Untold Tales of the TMNT: Eye of the Dragon

Okay, so my last issue of Tales of the TMNT hit the shelves yesterday at all the good comic shops, and I couldn't be happier.

...

....

Okay, that's a lie, I'd be happier if it weren't my last, but who knows what the future brings, right? Anyway, now that the issue is out, I'm going to post the last of the stories I was asked to put forward to Mirage, should Tales have continued beyond #70. I've already posted the other three, so check them out, and the reason I held back on this one was because it dealt with the events of #64, and I couldn't really post it without spoiling certain elements of that story. So, now that the book is out there, go and get it, read it, and then check this out, but ONLY read this if you've read #64, because there are some massive spoilers in this story.

Without further ado, here is...

“Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” Story Proposal

“Eyes of a Dragon”

This story takes place not too long after Tales of the TMNT #64 (“The Burning Man”), and is a sequel of sorts to that issue. We will again delve into Chinese mythology, this time drawing on the popular myth of the Jiangshi (or kiang-shih) -- the hopping corpse, along with other forms of Chinese mysticism, but we cannot forget the trademark TMNT action and humor. This story will also touch on a number of threads begun in some of my previous stories, such as the ambiguous Chinese crimelord Li Xiao Yao and his rivalry with the renegade Shredder loyalists, and continue lightly tracking Hun’s movements throughout the underworld.

We open with Leo spying on a gathering of Shredder loyalists, apparently the same ones responsible for unleashing the Burning Man in #64, stealing what appears to be a piece of a statue from a shipping container. Suddenly, a new group of warriors burst into the place. The Foot put up a decent fight, but there doesn’t seem to be any stopping the warriors. Even mortal wounds fail to put them down. They are Jiangshi, but Leo doesn’t know this yet. He witnesses them slaughter of the Foot cell, and take the statue piece but when he tries to follow, he finds that the Jiangshi warriors have vanished.

Leonardo returns to April’s apartment and fills Donatello in on what has occurred and the two try to come up with an explanation for the warriors. Don (half) jokingly reasons that they could be Karai’s men on PCP or even super-zombies.

As they joke, someone knocks on the door. Don checks the new closed circuit micro surveillance system he installed in the building and sees an ancient looking Chinese man on the other side of April’s door. Leo and Don try to shake him off, but the old man is persistent and tells them that he followed Leonardo (Leonardo is shocked -- we all know how skilled he is) and that he must speak with them urgently, begging for their help.

The let the old man in and he tells them that both the Foot Clan and the Jiangshi are racing to collect the “Eyes of the Dragon”, three gemstones that, when placed in a statue of an ancient dragon, will unleash a power that could prove devastating if harnessed by the wrong people. Don backs up what the old man is saying, having read something about all this when he was researching the Burning Man curse (in Tales #64). The old man believes that one of the eyes is being held in a sarcophagus that is being transported from New York to Boston via train, but warns them that if the Foot or the Jiangshi try to steal the gem, they will unleash the eye’s guardian, an ancient dragon warrior. Don also knows about these. There were supposedly three of them and that their swords carried a great power, or something along those lines. The old man tells them that this is correct, and that the dragon warriors can only be truly defeated if their swords are destroyed. The old man says that if the Foot and the Jiangshi both knew about the statue piece from earlier, then they will certainly know about the eye being on the train. It is just a matter of who gets to it first. Leo and Don agree that neither should be allowed to obtain the stone and agree to help the old man retrieve it.

We cut to later, where all four Turtles have met up at the train yards. They witness the Foot Elite with the metal arm (from #59 and #36) commanding some men as they board a train. Logic dictating that that’s their train, they sneak aboard. The train leaves and the Turtles try to make their way as quietly as possible to the carriage containing the sarcophagus. One of the turtles discovers that a Foot Mystic is leading this particular group.

