Entries categorized as ‘tmnt’
Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman
Long story short: Eastman and Laird created the TMNT back in 1983 and debuted them the following year with a comic book of the same name. They were heavily involved in the series from 1984 to about 1989 when they become more involved in business management than comics. Most of the Eastman and Laird issues were basically graphic novellas, consisting of 40-50 pages and usually self-contained stories. These issues introduced the main characters and mythos plus many other characters, organizations and situations that were later made famous by the toys, cartoon, and movies, including: Shredder, the Foot Clan, Baxter Stockman, the Mousers, Casey Jones, Triceratons, and Fugitoid.
TMNT Book IV First Comics Collection cover by Eastman
TMNT #11 cover by Eastman
TMNT Guide to the Universe RPG book cover by Laird
TMNT #10 cover by Eastman and Laird
Donatello: TMNT Micro-Series #1 cover by Laird
TMNT #14 cover by Eastman
TMNT #1 interior art by Eastman and Laird
Donatello: TMNT Micro-Series #1 interior art by Eastman and Laird
Categories: aspects of TMNT · comics · tmnt
TURTLE SOUP (1986)
Mirage’s first forway into inviting indie creators to take a stab at a TMNT story. There were obviously no rules as many of the stories have very little to do with established TMNT continuity. A fun, random collection.
SHELL SHOCK (published 1989, collecting stories from 1985-1989)
Eastman & Laird and their cronies loved to create short stories featuring the TMNT. They shoved them anywhere they could: anthologies, benefit/charity publications, backpages in other creators’ series, etc. This awesome trade paperback collected all of those stories, plus some new ones from the likes of Stan Sakai and Michael Zulli. This might actually be more fun than the TPBs collecting full-length stories.
TURTLE SOUP VII 1-4 (1991-1992)
The Turtle Soup concept returns, featuring random, varied stories from the Mirage regulars, and guests like Mark Martin. IN COLOR OMG.
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Categories: art · comics · tmnt
Tagged: Eastman, Eastman & Laird, indie, Laird, Mark Martin, michael zulli, Mirage, Shell Shock, short story, Stan Sakai, teenage mutant ninja turtles, tmnt, Turtle Soup, Turtle Soup VII
After Eastman & Laird lost their interest in making comics together, Eastman occasionally recruited one of his friends/peers from the comics world to work on new TMNT stories with him. The results were always great, although the products reflect the influence of the guests much more than Eastman’s own style.
TMNT #18 (1989)
story: Mark Bode & Kevin Eastman
pencils: Mark Bode
inks: Kevin Eastman & Eric Talbot
The color reprint of this issue was the first Mirage comic I ever bought and it was sweet. Bode draws almost exactly like his famed father, Vaughn, but Eastman’s and Talbot’s inks give everything a ragged, hard edge that compliment the very uncharacteristic-for-Mirage story taking place in China and featuring a Bruce Lee wannabe.
TMNT #32 (1990)
story/pencils: Mark Bode
inks: Kevin Eastman & Eric Talbot
Another great issue that’s out of character. This time the Turtles go to Egypt to save April who, for SOME REASON, is a reporter, even though she’s a computer programmer in every other issue of the comic series. Huh?!
CASEY JONES: NORTH BY DOWNEAST #1 & 2 (1992/1993 Plastron Cafe Anthology, 1994)
story: Rick Veitch & Kevin Eastman
pencils: Rick Veitch
inks: Kevin Eastman
Veitch had been invited to work on some TMNT issues in the past but this time he undertook a Casey Jones solo story that originally ran, partially, in serialized form in an anthology title. The story is ridiculous – apparently there is a race of crab people living in the ocean. Who knew?!
BODYCOUNT #1-4 (1994, 1996)
story and pencils/roughs: Kevin Eastman
inks/finishes: Simon Bisley
Eastman’s pencils must have been really rough because the art looks 100% Bisley. Apparently, Eastman wanted to write the most violent, wild story he could and decided to include Raphael and Casey Jones. It’s actually a very fun, retarded story, with perfectly appropriate art by Bisley.
