life serum, and Dr. McNinja digs up Ben's grave to pull a very thirsty resurrected Franklin from his coffin. Currently, Ben's original body (circa 1700's) is a "deanimated" zombie, shot in the head by Gordito.

The title of this story is a tribute to the webcomic Achewood.

Spooky Stuff

The origin of Gordito's mustache is revealed. Dr. McNinja observes that the resurrected Benjamin Franklin is "an undead creature who feeds on hair and is being tormented by visitors from the spirit realm." Franklin had unwittingly obtained his eternal life serum from Dracula, so the Doctor investigates at the Red Cross headquarters, run by vampires. A vampire reveals that Ben is now part Headless Horseman, with hair consumption serving as the trigger preventing him from transforming fully. Dr. McNinja and Ben Franklin take a plane for Transylvania to confront Dracula. Meanwhile, Sean and Gordito are being trained by Dan and Mitzi for their upcoming battle with the Ghost Wizard, which The Catholic Church has hired them to defeat. On the plane, Ben hungers for hair, but Dr. McNinja cannot get any in time, so Franklin is transformed into a full Headless Horseman. The plane crashes and Ben Franklin rides away.

Punch Dracula

Dan, Mitzi, Dark Smoke Puncher, and Gordito isolate and fight the Ghost Wizard in a stolen submarine. Meanwhile, Dr. McNinja is teleported to Dracula's moon base from Transylvania. Dracula explains that he made Franklin into a headless horseman so he could gain knowledge of the afterlife. When Franklin returns with insufficient information (Purgatory is a restaurant where you eat your past sins, but it takes hundreds of years to get service) Dracula curses Ben to search for his head and decides to kill Dr. McNinja, hoping that he can defy death like he did in D.A.R.E. and return with more information. In response, Dr. McNinja punches Dracula and tries to escape. Dracula corners McNinja and reveals that he controls the Ghost Wizard. He threatens to command the Wizard to use a secret fourth power on Gordito, but due to the vagueness of Dracula's command the Ghost Wizard possesses Dark Smoke Puncher instead. Gordito saves Dark Smoke Puncher and destroys the Ghost Wizard. Dr. McNinja dons a spacesuit and surfs a robot copy of Dracula back to Earth. Some time afterward, McNinja goes to Ben Franklin II's grave to help the spirit conclude its earthly business (they were getting pizza when the ninjas attacked in D.A.R.E.) After obtaining a new head, Franklin fades away and returns to Purgatory.

Monster Mart

The first volume to be published in color opens with Dr. McNinja, Gordito, and Yoshi defeating and curing a young girl with Paul Bunyan's disease. Martin Monster, a former friend of Dr. McNinja, shows up requesting his help, stating that he has trouble controlling his transformations into a giant ogre-like monster. Dr. McNinja advises Martin that his problems are likely stress-related. Soon afterward McNinja's office is triggered for explosion, and the culprits implicate Martin. Martin admits that he joined the Cumberland Mafia (led by King Radical) as hired muscle to pay off a debt, although he was not involved in blowing up McNinja's office. King Radical had his men do so in retaliation for turning away a suspicious patient in the mafia. McNinja and Gordito help Martin in concocting a plan to remove a rival gang. When Dr. McNinja and Gordito are captured by the rival gang (led by the humanoid lobster man, The Robster), Martin becomes enraged and regains his power, destroying the enemy gang. In the aftermath of the fight, King Radical appears to pronounce Martin's debt settled.

Death Volley

Doctor McNinja is hired by the NSA to enter an ancient Inocktek Indian temple. Inside the temple is a wounded man – a champion tennis player – who must win a ritual tennis match with the temple's robots or the world will be destroyed. The mission is complicated by the temple's many death traps and Dr. McNinja's ex-girlfriend, Hortense (her story debut). Doc gets past the traps, but Hortense shoots the tennis player in the leg. After Doc fails to beat the tennis robot, it is revealed that the temple will not destroy the world, but rather was used to ensure the secrets of their civilization could be passed on after they died. But the book only talks about how great tennis is. A Secret Epilogue revealed that Hortense had been hired for the mission, not by Doc's parents (in an effort to bring them together), but by King Radical. He had replaced the real book with a fake to keep others from seeing it.

Meanwhile, Gordito and Judy supervise the rebuilding of Doc's office and try to prevent a half-plumber, half-spy from installing surveillance equipment. Also, Agent Bearclaw, who told Doc about the mission, falls out of the plane on the way to the temple and is rescued by dolphins, only to be killed by them.

