Christopher Hastings

*See Also: List of comics by Chris Hastings*

**Christopher "Chris" Hastings** is a comic artist and writer, as well as a performer. He is author of the webcomic The Adventures of Dr. Mcninja and comics based on classic arcade games Dig-Dug and Galaga. He also has written various comics for Marvel such as issues of Deadpool, Gwenpool, and I AM GROOT.

## Life

Christopher Hastings was born in 1984 to his parents, Dan and Mitzi Hastings. He had at least one brother. Their family was Catholic, and Chris grew up in rural West Virginia, near Cumberland, Maryland. He graduated from the Boy Scouts as an Eagle Scout, and eventually he even designed a special Dr. McNinja Scouting patch for his local Troop. He attributed much of his personal growth in leadership, independence, teamwork to his time in the Boy Scouts. The first superhero comic that Chris ever owned was *Spider-Man 2099 #19*, which his parents bought him in a "random comics pack" from a JCPenney Christmas Catalog. Growing up Chris desired to have a career in comics, but because his family lived in a rural area, his only access to comic books was through mail-in subscription services.  He relied on reviews and previews in *Wizard* magazine to determine which comics to subscribe to. The only subscription he kept through high school and into college was to the DC Comics series *JLA*.

Chris eventually enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he took classes under professors such as Walter Simonson. While there, he took two semesters of the "Perspectives Drawing For Comic Books" class, among other courses.

In the early 2000s, Chris began spending a significant amount of time on Something Awful Forums. The username he chose to use the site under was "Dr. McNinja". During this time, around 2002, Chris worked as a projectionist at a movie theatre.

During the mid-2000s, Chris discovered that he could make significant money off of his webcomic by selling T-shirts using illustrations and phrases from his ongoing webcomic, The Adventures of Dr. Mcninja. He created a number of shirts and listed them on his online "Topatoco" store. The majority of Hastings' income generated by his Mcninja comic during this time was from by T-shirt sales, with some T-shirt designs even becoming popular Internet memes. By 2008, he was spending around 40 hours a week to drawing Dr. Mcninja. In 2009, Chris and his fiance Carly Monardo won $5000 by entering their Pomeranian dog, Commissioner Gordon, into a "cutest dog competition" and having their friends draw webcomics to inspire people to vote for their dog. They nearly did not receive the money when the pet food company sponsoring the competition refused to pay, but Chris and Carly managed to pressure the company into paying them by contacting the local news agencies. The money from the competition went toward paying for Chris and Carly's wedding.

He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Carly Monardo and two dogs named Commissioner Gordon and Dodger.

## Theatre

For nearly a decade, beginning in 2012, Chris was also signficantly involved in improv theatre. The main venue that he performed at was the Magnet Theatre in New York, and during his time there he was a member of six different sketch ensembles: *Dreadful Affair*, *Student Council*, *Magic Dad*, *Zeppelin*, *Wendigo*, and *The Nitro Girls*. *The Nitro Girls* was the only ensemble which Chris directed rather than acted in.

During his time in theatre, Chris was involved in the following eight shows:

* *The Dr. Hastings Miracle Show*
* *Magnet Theater's 10-Minute Play Festival*
* *The North Pole Presents: The 2016 Roast of Santa Claus*
* *Ringers, Sex, Death & Krang*
* *Character Bash*
* *Works Cited*
* *Bonus Round*
* *Wendigo*

It was through the Magnet Theatre that Chris met Branson Reese, who directed Chris' sketch team *Wendigo* for a time. Branson and Chris gave up theatre around the same time and went on to collaborate on numerous projects such as Draculagate and Rude Tales of Magic.

## Comic Writing

Christopher has said that he very much enjoys messing with genre tropes, and it is why he does so quite often in his comics. Evidence of this can be seen in many of his Gwenpool comics, his second story arc for the Sonjaversal comic, as well as his "Army of One" Dr. McNinja storyline.

Chris has mentioned that he does not find it difficult to create humor that appeals to both children and adults, explaining that "you just take out your bad words and your sex" and that otherwise "humor is relatively universal." Chris says that rather than modifying humor, the difficulty of writing for children's comics is that there is an increased chance that any issue could be a reader's first issue, and so all elements have to be repeatedly re-explained in every issue.

## Comic Art

Christopher originally drew his comics on paper but eventually switched to using the Manga Studio (later renamed Clip Studio Paint) program for drawing around 2010.
In 2010, Christopher began testing out his ability to do inking on his own with the "Judy Gets a Kitten" Dr. McNinja comic. Previously, he had mainly focused on drawing and writing and had left inking up to other collaborators in his projects. As of 2020, Chris was still using Clip Studio Paint.

