Ask PL #3

~ tOkKa said...

-->> ..

Who are / is some of your favourite TMNT villains ?!

( Always wanted to ask that. )
..>v<

Let's see... well, the Shredder has to be #1. He has, of course, become THE iconic adversary for the Turtles, due in large part to his huge role in the old animated series. As far as other characters go, I would have to say that the Triceratons are some of my favorite "bad guys" (even though we have seen from some events in both Vol. 4 of the Mirage comics and the new animated show, not ALL of them are bad). One character who I was originally not too excited about, but have come to really like as an enemy of the Turtles, is Hun from the new show. (And he may even be crossing over into the comics in the somewhat near future.) I also have a soft spot for the Rat King, Savanti Romero, and the Shredder's Elite Guard. -- PL

"Ask PL" #2

"Ondi said...
Just wanted to say this is a really great idea and thanks for offering this to us.

I would like to know. If you had the opportunity to have the turtles do a crossover with any comic character/s who would you choose?"

Although it is unlikely to ever happen, I think it would be great fun to have one or more of the Turtles have a crossover adventure with Jack Kirby's Etrigan, the Demon (DC), or the Thing from the Fantastic Four (Marvel). Of course, it would also be cool to do a crossover with Daredevil, as Kevin Eastman has suggested in the past. Batman and Spider-Man offer intriguing possibilities, as well. And Wolverine...

There are quite a few intriguing possibilities for fun crossovers. Just as I was typing the above, I started thinking about characters from other comics who would get on well with individual Turtles, and I got this vision of Donatello and Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) collaborating on some techy project... and now I have this image in my head of Donatello in an Iron Man-style armored suit! (Yes, I know "tiny Don" in the current Volume 4 continuity is using a modified robot body to get around in, but that's very different.) Actually, if memory serves, I think Kevin and I may have drawn an "Iron Turtle" way back when. I'll have to see if I can dig that one up.
And, although we have individually done stories in which our respective characters interact, someday I'd like to work on a crossover Usagi Yojimbo/TMNT story with Stan Sakai in which we both do the artwork and story together. Not sure HOW that would work, but I think it could be a lot of fun! -- PL

"A Ninja Turtles Diary"

I think Dan Berger put a link to this on the ninjaturtles.com site, but just in case you missed it, here's another link:

http://www.isenberg.umass.edu/alumni/uploads/listWidget/17187/cw-spring08.pdf

Both Gary Richardson (CEO of Mirage) and I are graduates of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Gary graduated from the Isenberg School of Business, and they have a quarterly magazine called "Commonwealth". Gary and I were interviewed for the cover article in the latest issue. (Actually, they were just going to interview Gary, but he graciously asked if they'd like to include me... and they did.)

It was a fun interview to do, and I actually learned some stuff about Gary I had not known. And the photographer they sent along shot a really nice cover photo. -- PL

"Ask PL" #1

Thanks to everyone who responded to my "call for questions" -- I'm hoping to respond to at least several of them in the coming weeks. I thought I'd start out with the following from "Duke":

"Duke said...
After reading your comments regarding your reasons behind redoing the early issues of Volume 1 in Volume 4 issue 29, I can definitely understand why you want to redo them. It's clearly your personal preference to give them an updated toning and look, while redoing some of the wording. But I was wondering if there is any chance you'd be willing to reprint copies of the original version in a separate collected trade at the same time as the new retoned trades? I know I'd end up buying both and I'm sure I'm not alone in that. However, I just think printing both styles would give your fans the ability to purchase the style they prefer. What is your opinion on that kind of compromise with the fan base?"

Although I am continuing (albeit at a frozen snail's pace) the "remastering" project, and hope to have enough done to facilitate reprint collections of most of the Laird/Eastman Volume One material, I have never ruled out reprints of the original material with the original tones. In fact, a few months ago I had exactly the idea you suggested -- releasing the two versions simultaneously. That is definitely a possibility.

"Also, can we please get a City at War trade printed? It is long overdue. "

As I have said in the past, there will be a "City at War" collection, as well as a "Return to New York" collection, at some point -- perhaps during our 25th anniversary year.

"Finally, echoing Rose, what are the plans for the turtles after your retirement?"

How can I realistically answer a question like that? Seriously, I have no idea. I don't even know if I will ever "retire" in the classic sense. There is definitely the possibility that someday I might sell the TMNT property to a third party, and then I guess I will "retire" from the responsibilities of owning and overseeing the TMNT business. If such a buyout were to occur, what happens with the TMNT after that would be up to whoever purchased the property. And there is no way I can predict what would happen. -- PL

The rest of the RTNY part three layouts

That's it for the layouts for the comic book pages. The following images are from a proposed "Sketchbook" sction which never made it into the comic book.



This is interesting -- these two pieces of yellow legal pad paper contain some handwritten notes by Kevin about this issue. (I found them stuck into the back of this layout sketch book.)

Questions?

Because one of my reasons for beginning my blog was to establish a new avenue of interaction between me and Internet-enabled TMNT fans, I thought that it might be worth occasionally trying to answer questions directly via this blog.

Here's how I'm thinking it might work: If you have any questions you'd like to ask, post them in the "Comments" section of this blog post. I'll look them over, and pick one or more of the most interesting, and use it or them as the basis for a new blog post.

How does that sound? -- PL

Even more layouts from RTNY part three