I may as well record the character's origin in issue #5 (1986) here.
Just like his name suggests, Ninjun is a "ninja injun," and even though the word "injun" was no more popular in 1986 than it is now, I'll give Crabb the benefit of the doubt in thinking he only used the word for the sake of a pun. Maybe he could claim that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made him do it.
Name aside, the character has a pretty complex history for a funny-animal. He belonged to a tribe called the "Hoopis," who were all hoop-snakes. In keeping with Crabb's use of the folkloric jackalope, the hoop snakes are intelligent serpents who can form themselves into hoops and roll from place to place.
Ah, but how can Ninjun be a snake, since he has arms and legs. Simplicity itself: in order to learn the arts of the ninja,. he has to have bionic limbs grafted onto his body, making him (in his creator's words) "a bionic ninja Indian snake." As he did in issue #3-- his only other appearance-- Ninjun devotes his life to fighting evil, in part because his tribe suffered greatly during the "Western invasion" (a funny-animal version of Europeans' migrations into what became the United States).
To his credit, even though the main purpose of the comic is to be funny, Crabb does depict some of the shameful mistreatment of Real Americans in reality through his characters.
Though Ninjun is a somewhat one-note character, and more given to uttering Far-East proverbs than Native American nuggets, he's at least of passing interest to this blog.
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