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Drawing Blood #6

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Walt

drawingblood_0006_with_KS_questionChapter 6

Writer: David Avallone
Artists: Ben Bishop, Kevin Eastman, Troy Little
Letterer: Tony Esposito
Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado
Published by: Image Comics

So…Drawing Blood #6 is out.

This issue is the SECOND issue of the 4-issue "Drawing Blood vol. 2" that was funded by Kickstarter backers more than FIVE YEARS AGO.

In the 5+ years SINCE they raised over $121,000 dollars for what amounts to Drawing Blood #s 5-8, the creators have collectively posted a grand total of 15-16 Updates–several closer together, most with half-a-year-or-more gaps. By and large, they have stoutly refused to communicate with Kickstarter backers, preferring to post things to OTHER social media, expecting anyone who "cares" about the Kickstarter to BE on other social media.

And for years they’ve been making and continuing to break promises, and it’s been over 14 months since they even vaguely hinted at any sort of timeline. It’s always “soon,” but how many YEARS until “soon” becomes “scammed”?

Just going back THREE YEARS, below are some of the creators’ words from Kickstarter updates, with my ‘responses’ interspersed in blue. You’ll find the original comments from the creators on Kickstarter in the ‘Updates’ section of the project’s page corresponding to the ‘Update’ for each respective date.

David Avallone, July 21, 2021

[Shared video call between Avallone, Eastman, Bishop, saying loads of stuff that over 3 years later still hasn’t happened…and couldn’t even be bothered to summarize or write something for Kickstarter backers. Additionally, it was a short video, so no one spent much time to provide information/updates…it was like a 10-minute conference call on the go. ]

Ben Bishop, February 19, 2022 (7 months later…)

As I always mention – the very best place to see the latest on DRAWING BLOOD is our Instagram […] and our Facebook page […] – As wells as our individual Instagram accounts […] – – Whereas a single image and caption doesn’t always make for a meaty enough KS update,  I’m always posting bits and pieces of the process all the time over on IG, and also pretty decent at replying to comments. So, definitely give those accounts a follow if you want to stay more in the loop as we wrap this baby up.

It’s taking forever – we know. But we’re so close, and so confident that it’ll be worth the wait. Thanks for hanging in there.

And yet none of those pages linked to are Kickstarter itself…where backers backed this, and expect to be able to at LEAST get “monthly” “updates.” Sure, a single image/caption here or there may not warrant a whole Update and can add further TO the actual updates…abdicating Kickstarter and forcing people to go to other social media in the hopes of MAYBE finding something relevant to this particular project?

Ben Bishop, November 9, 2022 (9 months later…)

We’ve been getting lots of bumps and nudges, or pokes, whatever you want to call them – for another DRAWING BLOOD Kickstarter update, so I wanted to drop in quickly this morning and type something up for all of you patiently waiting on DRAWING BLOOD VOL.2.

Yeah, that only took NINE MONTHS of “bumps/nudges/pokes/whatever” for an Update. Even if not posted as a full-on Update, it’s actually, genuinely POSSIBLE for creators to hop on and post COMMENTS and/or REPLY TO comments without having to put together huge/long/fancy Updates.

There’s not a whole lot to update you all about – and no one likes a lame update – but I can at least come by and let you know we’re all still alive, and still working on the book. Nothing has changed. We’re still all bouncing between various jobs or conventions or everyday human stuff like doctors appointments, funerals, DMV lines, and whatever else somehow sucks the time away each day.

No one likes lame updates, sure…but at least an update IS an update. It’s the few minutes of a creator’s time amidst everything else—it should be part of those “whatever else somehow sucks the time away each day” to have even one creator out of 3+ take five minutes in ONE MONTH to post something. Creators bouncing between jobs taken in lieu of what money was already collected for (Last Ronin over Drawing Blood v. 2) is a bit shady. Everyone else has stuff going on, do they not deserve to know where their money’s going and that the creators haven’t just left them high and dry?

David Avallone, July 20, 2023 (Over 9 months later, start of SDCC 2023 just ahead of panels involving this creative team)

I hoped the overlap in the fandom would satisfy most of you that you were getting something amazing, even if it wasn’t DBV2 yet.

Some of you… weren’t satisfied and weren’t patient.

What *I* myself primarily saw and experienced in the months leading up to this Update was people requesting informatioin, updates, SOME SORT OF COMMUNICATION from someone involved in the project…but it was months of abject SILENCE.

[…]

He should have 8 inked within a month… and then we’re finally done, and ready to send it to you.

As of September 24, 2024…this statement is 14 months old. Speaks for itself.

[…]

Which leads us to the big announcement. You are the first to officially hear it, before we talk about it later today at San Diego Comic Con (and I hope some of you are in the room when we do.)

This seems to be the entire reason anyone even bothered to post an update…so that no one could stand up in a panel and ask FOR an update or ask why they haven’t communicated in 9 months…

It was pretty thrilling to get this email, even knowing the contract had been signed.
Eric Stephenson of Image loves DRAWING BLOOD, and we have signed a contract with him to publish the series, and the RAGDOLLS comics that supplement it.

And this was the first backers had anything official on this. Never even any information about them considering publishing through Image, having already published 1-4 as single issues through Kevin Eastman’s studio!

[…]

Within a week or so, we’ll announce when the first issue will drop from Image.  In keeping with industry practice, that means the first issue will be in comics shops about four months later. This will be DRAWING BLOOD #1, which you’ve all read, of course, but then we will go straight through for 12 months, with Volume Two commencing about four months in, and Volume Three four months after that.

14 months later and they still have not communicated when issues would or have drop(ped) from Image.

Never anything specific about timelines or intentions such as “We should know by December if we’ll be able to deliver by February” or some such.

[…]

rest assured: Kickstarter supporters of Volume Two will get their copy of the Volume Two trade a very long time before those issues hit stores for public consumption.