Before long, the Jiangshi appear, and the Turtles’ stealth mission goes to the fan. The Foot and the Jianshi start ripping into each other, and the mystic starts using magic to fight off the Jiangshi. The Turtles, of course, find themselves involved and reveal themselves. The Jiangshi don’t care, but the Foot Mystic becomes worried and commands two Elite to hold off the Turtles and the Jiangshi while he gets the Eye. Leo tries to stop him, but it is too late – by the time he reaches the carriage with the sarcophagus, the Mystic has the eye, and something else is happening… something is materialising inside the sarcophagus.

The Mystic tries to escape, but both the Jiangshi and the Turtles prevent this from happening, and all three groups suddenly find themselves confronted by a Dragon Warrior. It’s almost like a Chinese samurai – elaborate armour with intricate and horrifying designs etched into it. The Jiangshi attack the warrior, but it cuts them down easily, and this time they don’t get back up either. The Foot escape, and those who can’t are forced to fight.

What follows is an intense fight where this one dragon warrior manages to seemingly defeat all who oppose it, and as Leonardo now has the gemstone, it comes for him like the Terminator! Raph tries to take it down, but it tosses him aside. Mikey slams on the emergency brake, which puts the Dragon warrior off-balance and Leo takes this opportunity to strike. He turns the Dragon warrior’s sword on itself and defeats the beast with its own blade.

We cut back to NYC where the Leonardo returns the gemstone to the old man from earlier in his shop. We see him place it in a stone box where it shall be safely kept, and Leo leaves…

…however! Once Leo is gone, we cut to an epilogue, where the old man takes the gem to Li Xiao Yao – the "villain" from #64 – and we discover that the Turtles were actually doing the dirty work for Yao, and that the Jiangshi were also his minions, but he knew that the Dragon Warrior would be able to slay them. He tricked the Turtles into going as a back-up, knowing that if one of them could defeat the Burning Man (from #64) then they would be capable of defeating the Dragon Warrior. We end on that rather sinister note!

The Good with the Bad

I'm about to have a very unappealing day involving a two hour trip to a place I don't really like all that much to do something I don't particularly want to do in what I'm hearing is going to be 40 degree (Celsius) heat, but two cool (one ridiculously, the other pretty) things were also brought to my attention this morning.

The first, my final TMNT comic is going to be in stores. If you can't get your hands on it, let me know and I'll see what I can sort out. There's a new review for it up as well, which can be found my clicking right about... here!

WARNING: There are a couple of pretty epic spoilers, so if you want, just skip down to the review bit!

Secondly, and this is the ridiculously cool thing in my mind: REEF, my favorite band of all time, are finally getting back together to play some gigs after breaking up in 2003! Anyone want to donate me some cash so I can see them...? ;)

Untold Tales of the TMNT: My Enemy's Enemy

Here's another Tale that was planned to come after May next year, but unfortunately with the buyout deal in place, won't see production. Hopefully whoever decides to pick up the Turtles comic license might allow me to rework it somehow to fit in with whatever they decide to do with the Turtles (if anyone does of course). Anyway, here's it is...

“TALES OF THE TMNT” STORY PROPOSAL

“MY ENEMY’S ENEMY”

by Tristan Jones

This issue is a bit twisty, and the pitch itself may seem dense, but the story, while keeping in line with the “done-in-one” style of Tales, involves a number of elements from past issues. We’ve got Tang Amaya from Ross May’s #22, along with elements from #36, #56, #59, #64 and the other stories I have pitched this time around (provided they make it through of course). The essential focus of the story revolves around the legacy of the Shredder, and we will see how different groups, both good and evil, are affected by it. At the end of #64, we meet the XXXXX of XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XX XXXXXXXXX XXX XXXXXXXX of the Foot Clan and XXXXXXX the XXXXXXX of the Shredder. Now the first stage of their collective plan is about to go into motion…

Based on intelligence gathered, the XXXXX takes a closer look at Tang Amaya, the mysterious kunoichi who wears the Shredder’s glove. Lin, the supposed ex-Foot ninja who freed Hun and led the assault on Precinct 5 in Tales #36 tells them basically who Tang Amaya is. She was a contingency plan, a sick game started by the Shredder -- Tang Amaya is Tang Shen’s sister, who Saki had brainwashed into believing that Hamato Yoshi was responsible for Tang’s death. She was a toy of the Shredder’s and one of her best assassins while he was alive, but now that Saki is dead, she claims to be the rightful heir to his mantle and persists in hunting down the Turtles for their link to Yoshi. Lin reveals the existence of Splinter to the other XXXXX XXXXXXX at this point too.

