#zen: intergalactic ninja

[aardwolfpack]

Scanned from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #39.

[josiahiswrite]

Photo Op

I decided I wanted a cool photo op for my booth at LA Comic Con (find me in booth 2027 December 1-3), and thought it would be fun to be photographed with life-sized action figures.

I spent weeks working on laying out my action figure background. It took me forever to pick the action figures. I reached out to people for ideas, and everyone had their own (and all good) but I realized that I had to have it be MY top action figures. The figures that I'd never sell no matter what.

After that, it took me just as long to photograph them, something I'm not great at. After that, I messed with the layout for a long time. I struggled to get things in the proper scale, until I realized I could just add an 8x8 grid (the backdrop itself will be 8x8). I had it as good as I could make it, then I sent it to the printer.

I thought all was well, until I checked my junk mail box and found an urgent message. The resolution was low on the figures and they were blurry when blown up. I tried to export a higher quality image, but had issues with compression. Finally, the printer (which was located in India, I didn't know this until I started to deal with customer service, which was awesome by the way). They agreed to recreated my image at a higher resolution free of charge.

Come Thanksgiving morning, I am on the phone with someone finalizing the design, getting it printed, and shipping it off. It's scheduled to make it to me by next Thursday, a day before I need it. I'm super nervous it will be delayed, but will just hope it comes on time and focus on the things I can control. I hope to see you at LA Comic Con posing in front of my favorite action figures.

[searching4rinoa]

Searching4Rinoa Plays - Zen: Intergalactic Ninja

[1980sactionfigures]

Garbage Man - Zen: Intergalactic Ninja (JusToys)

[videogamesskies]

Zen: Intergalactic Ninja (NES) (1993)

[thebestcomicking]

[filmcourage]

Creative Process For Developing A Comic Book - Stephen L. Stern

Watch the video interview on Youtube here.

[dirtyriver]

House ad for Zen Intergalactic Ninja (Archie) #3, 1992

You will never understand how pervasive the Image style was in the early 1990s until you realize that Archie published their own version of indie comic Zen Intergalactic Ninja with Ross Andru and Mike Esposito doing their best (or worst) impression of Rob Liefeld.

[texasthrillbilly]

[dinosaurgiantpenny]

[nickmarino]

im loving how zen #6 opens with a rundown of their licensing opportunities and recent news coverage, and then finishes with an ad for zen pencils and notebooks <chef's kiss>

[bangjiazheng]

NES Longplay [399] Zen - Intergalactic Ninja

[josiahiswrite]

The Legendary Bill Maus

Last year I received an email out of nowhere from Steve Stern, the co-creator of Zen: Intergalactic Ninja. I was surprised and frankly confused. He said he found me online and enjoyed my writing and was looking to promote his upcoming Kickstarter for Zen (which should be in my hands soon). I was happy to have him as a guest on my YouTube channel. I don't think of myself as a good interviewer, but I enjoy having the conversations, so I'll always be happy to do them.

The interview with Steve went well and we talked after the recording and connected. Since then we've spoken more and he came to my home studio and recorded a long interview for an upcoming video I'm doing on the history of Zen. It was awesome. With that he connected me with the various people who created Zen. I interviewed his co-creator Dan Cote, Entity Comics publisher Don Chin, and the Legendary Bill Maus.

It was a joy talking with everyone, but it was particularly cool to hear from Bill. I told a story to all of the above how I found a signed copy of Zen: Intergalactic Ninja at a Value City Department Store. I thought it was Steve that signed that copy, but I now think it was probably actually Bill. Mainly because I found it on eBay and there are several that are signed by Bill and not Steve.

Bill wrote the first Zen comic book I ever found. His take on the character was my introduction to the character. A character that is kind of like my favorite indie rock band, they're great, but most of the world doesn't know about them, or maybe they have but just at a surface level. They don't know he depth of character and stories within. That love started thanks to Bill Maus.

I reached out to Bill about a project, it's kind of my dream Bill Maus project and will feature a cameo by Zen. However, that's a slightly bigger project and I am not ready to create that yet (hopefully next year if all goes well). I still wanted to work with Bill on something, so I thought about a cover for a passion project of mine, Young Zombie. I sent the comic to Bill and said, "make something cool."

He did just that. I hate to end on a note that makes this sound like an ad, but I kind of have to as the only place to get Bill's cover is via the Young Zombie Kickstarter, which launches in two days as I write this. Thanks for your support and thanks to Bill for zombie brilliance.

[burningdonutofficial]

Perfectly cut scream

[tuliptheoshawott]

[stuffman-main]

stage 5!! this stage will have indoor and outdoor sections.

i struggled quite a bit to think of how to handle the rain in an authentic NES fashion; at first i was sure the particles were a no-go and i would have to do it all via animated tiles, but then i found out about a few examples of sprite-based rainfall in existing games:

here it is in ninja gaiden 2!

and a different style in zen: intergalactic ninja!

obviously, my usage is significantly denser; now, the NES can handle up to 8 8x8 sprite bits per scanline, and here I'm using just 4 rows of 4 raindrops per frame; although I'd already be hitting the limit with the checkpoint onscreen, this screen, at least, is legal with no flicker.

of course, we haven't been concerned with that limit so far given the number of bullets onscreen during boss fights, but the NES can do it!

next time you get some much-needed rainfall, remember to thank a ninja.