Absolute LIE. Now with #6, this is HALF OF volume 2 that is in stores, and Kickstarter supporters have NOTHING tangible. Even a PDF of #5 shared at the end of the day the day it was in shops was half-assed at best; more later.

[…]

You’ll get it first. And you’ll get some extras we’re throwing in, to thank you for your patience. We’ll make sure that you, the core fans of DRAWING BLOOD hear about everything first, and see everything first.

Again, LIES. There has been NO FURTHER communication, promotion, information, announcement(s) etc in the over 14 months since this was posted.

Kevin Eastman, May 18, 2024 (10 months later)

A LONG OVERDUE letter to all the generous fans that supported the second Drawing Blood Kickstarter campaign in 2019 – my sincere apologies.

Long overdue indeed…I had figured Eastman had essentially merely lent his NAME to the project. Finally, some responsibility being assumed, and this thing can get underway…
…right?

[…]

It is appalling quite honestly that I have not been up here to speak with you before, my name is on the campaign, much like the first one

EXACTLY like the first one

[…]

There is no one to blame except me and there are no excuses I could offer or would accept if I were you.

Ok, we’re getting toward platitudes, especially looking back more than 4 months with nothing tangible since.

[…]

I will say only this, five years to complete a project like the one you funded is disgusting – especially when it has my name on it, even more so. I can sincerely tell you on every level, over that time, the money you contributed to help create and fund this project has only been spent on this project – the funds to complete and deliver the remaining items (original art and related, already complete items, have long since be sent to the supporters) are right where they are supposed to be, and will be used to do so in the coming months.

Potentially ok, but these months later in September, methinks he doth protest too much, so to speak.

[…]

We will be sending out a backer survey shortly, we are nearing completion of all the final elements of the funded Kickstarter campaign

Nothing concrete. No specific dates. And 4+ months later, no backer survey (pretty sure one might have been sent out YEARS AGO, but I haven’t even dug back that far if my emails even DO go back that far). No word on what “nearing completion” means, or what “final elements” REMAIN.

[…]

Again, and you’ll hear it MANY, MANY more times from me in coming months – my apologies –

more generic-sounding apologies and words from something that doesn’t seem like it should have taken more than a half hour to write…averaging (at a half hour) 3 minutes per month of silence since July 2023?

Kevin Eastman, July 9, 2024 (over 7 weeks later)

By the end of next week, we’ll have the final digital PDF of issue #5 to send to you all, and if all goes as planned, we’ll have issues #6, and #7, and #8 off to you about every two weeks thereafter – so you get to see, at least in digital form, in the short term, everything you helped us bring to life – and the hard copies are coming soon.

2 months shy of the 5-year-mark from this project being funded, virtually a YEAR after being told backers would have DBv2 long before others, and it was reduced to a digital file. That many people don’t even care about or have trouble attempting to read—it is NOT a Guided View thing or any ‘smart’ digital comic, and at least for myself, viewing PDFs on a widescreen laptop is NOT conducive to a good reading experience for comics and their crazy panel layouts/structures modern artists seem to always be using.

[…]

I’ll also make sure we send around Troy’s final 40 page “RRRR Adventures” again as well – as I know some of you have gotten it and some missed it, and I want to make sure you all get to enjoy it – it’s truly beautiful.

I have seen NOTHING of this being sent around again…maybe there were private messages and/or private emails, but certainly nothing posted to the Kickstarter project page itself for general access by backers.

[…]

Looking further down the road, we’re all self-funding the final four issues of the series, issues #9, #10, #11, and #12 (which we couldn’t be doing if you hadn’t helped us with the first eight) and we are going to make sure you get digital copies of all those as our “thanks” for helping us throughout the dreadfully long process to date.

Probably because there’d be no way to do a Kickstarter again with the abysmal track record of the current project remaining UNfulfilled 5 years later and plenty of comments and concerns from people seeking updates that extremely rarely materialize.

And being published through IMAGE…aren’t ALL such comics—be it The Walking Dead, Drawing Blood, Saga, whatever—thus self-funded?!?

[…]

Okay – back to work for me – wanted to touch base with you all – and stay tuned for the backer survey details and more updates and surprises from us all in the very near future.

Ok, July 9…very near future…great.

(NOTHING on those as of September 24!)

Kevin Eastman, August 28, 2024 (another over-7-weeks later)

I know you are all feeling (very appropriately) upset about putting down your hard-earned cash to support our second Drawing Blood Kickstarter and are feeling ripped off – I apologize – it was not my intent, nor any the parties involved in this project to rip anyone off.  I couldn’t be more sincere here – and I assure you the money you have invested has been spent ONLY on the Drawing Blood project, period, and is actively making its final steps to completion.

August 28, 4pm, virtually end-of-the-day…after #5 was in stores all day for anyone, backer or otherwise.

Not sure I’d seen any further comments or such about how the money was spent, so again, methinks someone doth protest too much.

[…]

Personally, if my Uncle Quentin (one of the OG crowd funders in my history) did not loan us the $1300 to print TMNT issue #1 it would not have happened. Thanks to him it did, and thanks to many of you, our 2017 KS for Drawing Blood Volume One never would have happened, and additionally for so many more of you, the 2019 KS for Volume Two would never have happened either – I am very grateful for your support.

$1300 is a far cry from nearly $122,000 (OVER A HUNDRED *THOUSAND* dollars) that then has left backers waiting HALF A DECADE. If that $1300 loan happened in 1983 (TMNT #1 hit in 1984), 5 years later would have been…1988. Think about THAT.

[…]

Below, you have a link to issue #5, and in the next two weeks you can expect another update from me and the digital version of issue #6. 

And after all that time, and it’s just a simple link to a basic PDF file. Presumably such a file had to have existed prior, for proofing and approval and such during the printing process.

And a simple, basic LINK to a simple, basic FILE couldn’t even be provided to backers until the END of the day, basically an AFTERTHOUGHT?!?

