IDW Report From Comic-Con; TMNT Micro-Series Announced

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Poster from the
Diamond/Previews booth.

As could be expected with the title launch only a month away, IDW made sure to let all of Comic-Con know that the Turtles are coming back. The cover to issue #2 adorned part of the IDW booth, and either by design or happy coincidence, the Diamond/Previews booth also had a poster up.

At the IDW booth.

The ashcan, which features the first eight pages of issue #1 and an interview with Dan Duncan, Tom Waltz, and Kevin Eastman, was available for taking, and I think they ran out on Saturday. Attendees of Nickelodeon's preview event also got a copy of the ashcan, and heard IDW editor Bobby Curnow briefly talk about the new series. On Saturday, IDW held a booth signing with Dan, Tom, and Kevin, which I hear was really well-attended (I showed up right when it started, so I was out of there pretty quick).

Raphael Micro-Series is announced.

At IDW's panel on Thursday, the biggest news was the announcement of the return of the Micro-Series books that feature solo Turtle adventures. The first book will be Raphael, written by Brian Lynch and art by Franko Uru, which is scheduled for November 2011. The other Turtles will soon follow. And it was also announced that the TMNT would be fair game for future multi-license projects. About the regular series, it was said that it will be 100% brand new, and they're especially looking forward to bringing the Turtles into the 21st Century. But the core spirit of the Turtles will still be there. They will be aiming to appeal to both a brand new audience, as well as the existing hardcore fans. You can expect to see Casey Jones, alley battles, new bad guys, April O'Neil, and Baxter Stockman. It was also revealed in the interview in the back of the ashcan that one of the new characters is a local pizza boy named Woody.

The inside back cover of
the exclusive ashcan comic.

I had a chance to chat with Tom Waltz a bit while waiting to get into Nickelodeon's preview event, and he confirmed that both Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird are providing annotations for the upcoming Ultimate hardcover collections. Very cool!

And for anyone wondering about the layouts Kevin is providing for the series, he had photo copies of two or three issues worth with him at the Heavy Metal booth and they are AMAZING!! They are incredibly detailed, and pure Kevin. Don't be surprised if IDW eventually publishes them. They're that good.

If you didn't get to Comic-Con, I'll be giving away some copies of the ashcan in the very near future! Stay tuned!