The TMNT Guide to San Diego Comic-Con 2009!

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Here it is! You're guide to the TMNT at San Diego Comic-Con 2009! Well, the best I could put together in between throwing socks and t-shirts into a suitcase while hoping I don't forget anything.





PROGRAMMING

There are two panels of particular interest for TMNT fans. As a Special Guest at this year's Con, Kevin Eastman has a panel dedicated to him on Thursday. The TMNT 25th anniversary panel will be on Friday, having something to do with the last 25 years (exactly what and how I haven't figured out). Also, expect John Fusco to be introduced as the writer of the upcoming movie planned for 2011.

THURSDAY

1:00-2:00 Spotlight on Kevin Eastman— TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman not only reflects on his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle years (with a preview his Comic-Con exclusive 25th Anniversary hardcover collection of favorite TMNT stories!), but also shares sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes teasers or trailers for his upcoming animated film projects—War of The Worlds: Goliath! and Underwhere—and introduces the new Tor Books Novel line Heavy Metal Pulp and the in-development Biz and Buzz animated series. Last but not least, Kevin will give you an update on the new David Fincher/James Cameron–produced Heavy Metal film! Room 5AB

FRIDAY

4:15-5:15 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles— This look at the whole spectrum of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (from comics to toys to TV to movies to video games) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the world-famous brand. Moderator Gary Richardson (CEO, Mirage Studios) discusses the evolution of the Turtles with those people instrumental in the characters' incredible success. Panelists include Kevin Eastman (co-creator of TMNT), Lloyd Goldfine (supervising producer, 4Kids Productions), Steve Barron (director of the original TMNT movie), Karl Aaronian (senior VP of marketing, Giochi Preziosi U.S.A.), Matt Leunig (associate producer, Ubisoft), and Galen Walker (producer of new TMNT movie slated for 2011). Room 6DE

EXCLUSIVES

• NECA will be selling the April O'Neil w/ Mousers figure.
• KEVIN EASTMAN will be selling his TMNT 25th Anniversary book at the Heavy Metal booth.
• MIRAGE STUDIOS will be selling the two Jake Black fund-raising prints at their tables in Artists' Alley.

ON THE FLOOR

• Expect Ubisoft to be demo-ing at least one of the two upcoming TMNT titles.
• As one of the participants in the button give-away (see below), expect Sideshow Collectibles to reveal new TMNT product(s).
  

EVENT

• Friday night there is a preview screening of the the upcoming TMNT direct-to-video special, "Turtles Forever." An invitation to the event is required to attend, and can be acquired by collecting five buttons available at the following locations: Ubisoft's booth, Uclick's booth, Prima Games' booth, Sideshow Collectibles' booth, and the Turtle Van, which will be parked somewhere in or around Horton Plaza.

PEOPLE TO SEE

• Kevin Eastman can usually be found around the Heavy Metal booth, though possibly with less regularity this year than others.
• Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo, is also a special guest at the Con this year and can be found the entire weekend around his booth, or at several scheduled panels.
• Kevin Munrore, director of TMNT (2007), will be moderating the Thursday panel Masters of the Web and previewing his upcoming movie, Dead of Night starring Brandon Routh. An autograph session in the Sails Pavilion follows the panel.
• James Arnold Taylor, Leonardo in TMNT (2007), can be found throughout the Convention at several panels and scheduled signings.
• Mike Sinterniklass, Leonardo in the 4Kids TMNT cartoon, will be on the Saturday night Adult Swim/Venture Bros. panel.

ARTISTS' ALLEY

The following people can be found in Artists' Alley throughout the weekend:

• Dan Berger
• Michael Dooney
• Steve Lavigne
• Jim Lawson
• Eric Talbot
• ... and more!

Eastman & Laird Reunited!!!!

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Yes, the headline is true! You might have thought it would take hell freezing over for the two co-creators of the TMNT to get over their apparent irreconcilable differences and collaborate artistically once again. But no, it didn't take that, it took a much more unfortunate reason. You see, my pal and occasional TMNT writer Jake Black has the Big C. Yeah, that's right: Cancer. The good news for Jake is that the specific type of cancer he has is Hodgkins Lymphoma, which has an extremely high cure rate. The bad news is that being extremely treatable doesn't make the treatments any less sucky and it doesn't make medical bills any less expensive. He's already won a battle with his insurance company to get them to cover his treatments, but you know they're not covering anything. And on top of that he's still got a wonderful family to support, which isn't as easy to do when you're sick and can't work as much as you're used to.