[…]

And here we are, 8pm September 24, with issue #6 arriving in stores in a few hours (likely already there, just not for sale til Wednesday), and…

STILL.

NOTHING.

NOT. A. Freaking. Peep.

No PDF for #6. No backer survey. No timelines for expected schedules and such.

It’s not even like they’ve delayed #5 or #6 after #4, an understandable “break” between arcs/volumes, etc. SURELY they could have voluntarily INSERTED a brief hiatus in order to fulfill the Kickstarter, and see that backers got their books prior to them being released to the general public.

But here we are, halfway through vol. 2, and a whole lotta NOTHING.

drawingblood_0006_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2024 Non-Review Posts, 2024 Posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Drawing Blood and its creators disgust me

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Walt

db_ks_app_cover_pageSo, Drawing Blood #5 is out. To say it’s on my [crap]list is probably an understatement.

I meant to post back when #1 came out, but just didn’t have the heart to get into things on it.

But now?

End of August, 2024?

Yeahhhh…Drawing Blood and its creators (and by extension, basically anything/everything "Last Ronin" that I see) have a REALLY BAD taste to me, so to speak.

I backed the first Drawing Blood Kickstarter in 2017.

When the thing was later re-issued as single issues, I snagged those to ‘support’ the thing, even already having received the Kickstarter book.

August 2019 (FIVE. YEARS. AGO!) I backed the "Drawing Blood vol. 2" Kickstarter.

To this day, I have NOTHING PHYSICAL from said Kickstarter, despite promises and brush-offs and so on from the team behind it.

Drawing Blood vol. 2 was supposed to be fulfilled one year later: August 2020. Of course, pretty much anyone knows what "2020" held for the world, and obviously the project was "delayed."

But the 2020 stuff didn’t really hit until MARCH 2020, over 6 months AFTER the Kickstarter WRAPPED, over HALFWAY to the point the project was supposed to fulfill.

But the creators virtually ABANDONED the Kickstarter.

Oh, there were maybe an update or two in a YEAR.

But nothing remotely RESEMBLING the monthly updates that Kickstarter itself requires as part of its terms for creators of a Kickstarter project. As of this writing, August 29, 2024, there have been a grand total of 30 "Updates" posted to the Kickstarter…the first 15 of which were during the actual run of the campaign.

Meaning 15 "Updates" in FIVE YEARS. An "average" of 3 per year…with zero engagement from the creators to their backers, aside from some snotty attitude-laced comments over people basically BEGGING–for *multiple* MONTHS AT A TIME–for SOME SORT OF COMMUNICATION regarding the project.

Not ONE of the people involved in the Kickstarter–from Kevin Eastman, to David Avallone, to Ben Bishop, to whoever else–for MULTIPLE YEARS now–have even bothered to post a "comment" to the Kickstarter page.

While they’re off at conventions, signing appearances, hosting Whatnot events, posting to various social media, NONE would even take a few MINUTES within any given MONTH to so much as post a comment to touch base with and engage with their Kickstarter backers–who they collected $121,732 from HALF A DECADE AGO.

While there were occasional posts other backers noted being on Facebook or Instagram occasionally–the creators apparently REFUSED to engage with Kickstarter itself once they had the money and ran.

For the past nearly-14 months, even, there’ve been platitudes and half-assed supposed "apologies" with immediately-broken promises attached, yet STILL…

STILL, not one of the creators acknowledges the NEAR-ZERO COMMUNICATION.

Making matters worse–in my eyes–are "promises" and definitive statements made over the past ~14 months that have NOT materialized.

Just 3 “recent” examples:

Avallone Update #26, July 20 2023 (over 13 months ago)
"rest assured: Kickstarter supporters of Volume Two will get their copy of the Volume Two trade a very long time before those issues hit stores for public consumption."

Eastman Update #28, May 18 2024 (over 3 months ago)
"We will be sending out a backer survey shortly, we are nearing completion of all the final elements of the funded Kickstarter campaign – and you will be hearing and getting updates from me directly, here, through the completion of fulfillment."

Eastman Update #29, July 9 2024 (7 weeks ago)
"By the end of next week, we’ll have the final digital PDF of issue #5 to send to you all"

Yet even with that last promise…it wasn’t until AFTER #5 was already out, available in stores, that a link to a PDF was even posted to the Kickstarter page—4pm, nearly end of the standard workday—on the 28th, .

Of just that one issue.

So FIVE YEARS of near-zero communication, passive aggressive hostility, and so on…and people that never had anything to do with crowdfunding had their issues in-hand before general backers even had a chance to read a digital PDF.

I can’t even begin to describe my disappointment–to put it most mildly–in a creator whose creations I’ve otherwise primarily enjoyed for most of my life. To say nothing of being so incredibly put-off by the other creators involved, and by their being able to put out umpteen issues of Last Ronin and Elvira and general work and appearances and events for themselves, other publishers…

But there’s been NO ACCOUNTABILITY to their Kickstarter backers.

Just idle "promises" of extras to be provided at fulfillment…but not even a PEEP in YEARS as to when anyone can EXPECT that fulfillment.

I’m amazed that IDW hasn’t stepped in–because surely this reflects poorly on creators involved with their biggest TMNT stuff in The Last Ronin, let alone TMNT itself!

Image sure doesn’t seem to have cared about the creators’ disrespect to their Kickstarter obligations, backers, and fans.

I am absolutely disgusted, and may post more on this at some later point but for now, putting this out there.

Feel free to visit the Kickstarter page itself to see whatever you can see for yourself–including my many requests for Updates, and comments asking what’s going on, etc.

Filed under: 2024 Non-Review Posts, 2024 Posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

TMNT Artisan Edition–Finally!

