FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

At this point, they are Occasionally Asked Questions.

If you have any questions about Ninja Shizatch, leave a post under this article – no signup is required. If someone posted a question you would like answered, quote it and +1 it.

Ie:

"The scaling is sometimes confusing; who is taller, Jade or Bronze?"

+1

Q: I'm a bit confused with the breaking of the 4th wall...

Are the characters part of some RPG? Or is this really happening? And if it's the former, is it table-top or a video game, and do they know that they're in it?

A: This issue has been purposely left vague to allow for personal interpretation. My own interpretation, which may vary from yours, is that Ninja Shizatch is a webcomic, based on a live-action movie, based on a video, game based on a tabletop RPG group - and the breaking of the 4^th wall occurs on all four levels.

By this interpretation, NS first started as a campaign in some fantasy tabletop RPG d20 system, possibly Dungeons & Dragons or a variant thereof. The samurai are the Player Characters, run by real-life people, who make out-of-character comments, regarding computers, football, their character sheets, dice rolls, the Game Master, etc…

Secondly, the tabletop RPG was adapted to video game format. The samurai are still the Player Characters, who are now all connected to the same game server over the internet (or playing on the same console). Jokes are made involving skipping through NPC dialogue, possessing invisible inventories, inputting cheat codes or otherwise hacking, etc…

Thirdly, a movie/movie series was made about NS, and the samurai are now played by leading actors. The rest of the cast consists largely of extras (ninjas who are seen on screen for a few seconds before dying) or characters with minor speaking roles. Jokes are made involving resentment for failing to get the leading role, receiving fan mail, delivering monologues, etc…

Lastly, a webcomic was made. The samurai are the protagonists, and jokes are made involving viewing the webcomic itself, narration, panels, etc…

Some of these are less obvious than others, and many jokes can seem to fall under more than one category. The players/actors behind the samurai are sometimes able to keep in-character – particularly during dramatic or otherwise plot-important scenes, because that’s when they know they should be taking things seriously. After all, the players know that their characters can die, and the actors know that their characters can be killed off.

Q: Does Sapphire have a weapon?

A: Sapphire has throwing knives, which she launches with deadly accuracy.

Q: Why was Sapphire picked instead of Shadow for The Legionaries of the Shadow? Is it seriously because they were looking for a girl?

A: Shadow and Jade are the same age, whereas Sapphire is slightly older. At the time, Sapphire had more experience than Shadow, and was the superior samurai.

Ninja Shizatch: The Movie

That’s right. Hollywood will be producing a Ninja Shizatch live-action motion picture, complete with an all-star cast and LucasArts special effects. The film’s projected budget is the national net worth of the country of Turkmenistan. Ninja Shizatch: The Movie is scheduled for release in theatres once the Google Empire has finished consolidating its intergalactic dominion.

Now, here’s the current lineup of actors I had in mind for the various parts:

Shadow

For Shadow, I needed to find a hulking, intimidating, badass actor that could put on a face that constantly looks angry. Someone who could throw around a gruff voice, and throw around a 150 lb ninja. A friend of mine suggested The Rock – Dwayne Johnson. And I think it’s the perfect choice

Jade

For Jade, I needed to find an actress that could look fierce and sexy, but still look like a “good girl.” I think Scarlett Johansson manages to pull it off.

Bronze

For Bronze, I needed the anti-Shadow – a subtle, humble muscular badass. Vin Diesel.

Sapphire

For Jade’s older sister, I needed a “bad girl,” someone who can look seductive and dangerous, someone who won’t take shit from anyone. Elisha Cuthbert.

Silver

For Silver, I was looking for someone who can act out a really over-the-top dramatic narrator voice, pull exaggerated facial expressions, emote humorous body language, and just generally be slapstick funny. Jim Carrey is the man (though he’s gonna need to get ripped).

What do you think of my choices? I’m still casting, so nothing is final – suggestions are more than welcome. If you can, include a picture with your suggestion.

Half-Naked Is Also Half Clothed

“why are all the girls in ur comic half naked? lolol”

A question a friend asked me over MSN.

A fair question.

And although the issue has not yet come up, I’m sure that at some point down the line, I’m going to have someone (well, most likely a woman) bring up the whole “unrealistic portrayal of women in comics” issue. And possibly express disgust in my comic. And possibly threaten to cut my balls off.

Well anyway, Ninja Shizatch is a satire. It’s a satire of gaming, a satire of pop culture’s view of martial arts, a satire of comics, a satire of characterization, a satire of classic heroes, a satire of storytelling… hell, it satirizes a whole array of subjects. Sometimes, the satire is very obvious. Other times, it’s subtle – sometimes subtle to the point of going unnoticed.

So how does this tie into my semi-nude dames?

I believe I covered this in the 4^th page of the comic, as well as the ensuing commentary:

“Hey, if it looks cool, why not? Screw realism - to look as badass as possible, men have to have the coolest accessories, and women have to have the least amount of material covering them as possible.”

Now, to be fair, women in most mainstream comics generally have much more cloth covering them than those in my comic. But look at this:

Catwoman here is covered from neck to toe in cloth – but if the colorist would have made that purple outfit skin-colored, she would be nude. Clothed or not, she is essentially naked. Would keeping only a bra and panties on this pic really make a big difference? I don’t think so.

But that’s the thing – artists will draw the female body as shapely as possible, with unrealistic, form-fitting outfits – but then they have scruples when it comes to how much skin is being exposed.

Well, I’m just taking this traditional concept of the sexy comic book chick and satirizing it by pushing it to the extreme with outfits that can have no purpose other than showing off as much skin as possible without going into an 18+ rating.

