Christopher Hastings
Christopher Hastings (age 37–38)[1] is a comic writer and artist. He is known for his webcomic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja as well as writing for Unbelievable Gwenpool and the Adventure Time comics.
Personal details[]
Hastings attended the School of Visual Arts in New York.[2] He is originally from Cumberland, Maryland. He is married to his wife Carly Monardo.[3]
Career[]
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja[]
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja is a webcomic which ran from 2004[1] to 2017.[4] Hastings created Dr. McNinja while he was a student; he said that that the name "Dr. McNinja" came first, and was his online handle for some time, then the comic followed. The comic updated three pages each week, with Hastings employing an inker and colorist to finish the pages.[2] Hastings spent about 40 hours every week on the comic,[1] spending one day per week writing the script, then four days drawing one page each day. He estimated that each page took 3–4 hours to draw.[1][5] Creating Dr. McNinja was Chris' full-time job; while the comic is free online, Hastings made money by selling books and T-shirts.[1] Books collecting the webcomic were published by TopatoCo and Dark Horse Comics.[6]
The comic follows Dr. McNinja, a doctor who is also a ninja, dealing with problems such as giant lumberjacks, zombie ninjas, a raptor, his own family, Dracula on the moon, and ancient tennis gods.[2] The story covered several genres, including zombies, 80s action, and science fiction. The story is set in a fictionalized version of Hasting's home town of Cumberland.[3]
Dr. McNinja won the 2007 Web Cartoonist's Choice Award for Outstanding Superhero/Action Comic.[2][7] As of 2008, the site received about 110,000 unique visitors each day.[1]
In 2015, he began a storyline entitled "The End", the last story of the comic. Hastings said in an interview that he had decided to "pick a time to quit so that I'd know it was coming and I wouldn't burn out", so he could give a satisfying ending, though even then he said "I picked the right time, I'm definitely kind of starting to get tired of this". Hastings was already ramping up his paid work outside of Dr. McNinja in preparation for the end of the comic.[8]
Crossovers and spinoffs[]
Dr. McNinja and Axe Cop had a cross-over series in 2010, co-written by Hastings.[9]
A Kickstarter campaign was launched in 2012 for a spinoff video game to be called Dr. McNinja’s Radical Adventures. The Kickstarter was successfully funded, but no game was ever produced. In 2015, the game company, Fat Cat GameWorks, made a post giving their reasons for the game's failure. According to the post, Fat Cat GameWorks randomly drew "Tiki" and "Ninja" as themes for their first ever game, and following that approached Hastings to license Dr. McNinja, to which Hastings agreed. The Kickstarter was only funded by accident, with a late bidder accidentally pledging $1500 instead of $15. Hastings received 15% of the Kickstarter funds. The company found working with an already developed IP to be too ambitious and too limiting for a new company, the funding was insufficient to make the game they had promised, and key staff had serious health issues. The post said, "We were foolish and bit off WAY more than we could chew".[10]
Marvel[]
Hastings has written or co-written several works for Marvel Comics.
Title | Date(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|
Fear Itself: Deadpool | 2011 | A three-issue series within the Fear Itself storyline.[11] |
A+X | 2012 | Co-writer of one issue.[12] |
Longshot Saves The Marvel Universe | 2013 | A four-issue series.[13][14] |
Howard the Duck | 2015 | Co-writer of one issue.[15] |
Gwenpool Special | 2015 | Co-writer of this one-off issue. |
Vote Loki | 2016 | A four-issue series.[16] |
Unbelievable Gwenpool | 2016–2018 | Hastings, along with the Japanese art team Gurihiru, created the character's personality and powers, based on the design created previously by Chris Bachalo.[17] |
Edge of Venomverse | 2017 | Writer of one issue, in which Gwenpool gets access to the Venom symbiote.[18] |
Deadpool & the Mercs for Money | 2017 | Writer of two issues.[19] |
Not Brand Echh | 2017 | Co-wrote "issue #14" of the series; the first 13 issues were published in the 1960s[20] |
I Am Groot | 2017 | [21][22] |
Infinity Wars: Infinity Warps | 2018 | Co-writer on one issue.[23] |
Deadpool: Secret Agent Deadpool | 2018 | A six-issue series.[24] |
2019 | Co-writer on one page of one issue.[25] |
Boom! Studios[]
Beginning on January 28, 2015, Hastings replaced Ryan North as writer for the Adventure Time comic book series.[26] Hastings also wrote the Wet Hot American Summer graphic novel, a prequel of the movie of the same name,[27] and the comic series Regular Show: 25 Years Later.[28]
Other work[]
Hastings co-created webcomics for the company ShiftyLook, adapting the video games Galaga and Dig Dug into comics.[29]
In 2018, Hastings launched a Kickstarter for a graphic novel called Draculagate, to be co-created by Hastings and Branson Reese.[30] The project successfully received funding, though as of April 2020 the novel has not been completed.