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Walt

I’ve been looking forward to the TMNT Artisan Edition for a number of months now! I was looking forward to it, and thought I might’ve missed it, back in March or April, and then thought it was due out around the end of April, and it kept not being on the week’s shipping list, and on and on til now.

tmnt_artisan_edition_book

I’d eventually ended up pre-ordering it via Amazon, just to make certain I wouldn’t miss out on it, and was quite surprised recently when I got a notification that my order had been "upgraded" to get the book day-of-release, August 8th. Of course, given that it seems like most of the time anymore, Amazon gets "access" to stuff a week or two AFTER comic shops, and this is from IDW, I just "assumed" then that I’d be able to get this from a shop mid-late July, but it wasn’t.

Then this week, I find out it WILL BE in shops…this week. But my copy, from Amazon, has already arrived.

This is a huge book, and quite the attractive volume! It contains original layouts and notes and such on the original first TMNT comic, as well as the finished version, and some extra art and such (a couple original ads for the first issue and sketches and such). Not a huge quantity of material, but enough to pad this out and make it highly worthwhile, at least to me.

tmnt_artisan_edition_tmnt_shelf

As said, this is a huge book…it’s even larger than the TMNT Ultimate Collection volumes IDW put out a few years ago, and this book will not fit on the shelf with these–it’s too tall! So it’ll perhaps get some special display spot, be relegated to laying on its side on top of the books on the shelf, or perhaps I’ll move all the TMNT stuff to a shelf with a bit more space when I next reconfigure my ‘library’.

tmnt_artisan_edition_spread1_sketch

Here’s one of my favorite double-page spreads, and (to me at least) one of the most iconic images of the issue! Interesting how recognizable it is even in the sketch/layout stage…

tmnt_artisan_edition_spread1_finished

…and yet how much more detailed the finished version is! (pardon the compressed/curve in the photo, the pages didn’t want to stay quite as open).

tmnt_artisan_edition_origin_sketch

Here’s the rough layout of the origin/introduction of the turtles…

tmnt_artisan_edition_origin_finished

…and the finished.

tmnt_artisan_edition_shredder_sketch

Shredder’s introduction in rough…

tmnt_artisan_edition_shredder_finished

And flipped for the final version in more detail.

I still really dig that this original issue was only ever intended as a one-shot thing, and that Shredder–the real, actual, not-a-clone/etc Shredder–had his first and last appearance in present-day here.

At the same time, I have come to really dig the IDW Shredder across a 50-issue run and appreciate that sort of longevity to that version of the character. But that’s a post for another time.

tmnt_artisan_edition_book_and_tmnt73

Here’s the book next to the latest issue of IDW‘s run. Fitting…a version of the original issue, with what is now the highest-numbered-ever TMNT issue. 1984 – 2017 and still going!

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, QUASI-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) #73 [Review]

Posted on August 7, 2017 by Walt

tmnt_idw_0073The Trial of Krang, Part One

Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Cory Smith
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Publisher: Ted Adams
Cover: Cory Smith, Ronda Pattison
Published by: IDW
Cover Date: August 2017
Cover Price: $3.99

It’s been awhile since I reviewed an issue of this series. [ Note: yeah, the last issue I reviewed was #44, back in 2015! ] And a lot has happened over these last 30 issues or so, including the apparent death of Shredder, and the book feeling a lot like a new volume of a series since then. But perhaps most significant for this issue–this is the first TMNT comic series to hit #73! The second volume of Tales of the TMNT ended at #70 back in 2010 (though apparently there was a foreign-published ~100-copies issue put out as a #71, but that’s for another post entirely), and the Archie-published TMNT Adventures ended at #72 back in 1995. The original volume of TMNT, that started everything, ended at #62 back in 1993.

Over the past six years, 73 issues of this title, numerous mini-series, several specials, and a year of a monthly companion title, we’ve had the development of probably the richest, deepest TMNT continuity to date, with this series’ creators drawing in elements from pretty much every previous iteration of the series–be that comics, cartoon, movie, and even the (as of August 2017) current animated series.

The cover itself is a bit of a celebratory thing: we see the turtles standing triumphantly, crowds of (alien) people cheering them from all around, as they stand open in the city. Granted, this is an alien city, and not Earth, but hey…it works. And on the "meta" level, the celebration is also appropriate AS celebrating this being the longest-running TMNT comic ever (at least numerically), with no signs of slowing down.

Opening the issue, we see Krang–who outside of the FCBD 2017 issue, I don’t think we’ve seen in a couple years at least–firming stuff up with an assassin, as he sits in a guarded cell awaiting his trial. Neutrinos arrive on Earth to get the turtles and Fugitoid back to Smada city, where they’re surprised to come face to face with Leatherhead! After some initial testiness, the situation is explained as to why he’s there and that they’re all on the same side…for now. The Neutrino Royal Family celebrates the turtles as heroes of the Krang War in a huge gathering that they weren’t expecting. Later, they get a smaller, more private time with them, where they learn of other problems approaching…like Maligna and her Malignoids, seeking to fill the power vacuum left without General Krang. The group is joined by Counselor Apap, who reveals how important it is for the turtles and Professor Honeycutt (the Fugitoid) to retrieve the key witnesses…without them, they don’t have nearly what’s needed to keep Krang locked away! However, Krang’s assassin Hakk-r strikes, and Apap is killed. After a skirmish with the assassin (who escapes), it becomes the turtles’ mission to seek out the witnesses, as Honeycutt must remain behind…he’s suddenly become one of the most valuable players in things himself, with Apap gone…so the turtles head off to collect the witnesses.

This issue is really, truly, things Done Right, to me! If you’d told me several years ago I’d like the Neutrinos in a modern context, I’d’ve been quite skeptical. As they are here, in this series…I quite enjoy them! I "hear" echoes of the classic cartoon iterations of the characters, but really dig this series’ reinterpretation and presentation of them…and their society. I also really like that this Krang is a much deeper character with a fleshed-out background (compared to the cartoon, anyway!) and seems much more capable, and highly dangerous…far more of a threat than "just" some recurring, bumbling villain.