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Categories: art · comics · history · tmnt
Tagged: April, Bodycount, Bruce Lee, casey jones, Casey Jones: North By Downeast, China, comics, crab people, Eastman, Eastman & Laird, Egypt, Eric Talbot, Kevin Eastman, Laird, Mark Bode, Mirage, ocean, Raphael, Rick Veitch, Simon Bisley, teenage mutant ninja turtles, tmnt, TMNT #32, Vaughn
A conclusion of the CLASSIC TMNT work by Eastman & Laird. By “classic” I mean stuff that I can proudly recommend to other people.
1986 TMNT #9 story by Eastman and Laird, pencils by Michael Dooney, inks by Mirage Studios guys
I first read this issue when I was 11 and it was years later before I even realized Eastman and Laird didn’t pencil it. They were the primary inkers on it, though, and I guess that shows the power an inker wields. Anyway, the Turtles infiltrate a penthouse full of machine gun ninjas to restore honor to some old-ass Japanese family.
1986/1987 Leonardo #1 and TMNT #10 story by Eastman and Laird, inks by Mirage Studios guys
Another Christmas story – even though a year could NOT have passed by in the continuity since the last one. Anyway, Leonardo gets fucked up by the Foot, who then invade April’s building with Shredder and cause a ruckus. Casey returns, as well, but the Foot are too hot to handle. The good guys all escape to rural Massachussets. This was all adapted for the first movie.
1987 TMNT #11 story and art by Eastman and Laird
This whole issue is basically April’s journal. Leonardo slowly recovers. Donatello and Casey try to repair old trucks, Raph becomes an animalistic hunter guy. This was issue was adapted in the first movie, as well.
1987 TMNT #12 story and art by Peter Laird
I guess after 3 years Eastman and Laird secretly hated each other and they decided to do issues individually. It was during this time that Laird selected Jim Lawson to be his BFF and sidekick for life and Eastman chose Eric Talbot to be his bff and sidekick for the next 6 years or so. So this was Laird’s first solo issue in which the Turtles fight some fairly dangerous poachers in the Massachussets woods.
1988 TMNT #14 story and pencils by Eastman, inks by Eastman and Eric Talbot
The Turtles go into town and get mixed up in a bizarre gangster story involving a golden calf. Okay.
1988 TMNT #15 story and pencils by Laird, inks by Jim Lawson
A retired super villain comes out of retirement so the super hero team that used to fight him comes out of retirement, as well. It’s kind of clever cuz they’re all in their 60s/70s. Also kinda cheesy. The TMNT basically just happen to be there.
1989 TMNT #19, 20, 21 story by Eastman and Laird, pencils by Lawson, inks by Eastman, Laird, Talbot
These three issues make up the “Return to New York” storyline. After several issues of kicking it in Massachussets our heroes decide to return to New York to settle accounts with Shredder. For many TMNT fans, probably including me, this is the ULTIMATE. There’s very little character development or humor, just 120 pages of gritty, hardcore action. The Turtles and a triceraton named Zog infiltrate the Foot’s new facility and a whole lot of people die graphically. They encounter the badass Elite Guard and learn that Shredder was brought back to life via some ninja hocus pocus that involves worms feeding on his remains. Then they get to fight 3 monsters that were the initial, failed attemptsto revive Shredder. Finally, Leo fights Shredder one on one. Shredder is beheaded and his corpse cremated. No talking, no celebrating, the end. One of the more hardcore and impersonal comics I’ve read. The series probably could have ended at this point. For Eastman and Laird, it pretty much did.
1990 TMNT The Movie adaptation by Eastman and Laird, pencils by Lawson, inks by Eastman, Laird and Talbot
They were too busy to make new comics but they could do the adaptation of the movie? Okay. It turns out very well, actually, with the same look as Return to New York. They crammed a SHITLOAD of panels on each page to make it all fit into 64 pages.
