Hey y’all,
Things took an unexpected turn this past week. I slipped on a doodle, fell down an open manhole cover, and landed in a pile of radioactive ooze:
Like a lot of people, I first encountered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a cartoon. The first iteration of which aired when I was just about to hit middle school. Being pretty deep into comics already— I was scouring heaven and earth for anything that felt even remotely similar to the buzz I got from thumbing through molding newsprint.
So it was mind-blowing to discover that TMNT was already a comic. A comic that was supposedly full of violence and swearing and printed in a grimy xeroxed looking black and white.
It all just seemed PUNK ROCK AS FUCK.
Even to a kid that didn’t know what punk rock was.
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(Above: MASTER SHREDDER, fresh off the drawing board. Just for you newsletter ninjas.)
Looking back— it’s obvious and undeniable that stuck somewhere between the bright bubble gum of that cartoon and the asphalt of the indie comic was the womb of my storytelling sensibilities.
In the Turtles’ DNA is EVERYTHING comics—They’re Miller, they’re Manga, they’re cosmic Kirby. They’re absurd and deathly serious and everything in between. They’re what should be a ridiculous, mind and time-wasting idea that is given breath and life and plausibility and artistic merit by LINES. ON. PAPER.
And if that’s not enough? There’s almost no wrong way to draw them*.
*(A hypothesis, this post shall very much test.)
Anyway, I covered this and other various points of Turtle interest in the brief episode of THE DRAWL below. Click to watch and/or read the transcript below.
And stick around afterward for a glimpse of SOMETHING NEW…
SECRETS OF TURTLE POWER:
While looking for work as an underground newspaper cartoonis, Kevin Eastman was introduced to fellow cartoonist, Peter Laird after a mutual acquaintance thought they’d shared an interest in: “ the same kind of weird shit”
In 1983, Laird’s living room was renamed Mirage Studios and there the newly formed team began work. But as the late nights mounted, a delirious Eastman’s scribble turned into friendly game of cartoon improv as they passed drawings back and forth. Still amused and exhilarated the next morning the pair decided to tell the story of their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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As inspiration for that story— they turned to cartoonist Frank Miller—thinly homaging if not full blown satirizing the writer/artist’s work on Daredevil.
In Daredevil, Matt Murdock rescues an elderly pedestrian from an out of control truck, but is blinded and ultimately mutated by the truck’s radioactive cargo—
In Turtles lore the radioactive canister bounces off the boy’s head and smashes into a bowl of baby turtles, who fall, along with the canister, into an open manhole.
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There, a vengeance seeking rat named Splinter finds the turtles in a pool of radioactive ooze— and goes on to become their father figure and sensei—in an further homage— to Daredevil’s sensei, Stick. Soon thereafter Turtles took on the evil ninja clan of The Foot, a reference to the Daredevil’s foe— The Hand,-
Borrowing $1300 from Eastman’s uncle, they printed 3,000 copies. The series took off almost immediately and became a global bonanza — yielding iterations of the turtles that have lasted nearly 40 years.
Having now said all of that, it's hopefully very obvious that…
One of the BIGGEST LESSONS from Eastman and Laird is that comics can and should be all things.
So with that in mind:
Stay tuned.
Speaking of TOONED —
Way back in 2018, as the curtain was falling on Spider-Gwen, I made damn sure to do what no one else ever would— A crossover with the Ninja Turtles.
Given how much overt influence TMNT had on Gwen it felt right to post again. So after you read, like and share this post— go do the same for GWENJA TURTLES:
Appreciate you reading.
Hope you’re all doing as well as any human or mutant can.
More soon…
-j