Tales of the TMNT #42

Tweet

From NinjaTurtles.com:

Tales of the TMNT #42
Ship Date: January, 2008
Format: 32 B&W pages, full color cover, standard size comic
Retail Price: $3.25 US $3.95 Canada

Cover art by Dan Berger; story by Dan Berger, art by Jim Lawson
“The Curious Case of Mr. Jones” - Casey Jones is interrogated by "Men in Black" after he and Raphael battled an alien robot that crash landed on Earth. Will Casey reveal who Raphael is to the secret agents? How was the mechanical menace from the stars defeated? And just who are these men of mystery asking all of these questions? All this will be solved and more in Tales of the TMNT #42!

TMNT Volume 4 to Return - Sorta

Tweet

NinjaTurtles.com delivered this message from Peter Laird today addressing the return of Volume 4 of the TMNT comic book:

Welcome back to TMNT Volume 4!

Well, not quite yet... but soon. Volume 4 is going to return this year, but in a slightly different form -- or forms, to be more precise. There will be an inexpensive -- or possibly free -- online form, as well as a more expensive limited edition collectible printed version.

There are a few reasons for this new approach, mostly related to my work habits. For quite some time, before I took most of the last year off from doing the Vol. 4 comics, I had been getting more and more
frustrated by what was required of me, with every issue, to meet the requirements of Diamond Comics, the major comics distributor. This included preparing solicitation material three months in advance for the "Diamond Previews" catalog, along with ads and such. For whatever reason, preparing these materials on this schedule, along with actually getting the book ready to go to the printer by a set deadline, was just really starting to get to me. (Don't get me wrong -- Diamond's system is a fine, reasonable, businesslike approach to distributing comics, and works very well. I just can't deal with it anymore.)

I was also getting frustrated with the time lag between finishing the book and actually seeing it appear before the eyes of the fans, on comic store shelves. It would very often be up to four or five weeks from the time we sent the materials to our printer. Again, not uncommon and completely reasonable -- it takes time to print, bind, trim and ship a comic book.

So, while I was on hiatus, I started thinking about it, and came up with a new scheme. It may turn out to be harebrained, or it might be really good... or maybe just okay. We'll see.

Here's the plan:

1.) Digital Distribution: Each issue will be posted online at the ninjaturtles.com official TMNT website, within a few days (or maybe even hours) of being completed. Access to each issue will very likely be free to anyone with an internet connection and a decent browser, though I am looking into possibly charging a small fee... haven't figured that one out quite yet.

In addition, if feasible technically, I may try something new for TMNT -- a somewhat interactive online letters page. I'm not completely sure how or even if this will work, but I'm mulling it over.

2.) Limited-Edition Printed Distribution: Each issue will also be printed in a "collectible" limited edition, very likely somewhere between 1000 and 3000 copies. These will be available via mail order from Mirage, and will probably cost $10.00 each, shipping included. The first hundred books ordered per issue will have an original black and white TMNT head sketch drawn and signed by me on the inside front or back cover.

These print versions will almost certainly not appear at the same time that the online version is posted, but probably several weeks later.

I'm hoping that these changes will work, and will allow me to continue doing Volume 4 with the same sense of fun which has sustained the book from its inception in 2001 up until the beginning of my hiatus in June of 2006. I think it's worth a shot... and I hope you do too!

-- Peter Laird

Tales of the TMNT #38 - Preview Pages

Tweet

Artist Dario Brizuela has posted some preview pages from the upcoming Tales of the TMNT #38 to his blog.

You can check out all of the pages here, here, and here.

Tales of the TMNT #38 will be in stores later this month.

TMNT FF Trading Card @ KB Toys

Tweet

KB Toy stores are giving away a pack of 4Kids trading cards free with any purchase. Each pack is the same and contains a card from most of the shows in their Fall lineup. The TMNT card features this art.

TMNT Mini Mutants Action Figures

Tweet

Toy News International has released pictures of new TMNT "Mini Mutants" toys and figures that will be hitting shelves in 2008. These figures are similar in design and scale to the Star Wars "Galactic Heroes" and Marvel "Superhero Squad" toys.

You can view the entire gallery here.

Thanks to IBNXuFasch for the link.

Kevin Eastman Interview: Part 2

Tweet

The second half of Newsarama's interview with Kevin Eastman is now available for reading on their website here. This part deals mostly with Heavy Metal.

Convention Sketches From Eric Talbot

Tweet

Eric talbot has posted some scans of sketches from last weekend's Comic Expo in Toronto.

You can check all of them out at his blog.