"The Forever War" Officially Canceled

Tweet

So, how many times can you get over the cancellation of the TMNT Adventures conclusion, "The Forever War"? Having first been canceled when the title itself was canceled in the mid-90s, and after several on-and-off broken promises throughout this decade that Mirage would publish the 5-part story, fans were given hope that the project might actually see the light of day as it was put on Mirage's schedule as part of the 25th anniversary celebration.

As such, a lead-up TPB was released in July that collected key stories that would lead up to what we would see in "The Forever War." Unfortunately, circumstances seemed to put the project into a holding pattern and its release once again became uncertain.

Now, in light of the recent purchase of the TMNT by Nickelodeon/Viacom, Mirage has been forced to make a definitive decision on the fate of this title, and, unfortunately, the news isn't good news.

In an e-mail to long-time TMNT fan Andrew M., Steve Murphy has made it official that the story is canceled and will not be published.

To get a look at the story that might've been, you can head on over to Murphy's old 5th Turtle blog to see a small glimpse.

I suppose this really isn't unexpected, but it remains disappointing. Once again the Turtles don't get a proper farewell. Alas...

"Future Tense" w/ Exclusive Book Plate Available for Pre-Order

Tweet

PanelToPanel.net has posted the "Future Tense" trade paperback for pre-order! While supplies last, all copies of "Future Tense" ordered from PanelToPanel.net will include an exclusive bookplate featuring brand new art by TMNT Adventures artist Chris Allan. This book contains some of my all-time favorite TMNT stories, so you definitely don't want to miss it!



From NinjaTurtles.com:

Mirage Studios' first trade paperback collection of Archie Comics' "TMNT Adventures," collecting 8 issues of the classic comic book series: #42-44 ("The Future Shark Trilogy") and #62-66 (the "Dreamland" 5-issue story arc). All issues feature the "future Turtles" and act as a lead-in to the upcoming all-new "Forever War" mini-series!

Here's a preview of the bookplate that will be included:

The Forever War: 5-Part Mini-Series Beginning August '09

Tweet

When the TMNT Adventures title from Archie was canceled in 1995, it was done abruptly and premature. A new story titled "The Forever War" had been already solicited for several months, but it didn't matter... the title went kaput. (For a little background on that story, check out these old posts from the 5th Turtle: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.)

In recent years Mirage has teased us, saying that they would publish this "lost" story... but still, it never came. Until now!! Using the 25th anniversary as a pretty good excuse, wheels are really turning and "The Forever War" will finally see print! There's been a lack of details as to when and how we'd see it, but the answers seem to have finally arrived.

Cap e-mailed in with the above picture, which is a full-page advertisement for "The Forever War," stating it will (still) be in five parts and the first will be shipping in August (I think the previous best guess had been September). To make sure that your comic shop orders the book (and saves you a copy!) just print out the ad and bring it in to them - The information at the bottom will help ensure that they get it for you!

This scan is from the back of the Free Comic Book Day reprint of TMNT Vol. 1 #1 - Don't forget to visit your local comic shop on May 2nd to pick up your copy of that book!!

Original Archie Mini-Series TPB Announced

Tweet

Toy News International is reporting tonight on a new trade paperback that will collect the three issues that comprised the original TMNT comic book mini-series from Archie comics.

The trade, featuring early Turtles work by TMNT master artist Michael Dooney, also features a brand new cover by Dooney. And, most impressively, the interior will be published in full color! Look for it at your local comic shop around May 13. Or - best news in a long time - pre-order it now on Amazon.com!!

Cowabunga!!

Thanks to Ectocooler for finding the link at TNI!

Rewriting TMNT25.com: About Mirage Studios

Tweet

Savvy TMNT fans were watching TMNT25.com on January 1, when the site relaunched itself with loads of new content. However, and rather sadly, the content on the site is poorly written, features bad grammar and punctuation, and, most unbelievably, is full of inaccurate information.

If the TMNT25 team doesn't believe in the use of editors or fact checkers, that's their choice to poorly represent the TMNT brand. As easily as I could, I'm not going to tear apart the site to show off its poor use of design, poor writing, inaccuracies, etc. However, there is one page so greatly misleading that I cannot ignore it.