Visually, while this issue’s art is by Cory Smith rather than Mateus Santolouco, it’s similar enough to avoid being jarring, and is really some beautiful stuff! Over the years, I’ve gotten very used to radically differing visual interpretations of the turtles, so that in itself rarely bothers me. Having the art so similar is a real treat, and to be singularly attractive in itself is even better!

The issue’s story is also quite a treat to me…I really like that we’re (finally!) getting back to more "familiar" territory, while pushing the overall narrative FORWARD. I often complain about repetition and titles not "letting _____ go" and such…but the way Shredder was developed, and Krang, I very much like stories with them in this iteration of the TMNT. Having had what in some ways has felt very "generic" villains/antagonists for a couple years, it’s really great to have this picking bac up on stuff that I’ve missed.

Having recently been excited at the introduction of more classic Mutanimals characters (Jagwar and Dreadmon) being introduced (reinterpreted) into current IDW continuity, I’m also very excited at the prospect of what seems to be on the immediate horizon, with a couple of very recognizable "cameos" in this issue (that I presume will be touched on at length in the TMNT: Dimension X mini-series) and an outright mention of another "classic" villain that I believe may come into play next issue, given the "Next issue" box at the end of this issue.

While this may not be an ideal "jumping on" point for someone unfamiliar with the characters, it’s definitely a great point to come back if you haven’t cared much for stuff the last couple years (since #50, for example). It’s also not a horrible point to jump in, though, even if you haven’t followed this title since its inception back in 2011 or such. There’s a lot of context, and if you don’t mind stories where you jump in and "figure things out" as you go, it’ll probably be fairly enjoyable.

And, as said earlier…this is the highest-numbered TMNT issue ever, so even symbolically, this series has now surpassed every previous run and can truly come into its own, pushing the TMNT property forward with a pedigree more than equal to everything else!

tmnt_idw_0073_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2017 Posts, 2017 Reviews, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

TMNT Revisited: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #25

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Walt

tmnt_adventures_revisited

tmntadventures025Raw Power

Script: Dean Clarrain
Pencils: Chris Allan
Inks: Rod Ollerenshaw
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Edits: Victor Gorelick
Published by: Archie Comics
Cover Date: October 1991
Cover Price: $1.25

This is another very special issue in my personal history with the turtles: this was THE first issue I ever got of TMNT Adventures at Waldenbooks as a then-new issue “off the rack,” still some months before I ever discovered such a thing as a comic shop. Along with that, the way I’ve mentally divided the series into “seasons” over the course of this re-reading project, I do see this as a “second season” finale.

The issue starts with a shot of the outside of a couple stores, as we’re left to imagine the naked Bebop and Rocksteady doing their shopping for clothes and guns. As they gather supplies, we return to the main thrust of the action–the TMNT vs. Slash, Bellybomb, and Krang as Shredder’s head. The bulk of the story is the details of the fights–Krang/Shredder vs. Leonardo, Donatello and Mikey vs. Bellybomb, and Raph vs. Slash. While they all fight, we find Bebop and Rocksteady freeing zoo animals, while bantering and generally enjoying themselves. Slash gets distracted remembering that he’s looking for his palm tree and leaves the fight; Bellybomb is knocked out by his own “mega-halitosis” and Raph gets Krang of Shredder, leaving the villain in the turtles’ debt. When Bebop and Rocksteady show up leading an army of dangerous animals, the turtles are out-gunned and out-numbered and consider cashing in that debt…but turns out the mutant duo is quite satisfied simply with the turtles admitting defeat. They just want to go home, and agree to take Bellybomb and Krang with them.

So the “season” ends with Shredder leaving to ponder the turtles’ having saved his life and “owing” them; Krang and Bellybomb are left back on Morbus (but not on a sinking barrel this time). Slash finds his palm tree and seems happy. The turtles return home…and Bebop/Rocksteady, too, return home. We have to continue on to the backup for April’s whereabouts, but that ends on a bit of a cliffhanger such that I could live with it within the “season” analogy.

Dragon Rage

Script: Dean Clarrain
Pencils: Chris Allan
Inks: Mark Pacella
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Edits: Victor Gorelick

Chu Hsi has brought forth the Warrior Dragon, and attempts to rescue Fu Sheng from the ninjas that’ve kidnapped him. Though the Dragon has little physical trouble with the ninjas, one of them throws a strange powder in his face…causing him to revert back to human form, and the naked fireman is dragged off with April unable to do anything but watch.

When I first read this issue more than two decades ago I had no idea who Bellybomb or Chu Hsi were, where they’d come from, etc. They were just simply “there.” I’d recognized Slash from the action figure; the turtles and Shredder/Krang as well as Bebop and Rocksteady were givens, of course. However, the Shredder/Krang relationship obviously was not what it was in the cartoon, and Bebop and Rocksteady are portrayed quite differently here than in the cartoon but everyone was still obvious as to who they were and all that, otherwise.

This time through I obviously have the “full” context of the series to date so (among other things) actually know that Krang attached himself to Shredders head and it only just happened at the end of the previous issue, as opposed to a multi-issue development or some such. Bellybomb’s not some long-time foe in this series any more than he is any other TMNT book; Slash is the generic mean/evil-turtle longing for his palm tree, and the story just “is.”

From the dialogue between them, we get a lot of exposition on Rocksteady and Bebop as well as the clarification that they actually DID start out human, but have the MEMORIES and such of the animals they were mutated from (apparently a slightly different mutagen than what transformed the turtles and Splinter). I’m not entirely sure if I’m disappointed at that or not, having come to kinda like the notion of them being mutated animals rather than mutated humans.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the two leaving the turtles…on one hand it’s a letdown and inconsistent with their brash talk in other issues of dealing with them. Yet, given their time on the Eden planet and such, I can accept it. All the more as I believe this is the last we see of them until the TMNT 30th Anniversary Special from IDW last year.

