Was contacted by the good folks behind the semi-historical espionage-action-comedy thing that is Norwegian Ninja. This one’s a bit of a head scratcher, but I’m intrigued as hell. Read the Wiki for the low down on the controversial property. Twitch … Continued
When I went through the 80’s ninja craze, I did some embarrassing stuff. I’d dress in improvised night gear and sneak around the neighborhood, cut myself aplenty fashioning weapons out of household hardware implements, I’d vehemently argue the scientific validity … Continued
Ninjas and Dragons is a weird little movie. You watch it and wonder if you’ve seen it before, what decade in came out in, how it had slipped through the cracks back in the day. Largely “inspired by” more familiar … Continued
South America has a long history of lucha libre programs aimed at kids – less violent, driven by comic-booky characters and storylines, and full of super heroes, evil wizards, rasslin’ monsters and yes, martial artists. Here’s some cheapo He-Man knock-off … Continued
Want to chart the history of martial arts training (and exploitation media) in the U.S.? Just look at the ads that ran in comic books. They went from Judo to Karate to Kung-Fu to Ninja, decade by decade, always promising … Continued
As we saw yesterday, Marvel always seemed more interested in jobbing out hundreds of ninja to the claws of Wolverine than they were in developing a lasting ninja hero of their own. There were, however, several shinobi super heroes in … Continued
As its Iron Man 2 weekend, here’s a quick look at some Marvel comics takes on ninja throughout the decades. The b&w magazine era for Marvel Comics (ala the Curtis imprint) was soooooooo f’n cool! Deadly Hands was part B&W … Continued
This kid’s book-and-record (flexi-disc that is) Sarutobi Sasuke: Ninja Shugyou (Ninja Training?) is from 1973, and I know little more than that. The art throughout its 10 cardboard pages is no great shakes – and is actually quite stiff at … Continued
The much-missed masters of cheap toy lines Remco released a He-Man-sized line of martial arts action figures from 1984-86 called Secret of the Ninja. Three sets were done in ’86 that included VHS tapes to ‘play along to’ – and … Continued