Your thoughts? Did you “get” why my females are so scantily clad? Does it offend you? Does it amuse you? What makes Jade and Sapphire sexy?

Birthday Milestone

Well, today marks the one year anniversary of the official launch of the Ninja Shizatch webcomic. Ninja Shizatch itself is much, much older, but that's another story.

In a year, we've seen the conclusion of two Issues of the comic and the start of a third, for a total of 57 pages (69 including contests, filler, and cover pages).

In a year, I've improved on the comic's overall quality, and I've increased my updating frequency to twice a week.

Back in May, I made a post with the following statistics:

As of today, DrunkDuck records a total of 21,250 hits, and 142 comments from DD users (including my own).

That's an average of 84 hits a day, and 3.74 comments per page.

Well, over the past three months, the number of pageviews has more than tripled (65,690), the number of comments more than doubled (395), the average number of pageviews per day more than doubled (183) and the average number of comments per page increased to 5.72.

I owe these increases to two things: the new update schedule, and, more recently, DrunkDuck featuring Ninja Shizatch on its front page (September 5th).

The fortuitously timed DD Feature made for an excellent birthday present for the comic - one that I am very thankful for, because it is the best bit of advertising Ninja Shizatch has received. As a University student, I essentially make just enough money to break even with the cost of my studies, so paying for advertisements is not an option for me.

So thanks DrunkDuck, and thanks to all my readers, both new and old.

Cheers

Feedback & Discussion

Want to comment on the comic? Discuss the plot? Make predictions? Offer suggestions? Ask questions? Post here.

I’ll keep this a running post for discussion and feedback on the comic, where you can exchange thoughts with myself and other readers.

To get the ball rolling, and since I’ll be posting the splash page for Book 2, I’ll open with a question:

What do you think of the new outfits? Likes and dislikes about anything specific? Their looks will continue to alter throughout the comic, so if there’s anything you’d like to see remain or be discarded, feel free to let me know.

Design-A-Villain Contest

Ninja Shizatch needs a new recurring villain – the first one didn’t last long enough to recur. So I’m going to leave it up to you, the readers, to design the recurring villain, in as much detail as you want. In the end, I will either pick the best submission, or, more likely, combine the best aspects of multiple submissions. Don’t forget to name your villain!

The only stipulations are as follows: he must be a member of the Gold Skull Ninjas, and be humanoid.

Post your villain ideas here.

New Direction?

*NOTE* If you don’t wish to read through this entire post, simply read the last paragraph.

The Ninja Shizatch webcomic has been running since September 2006. As of today, DrunkDuck records a total of 21,250 hits, and 142 comments from DD users (including my own).

That's an average of 84 hits a day, and 3.74 comments per page.

However, eXTReMe Tracking tells me that roughly 70% of my traffic is from reloads.

So what I've gathered from the hits and the comments is that Ninja Shizatch has built up a small fanbase of regular (or semi-regular) readers and commenters, for all of whom I am greatly appreciative, however it is not quite drawing in as many new readers as I would like.

From the beginning, my goal with Ninja Shizatch has been to create a webcomic tailored to meet the desires of its readers. A webcomic that would give more of what the readers like, and less (or nothing at all) of what they dislike. A webcomic that would make regular readers feel as though their input actually helps shape the story.

Looking over some of the pages that received the most comments, I find that the majority of them have action, all of them have animation, some of them have plot elements, and none of them involve humor exclusive to gaming.

Since I am always seeking to improve Ninja Shizatch (and a careful look through the comic pages should show a marked improvement in graphic design), I’ve decided to start shifting the comic in a slightly different direction.

Parodies of gaming have been done to death, and they’ve been done better. There are other webcomics that specialize in Dungeons & Dragons humor, or video games, or what-have-you. Some of my pages are dedicated entirely to making a gaming joke – well, no more. I may still throw in some gaming humor now and again, but I’ve realized that my best-received “jokes” are those unrelated to gaming, and have to do with the characters or story itself.

Which brings up the point about the story. Essentially, there has been little to no plot. The driving force of the comic has been parody – “what can I make fun of next, and how can I make my characters make fun of it?” I find this to have been a mistake. Though my intention with Ninja Shizatch was never to make a great story, a long-running comic of this variety suffers if there is no plot driving the story onward.

So all this to say the following: Ninja Shizatch will henceforth be more story-driven, and the humor will shift away from gaming parody and more to in-context humor. What do you think? Is this a good move? What would you recommend?

Twice A Week?

The Ninja Shizatch webcomic has been running on a one-update-per-week schedule. Should I switch to twice a week? If so, on what days should I post updates? Mondays and Fridays?

If enough people comment, I’ll switch to twice a week.

Ask A Samurai Contest

Have you ever wished you could go back in time and ask a samurai a question?

Well now is your chance!*

We have a panel of three excellent samurai warriors waiting to answer your questions about anything and everything.

Have questions specific to Ninja Shizatch, or even a question directed specifically to Silver, Shadow, or Jade? Ask away! Our samurais are eager and willing to respond!**

The best questions will be featured in the Ninja Shizatch webcomic!***

Just post your question or questions as a comment, below.

*Warning: contest may not actually make you travel through time. Ninja Shizatch is in no way responsible for any disturbances in the space-time continuum due to irresponsible time travel. Please consult with a doctor and quantum-physicist before engaging in a temporal paradox.

**Warning: samurai may not actually be eager or willing. Ninja Shizatch in no way guarantees that your question will be taken with good humor. We are not accountable for any samurai swearing vengeance on your family.

***Warning: “best” is a subjective term. Don’t whine if your question isn’t picked.