## Gallery

Chris with a squishable Dr. McninjaChris drawn as a comic book characterChris' headshot used by the Magnet TheatreThe headshot of Chris used by Marvel for his "Creator Spotlight"Chris with Dr. McNinja panel over his faceChris buried under pages from Dr. McNinjaChris lying on a pile of Dr. McNinja pagesChris in shades with a toothbrushChris dressed up as RobinChris dressed up as Superman for Halloween 2014A promo image for a "Best of" show Chris' improv group, Wendigo, was putting on.Other Chris Hastings Wendigo Life Insurance videoA video created by Hastings' improv group, WendigoChris dressed up as Wario for Halloween in 2017 alongside Branson Reese dressed as WaluigiChris with Branson Reese and the hosts of Comic Book Club Live in 2018.Chris with Pat Cassels and the hosts of Comic Book Club Live in 2019The Hastings' dogs, Commissioner Gordon and DodgerThe Hastings' dog, Commissioner Gordon, as of 2021A headshot of Chris Hastings for a Rude Tales of Magic promoChris Hastings and Branson Reese doing a recordingA selfie of Chris announcing his presence at NYCC 2019.Chris' Twitter profile picture beginning in 2019A promo image of Chris and the hosts of Hulk Smashed for season 2Hastings with his dog, Commissioner Gordon, in 2013.
## Trivia

* Chris Hastings has stated that two of his favorite comics of all time are the series *Nextwave* and *RoboCop Versus The Terminator*.
* Chris Hastings has stated that his favorite video game of all time is *The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask*.
* Chris Hastings has mentioned that favorite superhero of all time is Batman.
* Chris Hastings has stated that one of his favorites wizards in fiction is Elminster from Dungeons and Dragons.
* Chris Hastings has expressed on multiple occassions that he thoroughly enjoys cooking and does much of it.
* Chris Hastings has mentioned that one of the early webcomics that he likes the most is Diesel Sweeties.
* Chris Hastings has been very influenced by the writing of Stephen King and greatly looks up to the author.
* Chris Hastings has mentioned that he enjoys the *Mistborn* series of books and would like to see them adapted into comics.

## References

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210329062108/http://drmcninja.com/archives/news/dr-hastings-final-thoughts/
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20210801222131/https://www.publishthis.email/fwd-long-john-silver-and-the-mystery-of-how-very-easy-it-is-to-cook-his-fish-SknOT9NkK
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20210329061807/https://www.marvel.com/comics/discover/750/christopher-hastings-marvel-picks
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20210119075828if\_/https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/9oofz8/we\_are\_christopher\_hastings\_dr\_mcninja\_gwenpool/?sort=old
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Fanbase Press - *Between the Panels: Writer/Artist Christopher Hastings on Quitting His Day Job, the Birth of Gwenpool, and Similarities Between Comics and Improv*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 https://web.archive.org/web/20190920181346/https://drhastings.tumblr.com/post/169157746265/dr-mcninja-original-art-sale
7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200813152202/https://shows.acast.com/rebootleggers/episodes/episode-96-the-funny-pages-feat-christopher-hastings-branson
8. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20051102014738/http://www.drmcninja.com:80/links.html
9. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20051203010752/http://www.drmcninja.com:80/about.html
10. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20201207015153/https://twitter.com/drhastings/status/1334988506276499456
11. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220110061750/https://comicbookclublive.com/2017/01/30/comic-book-club-chris-hastings-adam-swiderski/
12. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220110063732/https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ninjas-cant-catch-you-if
13. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20180706104404/https://www.wired.com/2008/04/behind-the-me-2/
14. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20131110135523/https://comicsalliance.com/commissioner-james-gordon-one-of-countrys-cutest-dogs/
15. ↑ https:/c/web.archive.org/web/20200305052837/http://christopher-hastings.com/about/
16. ↑ https://www.publishthis.email/fwd-project-update-11-draculagate-by-christopher-hastings-By29RZCNU
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20210329053100/https://magnettheater.com/people/christopher-hastings/
18. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210329053018/https://shows.acast.com/rebootleggers/episodes/episode-96-the-funny-pages-feat-christopher-hastings-branson
19. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210611165014/https://www.firstcomicsnews.com/sonjaversal-expands-due-to-fan-demand/
20. ↑ Comic Book Club: Chris Hastings - Event occurs at 34:05
21. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220603063930/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-tKpH5a1jg
22. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210520075810/https://comicbookclublive.com/2020/06/09/comic-book-club-chris-hastings-and-kat-calamia/
23. ↑ Comic Book Club: Chris Hastings - Event occurs at 37:24
24. ↑ Rude Talks of Chatting #10 "Buggin Out"
25. ↑ Comic Book Club: Chris Hastings - Event occurs at 30:12
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220110061750/https://comicbookclublive.com/2017/01/30/comic-book-club-chris-hastings-adam-swiderski/
27. ↑ Rude Tales of Magic Episode 2: Down for the Count - Shaker & Spoon ad
28. ↑ https://www.publishthis.email/fwd-dr.-doom,-the-dark-tower,-and-me-rksa0qPyF
29. ↑ https://comicbookclublive.com/2019/03/05/comic-book-club-chris-hastings-and-pat-cassels/