In 2019, Hastings began writing the webcomic Never Enough: The Wario Diaries.[31]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Wortham, Jenna (2008-04-21). "Behind the Memes: Chris Hastings, Creator of Dr. McNinja". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Silver, Curtis. "GeekDad Interview: Dr. McNinja I Presume?". Wired Magazine June 17, 2009. Retrieved on October 28, 2011
- ^ Jump up to: a b Sims, Chris (August 15, 2012). "Christopher Hastings on 'The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: Timefist' [Interview]". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on October 18, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
- ^ Tyrrell, Gary (23 January 2017). "Excellence All Around". Fleen. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Marshall, Rick. "Interview: Chris Hastings on ‘The Adventures of Dr. McNinja’". ComicMix June 4, 2008. Retrieved on October 28, 2011
- ^ Sims, Chris (October 8, 2010). "'The Adventures of Dr. McNinja' Comes to Dark Horse [NYCC]". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on 2010-10-09. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "Outstanding Superhero/Action Comic". ryanestrada.com. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
- ^ Sims, Chris (August 4, 2015). "Christopher Hastings The End of 'The Adventures Of Dr. McNinja'". ComicsAlliance. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ Goellner, Caleb (July 19, 2010). "Axe Cop and Dr. McNinja to Team Up in a Webcomic [Exclusive]". ComicsAlliance. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (December 10, 2015). "Nine More Successful Gaming Kickstarters That Didn't Deliver". Kotaku. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ Arrant, Chris (2011-03-09). "Fear Itself: Deadpool". Marvel. Retrieved 2020-10-27. Check
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value (help) - ^ "A+X (2012) #8 | Comic Issues | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "SDCC: Christopher Hastings Says "Longshot Saves The Marvel Universe". Comic Book Resources. July 26, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
- ^ "Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "Howard the Duck (2015 - 2016) | Comic Series | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "Vote Loki (2016) | Comic Series | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "Unbelievable Gwenpool Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ "Edge of Venomverse (2017) #2 | Comic Issues | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "Deadpool & the Mercs for Money (2016 - 2017) | Comic Series | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "Not Brand Echh (2017) #14 | Comic Issues | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Shiach, Kieran (2017-02-16). "Hastings And Flaviano Launch 'I Am Groot' #1 In May". ComicsAlliance. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ "I Am Groot". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ "Infinity Wars: Infinity Warps (2018) #2 | Comic Issues | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "Deadpool: Secret Agent Deadpool (2018) | Comic Series | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "Gwenpool Strikes Back (2019) | Comic Series | Marvel". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ Burlingame, Russ (2017-09-06). "Exclusive BOOM! Studios Preview: Adventure Time #36 From Chris Hastings and Zachary Sterling". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ "Comic Review: Wet Hot American Summer". Sequential Planet. 2018-11-06. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- ^ "Review: 'Regular Show: 25 Years Later' #6 Concludes One of the Silliest and Most Profound Comics of 2018". Comics. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Sims, Chris (January 21, 2014). "North, Hastings And Clark Launch 'DigDug' Comic [Interview]". ComicsAlliance. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "Creators of 'Dr. McNinja' and that 'One Fear' meme team up for 'Draculagate' graphic novel". Newsweek. 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "NEVER ENOUGH: Part 01". Twitter. June 1, 2019. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- American comics writers
- American webcomic creators
- Living people
- People from Cumberland, Maryland
- 1983 births