Tuesday, July 9, 2013

An interesting, long-forgotten fact



I was going through some old letters a few days ago and came across a copy of one that I wrote to my brother in early 1984. In it I wrote about how Kevin and I had recently gotten our copies of the first issue of TMNT back from the printer.

What surprised me was the mention in this letter that not only did we get the 3000 copies which we'd ordered, but an extra 275 copies as well -- a bit of overprinting on their part which inured to our benefit.

So from now on, when asked how many copies were in that first print run, I am going to have to try to remember 3,275 instead of the much easier round number of 3000.

I think I can handle it.  -- PL
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9 comments:

  1. Chris ParlonJuly 9, 2013 at 9:16 PM

    The creation of this book has always given me hope whenever creating anything myself.

    You and Kevin proved that you don't need a giant corporation to make something that's successful, and artistic.

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    1. PLJuly 11, 2013 at 8:07 AM

      Thanks, Chris! Best of luck with whatever it is you decide to create. -- PL

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  2. UnknownJuly 10, 2013 at 6:57 AM

    That's awesome, it's fun to go through old stuff I found one of my first fan TMNT drawings the other day and it kinda made me laugh because their faces looked so serious but the were very bubbly and round compared to where I'm at now.
    MS =^.^=

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    1. PLJuly 11, 2013 at 8:01 AM

      Melanie, I feel that way when I look at some early drawings of the Turtles that I did. It's interesting to see how these kinds of things evolve over time. -- PL

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  3. Aaron HazouriJuly 10, 2013 at 3:03 PM

    I have a question, and apologies if you've already answered it - do you remember getting your first fan letter? How'd that feel? Pretty special or no big deal?

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    1. PLJuly 11, 2013 at 8:02 AM

      Sadly, I do not remember the first fan letter or how it made me feel, but I would strongly suspect that it felt pretty darn good! -- PL

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  4. Adam RichesJuly 10, 2013 at 4:40 PM

    My memory on this is kind of fuzzy, but didn't you guys cut up a whole bunch of first prints that were displayed in a comic store window early on? Maybe you helped bring that number a little closer to 3000? Either way, feel free to keep using the lower number, my first print of TMNT #1 was the most I've ever spent on a comic, the purchase seems a hair more justified at 3000! ;-)

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    1. PLJuly 11, 2013 at 8:06 AM

      Adam, I'm not sure, but you may be remembering something that Ralph DiBernardo (who organized the convention in Portsmouth, NH where we premiered the first issue of TMNT on May 5, 1984, and who currently runs the wonderful Jetpack Comics store in Rochester, NH) said some time ago. I think he may have cut up a few copies of the first issue for advertising purposes or something (sorry, my memory is also a bit fuzzy on that). But Kevin and I never did anything like that. -- PL

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  5. AdamJuly 11, 2013 at 7:53 PM

    Arrrggg, the scarcity and value of my TMNT #1 original print just went down a little bit!!!

    Oh wait... that's right, I don't own one! No bother then. Keep calm & carry on. :-)

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