1992 TMNT #50 story and art by Eastman and Laird
The last classic TMNT work by Eastman and Laird. They dragged their asses out of their mansions to create this wordless issue, which launched a boring 13-issue storyline they didn’t even draw. This issue lacks the boredom, though, and is pretty tense due to its silence.
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Categories: comics · history · tmnt
Tagged: April O'Neil, casey jones, Donatello, Eastman & Laird, Eric Talbot, Jim Lawson, Kevin Eastman, Leonardo, michael dooney, Michaelangelo, Mirage Publishing, Mirage Studios, ninja, Ninja Turtles, Ninja Turtles comics, Peter Laird, Raphael, Return to New York, Shredder, Splinter, teenage mutant ninja turtles, tmnt
*AO = Allison Optional (for future reference, AM = Allison Mandatory)
All articles are mandatory for Scott and Greg - sorry, guys!
Ryan and Natalie are free agents of their own destiny.
This is not an article but rather an honest appraisal for all them Mirage Studioz komix I been writin’ about. As much as I continue to like the TMNT comics currently published by Mirage, they don’t really hold a candle to the CLASSIC stuff. Even the later comics from the original Mirage era doesn’t compare. There are a few things that made the ‘classic’ Mirage stuff (1980s/very early 1990s) so special but primary among these is the immense attention to detail, largely thanks to the greytones and shading. This technique has still very rarely been used to this day and it really MADE many of these comics.
Most of the issues were pretty long. There was no artificial limit on page numbers like you find in DC or Marvel Comics. Even mainstream comics from 1980s all-stars like Alan Moore and Frank Miller and underground kings like Dave Sim were typically held to specific page counts. In Mirage’s case, the stories were as long as they needed to be, sometimes up to 50 pages. Most of the issues were self-contained. This all resulted in single issues feeling like an event. TMNT was never a monthly 22-page comic with a regular creative staff – until 1992.
Another thing that made the classic era Mirage stuff so great was the high level of creativity and freshness. You can just tell while reading these comics that Eastman and Laird were caught up in something much bigger than they ever expected. Their greatest strength was ideas and they just poured out. Then, just when things started to slow down, Eastman and Laird handed over the reigns to other artists. For a couple of years, this worked really well, with many artists presenting wildly varying takes on the TMNT. Some of these issues were complete farces or parodies, even featuring Mad Magazine artists. Now-legendary artist Michael Zulli portrayed the TMNT in a very realistic way, complete with beaks and claws and unhumanlike speech.
I now feel that the sum was much greater than the parts and one of those parts was FRESHNESS and EXCITEMENT. When TMNT Volume 4 started back in 2001 it tricked me. The first couple of issues had a lot of frenetic action and an incredible attention to detail in the greytones but it seems the new freshness wore off quickly because BAM with issue 3 the greytones were scaled back considerably, the pencils became more rushed and the inks rather sloppy. I love Mirage artist Jim Lawson like I love my own child (Park) but his current work doesn’t excite me like his stuff from say 1989 did (but hey, at least his style has dramatically evolved unlike so many comic artists). The good thing about the current Tales of the TMNT series is that there’s a lot of fresh blood involved – either underrated professionals or soon-to-be estabished up-and-comers. These guys have the freshness but maybe not the style of the CLASSIC issues.
I believe I will compile a list of the really classic Mirage/TMNT stuff. Mirage is actually very slowly posting each issue of TMNT Volume 1 on their site to view for free. Most of the classic Eastman & Laird issues are already up but none of the guest issues are available yet. Here’s a sequence for you to eyeball – pages 23, 24, 25 and 29 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #10 from 1987, which came out right as the stupid kids cartoon was hitting the air.
