Ninja (comic book)

Ninja
Publication information
Publisher	Dečje novine
First appearance	1986 (in comics)
Created by	various
In-story information
Alter ego	Leslie Eldridge
Partnerships	Sumiko, Tabasco Pete
Abilities	ninjitsu, strength, agility, martial arts, katana, sixth sense

Ninja (Serbian: Ninđa or Nindža) was a comic book character published by Dečje novine (Gornji Milanovac, Yugoslavia). It was based on the popular pulp novel of the same name.

From 1971 to 1981, 11,611 issues of comics and pulp novels were printed in Yugoslavia, a total of 717 million copies in the country of 22 million people. Following the chopsocky craze, ninja were especially popular; from 1983 to 1998, more than 150 novels were published. The first six issues featured Brett Wallace, the main protagonist of the 1981 Ninja Master series by Richard Meyers alias Wade Barker. Leslie Eldridge made a debut in #7 ("Washington, D.C."), written by Brana Nikolić alias Derek Finegan.

A different ninja named Fred Nolan appeared in Serbian comics with YU strip #40 in 1982, written by A. Kostić and drawn by Branislav Kerac (pencil) and Branko Plavšić (ink). The second episode came out in issue 56 in 1983, this time written by Svetozar Obradović.

Leslie Eldridge debuted in comics with issue 485 of Eks almanah. From 1986 to 1989, around 40 black-and-white episodes by various authors were published. The Ninja comic ended when the Eks magazine folded with #538, due to the collapse of the Yugoslav economy. The covers were mostly done by Dragan Stokić Rajački and Miodrag Ivanović Mikica, who were also regular artists on the interior pages.

The titular hero, named Leslie Eldridge (Serbian: Lesli Eldridž), is a ninja based in San Francisco. Other characters include his lover Sumiko and best friend Tabasco Pete.

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Wikipedia