TMNT Costumed Characters Debut at Nick Hotel Memorial Day Weekend

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TMNT costumed characters will begin appearing at Nick Hotel for meet and greets starting this upcoming Memorial Day weekend. No details about the meet and greets are available, but expect the costumes to be the same as the ones seen at Nickelodeon Universe back in March for the grand opening of the TMNT: Shell Shock ride (which, as an aside, has been closed for unknown maintenance reasons for the last few weeks). You can expect the Turtles to be an on-going attraction at the resort as the premiere of the new CGI series this fall comes ever closer.

If you're like me and you've never heard of Nick Hotel, here's how Nickelodeon describes it:

Located in the heart of Orlando’s tourism district, Nickelodeon Suites Resort, otherwise known as the Nick Hotel, is much more than a place for guests to lay their heads at night. From two over-the-top pool complexes with slides and flumes, to live entertainment and Character Breakfast featuring Nickelodeon’s beloved characters, to a multimillion dollar 4-D Theater, to the colorfully themed KidSuites and gallons upon gallons of slime, Nick Hotel offers nonstop activity from dawn to dusk for the entire family any time of the year.

Sounds neat!

IDW TMNT Color Classics #1 - Variant Cover Guide

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Are you ready to enter into a whole new realm of TMNT reprints? Starting today, IDW is releasing all of the original Eastman & Laird issues (i.e. all the issues that are collected in the hardcover reprints) as individual color "floppies." These issues feature brand new coloring of the original black and white art.

Confused yet? Yeah, thought so. Just smile, nod, and fork over your $4. Not convinced? Check out a preview!

Cover A

Cover B

Cover A: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird (color).
Regular cover.

Cover B: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird (black & white).
Retailer exclusive cover for Jetpack Comics.
This cover is available from Jetpack Comics.

Free Comic Book Day is Tomorrow! Giveaway Details

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Free Comic Book Day is TOMORROW! Woohoo! Be sure to visit your local comic shop where you can grab some swag, and buy some extra comics while you're at it. Many stores will be having events, so get out there and partake!

Ninja Pizza will be celebrating by giving away 4 special prize packs featuring an exclusive Wild West C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa coloring book and poster, donated by Ryan Brown and The Toys that Time Forgot. Or, if you're in Ohio, you can grab one for yourself!

If you don't know, Ryan is the creator of the C.O.W.Boys, and he also worked at Mirage Studios in the 90s where he drew lots of Turtles and designed lots of toys, among other things.

So how do you win? Visit NinjaPizza.net between 12:00am and 11:59pm Pacific Time on Saturday, May 5, to find out!

If both geography and luck aren't on your side on Saturday, you can buy the coloring books directly (in bulk) from Willow Promotions.

Each winner will receive one coloring book and one poster for tomorrow's Free Comic Book Day event. Each coloring book has a sketch and signature from Ryan on the inside back cover, and each poster has the same! The four that I have are even color coded - one for each Turtle!

I will also be including a random selection of comic books from my personal stash for each winner!

See you back here tomorrow!

TMNT Preview Panel at London Comic Con

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London Comic Con, coming up May 25-27, has announced a special Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles panel that will give attendees a sneak preview of the upcoming new CGI TV series from Nickelodeon. Presenting the panel will be TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, along with Senior Vice President of Current Animation at Nickelodeon Rich Magallanes. Eastman was already scheduled to be a guest at the convention, while Magallanes the TMNT Fan Preview Events last year in Burbank and San Diego. 

Convention goers who would like to attend the panel are encouraged to register for "VIP access" on the London Comic Con website.

According to the website:

Visitors to May’s show at ExCel will get a sneak peek at the next generation of turtles, as Nickelodeon previews its upcoming CG-reimagining of the classic animation with an exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles presentation and Q&A. 

Taking place in the show’s MCM Theatre from 11:30 am on Saturday 26 May, the special panel stars Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman and Nickelodeon Senior Vice President, Current Animation Rich Magallanes. As well as getting the low-down on this exciting new series, every Q&A attendee will also receive a free Turtles item! 

Featuring your favourite half-shell heroes – as well as April O’Neil, Splinter and Shredder – the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series breathes new life into the iconic characters of the much-loved franchise… and you can find out about it first at MCM Expo London Comic Con!

While this is very exciting news for fans "across the pond," it's also rather curious. Indication given at Toy Fair in February was that the new series wouldn't hit international markets until Spring 2013, nearly a year away. Meanwhile, fans everywhere are anxiously waiting for Nickelodeon's PR machine to break loose and start feeding us information and previews.

If any readers attend the Con and the panel, please submit a report to share with the rest of us!

IDW TMNT #9 Variant Cover Guide

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Once again, it's another split new comic book day. Some of you will walk into your shops today to find TMNT #9, some of you will be empty handed. You can thank Diamond for the distribution mess.

No matter what part of the country you're in, you can check out a preview for the book!

Finally, Free Comic Book Day is coming up on May 5! If you know of any TMNT-related appearances or signings happening that day, please e-mail the info to me so that I can post it here on the website. Thanks!

Cover A

Cover B

Cover A: Dan Duncan.
Regular cover; distributed in a 4:1 ratio with cover B.

Cover B: Kevin Eastman.
Regular cover; distributed in a 1:4 ratio with cover A.

Cover C

Cover C: Ethan Nicolle.
Retailer incentive cover; 1 copy sent to retailers for every 10 copies ordered.

Kevin Eastman Auctioning Pieces of TMNT History

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On May 10, 2012, through Heritage Auctions, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman will be selling significant pieces of TMNT history from his personal collection through public auction.

Items to be sold include the first ever group drawing of the TMNT (above), one of the first ever TMNT toy prototypes, a Press Proof 1st print of TMNT #1, a collection of TMNT movie scripts (including a draft of the original TMNT 4 script, plus concept art), and more!

You can check out a quick preview of all of the items over at Kevin's DeviantArt account. If you're ready to open your wallet, head over to Heritage Auctions for auction and bidding details!

UPDATE! The final selling price on the first ever group drawing of the TMNT was an astonishing $71,700!!

Boston Comic Con This Weekend

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Kevin Eastman will be at Boston Comic Con this weekend! No specific word on what his schedule will be or where to find him, but I'm sure he won't be hard to track down once the doors open.

A good place to start looking would be the Jetpack Comics booth, where they are claiming to be THE Heavy Metal vendor of the show. Simon Bisley will also be attending, and Jetpack is offering the following special deal throughout the weekend:

Swing by the Jetpack Comics Booth and pick up all the best Kevin Eastman & Simon Bisley merchandise  and you'll get FREE STUFF. Just spend $10 on Eastman merch and get a FREE reproduction of the original TMNT #1! Spend $10 on Simon Bisley merch and get a FREE copy of his Jetpack Exclusive edition of DEAD: Kingdom of the Flies.

I'm not sure which edition of TMNT #1 they'll be giving out (if you go to the show, let me know!), but my guess would be the PBBZ reprint.

Also at the show will be 4Kids artist Khary Randolph and Mirage Studios artist Michael Dooney! Sounds like a good time!