In this sequence, the Foot Clan have beaten Leonardo to a pulp and invaded the building in which April O’Neil lives and operates an antiques store. Casey Jones, familiar at this point only to Raphael, decides to intervene. You may recall that this whole scene made it into the 1990 TMNT movie, but in that version Raphael received the beatdown and Shredder was not present, replaced by a bald geek named General Tatsu. I would like to call attention to the inkng and the tones. Most of these panels appear to have been inked by Eastman. His lines are so harsh and jagged. There are few curves or soft lines. The greytones are not overwhelming still really complete the art. The panels themselves are unique, with jagged, scratchy lines instead of the typical straight lines. I’m surprised more artists don’t do this as it’s probably easier and doesn’t look any worse. Perhaps the strongest aspect of these pages is the general layout. Notice that three of the pages have spaces that are not covered by panels at all. On the last page, there are two panels that Casey Jones spills out of as if he’s escaping them. The arrangement of the panels shows real foresight and creativity. Even today, there are very very few artists that work this way. Even the Mirage guys have largely forgotten this art.
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Categories: animals · art · comics · history · movies · reviews · tmnt
Tagged: April O'Neil, art, casey jones, classic comics, comic book history, comic book reviews, comic books, comics, eastman and laird, history, Jim Lawson, Kevin Eastman, mad magazine, michael zulli, Mirage Studios, Peter Laird, reviews, Shredder, teenage mutant ninja turtles, teenage mutant ninja turtles history, tmnt, tmnt movie
The mid-80’s success of series like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cerebus, Flaming Carrot Comics, Usagi Yojimbo, Concrete, etc., caused a black and white comics boom. Suddenly, comic shops were flooded with them. The success of their TMNT comics and the new boom inspired Mirage to expand their publications beyond TMNT, beginning with a Fugitoid one-shot, which lead directly into TMNT #5. Former Muppeteer Tony Basilicato signed on with his series Prime Slime Tales in 1986. After only 2 issues the series moved to Now Comics, where it lasted for 2 more issues and then DIED. New Mirage staff artist Michael Dooney launched his own series, Gizmo, featuring the intergalactic travels of a humorous robot and his dog-like companion. Mirage artist Jim Lawson launched Bade Biker and Orson, starring a mild-mannered motorcyclist and his small frog-man pal. The indie talent-featuring anthologies Gobbledygook and Grunts were published as one-shot specials along with a collection of pretty lame rock ‘n roll-themed gag strips by Mirage staffer Ryan Brown.
Then the black and white boom imploded and the expansion efforts whithered away with only a few specials breaking up the TMNT logjam in the late 80’s/early 90’s, including a Gizmo and the Fugitoid mini-series and a goofy one-shot about sausage-shaped monster cliches called Hallowieners. In 1989, Mirage published an interesting collection called Mirage Mini-Comics, which contained a dozen 3″x4″ mini-comics by various independent creators such as Mark Martin, Rick Veitch, and Steve Bissette. Without any fanfare at all, Mirage published the last few issues of the cult series, The Puma Blues.
In 1992, Mirage published an Usagi Yojimbo spin-off mini-series by Stan Sakai, called Space Usagi. The experiment was a success and Sakai moved the main Usagi series to Mirage. This new series was published in color and signaled Mirage’s move toward color. Eventually, another Space Usagi mini-series was released. A new black and white anthology series, Plastron Cafe, was launched and then cancelled after only 4 issues. Jim Lawson released a well-illustrated but somewhat aimless mini-series, Dino Island. In 1993, Mirage artists Peter Laird, Michael Dooney, and A.C. Farley initiated the misguided Next Comics project, a strange attempt at creating an integrated super hero universe. Laird’s effort, Stupid Heroes, was decent but slavish in its attempt to replicate Jack Kirby. Dooney’s series, Xenotech, did nothing to distinguish itself from the many identical series pouring out of Image and Marvel Comics at the time. Only Farley’s Bioneers seemed to be on track for something special but was extremely complicated and never made it past the first issue.