The backup story is another short snippet that goes by rather quickly and simply. I appreciate its placement as a separate thing from the main story as that allows it to breathe while not being shoehorned into the main story. Knowing what it leads to certainly colors my perspective and lends “meaning” to it, as the story otherwise seems rather generic, getting such a little piece of it here.

Having Allan back on pencils for the entirety of the issue is a welcome thing, main story as well as backup. Liking his work, I don’t have much to say on it except it’s good and this being roughly where I joined the series it makes sense that he was a definitive artist on the characters for me.

If this were a tv show, I suppose the backup stuff would have been worked into the main body of the “episodes,” leaving us on Chu Hsi’s capture as the cliffhanger to keep us hooked for the next season.

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TMNT Revisited: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #24

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Walt

tmnt_adventures_revisited

tmntadventures024Gimme Danger!

Script: Dean Clarrain
Pencils: Garret Ho, Jim Lawson
Inks: Brian Thomas, Rod Ollerenshaw
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Edits: Scott Fulop, Victor Gorelick
Published by: Archie Comics
Cover Date: September 1991
Cover Price: $1.25

Well, there goes my thoughts of a consistency moving forward with Allan on art…or at least, that was my first thought with a different style to the art from the first page. Turns out this is a split issue with a lead story and a backup!

The lead story finds Krang and new allies Bellybomb and Slash arriving on an “Eden planet” (planets set aside by elder races of Dimension X as nature preserves/places of peace). Conveniently they arrive not only at the PLANET Cherubae sent Bebop and Rocksteady, but in the very field the two are hanging out. The ship having let its live cargo off, the group is free to return to their Earthbound journey, no longer captive to the ship’s auto-programming. On Earth, Shredder prunes a bonzai tree while lamenting his recent defeat…even as the turtles draw close, having found this latest base. While they fight, Krang has piloted his gang to the HQ and crashes in, leaving the turtles to fight Slash, Bellybomb, Bebop, and Rocksteady while he hides and waits for Shredder. Krang’s plan for revenge and acquisition of a new body prove a “two birds/one stone” situation as he takes control of Shredder’s body, somehow attaching himself to Shredder’s head/face.

The art’s a bit “off,” with both Ho and Lawson splitting the story. After so enjoying the previous issue, the art on this one is quite a letdown. It’s not bad, but definitely different and not what I was expecting. Ho‘s work has come to be somewhat familiar, though I found Lawson‘s part seemed to be a lot different than his last time around with this title. Compared to Mitchroney and Allan, though, this is not a preference for me.

It Started in Chinatown

Script: Dean Clarrain
Pencils: Chris Allan
Inks: Mark Pacella
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Edits: Scott Fulop, Victor Gorelick

Though we got a full 20-page story, we also get a “backup story,” starring April as she meets up with new friends Chu Hsi and Fu Sheng. When Fu Sheng is kidnapped, and Chu and April are unable to take on a small army of ninjas, Chu calls forth the warrior dragon spirit to aid the situation.

I had completely forgotten about this backup…I was thinking it’d be a few more issues before we’d hear from Chu and the Dragon again. I’d also forgotten that the “solo April stories” started this early in the run.

Though the story is a rather short, fast-paced segment, it’s cool to see April on her own, competently handling a katana, and having a life away from the turtles. Granted, we only really see her with a couple people the turtles just recently had involvement with, but the point stands. She’s not just simply hanging out with the turtles or fulfilling some stupid damsel-in-distress role.

I don’t recall how many chapters there were to this backup series, but it might throw a small wrench into my “season” analogy if it carries beyond two chapters.

I’d have to research Allan‘s work to see if this was his first series, and if there’s anything on why he was on the backup and not the main feature. Still, seeing more of his depiction of April is a welcome treat, and I look forward to the next issue.

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TMNT Revisited: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #23

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Walt

tmnt_adventures_revisited

tmntadventures023Search and Destroy

Script: Dean Clarrain
Pencils: Chris Allan
Inks: Brian Thomas
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Edits: Scott Fulop, Victor Gorelick
Published by: Archie Comics
Cover Date: August 1991
Cover Price: $1.25

Well…THAT is more like it! Other than vaguely recalling that Krang was in this issue at some point (mostly from the cover), I couldn’t have told you what the story was about off the top of my head. But reading the issue? It was just an enjoyable experience!

We have YET ANOTHER new artist on the book in Chris Allan. From what I recall, though, this change STICKS. While I quite enjoyed Mitchroney‘s work, I’m pretty sure Allan stayed on for quite some time and it’s his work that I most associate with the book, through most of the rest of its run.

The visual style is similar to what’s come before, but a bit different from Mitchroney‘s; a sort of pleasant consistency with a hint of difference that settles in as the run goes on. For this issue in particular, I just like the look and feel of the various characters.

We don’t really get an explicit recap of recent events in this issue as we get to see the turtles having some down-time in a heated hot-tub Donatello’s rigged up. Their conversation serves as exposition to refresh [my] mind on recent events as well as explain stuff that happened off-panel: namely how Raph returned to Earth, the whereabouts of Mondo Gecko, and the resolution of the Maligna/invasion stuff. April, meanwhile, declines to join the turtles…having no interest in the heated SEWER WATER. In Dimension X, the barrel that Krang was banished to on Morbus (back in #13’s Final Conflict) is sinking, and he laments the defeat as well as his imminent fate. However, he’s about to have an encounter with a very DIFFERENT humanoid turtle. Back on Earth, Splinter finds the group and declares it time to go on the offensive–seek out Shredder proactively rather than just sit around with him “out there.”

The turtles head to Chinatown while April stays behind to continue her training with Splinter. On Morbus, Krang meets Slash, who rescues him as the two ally themselves for the foreseeable future. They soon come across a just-arriving prison/transport ship and assist the prisoner in defeating the guards, and the group heads toward Earth. As this is going on, the turtles find some kids preparing to use a bazooka to hit an armored car on the street above from the secrecy of the sewer. Though the bazooka goes off, ultimately the kids are no match for the turtles who leave them for the authorities while taking their guns to destroy them…little knowing the threat headed toward Earth.

