Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Ninja Edition
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"What ethnicity is X (and Y for that matter)? Are... any of the members of the Ninja Mafia actually Japanese? (Because it would be pretty hilarious if not.)"-Airyu
(I got this question over on Patreon, actually! But I thought I'd crosspost the answer here, because Ninja Mafia lore stuff is so timely.)
I picture X as an Arab dude and Y as being of some sort of Scandinavian descent. At least, that's what I have in mind on the rare occassions when I colour them! I haven't really given a ton of thought to what their family backgrounds are. (A lot of Blankfaces come from families whose members have served in that rank for generations. I'm not sure if that applies to either of them... it hasn't really come up!)
As for the make-up of the rest of the Ninja Mafia (pre-Sam), it recruited the vast majority of its members from the general public. The rank and file of the Ninja Mafia are mostly miscellaneous working class Americans, like Aaron was. (The joke, originally, was that most of their members were just guys who thought ninjas were cool as a result of their overabundance in 80s and 90s pop-culture... hence their general lack of actual skills.) Some of the highest ranking "civilian" members, like the Blankfaces, come from lines or families that take it all more seriously, but they're in the minority.
The Ninja Mafia's traditional aristocracy (like Gertrude and her parents), on the other hand, is comprised of the members of the "12 traditional families." Some of them serve as commanders to the civilians in the military, while the rest are political leaders, scholars, or just rich layabouts. These families have supposedly been a part of the organization since the begining, so if the Ninja Mafia ever WAS actually a proper group of ninjas from Japan... it'd make sense that some or all of them would be Japanese. But it's kind of a running gag that the Ninja Mafia may well have ALWAYS been a bunch of ninja wannabes. Every time one of the 12 families turns up in the comic, I give them a really ostentatiously not-ninja-sounding last name like McMillan or Dupont.
"How much longer until Sam snaps out of this ‘ends justify means’ thing and focuses on actually solving problems without self-righteous justification? Or is he locked in for good?" -Sinan
Well! Right now we're visiting Sam at a pretty different (and considerably less confident, let alone self-righteous) time of his life. But we'll be returning to sketchy modern Sam afterwards. And when we do... all I can really say about Sam's future is it'll be a logical culmination of the rest of his charater arc!
"Which characters do the 7 burlesque acts in the new pin-up book? There are only six characters in the original story! Does Jess perform double-duty?" -Erin
The extra character is Nicole! It's where the preview image of her in the leather jacket is from. In Off the Sauce, Gert, X, Y, Jess, and Dev all had pretty traditional/old fashioned burlesque trope outfits (and Sam just looked like someone at a Goth nightclub). But I wanted to do at least one routine that had more of the punkish vibe of modern alternative burlesque. And Nicole seemed like a good fit! (Although Tats probably would have been up for it, too.)
I call them "burlesque acts", but some of them are more like... er... performance art? I don't know what else to call them. (Maybe someone else who has read it has a better idea?) Each of them is very specific to the character doing the performing, which was a big part of the fun of making it!
That's a wrap for today, team. See you on Monday!
-Sam Logan
