Since it’s always been a goal of mine to one day write licensed comics for various publishing houses, I made a New Year’s resolution for 2016 to write a few in my free time, set in worlds I enjoy, featuring familiar characters I dig.
After previously tackling the Battletoads in a 5-page comic (you know, that Nintendo video game from 1991?) I decided to turn my attention to the property that quite possibly had the biggest impact on me as a youngster.
That’s right… the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Regardless of how you might feel about recent movie interpretations of the classic characters, the bottom line is that the turtles have been on television in some form or fashion since I was three years old.
I watched the shows, bought the toys, loved the original movies (yeah, even the one with Vanilla Ice), and the mutants even served as my gateway to comics. I spent years picking up copies of the Amazing Adventures series at the drugstore from the spinner rack.
Oh, yeah… my parents even took me to meet the creators of the turtles, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Not only did I meet them, Laird actually drew a sketch of Leonardo in two of the comics I brought along. I should probably track those down, huh?
Not only do the turtles mean a lot to me, but they mean a lot to artist Ed Jimenez, who I teamed up with for this comic. Remember Ed? He’s the crazy talented (crazy and talented?) guy created a little comic called Unit 44 with me. It came out last year. It was awesome. You should read it.
Ed gave me a list of villains he wanted to draw to choose from for the short, and what was intended as a five-page story quickly became six, and finally stabilized at eight as I wrote. It was just too much fun. I couldn’t stop. Ed and I strayed away from tackling a classic villain like Shredder and instead, went for an oddball character that just recently was reintroduced on television.
Not only do the turtles mean a lot to me and Ed, they also mean a lot to colorist Kote Carvajal who volunteered to bring his creativity to the pages. While I thought Ed’s pages and my writing were pretty good, Kote took the short to a whole new level. Wait ’til see it.
And while I’m fully aware that the turtles are well-represented in a licensed comic book right now, I wanted to bring my voice to the awesome foursome. So this is our little stamp. Our half-shelled homage to some of the best characters ever created.
So what are you waiting for? Click here to read my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic, Blood in the Water, for FREE!
If you enjoy it, do Ed, Kote and I a huge favor and share it with a friend! Let’s throw it back and soak in some nostalgia.
Wes Locher 