I like the narrative style of this issue, with dialogue serving to transition back and forth between the events on Earth and Morbus. While Shredder’s bursting back into things a few issues ago was outta nowhere, this issue gives us the “subplot” detailing Krang’s allying himself with new/alien characters to make his way toward Earth.

As said at the start of this post…I really enjoyed this issue as a whole. We have the turtles in both low-key and action sequences…we have April just hanging out with them as well as continuing her time with Splinter; we have Krang, we have new characters, and we have build up to a new conflict as we head toward what I’ve come to see as a “second-season finale” with the return of this villain that was defeated at the end of the first “season.” (Yet, unlike contemporary 2016 comics that are marketed somewhat as “seasons,” this series maintains its ongoing numbering with no reboots or variant covers or such).

Compared to the previous three issues, this is fantastic, and I think I’d recommend jumping from #19 and the Mutanimals mini-series to this and just ignore #s 20-22.

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TMNT Revisited: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #22

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Walt

tmnt_adventures_revisited

tmntadventures022Rat Trap

Script: Dean Clarrain
Art: Gene Colan
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Cover: Gene Colan, Steve Lavigne
Edits: Scott Fulop, Victor Gorelick
Published by: Archie Comics
Cover Date: July 1991
Cover Price: $1.25

I imagine it’s just a typo and a missed error, taking stuff for granted…but reading through this issue I was really taken aback by a panel with Shredder addressing Splinter as Hamata Yoshi…rather than the long-established Hamato Yoshi. Were the letters upper/lowercase I’d wonder if it was a case of faded or blurred ink or such, an ‘o’ coming to look like an ‘a’, but the all-caps nature makes the ‘A’ pretty darned distinct from an ‘O’. And I suppose if one’s working with the material all the time, stuff will come to be taken for granted, though I’m not sure if the blame here lies entirely with the writer or letterer, though I’d share blame across both and the editing team for missing the spelling of a primary character’s name.

That all said, this isn’t a bad issue on the whole, though it feels–again–rather generic in the larger scope of things.

We open with a recap of the last few issues, bringing us to Leo, Mikey, April, and Splinter barging into a trap laid by the Shredder, though it’s essentially “we know it’s a trap” and “he knows we know it’s a trap” and “we’re going in anyway because we have to” and “he knew we’d have to and would” and…yeah. So ultimately we wind up with a Shredder/Splinter battle, and just when it seems Shredder’s about to win, a new figure bursts onto the scene and pretty much defeats Shredder…though the figure is revealed to be Raphael, back (without Mondo Gecko) from stopping the alien invasion. The group’s joyful reunion is short lived as they soon notice that Shredder has escaped. But hey, at least the group is back together.

Despite–or perhaps because of–the Shredder’s presence and involvement, this feels like a weaker, generic story to me. I don’t care for the character, and at least for my contemporary 2016 sensibilities being applied to 25-year-old writing geared toward a different age range, I don’t like the lack of explanation of Shredder’s escape, nor having had any foreshadowing whatsoever to his return. This is probably all the more frustrating to me as a reader now because of my high regard and rose-tinted lenses “memory” of all the numerous subplots I tend to think comics used to carry that would weave in and out of “major plot point” status.

Simply AS a TMNT story, in the established continuity, this works, especially with Splinter’s continued active involvement over sitting at home waiting all the time. I know what comes later in the series, so like with the lead-up to the Mutanimals stuff, I’m eager to get to the next several issues for personal reasons, so forcing myself to slow down for an issue like this holds added disappointment.

We again have a different artist on the book…Gene Colan. Unlike some of the other “fill-in artists,” this is a name I recognize (and having paused for a few moments to look up and confirm where I know the name from, I’m even more impressed, as Colan was involved in a lot of early Marvel work). The visual style is similar to earlier presentations of these characters, but different enough to notice that there’s a difference. I appreciate Colan‘s Shredder more than the other characters, and once again also appreciate the coloring, which maintains that much more consistency despite different artists, in a way that I’m sure would be a far more jarring shift issue to issue otherwise.

While I don’t remember for certain on #21 (last issue), I’m pretty sure I remember finding this issue at the same flea market I found #17. Whether this was before or after I’d gotten #25 I’m not 100% but this cover stirs some bit of abstract memory in that regard, to my 10-year-old self starting to figure out comics and the first bits of specifically looking for what I now know as “back issues.”

I hold that this is another issue that could easily be skipped…really, though I’m glad the Mutanimals got their own spin-off stuff, the Mighty Mutanimals mini-series would have worked just fine for me within the TMNT Adventures series even if it meant three months of no Splinter, April, or Leo/Donnie/Mikey.

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TMNT Revisited: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #21

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Walt

tmnt_adventures_revisited

tmntadventures021Space Junk, Face Funk, Cyber Punk, Thief

Script: Dean Clarrain
Art: Byron Vaughns
Letters: Gary Fields
Color: Barry Grossman
Cover: Ryan Brown, Steve Lavigne, Ken Mitchroney
Edits: Scott Fulop, Victor Gorelick
Published by: Archie Comics
Cover Date: June 1991
Cover Price: $1.25

While a lot of the earlier issues of this series were ones that I could recall the basics of the issue’s events from before, just looking at the covers…I had this one chalked up as a random, forgettable one-off. I was a bit surprised (even as my memory of the events were rekindled) at some of the issue’s events.