The storyline references Zelda and Shrine of the Silver Monkey several times in both the characters' actions and in the alt text.

Doc Gets Rad

Dr. McNinja is determined to catch Cumberland Mafia boss King Radical. As soon as Doc decides that he needs a motorcycle to keep up with Radical's dirt bike, a stranger crashes his white rainbow-striped motorcycle in Doc's parking lot. Doc claims the motorcycle for himself, and becomes more and more violently obsessed with thwarting Radical's plans. He also dreams of riding a rainbow-maned unicorn. Gordito is concerned with Doc's behaviour, and discovers that the motorcycle's previous owner was driven mad by it. Radical and Doc duel through the streets of Cumberland, and then through the tunnels under the town. Radical reveals that Doc's motorcycle was originally an evil unicorn named Sparklelord, and implores Doc to shake off the influence of the motorcycle and help Radical banish it. Sparklelord protests, saying that Radical destroyed the forests of Radical Land to build a roller coaster. Despite Sparklelord's irresistible pull Dr. McNinja throws Sparklelord into the time portal, and King Radical gets away.

Army of One

Through a flashback, it is revealed that Dr. McNinja used an experimental cloning procedure in college to study a wide variety of disciplines simultaneously. In the process of amalgamating the clones back into one person, a time-traveler from the future arrives and destabilizes the machine used to bring them together, causing one clone to remain (the one that studied agriculture). The time traveler's suit is damaged during the explosion, sending him back to 1979. The time traveler is revealed as Chuck Goodrich, whose mission is to prevent Franklin's Zombie Ninja Apocalypse.

In present time, steampunk sky pirates kidnap the farmer clone of Dr. McNinja, and during the McNinja family rescue, both of them are taken captive by Frans Rayner. Rayner has successfully created countless clones of Dr. McNinja. Dr. McNinja must defeat his own clones and then fight Rayner. Rayner is defeated, but escapes. The only clone that survives is the one from Dr. McNinja's college years. He escapes during the fighting, and is not seen again by the original McNinja, though Farmer McNinja watches as the McNinja family leaves.

Judy Gets A Kitten

While shopping for groceries, Judy the gorilla acquires a pet kitten. She brings it back to the office, only to turn her back for a moment and find that Yoshi has eaten it.

Stolen Pizza, Stolen Lives

A crossover with the popular Web comic Axe Cop, inked by both artists. Axe Cop summons Doctor McNinja and together they discover why pizza is turning people into monsters.

Space Savers

While Dr. McNinja and Judy are driving, Mayor Chuck Goodrich falls out of the sky in a purple spacesuit. They drive him to his house, only to find another Goodrich in bed. The Goodrich at his house reveals himself to be a time traveler, sent back in time to stop the zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately his success only created an alternate future, and more Chuck Goodriches continue to arrive from the future to stop different types of apocalypses. The newest Goodrich reveals that he is attempting to stop an imminent invasion by intelligent space dinosaurs.

Dr. McNinja, with Judy and the newly arrived Chuck Goodrich's help, attempts to steal a warhead to blow up a dinosaur scout ship that is supposed to appear in 48 hours. However, King Radical shows up to steal the warhead himself. After explaining they need the warhead to blow up the space dinosaurs, Radical lets them have it.

McNinja formulates a plan to sneak Chuck Goodrich into a NASA space shuttle. However, the plan fails when Mcninja knocks out Goodrich's partner and Goodrich and McNinja are attacked by Nasaghasts, ghosts that defend the space center. Dr. McNinja is forced to board the shuttle himself along with Goodrich. They successfully fire the missile at the dinosaur ship, but one of the Nasaghasts follow them into space, catches the missile, and hurls it back to their space shuttle. The shuttle is destroyed in the explosion, leaving Dr. McNinja's fate unknown.

Futures Trading

The story begins with a young Dr. McNinja investigating strange noises in his closet, seeing himself in the future during his chase with King Radical from the previous story, "Doc Gets Rad." Chuck Goodrich shows up and explains to Doc that his mind is stuck in the past and needs to find his present body. Doc finally catches up with his body in the shuttle, where Chuck smashes his Temporal Stabilizer to jump in time just before the shuttle gets blown up.

