A SECOND HELPING OF MAIL ORDER NINJA - TALKING TO JOSHUA ELDER

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

Remember those ads in comics books selling such wacky things as X-ray glasses, do-it-yourself hovercrafts and hot gum? How about the Atlas muscle ads. Ever look to those and dream what you would do if you ordered them… and they actually worked?

In Mail Order Ninja Vol. 1, young Timmy McAllister does just that went he orders a ninja as advertised. When the package comes, and an actual ninja comes out, no one's as shocked as Timmy. Quickly bringing his new ninja to use in the social hierarchy of school, Timmy turns the tables on bullies making him and his fellow nerds the new kings of their domain. But when pushed, some people push back… and Timmy and his ninja learn that all too well.

Newsarama spoke with Mail Order Ninja creator & writer Joshua Elder to find out about this week's release of the second volume.

Newsarama: The first volume of Mail Order Ninja came out this past summer, so no doubt you've had some time to hear, read and meet with readers of the book. What 's your experience on the typical type of audience it attracts?

Joshua Elder: I work at a Barnes & Noble in Chicago where I've handsold over 500 copies of my book, so I'm constantly personally interacting with my target audience. Plus my mother is a middle school librarian so I get plenty of feedback from her students as well.

The series appeals primarily to boys ages 8-12, what with all the ninja action and bully beatdowns, but I've also found that girls who actually give it a chance (the whole ninja thing tends to put them off at first) really end up enjoying it as well. They respond very well to the humor and the characters -- the main villain is an obnoxious "Queen Bee" whom they no doubt recognize from their own school experiences.



Teachers and librarians have really warmed to the book too. They feel it's a great tool for motivating reluctant readers (boys in particular), and are pleasantly surprised at all the subtle adult humor I've written into the script.

To paraphrase the director of [the film] Finding Nemo, I wrote a story for myself that doesn't exclude anyone. It's just that I'm very in touch with my inner 8-year-old. So anyone else who digs ninjas and enjoys things that are awesome will probably like the book as well.

NRAMA: In volume 2, we see the backlash from Timmy beating Felicity for the Student Body President race. Why is Felicity so mad about losing?

JE: Felicity is the undisputed queen of L. Frank Baum Elementary. She's the richest and prettiest girl in school and she knows it -- and she makes sure that everyone else knows it too. So when she loses a popularity contest to some nerdy nobody like Timmy McAllister, well that burns her like nothing has ever burned her before. She has to take revenge and remind everyone of the natural schoolyard order.

NRAMA: For those who haven't read volume 1, can you tell us about Timmy?

JE: Timmy McAllister is the chief protagonist of Mail Order Ninja. He's a plucky young fifth-grader living in the small (and boring) town of Cherry Creek, IN. He's a bit of a nerd and a wuss, and his nerdity and wussitude are constantly earning him abuse by bullies and Queen Bees alike. Until the day he gets his very own ninja out of the JacquesCo catalog (Jacques is a former arms dealer turned extreme toymaker). With Yoshida Jiro at his side -- greatest shinobi of his generation, dontcha know -- Timmy becomes the coolest kid in school and goes about righting various wrongs.



NRAMA: This volume features Yoshida Jiro's nemesis, the white-clad ninja Hakuryuu Nobunga, coming out of the comic books and into a head-to-head battle with Jiro and Timmy. Can you tell us about Nobunga and Jiro's feud?

JE: I'm going to tease out their backstory over the course of the series, but basically their ninja clans have been feuding for over 1000 years -- lots of bad blood there. The warring families finally reached a peace accord when Jiro and Nobunaga were children, and the two of them attended the Shinobi Academy together. They became friends and allies, but Jiro was always the better of the two and Nobunaga grew insanely jealous. There was one tragic final event that pushed them both over the edge and made them the bitterest of enemies. Jiro was nearly consumed by his quest for vengeance, but he eventually defeated Nobunaga once and for all. Or so he thought...

NRAMA: Without spoiling too much, Felicity takes over the entire town as payback for Timmy taking "her" Student Body Presidency. What's life like under the rule of Felicity?

JE: I was on a dystopian kick while writing book 2 -- lots of Brave New World and 1984 in there (both of which are surprisingly adaptable to a children's book) along with some Pink Floyd riffs from The Wall.

Basically it's an over-the-top fascist dictatorship where Big Sister is always watching you.

NRAMA: Not your typical "children's book, I see.