One of the other XXXXX XXXXXXX points out that Amaya’s group was last reported in an area currently held by an African-American gang. Photos are then passed around of an ancient Japanese symbol written in a specific Foot code that has been appearing throughout New York in various places, like graffiti. Lin tells them it’s a challenge code, Amaya’s trying to draw the Turtles out. From this they figure out where she will be and when. The Turtles haven’t been responding because simply because Amaya has been targeting the wrong areas (now that the Turtles have split up).

We crossfade this to a scene across town, where Leo, Donatello and Mike are all gathered. Miller is discussing the same thing with the Turtles (the challenge symbol). Miller can’t make heads or tails of it, and hasn’t been able to take it down the usual areas because of the corruption in the police force, so he thought he’d bring it straight to the Turtles hoping they might. Mike suggests they take a photo of it using a camera-phone and send it to April (who is at the farmhouse with Casey, Shadow and Splinter) to ask Splinter about it. He replies, telling them what Lin told the XXXXX.
Miller is in a bind, he has to be careful about who he tells about this, but Mike knows. Lauren Stanton (the female journalist from #59). They get in touch with her to send feelers out to figure out where she might be hiding. Stanton tells them to give her a couple of days.

We cut to later, where Lin and her group of Shredder loyalists confront Amaya and deliver an ultimatum. She can either join the rest of the loyalists or perish. Amaya laughs at them, but Lin just smiles and commands her group to leave, knowing full well what is coming to the naïve girl. Zooming out, we find that Stanton herself is up in a nearby building using surveillance equipment, spying on the meeting, but there is another person there, in the shadows, smoking a cigarette. This is the man from WAY back in Volume 1, #4 who was spying on the Turtles in April’s apartment. Stanton slips the man some money and heads out to warn the Turtles of what is coming. However, as she leaves, the shadow man also calls an associate… King Cobra!

We cut to King Cobra’s club, where he and Hun are planning their next move. Cobra tells Hun that his informant has found Amaya (but neglected to tell him about Lin being at the meeting). Here in the club we also get our fist glimpse at Touch and Go (as this story would be set just before the Touch & Go story). The criminals gather up their men and head out. The time has come, this is the beginning of the eradication of the Foot Clan (or so they think).

We cut back to the Turtles, who are also planning how they will confront Amaya. When they last fought, Amaya threatened the Turtles that Hamato Yoshi would pay for his crimes. They are determined to find out what she is talking about, but must tread lightly. They are also determined to find out what they can about Lin, and her involvement (or potential animosity). They agree that they will wait until the next challenge is issued and move from there.

Cut to later. Leo pounces on one of Amaya’s ninjas, and tells the lackey that they will meet her that night.

Later, we see the Turtles arriving at the meeting place where Amaya waits. They agree to split up and scope the place out before doing anything. Leo and Don meet up and discuss their options. They contact Raph but can’t get through to Mike. The time comes and Leo and Don go (Raph will keep lookout) in to meet with Amaya. Here we learn of Amaya’s brainwashing by the Shredder. How she is really Shen’s sister, and how the Shredder made her believe that Hamato Yoshi was responsible for her sister’s death. Leo tries to reason with her, but a fight breaks out. During the fight Raph tells Don that someone is coming, and before anyone realizes what is going on, Mike (unconscious) is thrown through the doors to the warehouse. The Purple Dragons, King Cobra’s gang AND Lin’s Shredder Loyalists (in civilian gear, making their true allegiances inconspicuous) storm in, Hun laughing at what a pathetic fight Mikey put up.

