Issue 3 - Ninja Power! - Page 14 - Sit Down and Roll Up

[Adam Dravian]

Oh man, and here I was being proud I recognised Stallone's face in Viper. I'm clearly under-80s'd or something because I'm missing all of these references!

I'll simply take that as an indicator that someone can still be totally into the comic without catching all the winks and nods to '80s media. Which is exactly how we want things.

[Matty2310]

Wait, is Rio's make up inspired by Robert Smith of The Cure?

[Adam Dravian]

Rio was definitely inspired by Robert Smith.

[Matty2310]

I can't believe it took me ages to figure that out, seeing as The Cure are the most famous Gothic Rock band of all. It was because the hair wasn't parted in the middle which I'm so used to seeing him having.
In fact here's a video of Robert Smith actually in a haunted house wearing pyjamas (although they're stripy, not polka dots) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijxk-fgcg7c
Damn, this thread is one big 80s Gothic Rock reference pool. I promise this'll be the last time I try to guess something, because I have no idea what Kitty is influenced by.

[Jake (Not the Snake)]

Yo Adam, decent time reader, first time poster all that jazz.

Love the comic, it's super awesome.

OK I'm guessing Shade is somewhat based off Elriva (also, I believe I know who Shade really is and why she's nervous).

Elvira's in there, along with a couple others. I think I took a little inspiration for her eyeshadow from a picture of Siouxie Sioux.

You've been great at guessing so far. Even the guesses that didn't quite hit the mark have at least been in the right ballpark. And I thiiink you're the first person to point out Shade being nervous and whatnot. I can say that you're definitely on to something.

Matty I think you and I think similarly.

[Your quotes were messed up, so I edited this to fix 'em -AD]

[Adam Dravian]

Welcome to the forum, Jake! Though I gotta say I'm sorta disappointed you aren't Jake the Snake. He was one of my favorite wrestlers for awhile when I was a kid. I think up until The Ultimate Warrior stole my heart with his intensity and insanity.

[Adam Dravian]

I can't believe it took me ages to figure that out, seeing as The Cure are the most famous Gothic Rock band of all. It was because the hair wasn't parted in the middle which I'm so used to seeing him having.
In fact here's a video of Robert Smith actually in a haunted house wearing pyjamas (although they're stripy, not polka dots) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijxk-fgcg7c
Damn, this thread is one big 80s Gothic Rock reference pool. I promise this'll be the last time I try to guess something, because I have no idea what Kitty is influenced by.

That video's blocked in our country, but I think I know the one you're talking about.

If you ever get bored, you can always take a little DeLorean ride back to the past pages of the comic and guess at some of the references there. I know some forums have rules against posting in old threads, but we don't mind some thread necromancy.

[Jake (Not the Snake)]

Sorry to disappoint Adam. I'm even more sorry to say I don't follow wrestling and am definitely a different person from this Jake the Snake you speak of.

Also!
I just reread the comic (again) and I'm gonna hazard a guess that Shade is Heather. I doubt that you guys are gonna confirm it but I'll just applaud your skillful foreshadowing and sprinkling of various clues.

[Adam Dravian]

Sorry to disappoint Adam. I'm even more sorry to say I don't follow wrestling and am definitely a different person from this Jake the Snake you speak of.

No worries, I'm not a big wrestling fan. Not anymore, at least. I was a mega-fan of the WWF for a few years when I was a kid, but then my obsession moved on to things like Doom and porn.

Also!
I just reread the comic (again) and I'm gonna hazard a guess that Shade is Heather. I doubt that you guys are gonna confirm it but I'll just applaud your skillful foreshadowing and sprinkling of various clues.

We've taken a vow of neither confirming nor denying any sort of guesses made as to future revelations of the comic.

However, since I now know you're freshly familiar with it all, I can totally quiz you.

What's your...
Favorite character?
Favorite page/scene?
And how did you discover the comic in the first place?

[Jake (Not the Snake)]

What's your...
Favorite character?
Favorite page/scene?
And how did you discover the comic in the first place?

First off, thanks for fixing my previous quotes! 

Favorite character: Ok see I like them all so this is tough for me. I can relate to the awkwardness of Eddie at the party (I was pretty weird/awkward at 14. I've toned it down to charming quirks by now) so there's that. My pick for the coolest character is tough but Ket and Viper lose out to Psycho Sam for me for reasons of skateboarding (skating high is hard man). Runner ups after those 3 are (in no order): Alex, Trance, Frost (that goth-ified Top Gun look tho). Overall best is nigh impossible, ask me again after more story happens.

Favorite page: Anything with Psycho Sam is gold but that panel with him and the dummy is platinum.

I'm pretty sure you posted it on Reddit and I went down the rabbit hole to here!

Also I'm pretty indecisive so I like pretty much everything in the comic but it's hard for me to pick stuff like this (which is pretty easy to tell. I'm not great at restaurants)
Incidentally, my younger brother is named Sam so maybe I feel a connection there too.


Ninja!Edit: I just looked at that trick sam's doing again and that boneless is sick as hell. I just got that trick (I'm new to the skate scene) and damn that's impressive forward momentum and height. I'm not sure what trick Eddie is doin in the montage but it's also pretty cool. What's up with Sam's board though? Do they have purple grip tape?