Doc and Chuck reemerge in Doc's family's cave, to discover that Space Dinosaurs have taken it over, along with the entire planet. They are captured by the dinosaurs, but escape when they learn that Dr. McNinja in this timeline is one of the leaders of the human resistance. Chuck and Doc discover, however, that this Doc is actually Doc's younger brother, Sean "Dark Smoke Puncher". With the help of King Radical, Gordito, and some of Doc's former Paul Bunyan's Disease patients, the brothers assault the dinosaur's stronghold to free a dinosaur named "The Ultimate Diplomat" to bring peace between the humans and dinosaurs and end the war. After assaulting the Dinosaur President's fortress with the help of the Paul Bunyan giants and the remaining Nasaghast, they free the Diplomat using Dracula's Moon laser to break him out of his prison. The diplomat seems to have superpowers however and was able to convince everyone to lay down their arms. With a speech that was able to convince everyone that heard it that peace was the best option, the relations between dinosaurs and humans ended peacefully. Doc, Sean and Gordito return to the cave so the Doc can return home using the time warp underground. Though contemplating whether murdering the innocent scout was the right thing to do or not (because of the diplomat's words) King Radical rebuffed him immediately. He had not heard the rousing speech and thus still resented the dinosaurs taking over Earth and murdering all their friends. Doctor McNinja jump into the time warp, but not before giving King Radical one more dirty look. The story wraps up with the Triceratops scout getting murdered by Doctor McNinja and him calling his family to tell them he did not die in the shuttle explosion. The epilogue states whilst the Doctor is on a plane (presumedly back home) that now instead of human jetpack hunting (which occurs in the Dinosaur future), there is rollerskate hunting which the Doctor makes a note to stop.

AWOL M.D.

With Doc still missing and the mayor Goodrich still in hiding, things in Cumberland start to get chaotic. The King of Hobos and his deputy, a mummy, take over as mayor and start shutting down King Radical's businesses. Mitzi is hired to assassinate The King of Hobos, and subsequently contracts the deadly mummy's curse and is slowly turning to dust. Dr. McLuchador, a former rival of McNinja, attempts to steal McNinja's patients and practice his controversial form of medicine. McBonalds starts selling the McNinja Burger again. A demon samurai is hunting for mayor Goodrich and wants to claim his soul.

Dan, Sean and Gordito try to find out what the demon samurai is up to so that they can find Goodrich & Doc again so they can cure Mitzi; Gordito suspects it is one of his teachers at Catholic school. Dan & Sean manage to find Bestein, the only man who can defeat the demon samurai, and rescue Gordito from him. Meanwhile King Radical takes it upon himself to fight McNinja's former enemies and bring order back to Cumberland, until he realizes that Dr. McLuchador is completely radical. It is later revealed that Dr. McLuchador is actually Dr. McNinja in disguise, trying to earn Radical's trust in an extreme show of radical medicine by summoning a giant crab deity in order to cure a teenager's acne. (The real McLuchador died alone in Arizona.) The gambit works and Radical hires McNinja as his court physician. McNinja then cures Mitzi, confirming to them that the future King Radical from the Futures Trading arc told him he was planning something sinister, and he was going to find out what it was.

A Cumberland Ninja in King Radical's Court

This storyline involves Dr. McNinja's successful infiltration into King Radical's operation. After a brief news segment on TV about King Radical (the news station is owned by Radical, so the reporter gives the story while falling at terminal velocity), the story moves to the Friend brothers, co-owners of a pizza shop that sells pizza topped with "legendary" cockatrice meat. They are asked to deliver 100 of these pizzas to an address they've never delivered to before, and must overcome obstacles such as the King Radical Circus Opposite Day Parade, bystanders who want to eat the pizza, and "Bad Dudes." Before they can successfully deliver, McNinja, disguised as McLuchador, punches their car into a lamppost. He reveals that the delivery was Radical's test for them, and that they failed.