It’s chaos, Leo and Don don’t know what to do or who to fight, but Raph drops in and goes for Hun. Hun throws the Turtle off and commands his men to kill the Foot Clansmen. All of Amaya’s men and Amaya herself rush into the fray. Don goes to help Mikey, and Raph fights anyone he can.
Leo finds himself fighting alongside Amaya as he continues to try and reason with her. He manages to slowly convince her, but just as it looks like she’s about to realize Hun grabs her and tears off her arm wearing the Shredder’s gauntlet. The fight suddenly comes to an end. Amaya falls to the ground, and Leo comes to her aide. Don has Mikey and Raph has been badly wounded by King Cobra. Hun throws the gauntlet to the ground and laughs at them before leaving. King Cobra tells his men to kill the Turtles and the remaining Foot Ninjas, but the Turtles manage to escape with Amaya.

We end with the villains victorious (for once), but the Turtles are more determined than ever to take down these vicious gangs and the secretive Shredder Loyalists. And it looks as though they may have just earned a new ally, providing Amaya pulls through. On the final page, Lin returns to the warehouse alone, and retrieves the Shredder’s gauntlet.

Interviewness!

A couple of weeks ago, I did an interview with Alec Berry, who runs what is easily one of the coolest podcasts online (and I'm not just saying that, I was made aware of this blog a while ago and have loved it from way back). It's a little behind the times (the interview itself) because it was done about a week before the news of the Viacom / Nickelodeon buyout occurred, but I love how it came out, and I hate hearing myself back on anything.

Give it a listen: here

Also, I just saw the Japanese move "Kairo", known in the West as "The Pulse". Did this make sense to anyone? Did it even scare anyone? I know the US remakes tend to dumb things down, but I think I'm going to need to watch it to see what they made of it...

Untold Tales of the TMNT: Touch and Go.

I know there are people curious out there, and given the news of the Viacom buyout, I think it's safe to say that these stories unfortunately won't see the light of day. Dan Berger had started lining them up as a possibility beyond May, provided no decision was reached regarding publishing roughly a month ago... Anyway, here's the first. I'll post the other 3 shortly...

This story is set shortly after Tales #64, just a bit after Volume 2. Hun is looking to retake the New York underworld and has joined a cabal of the most powerful criminals currently at large. They all have the same goal – eradicate the Turtles, eradicate the Foot, but not everyone trusts the other. This story shifts focus on to King Cobra, a villain introduced in Tales #59, who appears again in #64, with the intention of not only expanding his character, but also introducing a couple of cool new characters and will finish with a real sucker-punch development for Hun that I think will really leave readers hungry for more…

We open shortly after the ********************* concluded #64. King Cobra has gone back to his base of operations at “The Snake Pit” in Harlem (See #59). He and his bent, but also extremely good lawyer are going through some files. He doesn’t trust any of the other cabal members and is digging up as much dirt and personal information as he can on them in case things go bad, and it looks like his lawyer has struck gold: Hun has a 13 year old niece in witness protection.

King Cobra heads down to a private, seedier area of the club, where two girls are dancing on a podium for the lurid entertainment of lowlifes and criminals seeking refuge in the club. He calls the two girls aside, telling them he needs them for something very important. It is here that we find out that these girls are Amie Cortier and Anya Desír -- two of the world’s most dangerous assassins, and the team known more commonly as Touch and Go.

We jump cut to another part of NYC. The subway. It’s late night, and the trains are relatively empty outside of a few people here and there. Lauren Stanton (the main character from Tales #59) is sitting in a corner of the carriage with what appears to be two bums. The bums are actually Mike and Raph, on their way to Leo’s home in the sewers with Stanton, who they are bringing up to speed on things since her involvement with them in #59.
At one stop, three cops get on at one door, and a small group of men and women at one further down the carriage. But something is wrong… the two groups seem to be casting signalling glances at each other.

