I met Kevin Eastman at a convention about 1991 or so. I purchased a pencil original but sold it when money got tight at one point, I wish I still had it.
Anyway, the convention was pretty slow, lousy weather that day, low turnout so I got to chat with him a few minutes. See, thing is, I didn't much care about TMNT but I saw a few of his pencil originals and I loved them. I loved the early style where they were kind of dark and bad ass. The one I had had Leo taking some instruction from Splinter.
I made a comment about how it's evolved, went from being this fringe comic to a cottage industry. He laughed and he told me the story about how TMNT was conceived. So comic artist Kevin Eastman and his buddy Peter Laird are sitting having a drink together while sharing some ideas and commiserating a bit about what comics had become, how DC and Marvel have poisoned the industry, how only one independent book was doing well.... So they say, for kicks, how about we give the kids everything they love in one book, a parody of all the stuff that was ultra popular in 1984.
So what do the kids like???... Well Marvel's New Mutants are flying off the shelves... Okay, Teenage Mutants, what else?.... Well, the kids love stealthy Ninja/Samurai types, Frank Miller did great with Daredevil and Ronin.... so Teenage Mutant Ninja's.... What else is big?.....Well Cerebus is an Aardvark, that's the only independent that anyone is reading right now.... Well Teenage Mutant Ninja Aardvarks.... that does not quite ring, how about Turtles????
And there you have it, concept born, they do a couple drawings and Eastman asks his Uncle for some cash so they can self publish the first one with the promise that he will make good on it come his tax refund. They self publish a few thousand of the first book thinking it was a bit of a "fuck you" to the comics industry, but the satire is lost on readers, they see something original and a couple years later they have all kinds of offers, Playmates for toys, deals for wider distribution, then an animated series.... It was just intended to be a joke and a wasted tax refund, instead it made them millionaires. If there were ever accidental millionaires, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird take the prize.
Comments
How can no Casey Jones but Whoopi Goldberg?
You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand Icrontic.
You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand Icrontic.
Still undecided.
It can't be worse than TMNT3. Can it?
Yes but it would take tremendous effort and Uwe Boll.
Whenever I see that Michael Bay directed a movie, this is all I can think of.
I hope this doesn't follow that vein.
Lips.
I'm cautiously optimistic. I will go see it no matter what though.
Nope. I shall give no more of my money to Michael Bay projects. It just encourages the bastard.
I met Kevin Eastman at a convention about 1991 or so. I purchased a pencil original but sold it when money got tight at one point, I wish I still had it.
Anyway, the convention was pretty slow, lousy weather that day, low turnout so I got to chat with him a few minutes. See, thing is, I didn't much care about TMNT but I saw a few of his pencil originals and I loved them. I loved the early style where they were kind of dark and bad ass. The one I had had Leo taking some instruction from Splinter.
I made a comment about how it's evolved, went from being this fringe comic to a cottage industry. He laughed and he told me the story about how TMNT was conceived. So comic artist Kevin Eastman and his buddy Peter Laird are sitting having a drink together while sharing some ideas and commiserating a bit about what comics had become, how DC and Marvel have poisoned the industry, how only one independent book was doing well.... So they say, for kicks, how about we give the kids everything they love in one book, a parody of all the stuff that was ultra popular in 1984.
So what do the kids like???... Well Marvel's New Mutants are flying off the shelves... Okay, Teenage Mutants, what else?.... Well, the kids love stealthy Ninja/Samurai types, Frank Miller did great with Daredevil and Ronin.... so Teenage Mutant Ninja's.... What else is big?.....Well Cerebus is an Aardvark, that's the only independent that anyone is reading right now.... Well Teenage Mutant Ninja Aardvarks.... that does not quite ring, how about Turtles????
And there you have it, concept born, they do a couple drawings and Eastman asks his Uncle for some cash so they can self publish the first one with the promise that he will make good on it come his tax refund. They self publish a few thousand of the first book thinking it was a bit of a "fuck you" to the comics industry, but the satire is lost on readers, they see something original and a couple years later they have all kinds of offers, Playmates for toys, deals for wider distribution, then an animated series.... It was just intended to be a joke and a wasted tax refund, instead it made them millionaires. If there were ever accidental millionaires, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird take the prize.