Promotional material for the May 12th release of Season 7 of the original TMNT cartoon on DVD has been made available including box art, trailer (commercial), and fact sheet.
Here's a snippet from the fact sheet:
COWABUNGA! It’s been 25 years since Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello, emerged from the sewers of Manhattan and were transformed into heroes-in-a-half-shell battling petty criminals, evil megalomaniacs, and alien invaders. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, Lionsgate Home Entertainment is presenting all 27 episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 7, available for the first-time ever on DVD. Fans can collect the commemorative set that will be sold as four separate DVDs, each featuring different episodes from Season 7 and a Mini-Classic Turtles Action Figure! All four DVDs feature a different turtle on the cover, and fit together to create one power-packed scene with all of the wise-cracking, pizza-obsessed superheroes aligned and ready for battling evil. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 7 DVDs will be available on May 12th, for the suggested retail price of $14.98 each.
And here's the trailer/commercial:
Click each slice below to pre-order at Amazon.com for the low price of $9.99/each.
And finally, you can download the full fact sheet here.
To celebrate the TMNT's 25th anniversary there will be free screenings of the debut Turtles film during the Tribeca Film Festival, April 23-25 in New York City. The screenings will be held as part of the Tribeca Drive-In at the World Financial Center.
How to acquire tickets is still unconfirmed, but it's probably a good idea to stay tuned to the official Tribeca Film Festival Web site. If any other news comes of the events I'll post the info here.
(I think this is the "Big News" TMNT25.com was planning on breaking tomorrow - Oops.)
This upcoming weekend, April 3-5, the Piedmont Theater in Oakland, CA will be having screenings of the original TMNT movie. Friday and Saturday night the show starts at midnight, but if that's a wee bit too late for you, there's a 10am screening on Sunday.
You can check here for info on the screening (ignore the picture from TMNT2, it's the first movie they're playing).
I learned a very important lesson today: Pole-dancing Ninja Turtles are completely acceptable so long as the pole is the top of the Empire State Building.
But that lesson comes at the end of this long story, so let's start back at the beginning.
This afternoon I received a mass e-mail sent to me because I registered my e-mail address at TMNT25.com, the Web site (supposedly) dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the TMNT. The complete contents of this email can be seen by clicking that bar thing on the left there. It's not unusual for me to see something from the TMNT25 team, anchored by some folks at Peppercom, and be disappointed by its pointlessness and consistant lack of professionalism. So far we've seen pajama TMNT "costumes" at Comic-Con last year (and they were sooooo proud of these), a pointless Twitter account that gives weather updates more than anything else, a crappy Web site still full of inaccurate information, an April with a Kill Bill jumpsuit, and now the e-mail that arrived today.
Considering the extremely low impression all of these things have left me with, I think I have shown great restraint in expressing how I really feel about this ridiculous anniversary campaign, or whatever you want to call it. I don't know exactly why I haven't been as vocal as I really feel... Maybe because I'm constantly accused of being unnecessarily negative. Maybe because I respect the fact that the people at Peppercom are people who need jobs, just like the rest of us. Maybe because, despite popular opinion, I actually have no desire to be the topic of Peter Laird's rants in the back of his comic book. Whatever the case may have been, this e-mail proved to be a breaking point for me. There's no stopping me on this one. I am tearing this piece of crap inside out. Oh, and apologies in advance; due to the nature of the subject of this email, this blog is going to break all conventional rules of blogs.
Let's start by looking at this as a single image. The dimensions of this image are 820 pixels wide by 8835 pixels high. For some perspective, consider that not too long ago the average computer monitor resolution was only 800 pixels wide, making 820 within an email a bit excessive, although not horrible. But what the hell kind of e-mail marketing is 8835 pixels high?!! 8835!! The whole thing is actually composed of 13 separate jpegs. This is more than just a little excessive! This is something I might tolerate receiving from my mom, but certainly not from a professional PR company actually trying to be taken seriously.