Shortly after, Mirage’s publishing arm closed its doors. Laird and Lawson formed a new publishing company that could possibly be considered a successor to Mirage, called Zeromayo Studios. They began work on a series of ambitious series of graphic novels about interplanetary motorcycle racing called Planet Racers. After the project was completed, Lawson created the series Paleo: Tales of the Late Cretaceous. Each issue relates a day in the life of a dinosaur, with lavish illustrations and compelling stories. Most of the former Mirage staff, with the notable exclusion of Kevin Eastman, started a company called Funatix! with the aim of launching new annoying multimedia kids enterainment franchises. After years of failure they decided to get the ball rolling by publishing comics featuring some of their properties. These comics went to press but were never released.
With the rebirth of Mirage Publishing in 2001, most of these projects went by the wayside as Mirage artists once again had TMNT-related work.
Mirage Studios Non-TMNT Publication History
Series
Prime Slime Tales #1-2 (1986)
Gizmo #1-6 (1986-1987)
Bade Biker and Orson #1-4 (1986-1987)
The Puma Blues #20-23 (1990)
Plastron Cafe #1-4 (1992-1993)
Usagi Yojimbo Volume 2 #1-16 (1993-1995)
Mini-series
Gizmo and the Fugitoid #1-2 (1988 )
Space Usagi #1-3 (1992)
Dino Island #1-2 (1993)
Stupid Heroes #1-3 (1993-1994)
Xenotech #1-3 (1993-1994)
Bioneers #1 (1994)
Space Usagi Volume 2 #1-3 (1994)
Specials
Fugitoid (1985)
Gobbledygook (1986)
Grunts (1987)
Rockola (1988 )
Mirage Mini-Comics (1989)
Zeromayo Studios Publication History
Series
Paleo: Tales of the Late Cretaceous #1-8 (2001-2003)
Graphic novels
Planet Racers Book One: Life Season
Planet Racers Book Two: Off-Season
Planet Racers Book Three: Janus Rising
Funatix! Publication History
Specials? Series?
Eagles of the Vortex #1 (2000)
Howlers #1 (2000)
Lewis and Klork: The Lost Planet Expedition (2000)
Stuff created for Mirage but published elsewhere after the publishing arm folded
Mini-series
Guzzi Lemans #1-2 (1996) published by Antarctic Press
Construct #1-6 (1996) pubished by Caliber Comics
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Tagged: A.C. Farley, bade biker and orson, dino island, fugitoid, funatix, gizmo, gobbledygook, grunts, hallowieners, jack kirby, Jim Lawson, Kevin Eastman, Mark Martin, michael dooney, muppets, Ninja Turtles, now comics, paleo tales of the late cretaceous, Peter Laird, planet racers, plastron cafe, prime slime tales, puma blues, Rick Veitch, Ryan Brown, space usagi, Stan Sakai, steve bissette, tmnt, tony basilicato, Usagi Yojimbo
Here’s a brief summary of what happened with Mirage after they stopped publishing TMNT comics in 1995. Kevin Eastman bought the semi-erotic science fiction comic magazine Heavy Metal and moved to Los Angeles to focus on that. He also launched a new, live-action TV show, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, in association with Fox and Saban. The new show was actually the ratings leader in its time slot but was cancelled after its lone season, 1997/1998. Playmates finally stopped producing TMNT toys in 1999. With the end of the Image Comics series in 1999, the Turtles were basically dead.
Surprisingly, even without TMNT projects to keep them together, most of the Mirage artists remained in Massachussets, working on various independent projects at the Mirage Studios facility. In 2001, Eastman sold his share of the TMNT to Peter Laird, who immediately set out to restart the entire franchise. Just like in 1984, his first step was to launch a new comic series, TMNT (just the initials, not Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). In spite of the acronym, in the new series the Turtles are no longer teens but rather in their 30s.
Laird writes the series (it’s still in publication) and originally he provided inks and fucking INCREDIBLE tones. Apparently the workload was too much for him because the tones were scaled back after the first couple of issues and now it’s barely there at all, unfortunately. Unlike the classic series, there’s an ongoing narrative but it seems to have dozens of loose ends and frequently hit brick walls. The most interesting story aspect of the new series is that aliens have landed and become a fairly common site on earth, so the turtles are able to walk around in broad daylight.