Both groups seem to swoop on a young girl seated by herself. The young girl struggles, and the Turtles (in disguise) move in to protect her. During this fight, the humans recognise the Turtles for what they really are, and Raph then realises that they are a part of the renegade Shredder Loyalists that were responsible for the events of Tales #36 and the release of Hun. Midway through the fight, the power goes out and the train comes to a screeching halt. The little girl runs for it, but just as she gets to the door to the next carriage, the power comes back on, and standing right in front of her is Go.
Not trusting of anyone, Hun’s niece runs back, and the Foot try to grab her. Touch comes through the door at the far end of the carriage, and both girls launch into an attack against the Foot. After a brief fight on the train, the Turtles stall Touch and Go long enough to allow Hun’s niece enough time to escape. The turtles aren’t quite sure what to make of Touch and Go, given that this is the first time they’ve encountered them, and that they just kicked the shit out of the Foot goons.

Touch and Go both disengage from the fight and seemingly retreat. Mikey is enamoured with the girls, but Raph seems agitated. The turtles grab Lauren and they jump off the train, continuing towards Leo’s lair on foot.

They arrive at Leo’s home, filling him in on what occurred earlier. They get in touch with Donatello (who is at April’s currently vacant apartment, guarding the place after the “Hun” incident), who uses the new computer set up there to gain access to the NYC Surveillance Project and find out which way the girl(s) went.

Miller tries to contact him (the cops have been called about what happened on the train). The group decides to meet up and discuss what’s going on. Raph, Mike and Lauren all explain to Miller and Leo exactly what happened. Leo is concerned mainly about the involvement of the Foot and Touch and Go, but Miller is concerned about the little girl most, as he knows who she is. All he tells them is that they need to find her, that she’s under witness protection because of Hun.

We cut back to the girl. She’s arriving at her home, her foster parents are pissed at her being late. We drop a few little hints about who this girl might be, but nothing explicit yet. Suddenly, Touch and Go strike! They kill the foster parents, but before they can get away with the young girl, Leo, Raph and Mike bust in, taking everyone by surprise. The apartment is trashed as the Turtles collide with Touch and Go, and Miller and Stanton catch Hun’s niece as she tries to escape the building.

During the fight, Touch and Go reveal their true potential, and the Turtles are barely able to keep up. Again Touch and Go disengage from the Turtles and resume their pursuit of the little girl. The Turtles follow.

New York traffic prevents Stanton and Miller from getting too far, and Touch and Go catch up. Things look grim as the two assassins get the better of Miller, but the Turtles do show up in time. Leo figures out how their power works and the Turtles start fighting smart. They divide the girls and overpower them, forcing them into a retreat.

The Turtles manage to save the day, but it is decided that Hun’s niece isn’t safe. They know the Foot are after her, and they believe Touch and Go could be working for anyone, so they decide to send her to stay with Casey and April for a while down at the farmhouse in Northampton. It is during this scene that Miller reveals who the little girl is (this will be the big reveal to the readers).

(Not The) End of the World

I'm sure everyone's aware of what's going on, so I'm not going to prattle on about the TMNT sale. All I have to say on the matter is that I really do wish everyone at Mirage the very best for the future, and that I look forward to seeing where the Turtles go from here. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, because there were some things in place before the deal went ahead that I was genuinely excited about (the continuation of the Hun/King Cobra gang war saga on a monthly schedule), but that said, hopefully whoever picks up the ball will see fit to have me on board (you people out there need to support me on that one! Bug the shit out of whoever gets it!! ;) ).

Ultimately I think the sale's a great thing for the TMNT, and I can't see why, for the life of me, fans are getting so beat up about all this. This is what people have wanted for so long, and now all I'm seeing is negativity.

Anyway, life goes on. I'm still working on my own books, and I have two prospective gigs lined up at IDW that I'm hoping pan out, because they both revolve around the only thing that means more to me personally than the Turtles. I'm eagerly awaiting word back from Disney on another, and Andres and I are still working on Tyrant Earth. I also have my own project, which I finally decided to call "Caught in the Rain", slowly coming together too.

What else is happening? My mother is being forced to pay rent she can't afford on a house she bought (hence why she can't afford rent) two months ago because the vendor and real estate agents are shit rags, so my mother and brother are at risk of being homeless unless these dicks get their act. If I could fit them in at my place I would, but with two housemates in a unit that barely holds the three of us (four if you count one's girlfriend) it makes things a little hard.