Then there's the actual quality of the image. If you think the image you see when you click on that bar above is a poorly compressed copy of the original, you would be sadly mistaken. That is exactly how the image appeared in the sent e-mail. Poor image compression is an instant red flag that points out people who either A) Are brand new to the Internets, or B) Have no freakin' clue how to properly use even a basic photo editing program. Jpegs are compressed image files. The more compression, the smaller the files size, but the crappier the picture. If you're trying to sell something, you should be going for presentation. This presentation is nothing but Fail.
Now let's look at what is actually in the image.
Here we have what I think is supposed to be the Turtle Van, a manhole cover, and a ladder. This would be ok... if a 7-year-old drew it.
Next we have the four Turtles, apparently dropping down into the sewer while frozen in poses that do not seem likely to accompany such an activity. And the text balloons were apparently done by the same 7-year-old who drew the top part.
Here's the next part. Leo and Mike are still frozen in the same poses while Don has exactly mirrored his previous pose. Raph seems to have managed to land on a ledge just in time to tell us they're going "Back to the sewers." If that was supposed to be a clever reference to the most recent season of the 4Kids cartoon, it fails.
Ok, taking the next part in smaller segments. The Turtles are still falling and both Mike and Don feel it's a good time to start kicking. Unfortunately, this means I see quite a bit more of Mike's butt than I'm comfortable with. And that 7-year-old kid tried to get fancy by suggesting a motion blur with the upper portion of Mike's entire body.
And here we have Leo and Raph, still falling. This is the perfect time to make mention of the clip art that is so abuntant here. If you haven't noticed yet, it all sucks. The majority of it was drawn by artists at 4Kids, who in most cases simply redrew poses from the original TMNT 2K3 style guide by Michael Dooney (which was also replicated by the team at Imagi for the 2007 movie). None of these poses are really fitting for the cartoony Turtles they are meant to represent and the actual style of the art doesn't match the cartoony Turtles being emulated (note the huge knee and elbow pads). And some of the pieces, particularly Donatello, appear to feature cleavage. Also, where is Leo's neck? It's my theory that the 4Kids artists only drew the bodies of the Turtles while a stock Turtle head was pasted onto the body.
FSSSSH!!
Wait, what?
Sadly, I don't think we can expect any Eisner awards for this, or even nominations.
Sorry, that was a lie. I'm not sad.
No, actually I wasn't asking...
Hey, shouldn't you guys have landed by now?
OMG WTF JUST HAPPENED?!!!!
Ok, calming down... sorta. Lemme get this straight. The Turtles just fell into the sewers and onto what appears to be the top of the Empire State Building. I might be willing to accept that, but they really seem to be getting a little too friendly with the antenna there!! Particularly Mike and Don. I'm not even sure how Raph and Leo are holding on (and I probably don't want to know).
Quick, it says to click to escape this overly-suggestive image!!
*click*
Oh, look, there's a video...
AHHHHHH!!!!! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!!!!
Calming down a bit (again), I think the completely rational thing to do at this point in time is to look at a few screen shots from this hellish 12-second video (hopefully created by the same 7-year-old who put together all the jpegs).
We start out the same as we left the e-mail. Hardly comforting. And apparently New York rains green ooze.
As the video gets going, the Turtles slide down the Empire State Building with the antenna between their legs. And we see that the building has a light switch at the top.
As the Turtles continue to slide down the building it becomes clear that Leo and Raph are only heads hovering in the back.
A bit farther down and the Turtles hit the light switch! Oooh, the Empire State Building now glows green! Impressive!! Luckily, the horror is now truly over.
Hmmm, I would say, "No thank you," but the truth is that I look forward to the "Next Episode" in that bad car crash kind of way. And Peppercom is being paid $1 million for all of this! (I seriously need a gig that pays an insane amount of money for crap.)
To wrap up: Poor production quality aside, how the hell is this acceptable for children, who are obviously the target audience? And I know it's not just me who's disturbed by this.
