The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, Volume 3: King Radical

 

Oooooooh, slanty.

 In volume 2, the whole world saw Dr. McNinja and mayor of Cumberland, Chuck Goodrich die in a fiery shuttle crash as they tried to save the world from dinosaurs. Or was it zombies? Or was it zombies riding on dinosaurs? Without it's heroes, a power vacuum forms in the city, as McNinja's arch-enemy King Radical seeks to claim the burg as his criminal base of operations under the guise of being the community's new benefactor. But when a hobo uses a bizarre clause in the city's charter to become the new mayor of Cumberland, it puts a serious crimp in the Monarch of Awesome's style. Though having a powerful mummy for assistant mayor helps too.

    Join McNinja's family, his 12-year old mustached sidekick Gordito, his ape secretary Judy, and the rest of the McNinja gang of oddballs as they try to keep the peace in the good doctor's memory. That's easier said than done now that a powerful demon has come searching for Mayor Goodrich's soul and an insane Jesuit gym teacher has shown up at the local Catholic high-school. And just who is this mysterious new doctor wearing a Lucha libra mask and has the ability to cure a disease that turns people's butts into spiders at night?

   Okay- I can't believe I just typed that last sentence...

   Anyways. I was first introduced to the madcap world of Christopher Hastings and Anthony Clark's Dr. McNinja about a year ago when my library had volumes 1&2 on the new shelf. The udder ridiculousness of a ninja doctor trying to thwart the attempts of a Burger King look-a-like powered by Mountain Dew from taking over the world was just perfect for me.  I love absurd stuff and this is about as surreal as it gets. Time travel, mummy's curses, cities turned into giant robots, zombies, and massive orders of 200 expensive pizzas are just some of the bizarre things waiting inside this book based on the webcomic of the same name.

    Readers of my blog will note that I love the oddball comic series The Tick. But Dr. McNinja is completely different. For one thing, the Tick is a parody whereas, okay, honestly, I don't know what the hell to classify McNinja as... The closest I can I come to classifying this series is that it is a surrealist slapstick comedy a la Buster Keaton or the Three Stooges. In terms of other comic books, this book is a lot like another Dark Horse publication called Axe Cop. Only, this book wasn't written by a 5-year. (And that's not an insult! Axe Cop really was written by a 5-year old, though he's much older now. Google it...)

    I enjoyed this book but not as much as I think I could have. Having been so long since I read volumes 1& 2, I was a little lost trying to re-familarize myself with this series. It's one reason why I like to have all of a series before I read it but when you are depending on the library to help supplement your comic book collecting and reading, then beggars can't be choosers.  But if you are new to this series and somehow get the chance to get your hands on all three volumes at once, I think you'll truly benefit by reading them all in a close grouping.

    Amazingly clean art, crazy plots and even crazier ideas, and tons of surprises, Dr. McNinja, volume 3 is a great read, even if you did forget some of what happened earlier in the story. It's not like we've got the brilliant photographic memory of a ninja or something...

   Worth Consuming

     Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.