Ninjas - Shame on a Ninja - Travis M. Holyfield

SPLASH PAGE: A gigantic battle scene. Ninjas fighting ninjas. The entire panel should be just full-on ninja carnage. Every type of generic ninja imaginable should be on display. Within the melee, identifiable in a "Where's Waldo" sort of fashion, are famous comic book ninjas including, but not limited to:

• Wolverine
• Psylocke
• Snake-Eyes
• Storm Shadow
• Scarlett
• Jinx
• Elektra
• Daredevil
• Black Tarantula
• Kitty Pryde
• Lady Bullseye
• Leonardo
• Michaelangelo
• Raphael
• Donatello
• Splinter
• Shredder
• Miho (Sin City)
• Ninjak
• Nth Man
• Lady Shiva
• Oedipus (The Tick) - It would be really great to have Elektra stabbing her to death. 
• Roxie Richter (Scott Pilgrim)

CAPTION: Shame on a ninja that try to run game on a ninja...

Ninjas - by Nikolas and Victor Wonsowski

OK, this week, writer's block struck again. So I asked my boys, and they were all, "Papa, it's ninjas. Ninjas are awesome." All right, I want to see what they can do. Here's their script:

Panel 1. EVIL NINJA CLAN, bullying, the LEADER pointing.

EVIL NINJA CLAN LEADER: So, tiny blue one! Do you have the skills to take on my ninja clan?!

Panel 2. SONIC the Hedgehog accepts the challenge!

SONIC: Do I? Did your mommies make you wear those jammies?

Then, ZOOM!

Panel 3. Fight cloud! NINJAS getting clobbered saying things like "Owwie! Oof! My elbow!"

Panel 4. SONIC is the winner. He's standing on the head of the LEADER. Another NINJA  falls from the sky on his head. TAILS is cheering in the air with his tail twirling.

SONIC: So, NOW who's got the best kung fu, boys?

TAILS: You do, Sonic!!

Panel 5. NARUTO is so surprised at Sonic's victory. KAKASHI hangs upside down very impressed.

NARUTO: WHAAAA?!?

KAKASHI: ¡Heh! Yeah, we need him on our team.

NARUTO: WHAAA?!

The End.

And if that wasn't enough, they drew the thing:

Pencils by Nikolas Wonsowski (age 10)
Colors by Victor Wonsowski (age 7)

...thanks for helping out this week, boys.

Ninjas - God Only Knows - Grant McLaughlin

In the first four panels, only the ninja character should be dressed up in the cliché all-black ninja costume.  Everyone else should be just regular people going about their lives.


Layout should be two panels in each of the first two rows and the final panel taking its own row.


1 - A baby dressed in a ninja costume is taking his first tentative steps.  His mother stands before him, encouraging him to walk towards her, while his father is behind him, ready to provide support should a stumble appear.


NO COPY


2 - A few years later.  That ninja baby is now a ninja teenager, replete with acne (visible through the open in his mask for his eyes), some type of braces / headgear (either above the mask for jokes or visible underneath), and possibly a letterman jacket or some such.  He is sitting in a theatre with his date, casting furtive glances towards her out of the corner of his eye.  Maybe he's visibly working up the nerve to make his move.


NO COPY


3 - A few more years later.  That ninja teenager is now a ninja man.  It is his wedding day.  Still in full ninja garb, he now also wears a tuxedo overtop of it all as he stands next to his beautiful bride (who is obviously the same girl from the movie theatre).  They're at the part where they get to kiss.  It is obviously the happiest day of their lives, and everyone watching on is pretty pleased about the whole thing too (and all wearing regular, non-ninja garb, natch).


NO COPY


4 - A few more years yet.  That ninja man is now a slightly older ninja man.  We're in the driveway in front of his and his wife's house.  He stands at the doorway, waving goodbye as he heads off to work.  She's also pregnant (because, obviously she is).  I'd say to have the ninja wearing a suit over his ninja garb, but that might be too much, so let's just say he's holding a suitcase as he unlock his car to drive to work.


NO COPY


5 - The present.  There's a big ol' fight going down.  A group of ninja is getting their collective tail handed to them by a few colourful superhero-esque mercenaries.  Our focus, however is on two colourful heroes who are looking down at a fallen ninja.  The first hero cleans off his sword, the second holds her two guns at her side.  The first hero asks a question to which the second shrugs her shoulders as if to say "I dunno".


FIRST HERO: You think anything flashes before a ninja's eyes when they die?

Ninjas - Sorry - Ben Rosenthal

FULL PAGE SPLASH
A 'Where's Wally?' type of page - hundreds of small characters go about their business in a ancient Japan market.  A dense crowd, it is up top the reader to find the Ninjas.  They never will find them because Ninjas.

CAPTION

WHERE'S NINJAS?
A phalanx of the feudal fighters are hidden on this page.  Can you find all 20?

Ninjas – Robot Viking Ninja Pirates: Check Out Our Moves – MK Stangeland Jr.

(I ultimately decided this week to pull directly from a script I wrote years ago but has done little except collect e-dust on my hard drive since then. It’s more of the ROBOT VIKING NINJA PIRATES that I wrote about way back during the ‘Our Own Creations’ week, though this time I’m using previously written material.

The important relevant information is that CAPTAIN ODIN and members of his crew are attempting to steal from a library in TOKOTO, NIPPON. On the previous page, ODIN was attacked by OTAKA HAKA XAN, the head librarian, who used a ‘CHI-FU’ technique (basically martial arts with glowy energy-infused attacks).

Page 10 (6 Panels)

Panel 1: ODIN, having fallen to the floor, begins to pick himself up.

ODIN: (Quietly, to himself.) Unholy :-O :-O :-O :-O!

Panel 2: ODIN, still with swords in hand, cups his hands around his mouth in a contradictory attempt to both whisper and shout at XAN.

ODIN: (Loud whispering.) < That was amazing! You have got to tell me how you do that! >

Panel 3: XAN is using the shelves to wall jump to higher ground so he can chase after MIMIR.

Panel 4: A ninja star hits the shelf where XAN was about to put his hand, causing him to stop short.

Panel 5: ODIN hits XAN with a flying kick, knocking him off the shelves.

SFX: wam!

ODIN: (Whispering.) < Oh no, you don’t. >

Panel 6: Both ODIN and XAN land on their feet. ODIN is in the foreground.

ODIN: (Whispering.) < You already picked your fight. You’re staying right here with me. >

(END PAGE)

Why Ninjas?

Where would comics be without them?

They’d be short a hand and a foot, that’s what. Hobbled, struggling to make up the difference from what they are today.

No high-class kung fu action, no elite villains for when you want your hero to actually need skills to punch through to the evil mastermind, and even a lot of those heroes and villains themselves wouldn’t be half who they are today.

Hardly any large-spanning comic universe worth its salt anymore – and probably even a majority of the small ones – doesn’t have ninjas in some way, shape, or form. Shouldn’t be hard to see – unlike ninjas themselves - how integral they’ve managed to become to not just comics, but pop culture in general.

Because let’s face it, ninjas?

Ninjas are cool.

That’s why.