I forwarded the e-mail to a friend of mine who is mom to a 3-year-old. She replied expressing the same horror I felt when I saw it. I was so upset with the whole matter that I contacted Rob at Peppercom, who is in charge of the TMNT25 activities. This is the reply I got:
As always, we appreciate your input but want to clarify that the pole is the top of the Empire State Building.
Um, yeah, I got that. It doesn't make anything better though.
They're not Irish (I think...), but the TMNT can't get any greener than they already are!
Special thanks to Cap, who sent me a fantastic collection of scans from the old TMNT Sunday comic strip, from which the picture comes. I'll be sharing more over the course of the year, as many of them are tailored to specific days.
In a real testament to the idea that "You can buy anything on eBay," I recently acquired some photographs out of of someone's personal collection. The idea of buying someone's personal photos is a bit creepy, but these seemed interesting enough for me to get past that. And I'm glad I did, because in addition to being a truly fantastic blast from the past, there are some really interesting details hidden in the background. These pictures appear to be date stamped August 12, 1989 - nearly 20 years ago!
These first two pictures are pretty similar and feature Steve Lavigne behind the table. I think you can also see a piece of Peter Laird's head in the first picture. What is really great though is in the background there appears to be pictures of the Turtles and Splinter costumes for the then-upcoming movie. The movie filmed in September 1989, so this was even before then!
Here we have one more picture of Steve Lavigne, then a shot farther down the line looking back at both Steve and Peter. In the second photo you can get a slightly better look at one of the photos on the wall.
And here we have a better look at Peter, and finally Kevin Eastman as well. Now we can see a few more pictures on the back wall as well as some comic book covers (and cereal boxes!).
Last, but far from least, we see the end of the autograph line with Jim Lawson, Michael Dooney, and Steve Murphy.
Kevin Eastman has announced via his Heavy Metal Web site the publication of a new TMNT book to be released in time for San Diego Comic-Con in July! This new, 180-page book will collect a bunch of his favorite TMNT stories, many newly colored.
The contents of the book are scheduled to include:
Jan Strnad & Richard Corben's "Turtles Take Time" in its original color (Vol. 1, #33)
Mark Bode's "Shell of the Dragon" in its original black & white (Vol. 1, #18)
"Me, Myself, and I," the first appearance of Casey Jones, in color for the first time thanks to Justin Norman (Raphael #1)
"Fun With Guns," a TMNT short comic by Eastman with new colors by Blond (Raphael #1, second print; Shell Shock)
"The Unmentionables" by Eastman and Talbot in its original duo shades/sepia tones (Vol. 1, #14)
"49th Street Stompers" (First graphic novel Book III, Shell Shock)
"Complete Carnage and Radical" (Shell Shock)
"You Had to be There!" (Vol. 1, #7 back-up story)
Plus intros, pin-ups, and more!
Check back for more information on this book as it becomes available!
European TMNT fan Rutger has posted brand new interviews he conducted with two men who can each claim to be Michaelangelo.
Check out his chats with Michelan Sisti (Michaelangelo body actor in the first two live-action films) and Robbie Rist (Michaelangelo voice actor in all three live-action films)!
Threadless has reprinted one of their classic T-shirts, featuring the design seen to the left. Yes, that'd be the namesakes of the Ninja Turtles playing Ninja Turtles.
In 2006, after more than two years of pain in getting the Turtles costumes we commissioned delivered, and then wearable, four friends -- Dawnatello, Brinatello, GreenWillow, and Kimnardo -- and I braved the often brutal Comic-Con masquerade audience so that we could get jiggy to the original TMNT cartoon theme song and the ubiguetous Ninja Rap.
Despite a near-complete lack of vision, no one fell off the stage (there are actually catchers in case you do!) and, for the most part, we pulled off our small bit of choreographed dance during the Ninja Rap. Not only did the crowd love us, but much to our surprise, we actually won a prize! And let me tell you, the look on the face of the guys awarding the "Best Movie Costume Recreation" award as five short women came running on stage in their de-masked costumes was as priceless as any other moment during the night!