Oh, my brother also landed a job at Walt Disney World starting July 17 next year! He'll be over there working in the park and hotel for 6 months. Kinda cool! Hopefully, I'll be able to visit him around NYCC next year!

One last thing, Armageddon Expo was held here in Melbourne last weekend. Met Greg Rucka and Bill Sienkiewics, along with Peter David, who were all fantastic, and I got to speak with Greg at length about the ins and outs of the comic industry at the moment. Really great guy! His Gotham Central run is one of my favourite books of all time! I also got another Venkman sketch for the slowly growing collection (at the moment it's just this one and one by Terry Dodson I got at SDCC), this one is by "Chamba" from Udon's Street Fighter comics -- another local dude!

Check it!

Back in the Saddle

Okay, so...

It's been a while since I last posted here. Sorry! Twitter makes things easy and I can do it by phone!

Anyway, what's been happening?

I've moved into a new place with a couple of the coolest dudes you could want to meet.

My parents officially separated.

My final TMNT comic (for the time being at least) is currently in the capable hands of my good friend Steve Lavigne.

I'm knee deep in research for Tyrant Earth, which has been a heap of fun and is finally looking like it should.

I'm hoping I've got the girl I was after to sit as reference for a character in my script+art OGN project (meeting with her next week to discuss -- book still a ways off though).

I'm working on a Zuda project with one of the coolest artists I've met (keep an eye out -- "Six to the Head" -- ghost story set in the Old West), and the same artist will be working on "Skinwalkers" after.

Bought TMNT - Smash Up! and was pretty disappointed. The Jim Lawson/Eric Talbot cutscenes were amazing, but the game itself was just really disappointing.

Currently re-editing a promo real for a male strip-show. Was told it was "too porno". Go figure!

I've landed a "job" reviewing Wiiware games for www.vooks.net. I say "job" because I get paid in games :)

Also back reviewing games and comics with a mate at www.digital-retribution.com. By buddy wrote the first one -- Dead Space: Extraction. I'm doing the game review, which should be up soonish.

Need a new job.

Need more comic work.

Also, be sure to pick up Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression, by IDW. It's a great book and the better these books sell, the more chance you have at seeing me write a mini-series. Two words: Stay Puft. You should be checking this book out anyways, TMNT artist Diego Jourdan is illustrating the X-Mas oneshot, and it looks great!

More to come!

Peace!

Thank You

I realise it's been a damn long time since I posted here (probably not really, but it does feel that way), and since I last posted, Tales of the TMNT #61 has been released to some stores across the world and even reviewed by some very generous folks across the intertrons!

I've also moved into a new home in North Carlton, for those who know where that is, with two of the coolest cats you could ask to have on deck. To top it off, I've landed a new day job at a swanky restaurant/bar on Chapel Street (for those who know where THAT is), so I'm financially secure again!

Anyway, back to the interesting stuff -- Tales #61 has hit, and I really want to say thanks to everyone for the responses so far! I've had some reviews that really blew me away and while I haven't had a chance to speak to Andres in a while, I'm absolutely positive he feels the same way I do. We really wanted to give you guys something fun with a dash of awesome-sauce, and I knew Andres would make good even if I fell short! Thanks for saving my ass, mate!

From what I hear, the official release is this coming Wednesday, so if yours wasn't in during week that just passed, don't freak out!

In other news, I'm working on a TV show pilot with the lads from Green Rabbit Productions, which we we're looking at being something of an Aussie Attack of the Show with some home grown influences thrown in to mix it all up a bit, and I've already lined up an interview with Dan Didio of DC Comics along with a short documentary on "Girl Gamers", so hopefully things take off. I've been told we have a director from Channel 10 lined up and keen to be on board, so fingers crossed!

Anyway, here are some links to some stuff I've been part of lately...

Comicsbulletin.com's review of Tales #61 (Thanks Bill!)
TMNT25.com's article on Hun's intro to the Mirage Universe
TMNT Entity's review of Tales #61 (Thanks Mark!)
GoGreenMachine.Org's review of Tales #61
Walt Kneeland's review over at Comixtreme
and Aris of Comicsnexus.com's review!

