Shellback Artworks group signing August 11, 2012

I had fun with the Mirage Studios crew -- Dan Berger, Mike Dooney, Jim Lawson, Eric Talbot, and Steve Lavigne -- this past weekend. We all travelled up from Massachusetts to do a signing at Steve's store "Shellback Artworks" in Wells, ME.

Here's a sampling of photographs from the event. (Of course, I followed my usual bad habit of not getting the names of most of the people I took photos of. Sorry!)

There was one gentleman who drove a LONG way to come to the signing -- I can't remember which midwest state he was from, but I think he easily took the prize for "most miles driven to get to Shellback Artworks". He brought with him a nifty vintage VW van toy, which we all took turns signing. Mike even did some "Turtleizing" of it, adding some shell texture to certain areas.

I think this next person's name is David, and after talking with us for a while and getting some things signed, we posed for a photo with him. Then he went to the local Wal-Mart and got it printed in a large format, brought it back, and we all signed it. 

Cool idea! I had no clue that you could get prints done like that at Wal-Mart.

Here's Eric signing the photo.

Chris Parlon and his girlfriend Katie, who were also at the grand opening signing, showed up for this one as well.

We signed this dude's yellow shoulder bag…

… and the back of this pizza box (which had previously held some of our lunch).

I have to draw particular attention to the thing Jim Lawson sketched on this box -- something that, in all the years of the TMNT, with all the references to pizza and surfing, has NEVER been done before (as far as I know): a Turtle surfing on a piece of pizza.

Genius! Jim, you're too much.

Here's Jim in the act of creation -- I was fortunate enough to be sitting next to him at the signing, and thus caught this moment for posterity.

Mike took it upon himself to, um, enhance the image of infant April on the cover of this fan's copy of TMNT Volume 4 #22.

Here's Steve posing with one of his store t-shirts which we all signed. I don't know where the shirt ended up.

It was great to have Eric with us -- I hadn't seen him in months. He brought with him some blank stickers with the die-cut shape of a skull and crossbones (the result of a printing error) and invited us all to draw something on them. Here's a photo of Eric working on one…

… and here are five COMPLETELY different approaches to using that space. Can you guess who did which?

All in all, a fun time! -- PL

TMNT #31 cover by Michael Dooney

I got the word today from Michael Dooney that he had finished the cover painting for the next issue of TMNT Volume 4 -- #31 -- and he'd left it on one of the computers at Mirage. So this afternoon, while I was at the office waiting for Eric Talbot to get there so he and Jim Lawson and I could go for a short (but sweet) motorcycle ride, I copied it onto my trusty memory stick and brought it home.

And here it is!



Now that Mike has worked his magic, I think the only thing left to do is put together the letters pages. So if you had been thinking of writing a letter of comment, now would be a good time to finish it up and send it in. -- PL

More images from Free Comic Book Day 2009

Here are a few more photos from Free Comic Book Day last Saturday in Rochester, NH. This first one is of a young lady named Meagan Windham, who asked for -- and got -- her shirt signed by all of the Mirage dudes.



A photo of Jim Lawson signing her shirt was featured in an article in "Foster's Daily Democrat", a local paper -- here's the link for the online version: http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090503/GJNEWS_01/705039837

This little dude below is, I think, one of those "second generation" TMNT fans we've started to encounter at shows.



These two gentlemen came in their cool homemade costumes -- that's Brandon Berry as Casey Jones, and T.K. Travis as the Shredder.



There were some folks selling these cool horns at the show -- they're held on by elastics, and really fit quite well. I like how the positioning of the camera's lens in this one of Mike Dooney about to take a photo makes him look kind of like some weird Cyclops.



And here we all are, modeling the latest in demonic cranial excrescences.



Unfortunately, I lost the business card of the people who make these fine add-ons. I thought they were very nifty. -- PL

Free Comic Book Day in Rochester, NH

I'm back home after a busy, somewhat exhausting day at Free Comic Book Day in Rochester, NH. This event was put on by Ralph DiBernardo of Jetpack Comics (that's the name of his store in Rochester). Jim, Mike, Dan, Steve and I got there a little bit before 10AM, and I was signing almost non-stop from then until about 3PM, with a little break for lunch (ten minutes, at the table). As the event wound down towards its close at 4PM, I took advantage of the moment to take the photos which make up this panoramic view from my seat at the Mirage Studios tables.



Steve Lavigne and Mike Dooney can be seen on my left, and Jim Lawson is on my right. Dan Berger was behind Mike -- I don't think you can see him in this image.

I'd like to thank Ralph and all the people who showed up for FCBD... and my Mirage Studios pals for making it a fun trip. -- PL

On the road to FCBD...

I was originally planning to ride a motorcycle -- probably my Gold Wing -- to New Hampshire for Free Comic Book Day, along with Jim Lawson and Steve Lavigne. Unfortunately, the predicted weather for today and Saturday was just too iffy, and that plan got shelved.

So today Mike, Jim, Dan and I drove up to Portsmouth (where we're staying overnight) in my car. Here's a photo taken by Eric Talbot (who can't come with us, sob, weep, wail!) just before we took off from Mirage early this afternoon:



I drove, and I like to take some non-highway roads to get to Portsmouth. One of these led us close to "Madame Sherri's Castle" (which I have blogged about before), and I aksed the guys if they'd like to check it out. They were interested, so I took them there. Here's a photo I took of Jim bravely climbing to the top of the ruined staircase:



... and here's a photo of Jim, Mike and Dan with that same staircase:



This little digression, plus a stop at the Vermont Deli in Brattleboro (where Mike bought a cookie that was almost as big as his head), and a later one to a Toys 'R' Us for a bathroom break, may have led to our being a little bit late in meeting up with Steve Lavigne in Portsmouth. Okay, it was also my missing the entrance to Route 95, which led us to travel some miles up the coastal road to Portsmouth -- nice views of the ocean, but definitely not as quick.