That brings us back to the headline. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird have collaborated to create a commemorative art print, the sales of which will go to Jake's medical bills! I'm pretty sure that Kevin and Peter haven't collaborated in this form since the mid-90s and, honestly, the chances of this happening ever again are rare at best. What does that mean? It means you need to get yourself one of these!!

How do you get one? For now, you have to be attending San Diego Comic-Con next week. They will be for sale at the Mirage tables in Artists' Alley for the (extremely reasonable) price of $25. The edition sold at Comic-Con is limited to 100 pieces, but if you miss out or can't make the Con, don't fret too hard, it sounds like a non-Comic-Con edition of the print will eventually become available. Jake reports that there are also plans to put the image on T-shirts and posters.

The current Mirage crew collaborated on a print, also for Jake's benefit, that was first sold at a Free Comic Book Day event back in May. This print will also be available at Comic-Con next week for $20.

Chrome Fugitoid Figure Available For Pre-Order

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This showed up on Entertainment Earth a few days ago, but was then quickly taken down. Well, it's back - Chrome Fugitoid! Better get your pre-orders in now, as this is destined to ultimately be one of those ultra-rare figures. How else will it be available? No idea! Retailers that carry Playmates' TMNT figures are dropping like flies (Target recently dropped them, seeming to leave only Toys R Us left), so it's not going to be on a store shelf (or peg) near you. This could very well be the last TMNT action figure until they no doubt release movie tie-ins in 2011. Am I sad about that? No, I'm laughing because the fans that Playmates was pointing and laughing at were right and they were wrong. Too bad for them.

But if you dig Chrome Fugitoid, best get your order in now.

Link was found on Twitter via @geekgirldiva - Thanks!

TMNT: Smash-Up New Characters Revealed

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Hey, I must be on "The List" now - Ubisoft has checked in again, this time with new screen shots and a video revealing three new playable characters: Karai, Nightwatcher, and Fugitoid. Check out the pics & video below.

TMNT Smash-Up & Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled Updates

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You probably know about the upcoming TMNT Smash-Up & Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled video games, but aside from breaking the news on the existance of TMNT Re-Shelled, I've pretty much left the gaming Web sites to take care of feeding the public with info on them, since they generally get fed all that information directly and the only thing I'd be able to do is steal their news from them and I'm just not that kind of person.

Anywho, a fine gentleman from Ubisoft was kind enough to send me an e-mail with some pictures that, apparently, have not been sent to any of the other gaming Web sites (yet). That's right, these are for Turtles fans first!

Update: Quality issues have been fixed (thanks, Ubisoft!), but I'm told that this images aren't particularly new. Well, I guess it's still something.

     

You can keep current on all the latest news on these games on the following Web sites (as well as many others):

TMNT Smash-Up
Gamespot | IGN | 1Up | Official Site
Available September 15 on Wii and September 22 on Playstation 2.

Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled
Gamespot | IGN | 1Up | Official Site
Available August 5 on Xbox Live Arcade

New TMNT Electric Zombie Clothing

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Electric Zombie clothing has released a new line of TMNT-inspired T-shirts.

The T-shirts feature original designs that harken toward everyone's love of zombies.





The available styles are:
Rocker Olive Green (Rocksteady - pictured above)
Bopper Purple (Bebop)
Don of the Dead Black (Donatello and Krang)
Shock Wave Orange Metalhead
Shred Head White (Shredder)
Bug Eyes Gold (Baxter Stockman)
Mondo Teal (Mondo Gecko)

There is also a (not-so-original) poster.

Most of these styles are super-limited, so get them NOW if you want them!

Thanks to @CoreyMadVillain on Twitter for finding this!

TMNT 2011 Movie Gets A Writer

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TMNT25.com has released some details about the events they will be hosting at Comic-Con, coming up in San Diego in two weeks, and by doing so has inadvertently disclosed some information not previously announced (to my knowledge).

According to the TMNT25.com site, John Fusco will be writing the new movie, slated for release in 2011, and will be on a TMNT panel scheduled for Friday of the convention.

According to IMDB, Mr. Fusco's previous screenwriting credits include the Young Guns movies, The Babe, and Hidalgo. He is also writer of a novel, Paradise Salvage.

Unfortunately, I don't believe I've seen any of his credited films, so I really can't comment as to what this actually means for the upcoming TMNT film. It does seem that Mr. Fusco likes horses, though.

Ninja Pizza will be covering San Diego Comic-Con extensively leading up to, and during the show, so stay tuned for many more updates and details to come. Watch for information on TMNT-related programming and events coming up within the next few days.