In this volume, things happen that find Timmy without the help of his faithful ninja, and forced to go into battle on his own against Felicity and Nobunga. How would you say Timmy has changed since the beginning of volume 1 to give him the drive to stand up like this?



JE: Volumes 1 and 2 were originally written as a single book, so volume 2 -- if I can get all Joseph Campbell for a moment -- is really the second half of Timmy's Hero Journey. Timmy is a good kid, but he's not yet a hero because he doesn't understand sacrifice. Being a hero means doing the right thing even when that's the hardest thing in the world to do. Will Timmy be able to step up and stand against impossible odds in order to save his friend and liberate the town of Cherry Creek?

I'm afraid you're going to have to read the book to find that one out.

NRAMA: In January, Mail Order Ninja will start syndicated serialization in 40 newspapers in the U.S. How did this come to be, and what are you looking forward to about it?

JE: TOKYOPOP has an ongoing relationship with United Press Syndicate. They've already syndicated Peach Fuzz and Van Von Hunter, and Mail Order Ninja is the other kid-friendliest property in the Tokyopop stable. We'll be doing ten weeks (Sundays only) of repurposed strips from the first volume and then everything after that will be brand new. You'll have ninja versus robot action, a kung fu monkey and "Zen and the Art of Tricycle Maintenance".
It's going to be a lot of fun. Oh, and it'll be in full color! This is a first for Tokyopop and I'm personally very excited to see all the characters rendered in their full RGB glory for the first time.

Millions of people will be reading the strip every week and if enough of them like it, then it could become a permanent fixture. (Be sure to write your local newspapers, kids!) And if you don't happen to get Mail Order Ninja in your area, fear not for TOKYOPOP intends to collect all the strips sometime late next year.

NRAMA: When will the syndicated strips start, and where can people find out if their local paper will be carrying it?

JE: The series will begin its run on January 7. As to where it'll be running, that I don't actually know for certain yet. More than 45 papers have paid for the option to run the strips, but they're under no obligation to actually feature them. There's a very limited amount of real estate on the Sunday Comics page, so newspapers will often buy far more than they can use and then choose the best of the best. Though given the awesomeness of Mail Order Ninja, I'm fairly certain that we'll be picked up pretty much everywhere. So interested parties should contact their local newspapers and start demanding their Mail Order Ninja. I've already set up a few dozen false identities for just such a purpose. [laughs]

NRAMA: This series speaks to a long-running fascination with ninja by the American public, and kids in particular. Can you tell us about your fascination with ninja, both now as a writer and back when you were a child?

JE: Ninja rock. This much I think we can all agree on.

NRAMA: They have cool outfits, cool weapons and some major mad fighting skillz. They're just inherently awesome. I was a big Ninja Turtles fan as a kid and the Heroes in the Half Shell have definitely influenced my work in "Mail Order Ninja". And once I'd come up with the idea of pairing up a stoic ninja with a zany little kid, the rest pretty much wrote itself.

Mail Order Ninja Vol. 2 is due in stores this week.

[CitC]

I read it and I liked it. It's like the dream scenario for kids that are bullied. Glad to see that #2 is out since the story from one was to be continued.

[Johnny Storm]

I liked the premise better when it was called "Jim's Ninja"

http://www.funkycomics.com

[AlexLothos]

Very cool concept and even the preview pages had me laughing. I'll have to check this out.

[Dirk Manning]

I love, love, LOVE this book... despite teh fact that it contains one than one ninja.

Tell me, though, is there any word on who the new artist is yet now that Erich Owen is no longer attached?

[Joshua Elder]

Originally Posted by Dirk Manning

I love, love, LOVE this book... despite teh fact that it contains one than one ninja.

Tell me, though, is there any word on who the new artist is yet now that Erich Owen is no longer attached?

Thanks for the kind words.

And we're still looking at new artis. Erich is a tough act to follow, though we've already found a number of excellent potential candidates. We'll probably be making our selection at the first of next year.

[AbacusComics]

Originally Posted by Johnny Storm

I liked the premise better when it was called "Jim's Ninja"

http://www.funkycomics.com

Erich has been working on this book for a long time, I think the fact that a full sized manga... well, now actually TWO, have come out means they had the idea first.

It takes a long time to draw that many pages.

BTW, I love this series!

[Not From Around]

I've seen Josh refer to this elsewhere as being reminiscent of the humor of an old Warner Brothers cartoon. That's not a bad characterization of it in some respects.

I'm one of those librarians who got it to try on reluctant readers, by the way.

[bishop-m]

Looks pretty interesting. I'll have to track down both volumes...