Messages

781

Discuss Blog Entries / Movie Review - Enter the Ninja [1981]

« on: August 07, 2014, 12:30:54 AM »

Read it here: https://satanninja.com/blog/2014/08/movie-review-enter-the-ninja-1981

This would've been posted last night, but bullshit technical issues delayed it. All sorted out now, though.

782

Discuss Anything / Re: Introductions

« on: August 05, 2014, 05:00:34 AM »

Most people pronounced Dravean the way I intended, but every once in awhile, someone would say something like "druh-veen." Or they'd avoid saying it altogether because they weren't sure. Also, the "ea" combo kind of gives the impression of a trying to be exotic or fantastical with the spelling. My previous girlfriend is the one who favored "ea" over "ia." Like you said, I think the "ia" spelling makes it seem a little less like a totally fake name.

I'll let Jessica speak for herself. That is, if she can ever pull herself away from drawing for long enough to post on here.

783

Discuss Anything / Re: Introductions

« on: August 04, 2014, 08:23:17 PM »

Dravian is a pseudonym. At least for now.

Here's the story behind it.

When I was in my late teens, I started singing for a horror rock band (think The Misfits). My dad asked me not to use my family name in the band, since my extended family are very Christian, with pastors and Christian authors in their ranks, and my band was vulgar and had some mild satanic themes and such. So for a very brief time I simply used my last initial, making me Adam D.

Then I dyed my hair a kind of blue-black and a couple of my friends jokingly called me "Raven." I decided to tack that on to the end of my last initial, making me Adam Draven. I went by that for a few years, but people kept assuming I took the name from The Crow. Also, some wrestler or something started calling himself Adam Draven, so I altered my fake surname to Dravean.

Shortly before we launched the comic, I decided to alter the spelling to Dravian so that it would be more obvious how it was pronounced.

I'm thinking Dravian is the last stage of its evolution, so I'll probably make it my legal name at some point.

784

Discuss Comic Pages / Re: Issue 2 - Party Like It's 198X - Page 7 - Eddie's Gotta Ask Her!

« on: August 04, 2014, 07:04:57 PM »

I do think she's attractive but I'm waiting for more of the typical 80's young female transformation to make Eddie open his eyes.

Yeah, I knew what you meant. Just giving you a hard time.

785

Discuss Anything / Re: Introductions

« on: August 04, 2014, 07:52:43 AM »

Ah, Jessica actually looked up your name awhile ago and told me it was the Dutch word for rice, but I totally forgot.

My ancestral Dutch surname ended with "naaij" but when it was "Americanized" they changed the end to "nay." Apparently, something like "nye" would've been more accurate.

Yeah, it's strange how we can't really hear distinctions in certain sounds when it's not part of our cultural vocal lexicon.

786

Discuss Anything / Re: Here is Practical Explanation about Next Life, Purpose of Human Life -

« on: August 04, 2014, 07:44:39 AM »

Yeah that pretty much settles it.

Heh, I like how onion and garlic and thrown in with the "no meat eating."

787

Discuss Anything / Re: Introductions

« on: August 03, 2014, 05:36:17 AM »

It's pronounced "nineteen-eighty-X" or "nahyn-teen-ey-tee-eks" if we wanna get really phonetic about it.

And on that note, how the hell do you pronounce Rijst? Is the "ij" that funky Dutch letter that we don't have an equivalent of in English? My ancestral Dutch surname ends in that "ij," which is the only reason I know about it.

788

Discuss Comic Pages / Re: Issue 2 - Party Like It's 198X - Page 8 - Ice Cream Man

« on: August 03, 2014, 01:49:19 AM »

I see what you mean. I kind of had the opposite problem: it was easy enough for me to start talking to girls I liked and getting to know them and so on, but could never get anything to progress past that. (Although there were a couple of exceptions: one of those girls admitted that she liked me shortly after I got a girlfriend, and another one made it clear after I had moved away.)

Ah, yeah. I definitely know what it's like to find out only after it's too late how things could have worked out if only you had taken the right actions. One of my favorite things to daydream about is how mega-awesome my life could be if I were to somehow send my current brain into my past body.

I guess it is the eye shadow, which is odd, because I normally like that a lot. I think it's because of the art style and the medium in general: typically stuff like eye shadow isn't illustrated at all in this type of art, so when I actually see it, it feels extra emphasized. Does that make sense? Kind of like how in anime, the women aren't usually animated with lips unless they're deliberately meant to be wearing makeup. But yeah, in reality, she's definitely not super caked-on.

It totally makes sense and, in fact, it's something I've discussed with Jessica. She was originally going to give Alex a sprinkling of freckles across the nose, but I told her that with her cartoony style, a sprinkling of freckles is going to give people the impression that Alex is supposed to be a full-blown freckle-faced girl, which wasn't the intention.

Also, Jessica got heavily into anime when she was a tween, so she drew in an anime style for a few years. Because of that, I think she still feels a little strange drawing lips on a girl.

Haha, I get what you're saying. I take it that Veronica is at the upper end of the spectrum to illustrate her "unobtainable" status?

She's near the upper end, but no, she's not at the top.

I've only seen about one episode of Adventure Time, so I can't really say, but Gravity Falls quickly became one of my all-time favorite shows. If you're a fan of the classic Simpsons (seasons 2-8), you'll like GF. It's obvious that the people writing the show grew up memorizing Simpsons episodes. Also, the show has a bit of a Twin-Peaks-For-Kids vibe with an ongoing mystery and a bizarre northwestern town.

