By Mark Rodriguez
Long ago in the 80's Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird did random drawings of turtles with ninja weapons. They eventually did a comic about it and it kicked off a franchise that exists to this day. The comics were cool but what really exploded was the classic animated TV show and the Playmates toy line.
Eventually Eastman and Laird went their own ways and Eastman even sold his share of the ownership rights to the Turtles to Laird. Later on Laird would start the 4th Volume of the Mirage comics series, as well as having a big hand in the 2003 TMNT cartoon series and the CGI TMNT 2007 movie. Shortly after the epic movie, Turtles Forever, in which the 80's TMNT, 2K3 TMNT and original Mirage TMNT met up and joined forces, Laird announced he sold the property to Viacom/Nickelodeon.
With Nick buying the property, we've had the 2012 cartoon series, the Micheal Bay movies (*shudders*) and there's a new TMNT show coming soon.
Well, anyway, Laird has his own blog and he did a Q&A with his fans, and he actually got back to me and answered my questions! Laird kinda stepped away from the TMNT world to devote more time to his family, so I know he hasn't seen the new show, so my questions were mostly aimed at his involvement of the original Mirage comics series. Again, thanks for answering my questions Mr. Laird!
(Laird's answers are the ones written in bold)
"Well, first let me say it was an honor to get the chance to not only write to you, but to also know you'll actually get the chance to read it and possibly answer it. What can I say that a million hasn't said already?"
It never gets old, Mark! :)
" I grew up on your creations, at least the kid-friendly cartoon version of them, but that did eventually led me to the curiosity of seeking out and finding the original Mirage stories, especially City at War. I have some questions, if you don't mind.
1- What was that whole guest era of Volume 1 all about? Were you and Eastman taking a break, or were you busy handling the rights with Playmates/Fred Wolf? What made you decide 'enough is enough' and brought you back to make City at War?"
That run of issues on the first volume of TMNT comics came about because Kevin and I were absolutely SWAMPED with the stuff we had to do to keep up with the flood of TMNT products and projects which were happening as the mass-merchandising of the TMNT took off like a rocket, and we found it impossible to keep up with the bi-monthly comics publishing schedule we'd arrived at. So, rather than have many months go by between issues, we decided to see if we could get some friends and other artists to work on various fill-in issues. I think we got back into it with "City at War" when we finally had a chance to get the time to do it, and also I think there was some sense on our part that the fans were growing restless.
"2- what happened to Volume 2 that prevented it from being a longer on-going series."
If memory serves, it was mostly due to falling sales.
"3- That bit where Baxter injected April with something unknown in Vol 2, in which we'd never find out about til waaaay later in Vol 4... was that some untold plotline that was meant to be brought up later on has Vol 2 gone on longer? Was it purposely left open ended for a potential vol 3 or 4? Did you have something else in mind at the time?"
You know, I can't remember if that scene in Volume 2 was ever thought out much further than "this could be a cool sub-plot" later on. It's possible it was, but I don't recall any such planning. It did certainly dovetail nicely with what I eventually got going in Volume 4.
"4-Where did the idea of April being a drawing come from? She was, for the most part, the most normal of the group. What inspired you to change her origins to be non-human? Would she have lived out her normal life? I kinda assume she would age normally and just vanish when she dies. Or just end up in Kirby's world."
I'm not really sure where that idea came from, but I liked it a lot when it occurred to me. I think she would have lived out a normal life span, and probably would NOT have vanished like the other creations, because she was created through such passion and intensity of effort by her father that she was, in almost every way, fully human.
"5-I realize at the time, TMNT # 1 was a one shot and it was never expected to blow up like it did. But had you do it over again, would you have had the Shredder survive?"
Maybe. It's hard to answer that kind of question. If you mean "if we had to do it all over again, AND KNEW WHAT HAPPENED THE FIRST TIME AROUND", that puts a different spin on things. I think it worked out okay the way we did it.
"6- was it ever explained how normal pet rat Splinter was able to do ninja moves before any exposure to ooze?"
I think we implied somewhere along the line that Splinter was just a particularly smart rat. Or maybe we didn't, and that idea was just something I had in my head when thinking about the character.
"7- what was your personal favorite tmnt story you worked on or helped make?"
I liked them all, especially the ones I worked on with Kevin. But if I had to pick one, it would be the Jack Kirby tribute, the "Donatello One Issue Micro-Series".
"8- If you could one random TMNT one-shot, just something fun, for old times sake and not tied to years of continuity, what would it be about?"
Uh… Turtles, and ummm… some other stuff. (Yes, that means I have no good answer at this time.)
"and I guess that's really it. I do wish you and your family well. Thanks for making such awesome and unforgettable characters."
Thank you for the kind thoughts, and you are welcome! -- PL
And that's it for this time. I really wanted to take the chance to get some answers on things never fully addressed since he did leave Volume 4 at a cliffhanger, as well as the Mirage series after all. Again, I thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, as well as the ones from your many fans. It was indeed an incredible honor. Rock on Mr. Laird.... rock on.
Only time will tell how Rise of the TMNT will continue the TMNT legacy, at least in cartoon form.