Here are some videos from several different angles:
The second entry into the "Video Flashback" series is a personal favorite of mine. After the wildly-successful "Comin' Out of Their Shells" tour, the TMNT hit the road again in a smaller follow-up tour. This tour played in venues at amusement parks and only featured four songs, three of which were new (although the fourth song, "Sing About It," was never actually played in full in the COOTS tour). And all things considered, the songs are quite good! Laugh if you must, but I'll stand by that statement even if Shredder appears at my front door threatening to steal all of the world's music. And even more-so if he breaks into "I Hate Music."
But I digress. Here is the "Gettin' Down in Your Town Tour," in three parts. Enjoy!
After a rainy-day visit to Circuit City's store closing clearance sale, I now have the much-anticipated ability to capture video from my VHS collection onto my computer. With this useful new ability I am launching the Ninja Pizza YouTube Channel. The inaugural video for this new channel is called "Operation Blue Line" (and had I scanned the video cover earlier in the night than I did, it wouldn't have rabbit teeth marks in it).
"Operation Blue Line" is a promotional video that was produced to advertise a new light rail system that runs between Long Beach and Los Angeles. As incredibly cheesy as this 10-minute video is, it surprisingly holds some weight as all four Turtle voice actors from the original cartoon--Townsend Coleman, Barry Gordon, Rob Paulsen, and Cam Clarke--are featured in their respective roles.
So enjoy, and watch this space, 'cause there's lots more to come!
UPDATE!Edward Langer, who worked in the SCRTD marketing department and helped in the production of this video, has written in with some additional information.
I was the original project manager on this video. The SCRTD marketing dept. under Tony Fortuno and Alice Wiggins wanted to create a video to be distributed free through a local supermarket chain to all residents along the route. Additional copies were sent to large businesses, too. I assembled my team and we each contacted different companies to see if they would provide funding and some kind of theme or character for the video. One team member, Sherry, hit pay dirt at one of the local TV stations and got permission to use the Turtles. Since Sherry had made the contact, she took over the project. I was reassigned to the ride share program where I made use of the video to promote public transit. That is the USC Marching Band at the end of the video. The USC band has been most generous in allowing the SCRTD to use them in their promotion of public transit. Also, if you watch carefully, you will see Sherry in the film as a couple having a picnic.
We had borrowed the turtle costumes, but they had to have them back for a promotion. Sherry had picked them up and had to get them dry cleaned over a weekend. Not something easy to accomplish. I forget how she did it, but they were clean on Monday. All [of the] main actors were professionals: April, Gridlock, and the Turtles. Everyone else is an unpaid volunteer from the SCRTD. The little girl near the end of the film was some kind of spokesperson for the SCRTD, but I forget why. I think she was a model or actress who gave us support. I believe I had worked with her in a promotion in Long Beach, but that was a long time ago. As I was not the project manager of this program my name is way back in the credits. Basically, all employees of the marketing department are in the credits.
The story is kind of dumb, but it worked. Many of my ride share companies played it in their cafeterias to alert their employees. Ridership did take off.
Mega fan Neil comes through once again, this time with video of the complete TMNT 4Kids panel that was on Sunday at New York Comic-Con. Hosted by Jake Black, this panel takes a look at 4Kids' TMNT series through the eyes of a table full of people who made it all happen.
Friday night at NYCC there was a panel featuring four long-time TMNT artists: Steve Lavigne, Michael Dooney, Jim Lawson, and Eric Talbot. Moderated by occasional TMNT writer Jake Black, the panel was meant to focus on the artistic evolution of the TMNT. I don't know if they hit that mark exactly, but it was still a good hour-long conversation with these guys who have had so much creative input into the TMNT throughout the years.
Mega TMNT fan (and reliable videographer) Neil came through with video of most of this panel for those of us stuck in parts of the world that are too far from NYC. You can check out the panel, in five parts, below.