Rather than a mutant-creature-of-the-month, this issue gives us a mutant/cyborg character in Vid Vicious. Vicious is an ordinary human fed up with bad news about the human-generated destruction of the planet. He gains the power to "do" something about it when a satellite fuses with chemical waste and crashes into the ground outside his cabin. Meanwhile, the turtles spar as they wait for April and Splinter…but before those two can rejoin them, Vicious appears through April’s computer monitor and kidnaps her. It turns out he wants her to record/broadcast his message to the world before he disrupts world wide communications. Fortunately, Donatello’s able to track him, and the turtles arrive to save April. Our heroes gain the upper hand, and the cyborg tries to escape into a nearby computer, but Donatello hitches a ride and is pulled in with him. While the group tries to figure out how they might be able to rescue Donatello, Shredder with some Foot bots bursts in. As the bots are fought, Shredder messes with the computer, copying Donatello and Vicious to a disk before escaping out the window, leaving the turtles shocked and horrified at what they’ve just witnessed.

Vicious is hardly an inspiring villain, nor all that interesting to me. His existence is rather preachy and dated–this whole issue is–and leaves me rather cold. The story is very much of its time, and continues the trend of including an educational narrative within the fiction/fantasy of the issue itself. I’m just not all that appreciative of it right now as an adult. I’m definitely put off by the way computers are depicted here…but then, this comic is a QUARTER-CENTURY old, and computers (and their depiction in media) have come a long, Long, LONG way since early/mid 1991. Despite that–and strange as it may sound–there’s a part of me that sees Shredder’s disk with Donatello and Vicious as being akin to the flat-crystal Phantom Zone from the Superman films and later-2000s pre-52 DC continuity. In that sense I’m ok with it, abstract as that may be.

Visually we have another new/different artist on the issue, and though the style isn’t bad it’s a little weird-looking to me. The characters all seem a bit more cartooney than usual, and some of the perspectives seem just a bit "off" to me.

Shredder’s appearance is out of nowhere to me…though I can appreciate that from the sense of leaving us as readers on the same page with the turtles, there wasn’t even any foreshadowing that he was thinking of escaping, trying to escape, or had escaped prison, so even though I somewhat suspect that’ll be detailed in the next issue, for now with THIS issue it just came from nowhere.

As with #20, this seems somewhat filler-ish while the Mutanimals mini deals with the main payoff and action for the month, leaving this as a secondary story. I’m almost certain there’s recap in the next issue such that this one really isn’t essential to "get" that story. Given that, this is another issue than can be pretty easily passed by–It’s hardly a "mythology" issue and primarily only counts if you’re trying to read every single issue for the sake of having read every single issue.

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TMNT Revisited: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #20

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Walt

tmnt_adventures_revisited

tmntadventures020Sun and Steel

Script: Dean Clarrain
Pencils: Bill Wray
Inks: Hilary Barta, John Beatty, Mark Pacella
Letters: Gary Fields
Colors: Barry Grossman
Cover: Ryan Brown, Jim Lawson
Edits: Scott Fulop, Victor Gorelick
Published by: Archie Comics
Cover Date: May 1991
Cover Price: $1.25

Back in the days before "everything" was collected in full runs in collected volumes and every issue might be someone’s FIRST, there might not necessarily have been a recap page…stuff might simply be given as exposition in characters’ conversation or some such. In the case of this title, we get a several-page recap of the previous issue and Mighty Mutanimals #1 and then pick up immediately from there.

Null, Scul, Bean, as well as Raph and Mondo Gecko (stowaways) are gone via alien spacecraft, leaving the other turtles, Splinter, and April to deal with the arrival of police at Null’s building. The group escapes into Chinatown…but before they make it back to a sewer they witness a huge fire. When the sound of a baby is heard from within, one of the firemen–Chu Hsi–rushes in to save the child. An old man with a shop on the bottom floor throws a golden, dragon-shaped container into the building, where it smashes next to the fallen fireman…and the dragon spirit within bonds with him, transforming the fireman into a giant golden dragon. The turtles, old man, fireman, and April leave, though the fire still rages. Meanwhile, a giant Foot soldier bursts out of a building untouched by the fire and begins to menace the area. The turtles spring into action fighting it, but with no success. Splinter realizes the fireman can call forth the dragon at will, and encourages him to do so. The dragon puts a quick end to the giant Foot bot, the fire burns itself out, and Chu Hsi is left with the old man from the shop to face a future in which he is bonded to the spirit of the ancient dragon.

After the lead up to the Maligna/Invasion stuff, and the Mutanimals mini-series and then the event itself, this issue is quite a letdown for me. There’s also the huge plot-hole in that I simply cannot "believe" that the Statue of Liberty having a giant robot land on it would survive unscathed. This story takes us back to the "mutant of the month" in a sense, introducing us to a giant golden dragon–an ancient spirit bonded with a human fireman. That he immediately trusts the turtles and they he is another plot point that seems over-simplified…but I’ll accept it for what it is.

I recall that this character comes back into play later, in what I’m going to consider the "third season" of this title…but otherwise this seems like just a generic one-issue/one-off tale to get the turtles away from Null’s building and move things forward despite the missing Raphael.

Visually we have an entirely different art team than usual, which is rather noticeable to me. I’m not all that keen on the turtles’ appearance…but I rather like Splinter and April…and the dragon himself looks good throughout the issue. The giant Foot bot works for what it is, but I’m not all that impressed and echo the turtles’ question of when/where Shredder would’ve had the resources to have the thing built to begin with. I do like that the bot’s "speech bubbles" are skulls, indicating that it simply wants to kill…and I chuckled to myself when–after the turtles had "annoyed" it–the skulls showed with bandanas around ’em as the bot had refocused on killing the turtles specifically.

As a whole, this isn’t a bad issue though it’s far from a favorite. Recalling that Chu Hsi is a recurring character lends some "importance" to his introduction here for me, though he’d otherwise seem to be just a one-off throwaway that’s full of potential but not really explored. While Clarrain as writer maintains a consistency of sorts, this feels like a sort of "filler" issue, like this title’s on hold while the main action unfolds in the Mutanimals mini. I’m looking forward to issues 23-25…but not so much the next couple issues (21-22). Aside from seeing the on-panel introduction/first appearance of Chu Hsi and the Dragon, I’d consider this an entirely skip-able issue.

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