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

Blast from the Past #171: another sketch for the cover of TMNT #4, Volume 1

This is an oddity I found in a drawer with some other stuff -- it's yet another preliminary sketch for my cover for issue #4 of the original Volume 1 TMNT comics. I have already posted one of these preliminary drawings (Friday, February 13, 2009: Blast from the Past #150).



This one is kind of strange in that I drew it on illustration board instead of the Bristol board I typically used. I'm not sure why. -- PL

BLast from the Past #169: Fugitoid pinup

I can't recall if this drawing I did back in 1985 of the Fugitoid running through a robot junkyard was ever printed anywhere. It's possible we used it as a pinup in one of the comics.



I do remember having fun incorporating junked versions of various famous robots into this drawing. -- PL

Blast from the Past #90 repost: roughs for Leonardo and Usagi story "The Crossing"

Going through some old files a few years ago, I found this interesting artifact -- eight sheets of what looked like scratch paper clipped together, with my loosely-scrawled rough layouts and dialogue for my Usagi Yojimbo and Leonardo crossover short. It's been a while since I last read the finished piece, but I think it pretty closely followed these roughs.









According to the folks at the very cool Usagi Yojimbo fan site (http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/), the issue of UY with this story is still available from Fantagraphics.

One thing I'd like to mention relates to a comment I read somewhere -- an UY fan was miffed that, in this story, I had Usagi behaving in an arrogant, obnoxiously aggressive manner... something the real Usagi would not do. That is true -- but what Usagi is doing in this little tale is using himself as the basis for an object lesson, a kind of parable to help the youngster understand concepts of honor and respect. To help get the message across, Usagi shades the truth and makes himself look less honorable than he really is. Looked at this way, it's very doubtful the Leonardo/Usagi meeting ever happened quite like this. (But it's still a fun story!)

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Well, that's it -- I've finished reposting all of the old "Blast from the Past" posts I had originally put up on the "Planet Racers" website. It was fun doing it, as it allowed me to see your thoughts on those items. Going forward, "BftP" will now feature only new old stuff (and maybe a few new new things as well)! -- PL

Blast from the Past repost #89: front cover of special PBBZ Limited Edition reprint of TMNT Volume 1, #1

This is the front cover to a special limited edition (3000 copies) of the first issue of TMNT which was available for the first time at the Portsmouth, NH comic con on May 22 of 2004. What was new about this reprint was that I had retoned and relettered it, as part of a long-term effort to "remaster" all of the old issues of TMNT. There was also an essay by Ralph DiBernardo, who -- 21 years ago -- produced the Portsmouth Minicon at which Kevin and I premiered the first issue of the TMNT.



And for this twenty-fifth anniversary year, on "Free Comic Book Day", Dan Berger, Michael Dooney, Steve Lavigne, Jim Lawson, Steve Murphy, Eric Talbot and I will be doing a signing at Jetpack Comics (Ralph's store) in Rochester, NH from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM on Saturday, May 2. A nice kind of almost perfect symmetry -- Kevin and I attended Ralph's Portsmouth Minicon to premiere the first issue of TMNT on May 5, 1984. -- PL

Blast from the Past #88 repost: Raphael wth TCRI alien gun

Raphael wields one of the TCRI aliens' (otherwise known as the Utroms) blasters in one of my pin-ups from 1986. -- PL

Blast from the Past #167: unfinished drawing of Savanti Romero and Renet

This is kind of an odd piece. I found it in the same place as that unfinished pencil piece by Kevin Eastman (BftP #166), and for the life of me I cannot remember what I did this drawing for.



Obviously, it features two of the main characters from TMNT Volume 1 #8 -- Savanti Romero (looking somewhat different from how he appeared in the comic) and Renet -- but why did I draw it? The layout of the drawing makes me think this might have been intended either for an ad or a pin-up.

I guess, like Savanti Romero himself, the true origins of this piece are lost in the dim mists of time. -- PL