Follow Ninja Pizza for
the best reading experience!


                    

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Peter Laird's "Blast From the Past"



I got kinda annoyed with the disjointedness and disorganization of Peter Laird's "Blast From the Past" posts on his blog (it's pretty impossible to find any of the old stuff without scrolling through every single page), so I made a chronological listing of all of them.

Everything that has been reposted to Blogger is linked to Blogger; anything not yet reposted to Blogger is linked to the original posting on the Planet Racers Web site.

This is the first 149 "Blast From the Past" entires from Peter's blog. You can read his on-going personal blog here: http://plairdblog.blogspot.com and his on-going TMNT blog here: http://peterlairdstmntblog.blogspot.com


001 - TMNT #1 Fifth Printing Cover (Pencils)
002 - Pencils for Cover of Tales of the TMNT Volume 1 #7
003 - "Cyberinking Experiments"
004 - "Alien Gardener"
005 - Angoulême Mini-Poster/1992
006 - Donatello with Android on Rock
007 - Richard Corben Color Sketch for Cover of TMNT Volume 1 Issue #2 Third Printing
008 - Dodecahedron Ornament
009 - Kevin Eastman TMNT Group Shot
010 - Jack Kirby Birthday Turtle
011 - "The Art of Mirage Studios"
012 - "Frustrated Turtle"
013 - Rejected Shredder Playset Idea
014 - "Return to New York" Collection Cover, Preliminary Drawing by A.C. Farley
016 - Wistariahurst Museum "The Art of Mirage Studios" Show Poster
017 - Archie TMNT Classics Digest #2 Cover
018 - "Team Mirage" Hare Scrambles Turtle
019 - "Ninja Alligator"
020 - Original Turtle Action Figure Prototypes
021 - "How to Draw Turtles" Cover Pencils
022 - Proposed Portfolio Cover Pencils
023 - TMNT Volume 1 #2 Unfinished Inks
024 - TMNT #2 Character Sketches
025 - "City at War" Battle/Pencils
026 - Leonardo at "Fandom Directree"
027 - "Election 1980" / Hampshire Life
028 - Archie TMNT Movie One Adaptation Covers
029 - "Who is the Unknown Ninja?"
030 - Laird/Dooney Barbarian Turtle
031 - TMNT with Dimensional Gateway
032 - Voices for Children TMNT Poster
033 - Donatello w/ Radio-Controlled Motorcycle
034 - "Who is This? Futitoid" Iron-On
035 - TMNT Volume 1 #2 Cover/Inks and Tones
036 - Donatello's New Costume
037 - Leonardo's New Costume
038 - Splinter's New Look
039 - Michelangelo's New Costume
040 - Raphael's New Look
041 - Elite Fights Foot/Pencils
042 - Mirage TMNT Color Series #1 Cover Pencils, Unused
043 - Donatello Firing Mac-10
044 - Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
045 - Portsmouth Minicon Poster
046 - Alien Snake Hunter
047 - "New Comic Day" Pencils
048 - Fugitoid Action Figure Concepts
049 - Exoskeleton Concept for Bad Guys
050 - TMNT as Drawn by Jack Kirby!
051 - Bulldog Mutant
052 - "Bad Guy" Vehicle Designs
053 - Unused Pages from TMNT #1, Vol. 4
054 - "Space Leonardo" Pencils
055 - Donatello in New Costume Color Study
056 - Kirbyship
057 - Interrupted Meal
058 - Will Vinton TMNT Sculpts
059 - "The Unknown"
060 - Donatello and Montana Moo
061 - TMNT and Foot Vehicle Designs
062 - Evil Mutants
063 - Jumper and Crawler
064 - TMNT Color Series #2 Cover Pencils
065 - Leonardo and Frostbyte
066 - Proposed TV Guide Cover
067 - 1992 Portsmouth "TurtleCon" Flyer
068 - Pencils for Portsmouth 1992 "TurtleCon" Flyer
069 - Unfinished Ad for TMNT #2
070 - Design for "Wacky Ooze Buggy" Toy
071 - Early Splinter
