CINXE.COM

<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Ninja High School </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=360 WIDTH=300 ALT="Jeremy and schoolmates. Artist: Ben Dunn. From the cover of the first issue." SRC="ninjahi.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"> <H1>NINJA HIGH SCHOOL</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> Antarctic Press <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1987 <BR><B>Creator:</B> Ben Dunn <FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> Following the success of <I><A href="turtles.htm">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</A></I> (1984), possibly the hottest property to come out of comic books since <A href="batman.htm">Batman,</A> American comics were rife with black and white series sporting goofy names, and <I><A href="hamsters.htm">Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters</A></I> (1986) was only the beginning. One wag suggested a <A href="thunder.htm">T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents</A> series titled <I>Has Been Over Exposed Public Domain <A href="glossary.htm#superhero">Superheroes,</A></I> and another opined that the hottest comic of all would be <I>Stolen Radioactive Incandescent Jalapeños.</I> But the  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> majority of titles were goofy in different ways, such as <I>Alien Ducklings</I> (1986), <I><A href="fishpoli.htm">Fish Police</A></I> (1985) and <I>Trollords</I> (1986). In this environment, <A href="glossary.htm#cartoonist">cartoonist</A> Ben Dunn (Warrior Nun Areala, <A href="marvel.htm">Marvel</A> Mangaverse) introduced <I>Ninja High School</I> in 1987. <P> In many of these cases  perhaps most  the title was the best thing about the comic, and that could have been gotten across with a mini-series, a oneshot, an anthology entry, or even a line in a <A href="glossary.htm#fanzine">fanzine.</A> But no, they tended to have open-ended, ongoing series. <I>Trollords,</I> for example, had 28 issues over a period of half a decade, from four different publishers; and <I>Fish Police</I> even got adapted into a TV cartoon seven years after it started. <I>Ninja High School</I> is one of the few planned from the start to be a limited series, and it wound up lasting longer than any half-dozen of them put together. <P> The cover of <I>Ninja High School</I> #1 (undated, but it came out in 1987) proclaimed it to be a 3-issue mini-series. The fourth (January, 1988) said it was now a regular series, and following that it came out monthly, continuing for well over 100 issues. The publisher was Antarctic Press, which had been formed for that purpose, and which has had its greatest success over the years with <I>Ninja High School.</I> <P> Dunn did <I>Ninja High School</I> in the <A href="glossary.htm#manga">manga</A> style that was starting to be seen in America, with such titles as <I>Area 88</I> and <I>Mai the Psychic Girl.</I> This was partly a matter of personal affinity, and partly because one of the main things he wanted to do with the series was parody the conventions and motifs of manga and <A href="glossary.htm#anime">animé,</A> by filling a relatively normal American high school with that sort of credibility-lacking melodrama. <P> The series takes place among the students of Quagmire High School, which is located somewhere in the American Midwest. The main character is Jeremy Feeple, a fairly ordinary kid, except for being the attempted love object of a rivalry involving a skunk-like humanoid alien and two wealthy Japanese ninja clan princesses. That, and the fact that his mom is a retired ninja. <P> Other animé-style melodrama centers around Professor Steamhead (Johann Steamhein), a displaced German Jewish scientist with a somewhat anachronistic interest in harnessing steam power; Tomorrow Girl, a synthetic person who functions as a superhero patterned after <A href="suprgirl.htm">Supergirl;</A> and an occasional need for Jeremy and/or his pals to sally forth and save the world. <P> In 1992, Malibu (<A href="dino4hir.htm">Dinosaurs for Hire,</A> <A href="girls.htm">The Trouble with Girls</A>) published a full-color version of <I>Ninja High School.</I> Malibu has also published several mini-series and specials spun off from <I>Ninja High School,</I> including a two-issue <A href="glossary.htm#xover">crossover</A> with <A href="spdracer.htm">Speed Racer</A> in 1993. At the same time, Now Comics (<A href="astroboy.htm">Astro Boy,</A> The Green Hornet) crossed the two character sets over from Speed's point of view. Antarctic handled a crossover with <I>Gold Digger</I> on its own, as well as <I>The Girls of Ninja High School, The Ninja High School Swimsuit Special, Ninja High Yearbook</I> and many other adjuncts to the main series. Most issues are kept in print, in <A href="glossary.htm#novel">graphic novel</A> form. <P> As the hundredth issue of the regular series passed, the title was changed to <I>NHS</I> and the focus was changed to an offshoot set in Hawaii, with few characters continuing from before. But after a couple of years, it changed back. <P> <I>Ninja High School</I> hasn't been such a financial bonanza as <I>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.</I> But for decades, it's maintained a presence in the comics stores of America as one of the most consistently successful manga-inspired independent comic books. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE> <P> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="google_window"> <table border="0" bgcolor="#cccccc"> <tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32"> <a href="http://www.google.com/"> <img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25gry.gif" border="0" alt="Google"></img></a> <br/> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.toonopedia.com"></input> <input type="text" name="q" size="23" maxlength="255" value=""></input> </td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <table> <tr> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value=""></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">Web</font> </td> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.toonopedia.com" checked="checked"></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">www.toonopedia.com</font> </td> </tr> </table> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"></input> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-1498877845272586"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </td></tr></table> </form>  <FONT SIZE=2><P> <A HREF="http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?wickedcoolstuff+e2VdY2+index.html+" TARGET="_blank">Purchase Toon-related Merchandise Online</A> <P></FONT></TABLE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2><I>Text ©2010 Donald D. Markstein. Art © Ben Dunn.</I> </BODY></HTML>