But Steve forgave us, and we all had a nice dinner at the Rusty Hammer in the center of Portsmouth. Being a little tired after dinner, I bid adieu to the dudes, who were going out on the town, and headed back to the hotel. I hope they had a lot of fun. Not TOO much fun, though... we have to work tomorrow! -- PL

Jake Black benefit print at FCBD

Some of you may be aware that our friend Jake Black, writer on several issues of "Tales of the TMNT", was recently diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. We're all rooting for Jake, and to help out a little with his medical bills, the dudes at Mirage put together this jam drawing, which we have made into a print to be sold for the first time at Free Comic Book Day in Rochester, NH, tomorrow. Mike Dooney started it off with his Leonardo, then I added Donatello, followed by Dan Berger's Casey Jones, Jim Lawson's Michelangelo, and Eric Talbot's Raphael. Here's the black and white art:



Our old bud Steve Lavigne agreed to color the piece, and although we didn't give him a lot of time, I think he turned in a sterling effort. Here's what the art on the final print will look like:



I'm pretty sure we'll be selling this 11 by 17 inch print for $20. Eric Talbot, who unfortunately couldn't come with us to this FCBD event, did sign all one hundred copies that we brought with us, and all the guys will be happy to add their signatures tomorrow for anyone who purchases a print. All proceeds will go to Jake. -- PL

(Art © 2009 by the respective artists, characters ™ and © 2009 Mirage Studios.)

To get more info on Jake and his health status, check out his blog at http://jakeboyslim.blogspot.com/2009/04/breaking-news-update-april-6.html

One of a kind! Act now!!! BUY THIS SHIRT!!!

Mike Dooney asked me to put up a blog notice about this cool t-shirt which
he is offering on eBay RIGHT NOW!!! (Until Saturday.)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=280328713230#ht_500wt_924

Here's
what Mike put in the listing description.

" One of a kind Ninja Turtle shirt! Up for auction is a new unworn Large (it's oversized so I'd say it's more like an XL) long sleeve tee shirt hand signed and drawn on by the TMNT Mirage Studios crew of artists. The studio gang and myself thought that it would be fun to draw on this shirt and then go out for a beer with whatever we get for selling it here....so thanks in advance ;)

Artists who signed the shirt are; Peter Laird (TMNT Co-creator), Jim Lawson, Dan Berger,Steve Murphy, Eric Talbot, Steve Lavigne and Michael Dooney."

Here's the photo of the shirt Mike sent me:



Act now, and it could be yours! -- PL

Boston ComicCon, November 2, 2008

Yesterday I attended -- along with Mike Dooney, Jim Lawson, Dan Berger, and Steve Lavigne -- the Boston ComicCon held at the Back Bay Events Center. (Eric Talbot and Steve Murphy had planned to come, but unfortunately couldn't make it.) Steve Lavigne came down from Maine, along with his whole family, and met us at the show. It was fun -- a mellow, old-school kind of comic convention. We were pretty busy the whole time, and met a lot of nice people.



This photo of Mike, Jim and Dan -- posing by the poster for which Jim drew the art -- is one I snapped just as we arrived at the Expo Center.



Here we are at our table, seen from the perspective of my seat -- Steve was sitting next to me so that we could more easily collaborate on our full-color TMNT head sketches. Curiously, we didn't actually do any!



One of the nice fans we met was this young woman, Kellyanne Lynch, who showed up in a nifty Turtle costume which she said a friend had helped her sew together. I wish I had gotten a photo of the back shell they had made -- it looked great. The whole costume looked very comfortable -- just the kind of thing to wear all show long.



By far the coolest thing we saw at the show -- in fact, possibly the coolest thing we'd seen in a long time at ANY show -- were Jesus Colon's hand-decorated sneakers. (That's Jesus in the above photo, holding the sneakers.) He told us he had done all the drawing on these shoes in a marathon all-nighter the previous day, basing all of it on the first two issues of the comic. Here are a few close-up views of the shoes.









Cleverly conceived, creatively executed -- well done, Jesus! -- PL

Blast from the Past #31 repost: TMNT with dimensional gateway

This is kind of fun -- another drawing whose purpose I can’t recall, though I was clearly having a good time drawing it. I think I drew this one sometime in the early 1990's. I like the "homage" to one of Jack Kirby's many concepts from his "Fourth World" series at DC -- the "Boom Tube".



Curiously, the day after I scanned the pencils, I found hanging on the wall of my ofice at Mirage Studios this cool inked version. Jim Lawson inked Leo, Eric Talbot inked Don, Mike Dooney inked Mike, and Dan Berger inked Raph. -- PL

Blast from the Past #30 repost: Laird/Dooney barbarian turtle

This is a fun drawing of a barbarian turtle from 1986, penciled by me and beautifully inked by the wizard of brushwork, Michael Dooney -- probably when we were both bored at some comic book convention. -- PL

Blast from the Past #96: Eastman/Dooney Barbarian Turtle

Here's a fun joint effort from back in 1986. This is something that Kevin Eastman penciled and Michael Dooney inked. It's similar to the drawing I posted as "Blast from the Past" #30 some years ago -- that one was a barbarian Turtle that I penciled and Mike inked. -- PL

Blast from the Past #97: Gizmo and a Turtle play cards

This is a charming piece from the early 1980's, I would imagine... a pin-up drawn by Michael Dooney of his robot character Gizmo Sprocket playing cards with a Turtle (it's not clear which one). I like how The Turtle apparently has won Gizmo's cap in one hand, while Gizmo took the Turtle's bandana in another. -- PL