Season 2 just premiered yesterday, actually. There are a lot of websites where you can watch the episodes, but if you actually have cable, you can sign in to your provider's website and watch all the episodes on Disney XD's site.

I'd recommend starting at the beginning, but if you only watch ONE, make it "Fight Fighters". It's got a TON of hilarious jokes about early '90s video games. Here's a clip!

I watched the clip and I'm definitely intrigued. Loved the Street Fighter II parody. We've got a positively massive backlog of things to watch, and we're trying to focus our limited media-consuming time to '80s things (for obvious reasons), so it'll probably be awhile before we get around to it, but I'll add it to the heap. Thanks.

789

Discuss Blog Entries / Re: Ninjas & Me: An Adam Dravian Retrospective

« on: August 03, 2014, 12:35:01 AM »

Hey man, don't judge. 

790

Discuss Comic Pages / Re: Issue 2 - Party Like It's 198X - Page 8 - Ice Cream Man

« on: August 03, 2014, 12:33:18 AM »

Oh yeah, I was definitely right about the discount (well, free) ice cream.

1 for 1 on your predictions so far...

Good on Eddie for actually going over to talk to her.

Except he suffers from the same flaw that I suffered from as an awkward teen who was clueless with women. Instead of simply trying to talk to her casually and naturally so he could eventually build up to asking her out, he's going right for the "prize." But then again, he does feel pressed for time and like he's got destiny on his side, so I can't fault the dude too much (also, I'm his god and he does whatever I make him do, so I really can't fault his actions at all).

This edition of Babe Alert: definitely a babealicious page. The ladies have fantastic bodies but wear too much makeup for my taste. Not that I would ever tell a woman that she's wearing too much makeup. (Or too little. Or anything of the sort, because I've learned many lessons as a married man.)

I was about to say that I'm not a fan of the caked on makeup look, but it actually depends on how it's done. I know I've seen some goth girls that I've thought were hot that were wearing a shitload of makeup. But usually, I'm not a fan. I don't think Veronica or Heather are quite into that territory, though. I'm guessing it's the eye shadow that's putting you off?

Looks like Veronica has to get her shirts custom-made for her chest and waist. (Nice.)

Heh. Yeah, I'm definitely a breast dude (to the surprise of no one who reads, well, anything I write). A nice rack is secondary only to a pretty face when it comes to what I look for, psychically, in a girl. I can't count the number of times I've reviewed one of Jessica's babe drawings and said something like, "Eh, maybe make her tits just a little bit bigger." Of course, we can't have every girl in the comic be as busty as, say, Veronica, or else she'd look run-of-the-mill as opposed to exceptional.

Speaking of chests, seeing Alex from the side and how her vest and tie are lifted up suggests that she'd look a lot like her sister if she wore revealing clothes. There's definitely going to be a "hair down, glasses off" moment with her eventually, I just know it. And I'm looking forward to it.

No comment.

Special Dude Alert: that short t-shirt that Dean is wearing reminded me of one of my all-time parody moments of late-80s, early-90's from an episode of Gravity Falls. ("And why was I dreaming of two brightly colored and radical young men?")

I've never seen, or even heard of that show. It's been a long time since I've been much of a TV watcher. We watched the first few seasons of Adventure Time and enjoyed that. Is it comparable at all?

791

Discuss Anything / Re: Introductions

« on: August 03, 2014, 12:01:09 AM »

It seriously does lead to some awkward situations. Especially because our home city of Grand Rapids is notably Christian (we hold some kind of record for the number of churches per square mile in the US).

For instance, last time I went to get my teeth cleaned at the dentist, the, uh, dental assistant lady was making small talk with me. She knows I'm a writer, so she asked what my latest project is.

"I'm writing a comic that my girlfriend draws."

"Oh, how nice! What's it called?"

"Uh, Satan Ninja 198X."

"What was that?"

"Satan Ninja. 198X."

"Oh ... Okay."

Yeah, it tends to be awkward.

792

Discuss Anything / Re: Here is Practical Explanation about Next Life, Purpose of Human Life -

« on: August 02, 2014, 11:53:34 PM »

It looks like it's a poor translation of something, but I doubt a better translation would help much. I'd guess that this is being posted on various religious forums, and the "Satan" in our title mislead them about the nature of our site.

793

Discuss Comic Pages / Issue 2 - Party Like It's 198X - Page 8 - Ice Cream Man

« on: August 02, 2014, 09:37:15 PM »

When I was maybe thirteen or so, I saw a couple girls that lived on my street get free ice cream by flirting with the ice cream man. The world felt very unfair at that moment.

So, yeah. This is comic is basically a true story. All of it.

794

Discuss Anything / Re: Here is Practical Explanation about Next Life, Purpose of Human Life -

« on: August 01, 2014, 05:41:43 PM »

Wow. Our first spam post. At least, I think it's spam. Pretty weird. I'm not even sure if I want to delete this...

I decided to just delete the link, since I sure as fuck don't trust a link from this guy.

795

Discuss Anything / Re: Introductions

« on: August 01, 2014, 05:40:54 PM »

People who're offended by Satanism but insist on reading a comic called "Satan Ninja 198X" should press Ctrl+F4, as it will automatically remove all references to Satan from their screen. 

Welcome guys! Or welcome back if you just tried that key combination..

We realized that naming the comic Satan Ninja 198X would be off-putting to a lot of people. But the name amuses us too much not to use.