New York Comic-Con opened today, somewhat acting as the true kick-off of the TMNT 25th's anniversary "shell-abration." There is a handful of news and pictures being reported around the Interwebs, but I thought I'd start with a look at Playmates' new action figures that are supposedly based on the TMNT comics. Yes, I had to interject a "supposedly" in there.
Since I'm so often accused of being overly negative, let's start with the figure I can say positive things about. Splinter here is really quite nice looking. Does he at all resemble any artistic interpretation of Splinter in any of the comic books? Nope. But that's ok in this case; if the final product looks even a fraction as good as this picture, I'll likely be buying it.
Here's Raphael, who seems to be the only Turtle representing (perhaps Playmates didn't want to deal with any "Why are they all wearing red?" questions?). Again, this is a good looking figure, though not really based on any of the comics.
You'd think it'd be easy enough to get a Foot Soldier right, but this just seems to be a checklist of wrong. What's with the color choices? Why don't his knees bend? And what's with the pig nose? This figure is most unfortunate.
But alas, even more unfortunate is Shredder. I don't even know where to start with this one. Absolutely no part of this figure is proportional with another part, his sword looks like a toy, and that helmet couldn't shred cheese. Oh, and based on the comics? Hell no! Turtle fans need to super glue their fingers crossed that the second wave of NECA figures eventually come out, because, in the ever-wise words of Princess Leia, they're our "only hope."
Here's one more picture from the Playmates booth. I guess this is supposed to be April, but it doesn't take a genius to know that's Uma Thurman's outfit from Kill Bill. Here's a tip: Costume shops may not have generic yellow jumpsuits, but thrift stores do. But at least they have proper TMNT costumes, unlike what we saw at San Diego last summer.
All pictures were stolen from Toy News International. You can visit the link to see more of their pictures from the Playmates booth. I'll be posting more New York Comic-Con news throughout the weekend.
Toy News International is reporting tonight on a new trade paperback that will collect the three issues that comprised the original TMNT comic book mini-series from Archie comics.
The trade, featuring early Turtles work by TMNT master artist Michael Dooney, also features a brand new cover by Dooney. And, most impressively, the interior will be published in full color! Look for it at your local comic shop around May 13. Or - best news in a long time - pre-order it now on Amazon.com!!
It has been made widely known that the Tales of the TMNT comic book title exists on the whim of Peter Laird, who has continued to publish the book, for the most part out of his own pocket, even though it doesn't sell enough copies to support itself. As such, TMNT fans head toward each new year wondering if Tales will still be around. As of right now, there is no confirmation for Tales' existence--or non-existence--in 2010; however, it seems that Diamond Comic Distributors may have made that decision for Mirage already.
Newsarama is reporting today that Diamond has raised its purchase order minimum from $1,500 to $2,500. This means that in order for Diamond to list and distribute a title, it would need to generate $2,500 of revenue for Diamond (not total). The break down of this is basically that "a typical $3.00 comic would have to sell over 2,100 copies to meet the benchmark." Tales currently sells for $3.25/book.
The most recent sales data available, for November 2008, lists estimated sales of 2,381 for Tales. In comparison, the January 2008 estimated sales were 2,684. In the months in between, at least the ones where Tales was ranked in the top 300, a steady decline in sales can be seen. Thus, it can be concluded that Tales hangs dangerously close to being below Diamond's newly required threshold.
There are about three possibilities for titles that do not currently meet the new threshold:
Raise the cover price.
Find different means of distribution.
Cancel the title
Some titles are likely to move to Web-only, but as we've seen with TMNT Vol. 4, TMNT fans want their Turtles on paper, making that an unlikely option for Mirage. It appears that this new change is immediate, although a grace period to allow publishers to achieve the newly required numbers is likely. This will make it extremely difficult for Tales to even get to the end of 2009, and, given Mirage's publishing history, makes cancelation come 2010 nearly certain.
That said, nothing is set in stone. And if you don't pick it up already, now is the time to go to your comic book shop and let them know that you want Tales of the TMNT!