TMNT Volume 4
TMNT Volume 4 #2 art by Jim Lawson with awesome tones by Peter Laird, #28 art by Jim Lawson with no tones :-(
The new series went on hiatus in 2006 but finally returned last month with a unique distribution plan. New issues are available to read online FOR FREE. Print versions of the new issues are limited to 1,000 copies and cost $10 each. Back before the hiatus, this series was only selling about 4,000 copies per issue. Now that issues are limited to 1,000 copies it almost seems like a vanity project (but I don’t mind).
In a way the main series has almost become a sidenote to the more popular and widespread spin-off series Tales of the TMNT. This series is published on an almost-monthly schedule and is about to reach its 50th issue. Stories published in this series can take place at basically any point in time, meaning sometimes we see little kid Ninja Turtles, sometimes old men, whatever. Indpendent or underground comic creators are given the chance to create issues and sometimes Mirage Studios members take their turn, much like the middle years of the original series.
The new Tales of the TMNT series
Tales of the TMNT #9 art by Jim Lawson, #14 art by Rick Remender & Michael Manley, #36 art by Paul Harmon, #40 art by Diego Jourdan
The current publication regime is much more satisfying than the Archie, Image or Dreamwave runs but in most ways it falls short of the original Mirage run. The main TMNT series is somewhat aimless and the inks really vary in quality. Many of the indie artists hired to work on the Tales of the TMNT series are just not nearly as interesting to me as those that worked on the old series and most of them make little to no attempt to co-opt the “Mirage style”. Still, I generally like and I’m glad it’s around.
Mirage Studios 2nd Generation TMNT Publication History
Series
TMNT #1-29 and counting (2001-present)
Tales of the TMNT #1-46 and counting (2004-present)
Mini-series
Leonardo: Blind Sight #1-4 (2006)
TMNT Movie Prequel #1-5 (2007)
Raphael: Bad Moon Rising #1-4 (2007)
Special
TMNT Official Movie Adaptaton (2007)
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Categories: animals · art · comics · history · tmnt
Tagged: Fox, Image Comics, Jim Lawson, Kevin Eastman, Mirage Studios, Next Mutation, Ninja Turtles, Peter Laird, Playmates, Saban, Tales of the TMNT, tmnt
After the new cartoon series started in the early 2000s, someone decided a tie-in comic series was required. Enter Dreamwave Productions. Dreamwave was a real comics-industry success story in the early 2000s, a small Canadian firm that came from out of nowhere to land some big licenses, like Transformers, and produce some of the best selling titles on the market.
Editorial time: Dreamwave was basically a gigantic sham company, a true piece of shit. The art style they employed was, while technically proficient, an extremely generic anime-style delivery. The company spent huge amounts of money on office space and vehicles for the core staff while often bilking their creative talent out of their pay. Fuck Dreamwave. End editorial.
So for their new series, Dreamwave hired Peter David to write, an ironic choice given the fact that he’s Erik Larsen’s archenemy. A talented unknown by the name of LeSean was hired to provide art. David’s writing was usually very, very slow and boring, probably driving away most of the interested fanboys that would have picked up the series. The series was colored using computers with mixed results. While the images could sometimes be striking they also come across as rather stale.
Unlike the Archie series, Dreamwave had no mainstream distribution. Their comics were sold exclusively on the same comic book store shelves as the concurrently running Mirage series, likely confusing many nerds. In spite of that, sales were very strong but not strong enough for a piece of shit company like Dreamwave and the series was cancelled after 7 issues, in spite of averaging about 22,000 in sales per issue (aka $66,000 in revenue per issue). It’s just as well that it was cancelled. BORING.
Dreamwave Productions TMNT Publication History
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-7 (2003)
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Categories: animals · art · comics · history · tmnt
Tagged: Dreamwave, LeSean, Ninja Turtles, Pat Lee, Peter David, tmnt, Transformers
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