McNinja and King Radical's men deliver the pizza to King Radical's hideout (a Catholic church disguised by a cloaking device.) Doc feels guilty for ruining the Friends' business, as well as nervous that Radical will see through his disguise, as a private detective was sent to investigate McLuchador's life after leaving Maryland. But Radical reveals that intercepting the delivery was McNinja's test as well, and that now Doc is the King's court physician. Radical confides some of his origin to McNinja, and hints at his plans involving Derek ("Basically the worst person I've ever met") and his uncontrolled ability to channel mystical power. Dr McNinja concludes that Radical is "trying to turn an army of jerks into an army of wizards" and begins to actively sabotage his plans. In the guise of McLuchador, Dr McNinja is unwillingly double-dosed with a serum that grants ordinary people with ninja abilities. He blacks out and apparently performs an incredible feat of ninjitsu, vanishing from sight and infiltrating every building in Cumberland in the span of several hours, tampering with the Zombie Defence Systems. He awakens, missing his McLuchador costume, and soon learns Old McNinja and Hortense are both working for King Radical. Doc's cover is blown and he is captured; he tries to convince Old & Hortense not to work for King Radical when he reveals what he knows of his plans, but King Radical corrects him by revealing that he's actually trying replace all the non-radical people of Cumberland with everyone from the Radical Lands, starting with his second in command, Ron Wizard. King Radical activates the tampered zombie defense system to turn all of Cumberland into a giant ghost-powered robot and attacks the US Army. McNinja manages to escape in the ensuing battle.

All the King's Dirtbikes and All the King's Men

The story starts with a flashback to the Radical Lands, narrated by King Radical to Ron Wizard as the Cumberland robot fights the U.S. army. The previous king had just died, and Sir Sicknasty of Spades is named the new King Radical. Sparklelord, known here as Sir Hellacious of Hearts, reveals that he murdered the king and intends to destroy the Radical Lands in revenge for his forest being invaded by the Radical Empire. King Radical left the Radical Lands through a space-time portal, and happened upon Dr. McNinja's world, which lies in between the Radical Lands and an extremely boring world where nothing radical ever happens (implied to be our own). Radical's plan since then, as a mafia boss and as god-king of the Inockteck, was to gradually make the world radical enough to allow him to bring over citizens of the Radical Lands.

King Radical negotiates with U.S. President Maria Funkhouser for a case of Mountain Dew Code Red, which energizes Ron Wizard and allows him to magically shape the surrounding military vehicles into a giant dinosaur robot. President Funkhouser then takes command of the robot and begins to battle Radical's Cumberland robot with it. The radicalness of the giant robot fight begins to bring further Radical Lands citizens through the portal. Meanwhile, Dr. McNinja and Gordito disable the zombie defence system from the mayor's office after a fight with Hortense and Old McNinja, causing the robot to break back into separate buildings. A desperate King Radical attempts to use the portal to get back to the past and try again, but is stopped by Mayor Goodrich, who leaps into the portal instead, travelling hundreds of years back in time. In the past, Goodrich confronts King Radical on top of the Inockteck temple, but Radical recognizes him (since, before becoming Sir Sicknasty of Spades, he was the Radical Lands' version of Goodrich), and kills his alternate-universe self with a sword.

Why a Gorilla?

Told mostly in flashback, this story details the circumstances of Dr. McNinja's first meeting with Judy. During McNinja's medical school days, he had a particular interest in vampire hunting, and went to Rwanda to investigate killings by a (supposedly extinct) vampire gorilla in the village of Gagibuzo. Gagibuzo was populated entirely by sentient gorillas with a strong distrust of humans. McNinja's only ally in the village was his open-minded guide, Judy, who also acted as interpreter with the aid of an error-prone sign-language-to-speech machine. Together, McNinja and Judy found that the killings were not done by a vampire, but by the village's doctor, who needed body parts to resurrect his wife (whom he had murdered) as a Frankenstein-style monster. Judy accompanied McNinja back to Cumberland to fulfil her dream of attending a local community college, and McNinja learned sign language so that they could communicate better.

A Bad Enough Dude

While hunting a cockatrice, Dr. McNinja receives a phone call from President Funkhouser, who informs him that everyone around her is trying to kill her. She suspects that she has been poisoned to produce a violence-causing pheromone, and asks McNinja to break into the heavily-fortified White House and bring her a cure. McNinja's attempt to infiltrate the White House goes awry when he is pulled into the White House Negazone, a prison dimension ruled by a trapped ghost. McNinja manages to convince the ghost to let him go, and gives Funkhouser the cure; however, he is also affected by the pheromones, and attempts to kill her. He is narrowly stopped by a new version of Chuck Goodrich who teleports onto the scene in a space suit. Funkhouser is grateful but has no further need of help from Goodrich or McNinja, and a disappointed Dr. McNinja drives back to Cumberland with Goodrich in tow.