It's been a long while since I've found any TMNT goodies at the dollar store, not to mention something actually worth purchasing. So imagine my surprise today as I'm wandering through and find a stack of these 2K3 kids' plates featuring the fantastic artwork of the one and only Michael Dooney.
Jim Lawson updated his blog today with a new piece of art featuring all four Turtles looking down on New York from one of its many rooftops. This fantastic piece was done for a TMNT 25th anniversary project that 4Kids is working on. Jim and all of the Mirage artists were asked to contribute pieces of art; however, Mirage got these pieces of art as freebies and did not pay the artists for the time and talent put into them.
Needless to say, this is unacceptable. Unfortunately, this attitude is becoming more and more typical of Mirage, namely CEO Gary Richardson who also attempted to cancel all of the employees' life and disability insurance last week to save the company all of $9,500 a year. The only reason this didn't happen is apparently due to a technicality (not a sudden change of heart from Mr. Richardson).
With all of the writing that has been put on the wall concerning Richardson, the only question that can be asked is: Why does Peter Laird apparently sit back and do nothing while Mirage crashes and burns and his employees, who have given the last 20+ years of their lives to the company, as well as their entire professional careers, struggle to make ends meet while he and Gary Richardson are living free and easy?
Addendum: It has been clarified to me that 4Kids, not Mirage, requested these pieces of art and as such, it was 4Kids, not Mirage, who did not pay for them. It still seems to me that Mirage could have found it in their hearts to pay the artists for the pieces anyways, and asking for art that you don't intend to pay for, no matter who the asking party is, is in poor taste no matter what the situation.
Today, Comic-Con International released the themes and anniversaries it will recognize and celebrate at this year's event in San Diego, July 23-26. And yes, the 25th anniversary of the TMNT is among the celebrations!
For information on how to submit art and/or articles for consideration for this year's souvenir book, click here.
Shirt.Woot.com is currently selling the fantastic T-shirt at left. The original run, priced at just $10, sold out in just over two hours (check out all of the impressive sales stats!). The shirt is now available for a still-reasonable $15, and with the option of free shipping is still cheaper than anything at Hot Topic. While this is currently in no danger of selling out (again), it will only be available for a limited time, so it's in your best interest to order one ASAP!
Thanks to Cherubae for giving me the initial heads-up!
Savvy TMNT fans were watching TMNT25.com on January 1, when the site relaunched itself with loads of new content. However, and rather sadly, the content on the site is poorly written, features bad grammar and punctuation, and, most unbelievably, is full of inaccurate information.
If the TMNT25 team doesn't believe in the use of editors or fact checkers, that's their choice to poorly represent the TMNT brand. As easily as I could, I'm not going to tear apart the site to show off its poor use of design, poor writing, inaccuracies, etc. However, there is one page so greatly misleading that I cannot ignore it.
You would think the "About Mirage Studios" page would be the easiest page for the TMNT25 team to write. But it only took a quick glance for me to find glaring errors. As such, I did a bit of digging into my personal TMNT archive to find references and do some fact checking. The result is what you find below. I realize that this is a lot more depth than the "About Mirage Studios" page was intended to have, but if you compare the two you'll see the conflict in information, especially with certain dates.
ABOUT MIRAGE STUDIOS
Steve Lavigne, high school classmate and friend of Kevin Eastman, as well as the real-life inspiration behind Michaelangelo, was Mirage's first employee, hired in 1985 to help with lettering duties beginning with issue #5 of the original TMNT comic book. His duties would expand to coloring comics and art and penciling licensing art that was used on thousands of TMNT products sold around the world. Lavigne left the studio in 1995 to return to his home state of Maine. He still does occasional freelance work for Mirage when asked.
After giving Eastman and Laird a piece of fan art at a comic convention in Detroit in 1985, Ryan Brown was asked to "get in touch" with the studio in the letters column of the 4th reprinting of TMNT #1, published in September 1985. He did so immediately, resulting in an inking tryout for a short comic titled "New York Ninja" that would later see print in the back of the TMNT RPG supplement book titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures!