072 - TMNT #50 Cover Pencils
073 - Large TMNT Group Shot, Pencils
074 - Color Pencil TMNT Pinups
075 - Donatello Fighting Robot, Pencils
076 - Pete as TMNT with Pencil
077 - Iron-On TMNT Group Shot with Logo
078 - TMNT Drawing on Tablecloth Scrap
079 - Robot Fighting Arboreal Beast
080 - TMNT #5--Anatomy of Two Pages
081 - Raphael's Shower
082 - Pete's Inks, TMNT #7
083 - Pete in Old Studio
084 - TMNT Vol. 1 #15 "Clean" Cover
085 - TMNT Fight a Robot
086 - Pin-Up: Donatello on Rooftop
087 - Pin-Up: Leo Fights a Monster
088 - Pin-Up: Raph with TCRI Alien Gun
089 - Front Cover of PBBZ Limited Edition Reprint of TMNT Volume 1, #1
090 - Roughs for Leo and Usagi Story "The Crossing"
091 - "Gorefolio" Artwork
092 - Fugitoid Iron-On
093 - TMNT Group Shot
094 - Fugitoid Birthday Card
095 - Baxter Stockman and April O'Neil Sketches
096 - Sketches for Foot Robot from "City at War"
097 - Gizmo and a Turtle Play Cards
096 - Eastman/Dooney Barbarian Turtle
097 - TMNT Vol. 2 #5 Cover Pencils
098 - Archie TMNT Adventures #44, Pencils and Inks
099 - Archie TMNT Miniseries #1 Cover
100 - "Melting Pot" and "Commandosaurs" Pencils for Ad
101 - Raph Fighting a Foot Ninja (Unfinished)
102 - Leo w/ Shuriken Slingshot
103 - TMNT Color Series #2 Cover Pencils
104 - Motocross Turtle
105 - Turtle with Megablaster
106 - Redrawn Two-Page Spread from TMNT #1
107 - Mirage Studios Triceraton Iron-On
108 - Donatello Sparring with Robot Donatello
109 - Unfinished Donatello Sketch
110 - Unused TMNT Color Logo
111 - Donatello with Computer
112 - Leonardo Pinup
113 - Illustrations for Our Ad for the Dark Horse Miniature Lead Figures
114 - Donatello About to Throw Bo Staff
115 - Crab Mechanic Mutant
116 - TMNT Group Shot Cyberinking Experiment
117 - Splinter Character Sketches
118 - Design for Evil Mutant's Vehicle -- "Hover Trike"
119 - "Nano" Designs
120 - Dragon with Mushrooms
121 - "Rhino Mutant" Rough Sketch
122 - Leonardo with One Sword
123 - More Splinter Sketches
124 - Spider on Head
125 - Flying Dragon
126 - Emily Dickinson Portrait
127 - Robot with Birthday "Cake"
128 - Robot Fighting Swordswoman
129 - Motorcycle Designs for "Return of the Justice Force"
130 - Design for the "Battle Nexus" Arena
131 - Foot Tech Ninja Design
132 - Donatello Riding Creature
133 - Spot Illustrations for CBG
134 - Sample Comic Page
135 - Freshman Year
136 - More Unused Gag Cartoons
137 - Ninja Turtles Day in Los Angeles
138 - Garbageman's "Whale Sub" Sketches
139 - Evil Utrom Designs
140 - Turtle Design for 2K3 Show
141 - Ninja Tribunal Ship Modification
142 - Leonardo Fighting Triceraton
143 - Weird Meeting Doodle
144 - TMNT Spot Illustrations on Duo-Shade
145 - The Christmas Snail
146 - "They Came from the Fifties"
147 - Triceraton Archeologist
148 - "A World Beyond"
149 - Demon Turtle

Saturday, November 8, 2008

A New President? Or an Old School President?



Here's something random that I found by complete accident.

Visit Zazzle.com to pick up this creative celebration of the new President-Elect, Barack Obama, that plays off of the classic TMNT cartoon logo!

Friday, November 7, 2008

C.O.W.-Boys to Return to 'Tales' in 2009



Next week, the C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa will make their third appearance in the Tales of the TMNT title with the release of Tales #52. (Note: TMNT Adventures fans don't want to miss this issue, as it also features the legendary Cudley the Cowlick!)