[Jessica Safron]

What's your...
Favorite character?
Favorite page/scene?
And how did you discover the comic in the first place?

First off, thanks for fixing my previous quotes! 

Favorite character: Ok see I like them all so this is tough for me. I can relate to the awkwardness of Eddie at the party (I was pretty weird/awkward at 14. I've toned it down to charming quirks by now) so there's that. My pick for the coolest character is tough but Ket and Viper lose out to Psycho Sam for me for reasons of skateboarding (skating high is hard man). Runner ups after those 3 are (in no order): Alex, Trance, Frost (that goth-ified Top Gun look tho). Overall best is nigh impossible, ask me again after more story happens.

Favorite page: Anything with Psycho Sam is gold but that panel with him and the dummy is platinum.

I'm pretty sure you posted it on Reddit and I went down the rabbit hole to here!

Also I'm pretty indecisive so I like pretty much everything in the comic but it's hard for me to pick stuff like this (which is pretty easy to tell. I'm not great at restaurants)
Incidentally, my younger brother is named Sam so maybe I feel a connection there too.


Ninja!Edit: I just looked at that trick sam's doing again and that boneless is sick as hell. I just got that trick (I'm new to the skate scene) and damn that's impressive forward momentum and height. I'm not sure what trick Eddie is doin in the montage but it's also pretty cool. What's up with Sam's board though? Do they have purple grip tape?

This sounds like just the indecisive-but-still-trying type of answer I'd give someone. I appreciate it.

Weird/awkward at 14? Adam and I are wondering just how young you are now.

I don't know much about skateboarding. My younger brother was really into it in his early adolescence (probably starting around the time of the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game), so I overheard some jargon here and there. Adam had me look at a scene or two from Gleaming the Cube a long time ago, which I still haven't seen in its entirety. More recently, I had us watch Thrashin' because it looked stupid (in a good way) and I thought it might help me with my 80s skateboarding ignorance. Plus it starred Josh Brolin, and I always thought he was hot in The Goonies.

[Adam Dravian]

Favorite character: Ok see I like them all so this is tough for me. I can relate to the awkwardness of Eddie at the party (I was pretty weird/awkward at 14. I've toned it down to charming quirks by now) so there's that. My pick for the coolest character is tough but Ket and Viper lose out to Psycho Sam for me for reasons of skateboarding (skating high is hard man). Runner ups after those 3 are (in no order): Alex, Trance, Frost (that goth-ified Top Gun look tho). Overall best is nigh impossible, ask me again after more story happens.

Interesting. Thanks for answering. We don't get much feedback from people, so I mostly use Google analytics to get an idea for what people like. For instance, I can see which of the character's profiles are viewed most frequently on the "About the Characters" page of the site. Eddie's profile gets the most views (probably because he's first and the main character), followed by Alex, and then Veronica and Heather. The profiles that get the least amount of views are Viper, Corey, and Darwick.

I've had a couple people say that Trish is their favorite character, which is sort of confusing to us, since she was written to be a throw-away character. She's basically a trashier version of Veronica with smaller boobs and bigger hair.

Favorite page: Anything with Psycho Sam is gold but that panel with him and the dummy is platinum.

Oh man, Jessica put a lot of time into that page, so I'm glad it's someone's favorite.

I'm pretty sure you posted it on Reddit and I went down the rabbit hole to here!

Awesome. My SN8X reddit submissions tend to get very few up-votes, since it's not the type of content people are usually looking for (stand alone gag-strips), but I figure even if it gets us one new fan, then it's worth posting.

What's up with Sam's board though? Do they have purple grip tape?

Ah, we'll probably have to retcon that. Thanks for pointing it out. My high school buddies were skateboarders (including my friend Sam who served as the main inspiration for Psycho Sam), but like Jessica, my knowledge of skateboarding mostly stems from watching others play some of the Tony Hawk games.

[Jake (Not the Snake)]

This sounds like just the indecisive-but-still-trying type of answer I'd give someone. I appreciate it.

You've got me pegged pretty well.

Weird/awkward at 14? Adam and I are wondering just how young you are now.

I'm 18, living it up in Cali. My birthday was a couple months ago actually!

[Michigander1911]

Yo Adam, decent time reader, first time poster all that jazz.

Love the comic, it's super awesome.

So for whatever reason I'm curious about your signature line.  Are you asking if you should stay or go? or are you quoting The Clash?  and the second part the quote would be "Everybody must get stoned". 

I'm a huge Rock & Roll fan and Dylan is in my top 3 favorites of all time.   

[Jake (Not the Snake)]

So for whatever reason I'm curious about your signature line.  Are you asking if you should stay or go? or are you quoting The Clash?  and the second part the quote would be "Everybody must get stoned". 

I'm a huge Rock & Roll fan and Dylan is in my top 3 favorites of all time.

Dude I'm gonna be honest I think the only reason I put the clash line there was that I had just listened to that album. Also I thought that Dylan song was funny as hell, and, ya know, it's good advice