Thanks again everyone! Here's hoping you all dig #64 (which could quite possibly be my last Tales of the TMNT)!

Good With The Bad

So, I got home last night after a weekend of working to raise some much needed dosh. It's like a wafer thin scraping of dosh, but it all helps. Been thinking a lot about the future, with everything that's been going on in my family and how it's affecting everyone and even though I try to take each day as it comes, I've tried to have some loose plan to stick to (loose, because we all know what they say about best laid ones) but now it looks like those are being flushed too because of what's going on. Priorities are being shifted around and as much as I'd like to say that there's good stuff on the horizon, I'm not seeing anything right now.

From the looks of things, if TMNT does keep running through next year, the chances of me putting anything out there are pretty much zilch, so I'm going to be refocusing on things and really pushing those out. Not going to pay, but at least it's something out there.

Work's been near impossible to get a hold of, in both comics and support funds (retail, hospitality, whatever) with people largely blaming the economy, and me blaming nepotism. The old thing of "who you know, not what you know" seems to be shining through everywhere, and even then, half the people I do know can't do anything for me. Sorry to vent dudes and dudettes, it's been a shit of a past few weeks and a couple of salvos were fired when I got back yesterday, which kinda made things worse.

On the plus side, I did get to do a couple of neat things, and the downtime I've had on my hands means I finally ploughed through Mario Galaxy over the weekend. I also got the opportunity to see Terminator Salvation, which, while being rather disappointing, was a great break from things. I also just got the remake of Godzilla vs Mothra cheap from one of the local Chinese DVD shops (legit too) as well as Big Man Japan, which I've been DYING to see for ages now!

Also got a glimpse of the upcoming Ghostbusters comic from IDW, which is looking sweet as and has me all excited, and although I can't afford either (if the latter were to come out in the near future), these got me all excited:

Indy Wii review

and this...



One more nice thing to see: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=56130

Comicbulletin Dug It!

Bill Janzen, over at Comicsbulletin.com, has just reviewed Tales #59! Get over there! Read! Discuss!

Exposé. Skrulls. Jobs. Poos.

...well, maybe not that last one. Not here anyway. Really keen people may want to check out my twitter for poo-related postings!

Anyway, got an email from Eric Talbot today to say that Tales #59 was good to go! Had a look at the final product and am really proud of it! I really hope I get to see Lauren Stanton and King Cobra come back, and I hope you people reading dig both of enough to make that happen!

For those of you interested in the production side of things, Andres ran into a slight problem with the toning for the upcoming #61, in that what I think most will agree was an awesome way of presenting night time atmosphere using the greys (not the aliens) had to be altered. The original is posted somewhere below (maybe immediately) if you want to take a gander. Anyway, the problem was that the greys essentially weren't going to work with the printer, as it was too dark overall. Andres raised the brightness, and the scene kinda lost the neat, noir effect we'd been trying to create with the book. After consulting with both Dan and longtime Turtles artist Dario Brizuela, Andres hit upon a solution. Luckily he wasn't too far into the toning so there wasn't a need to redo a lot of stuff. Anyway, below is a look at a page Andres sent me. The first version is the one that had the raised brightness, the second one involves some minor tweaking, but it really does make a difference. I've also attached the original toned page too.




A while back, some of you may have noticed cryptic posts regarding the Skrulls, which are ugly green shapeshifting bastards from outerspace bent on ruining our way of life and taking our planet for themselves. There was something to that that linked to certain events involving my family that I'm not quite ready to talk about yet, but tomorrow the "Secret Invasion" so to speak will be pretty much over. There is a heavy cost to it all, and I can tell now that things aren't going to be easy for myself, my brother or my mother, but we're going to have to work out a way of making do. Part time study, here I come... looks like I'll have to start hitting the "I loathe doing this, but must" jobs again, too.