You would think the "About Mirage Studios" page would be the easiest page for the TMNT25 team to write. But it only took a quick glance for me to find glaring errors. As such, I did a bit of digging into my personal TMNT archive to find references and do some fact checking. The result is what you find below. I realize that this is a lot more depth than the "About Mirage Studios" page was intended to have, but if you compare the two you'll see the conflict in information, especially with certain dates.

ABOUT MIRAGE STUDIOS

Steve Lavigne, high school classmate and friend of Kevin Eastman, as well as the real-life inspiration behind Michaelangelo, was Mirage's first employee, hired in 1985 to help with lettering duties beginning with issue #5 of the original TMNT comic book. His duties would expand to coloring comics and art and penciling licensing art that was used on thousands of TMNT products sold around the world. Lavigne left the studio in 1995 to return to his home state of Maine. He still does occasional freelance work for Mirage when asked.

After giving Eastman and Laird a piece of fan art at a comic convention in Detroit in 1985, Ryan Brown was asked to "get in touch" with the studio in the letters column of the 4th reprinting of TMNT #1, published in September 1985. He did so immediately, resulting in an inking tryout for a short comic titled "New York Ninja" that would later see print in the back of the TMNT RPG supplement book titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures!

Passing that test, Brown was then invited to join the studio, making the move to Northampton, MA in September 1986. He would eventually use his inking skills on most of the licensing art drawn by Lavigne, as well as some comic covers. A life-long love of toys made him a perfect match for the role of the in-studio Toy Coordinator after Playmates launched its line of highly successful TMNT toys and action figures. Brown left the studio in 1995 to return to his home state of Ohio. He still does occasional freelance work for Mirage when asked.

Around the same time Brown set foot in Massachusetts and after a successful portfolio presentation, Jim Lawson was invited to move up from his home in Connecticut to join Mirage. Lawson and Brown then teamed together to draw and ink, respectively, a new companion comic title, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lawson would also contribute to licensing art and penciling of the regular TMNT comic book series, becoming the main penciler starting with issue #48 of original series, a role that he maintains today with Volume 4 of the series.

Michael Dooney wrote a fan letter to Eastman and Laird after the original publication of the very first TMNT comic book. Dooney, an inspiring comic book creator in his own right, kept in touch with Mirage and would pencil issue #9 of the comic book, released in September 1986, while still living in New Jersey. After moving to the studio full-time, Dooney contributed art to more issues of the original comic book, full-color paintings for the official TMNT magazine, and some of the early issues of the Archie comics TMNT series among other things. Dooney remains with the studio today, contributing art for licensing, comic books, and toy design in collaboration with Playmates Toys.

In mid-1989, after the first few issues of the Archie comic series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, which were simply adaptations of the TMNT cartoon series, the book was horribly late and in danger of breach of contract. Seeing an opportunity, Brown asked his friend and roommate, Steve Murphy, to collaborate with him to create original stories for the comic series. Murphy, who was writing his own comic series, The Puma Blues, and doing proofreading and editing for Mirage, was hesitant to commit to the project, but finally agreed to take on the writing duties under the pen name Dean Clarrain. Murphy left Mirage with the end of the Adventures series in 1995, but would return in January 2002 as Creative Director of Licensing and Managing Editor of Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 when the title was established January 2004. Murphy resigned from his duties as Managing Editor in August 2007, but remains in the position of Creative Director of Licensing.

With Adventures back on track, Brown and Murphy needed a permanent inker for the book. Brown contacted his old roommate in Ohio, who had just graduated from art school, and asked him to join the team. Dan Berger came to Massachusetts in August 1989; his first Turtles work was TMNT Adventures #8, published in February 1990. He has also contributed to the original TMNT comic book, licensing art, and the daily TMNT newspaper comic strip. Berger has been the Webmaster of ninjaturtles.com since 1998 and Managing Editor of Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 since Murphy's resignation in 2007.