This week, Ryan Brown, creator of the C.O.W.-Boys and creative force behind too many TMNT projects to list here, revealed that the C.O.W.-Boys will return for a fourth and final time next year in Tales of the TMNT #58. Like past crossover issues, Dario Brizuela will be contributing his fantastic skill and style to the pencils for the issue. He's already completed the cover, which you can check out in full--along with more awesome pieces of art--over on Ryan's C.O.W.-Boys blog.

And don't forget to sign the C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa DVD petition while you're at it!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Mirage's Fan Reply Postcards




The previous post on Mirage's unique postage meter stamp brought up a conversation in the comments about the postcards Mirage would send in response to fan mail and/or fan art. Tonight I dug out the postcard I received in response to some fan art I apparently sent (I clearly recall receiving this postcard, but I can't for the life of me recall the art I sent).

The front of the card shows the line art from the cover of TMNT Adventures #18. If you look closely on the back you'll see that same Raphael postage meter stamp (all the blots are from the residue of poster putty I used to hang the postcard on my bedroom door for years). The postmark date is September 17, 1991. Man, that was forever ago!

Did you ever receive this or a similar postcard? Still have it? Send me a scan!

Ryan Brown adds: We gave Murph's girlfriend at the time the task of answering all the TMNTA fan mail. She did a phenomenal job!! We'd print up the postcards using different TMNTA cover art at a local printer and then give them to her to mail out. Murph and I wanted to send something special to the kids who took the time to write in. I'm not sure how many different covers we used for the postcards but I believe we utilized quite a few.

And:
Murph and I loved to read the fan mail. We personally signed and sent the first few but suddenly the amount of mail increased so much that we had to pass it along to someone full time and that dude was a newly arrived Dan Berger. As Dan's workload increased Murph's girl friend stepped in.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Mirage Studios Postage Meter




Doing a bit of Fall cleaning today and I came across this old scrap of paper. This is quite the testament to some of the random stuff I'll end up clipping and saving.

The scrap is simply a piece of brown packaging paper with postage affixed. The package, having come from Mirage Studios, also features a stamp with Raphael and the original TMNT comic book logo. I think most all of the mail they sent at this point in time featured the stamp. Mail from Mirage today features no such stamp, probably due to changes in postage machines.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!




To celebrate this spooktacular holiday, here's a desktop wallpaper I swiped off of 4kids.com.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Kazoo With the TMNT



In the near-25 year history of the TMNT, there have been a lot of high points and a good fair share of low points. A lot of awesome merchandise and some... not so much. "Kazoo with [the] TMNT" would fit into that last category. Or, perhaps even more accurately, into the, "We're willing to approve anything you'll give us money for," category.

Before I go any further I should put forth the disclaimer that I absolutely love the entire musical history of the TMNT. Seriously. Even the stuff that's cheesy as hell is, at worst, a guilty pleasure for me. Even though my sincerity behind any positive words for "Kazoo with [the] TMNT" would be weak, I couldn't deny that it fills me full of giddy laughter.

Here's the premise of "Kazoo with [the] TMNT":
You get a book with very basic sheet music for eight songs from the soundtrack of the first live action movie. You also get four kazoos (bonus points if you can guess the colors of the kazoos). You are meant to kazoo the sheet music. Ok, sure. Why not? Kids like kazoos and Ninja Turtles, it can't be that bad. Right?

Wrong. This perfectly innocent package becomes the stuff of legend with the inclusion of a simple cassette tape. A cassette tape that features all of the songs in the book played by an electronic orchestra and... someone playing the kazoo!! This may be the only example in history of a dedicated kazoo recording. And there's a reason for that.

It's just hard to take the kazoo seriously as a solo instrument. The novelty of it wears off in about 10 seconds, but here it supports eight songs that are 3-5 minutes long. It also, by design, produces a lot of spit, and the producers of this product really didn't make any effort to try to hide that. But then again, did the producers of this product really think they were releasing something stellar? Nah, it was all for the quick buck.

To experience "Kazoo with [the] TMNT" for yourself, you can download the contents of the cassette tape, for a limited time, here.