Chewy
Ninja Monkey Bars began as a small-time, low-quality
comic strip that was created in a desperate and
panicked attempt to come up with some form of fresh
content for an old website of mine. While I was
struggling for ideas one day in the spring of 2000,
my friend Lucas approached me with a thought (the
quotation is probably embellished somewhat, but
not much, as Lucas is a genius): “You need
to come up with something so ridiculous that people
will love it, even though they know they shouldn’t.
Remember that Hamsterdance thing? So popular, but
soooo stupid… stoop to that level and you
will be the master.”
Completely
unaware of the existence of webcomics at the time,
I eventually stumbled upon an internet comic strip
called Joe the Circle. First of all, my head exploded
upon seeing such a silly and hilarious title. I
spent the next several hours perusing the Joe archives
and gathering the scattered pieces of my head that
I thought were necessary for survival. More importantly,
however, reading strip after strip gave me an idea.
Late that Saturday night, as my brother-in-law pecked
away at the keyboard during another rousing session
of Ultima Online, I sat down at the other
desk with a pen, a Sharpie, and a piece of paper,
and set to work on the first edition of Chewy Ninja
Monkey Bars. An hour and a half later, my crude
scribbles and words coalesced into a (somewhat)
coherent comic strip, and I continued to produce
strips for years with varying degrees of interest
and frequency (or infrequency, to be cynically precise)
before shifting the operation to this particular
website.
And
here we are, still a small-time, low-quality comic
strip. But that's okay. In January of 2008, I finally
got serious about doing the comic strip and have
dedicated myself to getting the strip out on a regular
schedule. And since you’re not bored to tears
just yet, now seems like a nice time to say welcome,
thanks for reading, special thanks to those of you
who kept prodding me to make more strips all these
years, and I hope you enjoy.
-
Brian Rhodes
Frequently
Asked Questions
Q:
I think your comic has a stupid title. What a stupid
title!
A:
Listen, that’s all well and good, but you’re
not following the rules, pal. If you’re gonna
rip on the comic in this list of frequently asked
questions, it seems only appropriate to do so in
the form of a question.
Q:
Why does your comic have such a stupid title?
A:
That’s better. Chewy Ninja Monkey Bars is
a play on “super karate monkey death car,”
a phrase that appeared in a couple of episodes of
the NBC sitcom Newsradio, once as the title
of a video game, and once as a poorly translated
line in a book written by Jimmy James (Stephen Root)
that failed in America, became a hit in Japan, and
was then translated back into English and re-released
in America. I couldn’t think of a name for
the strip at first, and I had no idea where the
story was going or who was going to be involved,
so I was at a loss for a decent title. Instead of
coming up with my own, I did the next best thing:
leech off someone else’s creativity. I've
thought about changing the name on one or two occasions,
but I still can't think of a better one.
Q:
Oh great, another comic with ninjas in
it. You must think you’re really clever and
hip, don’t you?
A:
No. Well… yes, actually. I mean no. Certainly
not hip. If you know me at all, you know I’m
not hip. However, like most human beings, I do love
ninjas, and I’m pretty sure that I was playing
a lot of Ninja Gaiden when I came up with
the idea of inserting ninjas into the story, and
I’d also recently read some early issues of
The Tick, which feature the aptly-titled
story, “Night of a Million-Zillion Ninjas.”
So, if you take all of that into account, I’m
also not clever.
Q:
Are you aware that everything in the strip regarding
ninjas, including history, abilities, costuming,
etc. is entirely inaccurate?
A:
Yes.
Q:
How do you make a strip?
A:
Back in the day, in a very minimalist and un-me
fashion (I’m a perfectionist), I used to just
draw everything with an ink pen and a Sharpie on
a 8.5” x 11” sheet of typing paper.
As a result, all illustration flaws, anatomical
errors, and boo-boos were either whited out or left
in for comedic purposes. These days, I first write
a script (or at the very least a rough outline)
some days or weeks before drawing anything. I use
bigger and more durable paper called Bristol board,
on which I pencil the whole thing first, then ink
(trace) it using .01, .03, and .05 Micron pens and
a fine point Pilot Precise V7 pen. (I guess that's
what it's called.) After that, I scan the sucker
and do color fills, lighting effects, crazy filters,
etc. in Photoshop. Then I take that into Illustrator
(which I now know how to use thanks to my day job)
and add word bubbles and sound effects. Honestly,
you can do a comic strip however you want, though—don’t
be like me and feel obligated to model how you do
things on someone else’s technique.
Q:
Is Mike based on Mike [insert last name here]?
A:
No. While I know a good number of Mikes, many of
whom have probably in some way acted like Mike in
one way or another, Mike is not really based on
any of them.
Q:
I can’t figure out what’s going on!
Did I miss something?
A:
It’s very likely. Chewy Ninja Monkey Bars
is a serialized, long-form comic strip. If you’re
new around here, I highly recommend checking out
the New Readers page and starting with the beginning
of the series, no matter how crappy it looks. Also,
the writing of the strip is consistently poor, so
things may get a little incoherent at times.
Q:
Are you ever going to make new comics?
A:
Man, I hope so, because I certainly do enjoy it.
Nevertheless, it has proven most difficult to fit
into my daily life regardless of how busy or unbusy
I am at any given time.
Q:
Is your comic strip a cheap rip-off of The Adventures
of Dr. McNinja?
A:
No, although our respective strips have shared similar
ninja-related jokes in the past. I was really upset
the first time I realized we used the same joke--I
almost quit because my strip will never be as good
as Dr. McNinja and didn't want it to look like I
was stealing jokes (even though I didn't) and essentially
being a cheap knock-off. But I thought about it
for a bit and figured there are only so many ninja
jokes in existence and that it was bound to happen
eventually. And we probably weren't even the first
ones to come up with them, either. I love Dr. McNinja,
but my strip is in no way trying to imitate it.
More
frequently asked questions to be added as they are
asked!
About
the Author
Brian
Rhodes is a 20-something wannabe writer and cartoonist
currently living and working in Cape Girardeau,
Missouri, as a graphic designer and sports blogger
for his local newspaper. When not indulging in tireless
self-deprecation, Brian enjoys video games, filmmaking,
watching and playing a variety of sports, fiction
of many sorts, traveling, woodworking, and an endless
amount of other stuff. (I heard he also writes and
draws on occasion.) Most of all, he enjoys the company
and inspiration of his friends and family, all of
whom do a pretty good job of keeping him going.
Brian is the quiet one of the group, and mostly
just tries his best to be there for people when
they need him. He has been making comics in some
form or another since age 9.
Brian's
biggest influences include Tony Kornheiser, Charles
Schulz, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Bob
Gibson, Scott Kurtz, and probably a number of others.
He also takes after everybody in his family at least
a little bit.
Fun
Facts:
-
Never takes naps
- Wears a lot of white
- Absurdly bad luck