Like Lavigne, Eric Talbot was a high school buddy of Kevin Eastman. His first work with the TMNT came with issue #17 of the original TMNT comic book, published November 1988. He would continue to contribute to TMNT comics and various licensing endeavors throughout the duration of the TMNT's popularity in the 90s and continues working with Mirage to this day.

Riding on the success of the TMNT, Kevin Eastman bought Heavy Metal magazine in 1991. His last TMNT work was the comic Bodycount, published by Image in 1996. In 2000 he sold the creative rights of the TMNT to Laird so that he could focus completely on Heavy Metal. However, this separation was not the end of his involvement with the TMNT. In 2002 he published his TMNT "Artobiography" under the Heavy Metal label and in 2005 he gave Mirage the connection they needed, with Imagi Animation Studios, to make a new big-screen TMNT adventure a reality in 2007. In 2008 he sold his remaining TMNT holdings to Laird, but with plans to republish a handful of classic TMNT stories, the first of which, Bodycount, was released the same year.

A Look Ahead: TMNT Comics in 2009

Tweet

Comic Book Resources has the low-down on some of next year's TMNT comic book releases:

Next year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series. The original first eleven issues and individual character solo one shots, long out of print, are being collected in hardcover for May publication from Mirage.
This will be accompanied by an Official Handbook To The Mirage Universe style book, profiling Turtle and spinoff characters in all their various forms.
The “Forever War" story from the Archie "TMNT Adventures" comics will be published and completed, written by Steve Murphy who wrote the originals under the pseudonym of Dean Clarrain, with art by Chris Allan.
A Donatello mini-series to close out the yearly individual Tales series is entitled "Brain Thief."
Archie Comics will also reprint the original three-issue mini-series from Michael Dooney in their manga trade size with all new colouring.

Even factoring in Mirage's continued refusal to put their books in bookstores (very stupid), all of this is very good news! The biggest question mark is the Donatello mini-series. The series itself is a predictable part of the '09 plans, but hopefully it'll actually be about Donatello (unlike the Michelangelo series) and also hopefully it'll actually be good (unlike both the Raphael and Michelangelo series).

Thanks to both Jake Black and Will Tupper for the heads-up!

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

Tweet

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!

Mirage's Fan Reply Postcards

Tweet


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.

TMNT Flashback: Comics Interview #83

Tweet

A couple weeks ago, the TMNT world was rocked on its heels when Steve Murphy officially let it out of the closet that he was, in fact, the one and only Dean Clarrain, writer of virtually the entire TMNT Adventures title from Archie Comics. Even though it hadn't before been made official, I had thought more people had figured it out. But it seems those of us who had were in a minority. To celebrate this outing, I present to you Comics Interview #83, featuring an interview with the team behind the TMNT Adventures title: Dean Clarrain, Ryan Brown, and Dan Berger.

Gee, that Dean Clarrain guy doesn't look like Murphy at all...

As for the full interview itself, you can download it, for a limited time only, by clicking here. Enjoy!

The Forever War: The First 6 Pages

Tweet

Regular readers of The 5th Turtle know that Murphy has taken the last five days to tell the story behind The Forever War and why it never saw print in issues 71-75 of the Archie comic book series, as was originally planned.

We still have over a year to wait to see this story in print, but in the spirit of the Holiday season, today Murphy has gifted us with the first six pages from this story.

You can read these six pages at The 5th Turtle, here.

TMNT Flashback: Eastman & Laird Pullout Poster

Tweet

This image comes from inside the pages of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic series from Archie. This collaborative work by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird was a pullout poster inside issue #50.


Published in 1993, this is probably one of their final joint artistic efforts.

"The Forever War" to See Print!!

Tweet

Many, many years ago, "The Forever War" was to be the last story arc of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures title published by Archie comics. But Archie pulled the plug on the series early and the story never came to be. For several years Mirage has been saying that they would complete and publish this story, but it hasn't come to be. Now word comes from Steve Murphy that "The Forever War" will be published as part of the TMNT's 25th Anniversary in 2009. A trade paperback collecting related issues will also be published.

Read the full details at The 5th Turtle!

New Ninjara Art

Tweet

Murphy has posted new Ninjara art by Chris Allan over at The 5th Turtle.