Doctors aren't played out.

Where do I begin? There are so many wonderful comics out there. I love so many of them so dearly. My feelings for these webcomics makes it difficult to decide which one to write about first. Two things have since convinced me to write about this particular comic to start things off. First of all, he’s the only writer who’s emailed me back thus far, and secondly, it seems to me that it is vastly under appreciated. I say this because I don’t personally know anyone who reads it, though I do know people who read just about everything else.

I’m going to talk about… (drum roll, applause, etc…) DR. MCNINJA! This is a comic that absolutely everyone should be reading, including your grandmother. It’s the epitome of delightfulness, with new comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Why do I love it so much? The real question should be, what sort of person doesn’t love it? Okay I suppose I ought to be serious. Chris Hastings (the writer) doesn’t draw four panels and throw in a punch line. He has highly detailed and lengthy story arcs in which something meaningful actually happens. Sometimes there are villains, sometimes there are evil corporations, and sometimes there are men with muscles that frighten people!

Despite all of these serious happenings, it’s quite possibly one of the most hilarious things you will ever read. It’s off the wall and ridiculous in a highly plausible sort of way. For example if you knew an archaeologist who had cloned some velociraptors and had a girlfriend on Myspace, it would follow that if she dumped him, he might just become a bandito and ride velociraptors everywhere while trying to exact his revenge. When you first begin reading the comic you’re struck by the overwhelming insanity that dominates the world in which Doctor McNinja lives. After issue #½ however, you suddenly realize that this stuff is normal. Suddenly, hiring a gorilla named Judy as your receptionist at the doctor’s office doesn’t seem so strange.

That’s probably the most impressive thing about the comic, the level that it operates on. Most readers demand some sensibility in what they read, and oddly enough Dr. McNinja's followers say things like, “There’s no sound in space!” while forgetting that he’s surfing a robot-Dracula to the Earth’s surface. That’s like waking up in the morning with your house underwater and complaining that you’ve run out of butter. It’s a complete brain buster. Zombie ninjas are normal, but the laws of physics should be obeyed.

I mustn’t forget the thing that makes this comic so enjoyable within all of its quirks: artwork. Not only is Mr. Hastings a creative genius in the writing department, his drawings are also amazing. Not all comics call for dynamic paneling, in fact, the majority of webcomics don’t, but the action packed issues of Dr. McNinja need something to encourage the thrill of the storyline, and Chris has nailed it down. The panels have very clean edges and lend a lot to the art contained within.

Let’s not forget the team that supports the artwork either! Kent Archer, Carly Monardo, the puppet, and Anthony Clark, who is incidentally one of the most handsome individuals you will ever see. Anyway, these wonderful people are responsible for the other stuff, like color and ink, things that matter. Without them the comic would be less wonderful than it is.

EDIT: As suggested by one of my readers (OMG a reader!!!) I should probably mention some stuff about what kind of readers it might pull and attach a numerical rating to it, so here goes: This is a comic for escapists who happen to like Ninja doctors that reside in a world where anything can and does happen.

Dr. McNinja gets a screaming 9.7 out of 10.

Chris is filling out a questionnaire for me, so I’ll post again when he’s done!

Dave *_*

Hi! Here are my goals.

Hi! Welcome to the first post of what I hope will be a very ongoing project. I like to read webcomics, and if you’re reading this, I’m sure it’s something you enjoy too. Everyone is looking for something different in a webcomic, so it’s hard to gauge how to recommend them to other people. Some are about superheroes, some are adventure stories, some focus on that last panel to bring the joke home. No comic author or artist can survive if he/she wants to be all things to all people. It’s just not possible. The best writers base their stories on what they know. Any artist that makes it past number fifty has probably got a great thing going. Those who drop off prior to that usually feel frustrated, because, let’s face it, some people just aren’t funny, or they’re not great story tellers, and all artists know that their readers will tell them if they suck.

I’m not here to complain about bad webcomics. I’m here to tell you what you should read, who’s a genius, who’s not. I promise to never pass judgment on a comic that I’ve never read in its entirety. That’s a big responsibility, but lucky for me, the old ones are usually good ones. If you’ve got a story to tell, and you’re still telling it with five times weekly updates ever since 2006, it sounds like something I should pay attention to.

I’m sure we’ve all noticed this independently of one another, but the world of webcomics is a huge place! I always feel that if there’s something good out there, I want to be reading it. It’s almost a condition I have, like this uncontrollable urge to know everything about the largest things there are, for example the Marvel Universe. Knowing everything is unrealistic, but it doesn’t stop me from trying. And for the record, I won’t be blogging about paper comics here. That’s why we have Angela Valenti at Girls Don’t Read Comics. Go check it out. I laugh as I write this because I say it like I have more than two readers right now, but I also know that I’ll probably mention that blog again, especially if I ever develop any kind of readership as time goes on. Here’s hoping right?

Anyway, back to the topic before I talk myself into the ground here. I’m going to start off my career as a blogger with the wonderful people who belong to Dayfree Press. I make no claim to have read every comic that belongs to Dayfree Press, however, I am working on it. I’ve read XKCD, Dr. McNinja, and Questionable Content. I’m more than halfway through Kristy vs. the Zombie Army, and am about halfway through Sam and Fuzzy. I love all of them so far, so you can expect to hear a great deal about them as time goes on. I may also complain about the site and its lack of updates since 2007, but we’ll talk about that another day.

I’ll leave this as an intro post. I’m waiting for some writers to email me back about interviews and such, that way I can include more fascinating content for my readers, or lack thereof, whom I already love so dearly. Thanks for reading! More content is on its way!

Dave *_*