Passing that test, Brown was then invited to join the studio, making the move to Northampton, MA in September 1986. He would eventually use his inking skills on most of the licensing art drawn by Lavigne, as well as some comic covers. A life-long love of toys made him a perfect match for the role of the in-studio Toy Coordinator after Playmates launched its line of highly successful TMNT toys and action figures. Brown left the studio in 1995 to return to his home state of Ohio. He still does occasional freelance work for Mirage when asked.
Around the same time Brown set foot in Massachusetts and after a successful portfolio presentation, Jim Lawson was invited to move up from his home in Connecticut to join Mirage. Lawson and Brown then teamed together to draw and ink, respectively, a new companion comic title, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lawson would also contribute to licensing art and penciling of the regular TMNT comic book series, becoming the main penciler starting with issue #48 of original series, a role that he maintains today with Volume 4 of the series.
Michael Dooney wrote a fan letter to Eastman and Laird after the original publication of the very first TMNT comic book. Dooney, an inspiring comic book creator in his own right, kept in touch with Mirage and would pencil issue #9 of the comic book, released in September 1986, while still living in New Jersey. After moving to the studio full-time, Dooney contributed art to more issues of the original comic book, full-color paintings for the official TMNT magazine, and some of the early issues of the Archie comics TMNT series among other things. Dooney remains with the studio today, contributing art for licensing, comic books, and toy design in collaboration with Playmates Toys.
In mid-1989, after the first few issues of the Archie comic series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, which were simply adaptations of the TMNT cartoon series, the book was horribly late and in danger of breach of contract. Seeing an opportunity, Brown asked his friend and roommate, Steve Murphy, to collaborate with him to create original stories for the comic series. Murphy, who was writing his own comic series, The Puma Blues, and doing proofreading and editing for Mirage, was hesitant to commit to the project, but finally agreed to take on the writing duties under the pen name Dean Clarrain. Murphy left Mirage with the end of the Adventures series in 1995, but would return in January 2002 as Creative Director of Licensing and Managing Editor of Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 when the title was established January 2004. Murphy resigned from his duties as Managing Editor in August 2007, but remains in the position of Creative Director of Licensing.
With Adventures back on track, Brown and Murphy needed a permanent inker for the book. Brown contacted his old roommate in Ohio, who had just graduated from art school, and asked him to join the team. Dan Berger came to Massachusetts in August 1989; his first Turtles work was TMNT Adventures #8, published in February 1990. He has also contributed to the original TMNT comic book, licensing art, and the daily TMNT newspaper comic strip. Berger has been the Webmaster of ninjaturtles.com since 1998 and Managing Editor of Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 since Murphy's resignation in 2007.
Like Lavigne, Eric Talbot was a high school buddy of Kevin Eastman. His first work with the TMNT came with issue #17 of the original TMNT comic book, published November 1988. He would continue to contribute to TMNT comics and various licensing endeavors throughout the duration of the TMNT's popularity in the 90s and continues working with Mirage to this day.
Riding on the success of the TMNT, Kevin Eastman bought Heavy Metal magazine in 1991. His last TMNT work was the comic Bodycount, published by Image in 1996. In 2000 he sold the creative rights of the TMNT to Laird so that he could focus completely on Heavy Metal. However, this separation was not the end of his involvement with the TMNT. In 2002 he published his TMNT "Artobiography" under the Heavy Metal label and in 2005 he gave Mirage the connection they needed, with Imagi Animation Studios, to make a new big-screen TMNT adventure a reality in 2007. In 2008 he sold his remaining TMNT holdings to Laird, but with plans to republish a handful of classic TMNT stories, the first of which, Bodycount, was released the same year.
Promotional material for the May 12th release of Season 7 of the original TMNT cartoon on DVD has been made available including box art, trailer (commercial), and fact sheet.
Jim Lawson updated 
