It’s highly likely that Ninja Bunny by Philip Spence has been written about before in this space, but it wasn’t by this cape-wearing webcomic afficionado, so deal with my thoughts on the incidental silliness of the Bunny one more time.
Of course, these write-ups have to be birthed from somewhere, and this edition comes courtesy of a milestone for Ninja Bunny, the 200th strip milestone to be perfectly exact. After only a year and a half’s existence in the ‘Tubes, this achievement seems to be a big one, but truthfully, it’s not hard to make yourself seem bigger and better than you really are on this, the Internet. Post something for a year or so, send the AP your press release, and voila! You’ve got yourself a milestone, regardless of content, quality, or frequency of updates! What remains is to decipher said milestone and see whether it is truly something to celebrate.
In the case of Ninja Bunny… well, it’s a bunny who happens to also be a ninja, so you really can’t go wrong with the Napoleon Dynamite-loving, minimalistic infatuation many of this generation’s hipsters have. Of this, the Ninja Bunny provides copious amounts, especially this week where the titular, chop socky, fuzzy-tailed one sees a week’s worth of guest strips and a special daily update cycle. If you dig one-shot, one-panel gags where the jokes at stake are based more on perception and the oblique than anything viseral (see Achewood), then this is your bunny.
Most strips find the Ninja Bunny is some situation that is or is not funny. From there, it’s up to the reader to determine whether or not it is indeed amusing. True, the increasingly (and shockingly) idiotic general public makes a universal punchline a nearly extinct species of joke-telling, so this seems to be the best route to a good, hearty laugh. Personally, each nugget of Ninja Bunny leaves me with a more introspective, subdued, “Ah, yes, that is funny” than anything audibly hilarious, but at least it’s a reaction, right?
Other comments and/or nitpicks include a fittingly minimalistic website design (also by Spence), some cool extras including icons and wallpapers, and a normal update schedule that most likely denotes the fact that Spence does not make his bread and butter from the strip (most updates come on Mondays and Fridays, but more sporadic cycles are present as well). This was never a formal review, so I refrain from applying the appropriate amount of Golden Fists to the title. However, my conclusion is thus:
Ninja Bunny is minimalistic fun. He’s a bunny, he’s a ninja, and he does stuff. Enjoyment from this strip may vary, but the 200th strip milestone is, in this case, a deserved and respectful one. Congratulations, Philip, and here’s to many, many more.