Long ago in the 80's Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird did random drawings of turtles with ninja weapons. They eventually did a comic about it and it kicked off a franchise that exists to this day. The comics were cool but what really exploded was the classic animated TV show and the Playmates toy line.
Eventually Eastman and Laird went their own ways and Eastman even sold his share of the ownership rights to the Turtles to Laird. Later on Laird would start the 4th Volume of the Mirage comics series, as well as having a big hand in the 2003 TMNT cartoon series and the CGI TMNT 2007 movie. Shortly after the epic movie, Turtles Forever, in which the 80's TMNT, 2K3 TMNT and original Mirage TMNT met up and joined forces, Laird announced he sold the property to Viacom/Nickelodeon.
With Nick buying the property, we've had the 2012 cartoon series, the Micheal Bay movies (*shudders*) and there's a new TMNT show coming soon.
Well, anyway, Laird has his own blog and he did a Q&A with his fans, and he actually got back to me and answered my questions! Laird kinda stepped away from the TMNT world to devote more time to his family, so I know he hasn't seen the new show, so my questions were mostly aimed at his involvement of the original Mirage comics series. Again, thanks for answering my questions Mr. Laird!
(Laird's answers are the ones written in bold)
"Well, first let me say it was an honor to get the chance to not only write to you, but to also know you'll actually get the chance to read it and possibly answer it. What can I say that a million hasn't said already?"
It never gets old, Mark! :)
" I grew up on your creations, at least the kid-friendly cartoon version of them, but that did eventually led me to the curiosity of seeking out and finding the original Mirage stories, especially City at War. I have some questions, if you don't mind.
1- What was that whole guest era of Volume 1 all about? Were you and Eastman taking a break, or were you busy handling the rights with Playmates/Fred Wolf? What made you decide 'enough is enough' and brought you back to make City at War?"
That run of issues on the first volume of TMNT comics came about because Kevin and I were absolutely SWAMPED with the stuff we had to do to keep up with the flood of TMNT products and projects which were happening as the mass-merchandising of the TMNT took off like a rocket, and we found it impossible to keep up with the bi-monthly comics publishing schedule we'd arrived at. So, rather than have many months go by between issues, we decided to see if we could get some friends and other artists to work on various fill-in issues. I think we got back into it with "City at War" when we finally had a chance to get the time to do it, and also I think there was some sense on our part that the fans were growing restless.
"2- what happened to Volume 2 that prevented it from being a longer on-going series."
If memory serves, it was mostly due to falling sales.
"3- That bit where Baxter injected April with something unknown in Vol 2, in which we'd never find out about til waaaay later in Vol 4... was that some untold plotline that was meant to be brought up later on has Vol 2 gone on longer? Was it purposely left open ended for a potential vol 3 or 4? Did you have something else in mind at the time?"
You know, I can't remember if that scene in Volume 2 was ever thought out much further than "this could be a cool sub-plot" later on. It's possible it was, but I don't recall any such planning. It did certainly dovetail nicely with what I eventually got going in Volume 4.
"4-Where did the idea of April being a drawing come from? She was, for the most part, the most normal of the group. What inspired you to change her origins to be non-human? Would she have lived out her normal life? I kinda assume she would age normally and just vanish when she dies. Or just end up in Kirby's world."
I'm not really sure where that idea came from, but I liked it a lot when it occurred to me. I think she would have lived out a normal life span, and probably would NOT have vanished like the other creations, because she was created through such passion and intensity of effort by her father that she was, in almost every way, fully human.
"5-I realize at the time, TMNT # 1 was a one shot and it was never expected to blow up like it did. But had you do it over again, would you have had the Shredder survive?"
Maybe. It's hard to answer that kind of question. If you mean "if we had to do it all over again, AND KNEW WHAT HAPPENED THE FIRST TIME AROUND", that puts a different spin on things. I think it worked out okay the way we did it.
"6- was it ever explained how normal pet rat Splinter was able to do ninja moves before any exposure to ooze?"
I think we implied somewhere along the line that Splinter was just a particularly smart rat. Or maybe we didn't, and that idea was just something I had in my head when thinking about the character.
"7- what was your personal favorite tmnt story you worked on or helped make?"
I liked them all, especially the ones I worked on with Kevin. But if I had to pick one, it would be the Jack Kirby tribute, the "Donatello One Issue Micro-Series".
"8- If you could one random TMNT one-shot, just something fun, for old times sake and not tied to years of continuity, what would it be about?"
Uh… Turtles, and ummm… some other stuff. (Yes, that means I have no good answer at this time.)
"and I guess that's really it. I do wish you and your family well. Thanks for making such awesome and unforgettable characters."
Thank you for the kind thoughts, and you are welcome! -- PL
And that's it for this time. I really wanted to take the chance to get some answers on things never fully addressed since he did leave Volume 4 at a cliffhanger, as well as the Mirage series after all. Again, I thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, as well as the ones from your many fans. It was indeed an incredible honor. Rock on Mr. Laird.... rock on.
Only time will tell how Rise of the TMNT will continue the TMNT legacy, at least in cartoon form.
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