First Generation Ninja American

In another flashback story, Mitzi and Dan go out on a date, leaving a young Dr. McNinja in the care of his grandfather, John McNinja. John, shocked that the young McNinja has not yet gone on a ninja mission, takes on a contract to assassinate the owner of a Foxy O'Gator's franchise (a Chuck E. Cheese's-type business). Young McNinja infiltrates the building but balks at killing the owner, which allows the target to flee into a set of underground catacombs filled with undead skeleton warriors. The two ninjas fight through the undead army using their ninja skills; it is also revealed that the elder McNinja acquired powerful magic after eating a magic pig. The two ninjas find the owner of Foxy O'Gator's, who reveals that he is a ghost wizard - one of seven who cursed Dracula, and now serve him for it - and has been searching for a magical tape recorder that will summon anything whose name is spoken into it. The future Dr. McNinja throws the recorder into a pit, angering the ghost wizard, who then tries to kill him. John McNinja binds the ghost wizard with a powerful magical spell, powered by erasing his grandson's name from the world; the spell works, but kills him in the process.

Paleontologists, Politicians, and Prologue

After foiling another assassination attempt, Dr. McNinja is hired by President Funkhouser to track down whoever is trying to kill her. An analysis of her pheromone-laden blood implicates Frans Rayner associate Knickerbockers, the plumber-spy from Death Volley, and eventually the Vice President, whom Funkhouser exiles to space. The new Chuck Goodrich, who had taken over his predecessor's duties as Mayor of Cumberland with much success, is appointed as the traitor's replacement. Meanwhile, Gordito's uncle and the other raptor-riding bandits appear in town on the trail of the mysterious figure who had catfished their leader. With Gordito's help, they trace the catfishing to the President, whom Gordito's uncle then attacks. The White House security system traps both the bandit and the President in the Negazone. The office of President then falls to Goodrich, who reveals himself as King Radical. Radical, who was behind the various attempts on the President's life, had hidden himself in the Negazone to pose as a time-travelling Goodrich so that he could win the President's confidence and seize power in order to continue his Radical Lands teleportation scheme.

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,[27] 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.

Awards

Dr. McNinja won the 2007 Web Cartoonist's Choice Award for Outstanding Superhero / Action Comic.[28]

Cameos

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ Fat Cat Gameworks (2012-04-07). "Dr. McNinja's Radical Adventures". Fat Cat Gameworks. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
  2. ↑ "What about the Adventures of Dr. McNinja?". Drmcninja.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  3. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  6. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  7. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28. "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  8. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  9. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
  10. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  11. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  12. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  13. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Drmcninja.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  14. 1 2 "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 14p27". Drmcninja.com. 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  15. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 21p83". Drmcninja.com. 2011-09-16. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  16. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 23p33". Drmcninja.com. 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  17. ↑ The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
  18. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 17p70". Drmcninja.com. 2010-05-24. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  19. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 21p38". Drmcninja.com. 2011-05-30. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  20. ↑ http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/5p7/; http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/5p20/
  21. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 21p56". Drmcninja.com. 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  22. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 2p15". Drmcninja.com. 2005-12-26. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  23. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 9p21". Drmcninja.com. 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
  24. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 3p42". Drmcninja.com. 2006-06-30. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  25. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja » Archive » 20p17". Drmcninja.com. 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  26. ↑ :: View topic - Dr. McNinja lives here:
  27. ↑ 'The Adventures of Dr. McNinja' Comes to Dark Horse [NYCC]
  28. ↑ "Outstanding Superhero/Action Comic". ryanestrada.com. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
  29. ↑ "bunny plagiarism theatre (# 513) – Bunny". Frozenreality.co.uk. 2009-07-14. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  30. ↑ "Shortpacked! webcomic by David Willis – Toys Are Serious Business". Shortpacked.com. 2006-08-31. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  31. ↑ Eddie Bowley. "Edd Egg by Eddie Bowley – We're Greatastic". Bolloxcomics.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  32. ↑
  33. ↑ "The Journal Comic With a Seething Disdain for Reality". Overcompensating. 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  34. ↑ "The Journal Comic With a Seething Disdain for Reality". Overcompensating. 2007-08-20. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  35. ↑ "The Journal Comic With a Seething Disdain for Reality". Overcompensating. 2007-11-08. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  36. ↑ )
  37. ↑
  38. ↑
  39. ↑
  40. ↑
  41. ↑
  42. ↑ "The Adventures of Dr. McNinja". Christopher Hastings. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  43. ↑ "Dinosaur Comics".
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