Anyway, inspite of all the bad, San Diego is around the corner, and hopefully I'll be able to sort something out sometime soon. Hopefully more Turtles, because I love it more than anything, but hopefully there'll be some other songs I can sing being belted out in the near future. Which reminds me, I found out I missed out on a writing gig I was really hoping for simply because of licensor procedural dealios. I was asked to pitch for something a while back that I would kill anyone to do (serious... or am I?) and missed out (which I thought I would) but it was only because I was asked to pitch as a back-up in case a pitch that the licensee had thought had been nixed was nixed. As it turns out, it wasn't, it just took them fucking ages to get back to the licensee, and by the time my pitch was looked at, the spot was filled. Fingers crossed for next time though!

Anyway, enough doom and gloom. Make sure your orders are in for this baby, because it's on the shelves this month!

Peace out!

T

Back!

Happy Easter! I just got back home after being on the move for a while (uni assigments and work... same old, same old). I've been working a fair bit out of my university email account, so if you've emailed my regular account and haven't heard back, give me a day!

I was talking to Dan Berger, Andres Ponce and Paul Harmon a week or so ago about some marketing strategies and here's one I hope everyone will get involved with.

We're going to start creating banners for Tales, so when they hit Previews, we'll update the banners, so new fans will know when to go and get their preorders in. Here's the one for #59, which follows up the Hun story that just came out a couple of weeks ago. So, take this, put it into your message board or forum signatures or whatever and just help get word out. All the talkin' is done for you peeps! We'll be rolling out a couple of others soon too, but for now, here's the starting point. Thanks in advance to everyone who helps out!

Also, another review has gone online for #56! Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/cloqb7

Scum and Villainy (WIP's)

Meet the new villains on the block (or are they?)...

A Couple of Neat Things...

The Aussie TMNT website is now live and looks fantastic! Check that out here!

Tales #56 is in the spotlight over at TMNT25.com now too! Yay!

I also just finished up a pretty hefty interview over at The Pulse this morning (been up since 2 am), so I'll shout when that goes live. Pretty interesting questions (for me at least), though I'm still kinda fresh to the whole interview thing so hopefully it's all good! Also, keep an eye out over that way, because I'll be writing a series of columns about the Mirage Universe over there in the near future.

Really, excited -- I get my first taste of the interiors for #59 soon too! Oh, and Andres cover for #61 looks like it'll be pretty f@#kin' mad too!

It's Here!

I don't really need to say it, but I will...

Tales #56 is in stores now. Go get it, let me know what you thought, be it good or bad (I'm a man, I can take it), hit every message board or online community that you're a part of and get them talking about it too! If you've got questions, I'll answer what I can.

For the TMNT fans, if you have the soundtrack to the first movie, most of this was written to the second half of the Shredder's Suite. The rest was written to the Dark Knight soundtrack and Sin City's score. I always love listening to scores when I read comics, and I figure there's gotta be someone else out there...

Anyway, hope you all enjoy it!

Newsarama Tales of the TMNT 56 early review!

Newsarama has just posted a nice review of Tales of the TMNT #56! Check it out, but be warned, there may be spoilers...

Heist!

My partner in crime on Tales of the TMNT #61 and TMNT Comics: Fast Forward! has just posted news that his side project with writer Brendan McGinley! Be sure to check it out!

http://www.indeliblecomics.com/heist/

Scripting style

If he checks this blog then he'll know exactly what this is all about! Dan S. : Sorry I didn't answer your question over on Jim's blog, but this is how I generally do mine. I'd never actually seen a "Marvel Style" page until Jim posted it.

TMNT25.com Blogging redux

Alright, so my first blog for TMNT 25.com went up. You can check that out by clicking right here.
Keep in mind that this was written a little over a month ago, when I'd just finished the script for "Burning Man" (in stores November). Probably nothing you didn't already know, but I did try to drop a few little morsels here and there. There will be one focusing on Hun and another about my work on the Fast Forward books for Titan.

Hunter Mason to See Release in Under a Month

Just got word from Mr. B over at Mirage: "Tales of the TMNT" #56 will ben in stores March 23rd! Tell your friends, and if you don't have a comic shop nearby, check out this link for the best places to order online!