What would Ninja Panda do?
It’s funny how things come together. Growing up in the 80’s, my biggest hobby throughout high school was collecting comic books. I could hardly wait every week or month until a new issue of X-Men came out whether it was Uncanny X-Men, Classic X-Men, New Mutants, etc… These were some of the greatest stories of family and friendship and I felt like I was standing right along side them as they went through each emotional peak and valley. The X-Men did not own a monopoly on intricate inter-personal relationships. Other series’ that left an impression at such an early age include early stories of the Elementals, Teen Titans, Matt Wagner’s Grendel, the classic Batman: The Killing Joke graphic novel and numerous others.
Most of these stories describe the extent to which people would go and sacrifice in order
to survive when faced with tremendous challenges. Granted some of these stories are on the darker side, but they are excellent example of how comics can tap into human emotion and entice the reader to see life through the eyes of these characters. Characters who have been put in extraordinary situations.
The challenges being faced today have put many of us in similar positions, requiring difficult choices. Unemployment is rising monthly, growing numbers of houses are going into foreclosure and even greater challenges face every person as they strive to put food the table for their families. It is times like this that we call upon our heores and role model to light the path forward, guide us in making those difficult choices. One question is universally asked when faced with such challenges.
“What would Ninja Panda do?”
Unemployed Pandas was born out of a series of coffee shop meetings/e-mail threads between Mai and myself. We both have jointly and individually been through interesting situations over the past year. At the end of the day you can only laugh and continue on your journey, which we often do over coffee. Eventually we started imagining “what would Ninja Panda do if he was in our shoes?” and that’s how this started.
True Events?
The core of the story revolves around our two pandas, Ninja Panda and Samurai Panda, the situations they have been put in, how they handle challenges and what they learn about themselves and eachother. Some of the stories in this series are loosley based on real life events, obviously the names of individuals will be replaced in order to protect their innocence UNLESS they really pissed either of us off. You can also expect a variety of cameos from characters that have left a very strong impression on our two pandas.
Follow our two pandas as they begin a journey faced with the new reality that pandas need stimulus too.
-Mervyn
