Comic book readers may not know who Chris Hastings is, but they probably know his indie hit character Dr. McNinja. The ridiculous mash-up has been enjoying adventures ranging from battling evil Paul Bunyans, to grappling with his overachieving ninja family for the past few years. And even if you don’t know Dr. McNinja, you’ll have a chance coming up, as the independently published book has been picked up by Dark Horse.
But before that, an even bigger audience will get to know Hastings as the author of Fear Itself: Deadpool, a three issue miniseries Marvel is putting out concurrently with their upcoming mega-event which finds the titular Merc With a Mouth finding a magical hammer, and using it to essentially terrorize a small town. To find out more, we talked to Hastings about what’s coming up in the series, how much of Dr. McNinja’s DNA is in Deadpool (gross), and just what scares our favorite chatty assassin:
MTV Geek: Okay, give us the skinny… We know Deadpool gets his hands on a mystical hammer in this series… Or does he?
Chris Hastings: Man, LOOK at that hammer! It's got magic stones and stuff on it! It's got a magical ponytail... thing. I don't know why everyone is questioning the veracity of this hammer.
Geek: What’s your take on Deadpool? Are you writing the dueling narration box Deadpool, or some other variation?
CH: For the miniseries, I'm not going to be delving much into Deadpool's dark and troubled soul, filled with conflict over whether he's a hero or a villain. Not that I don't respect that, I just think for three issues, I want this to just be a fun read. He's a merry violent prankster, and a mercenary with a few too many sticks of dynamite on hand. And the dueling narration boxes shall indeed be appearing.
Geek: How much of Dr. McNinja’s DNA did you get from Deadpool, and how much is going back into the Merc With a Mouth?
CH: I actually think the very first Dr. McNinja I made in college was a little too Deadpool-inspired. Dr. McNinja walks into a McDonalds and thrashes their robot employees, quipping all the way. I tried to make him more than a quippy ninja after that, made some distance. But hey, I was 20 when I made that, and it was my first attempt at a funny comic.
Dr. McNinja DNA bleeding into Deadpool would probably be the strange and goofy characters that are TOTALLY SERIOUS YOU GUYS.
Geek: Speaking of Dr. McNinja – and we’ll get back to D-pool in a sec – what’s it like to go from writing your own indie comics, to working on one of the biggest characters out there? Do you feel like you’ve picked up your own proverbial mystical hammer, or do you have a better metaphor than that?
CH: Sometimes when I'm working on the comic, I'm smacked with the joyful realization that I'm contributing to the legacy of my absolute favorite Marvel character. And then quietly in the background, I can hear my fear of screwing it up. Read More...
