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BOG the SWAMP DEMON & TMNT ..PIN-up art by Fernando León González (( 2010 ))

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–>> ..we all got out DEMONS ..

~ t

Tales of the TMNT – #64 – The Burning Man

I present to you a bittersweet review. Being the last issue done by our power house that is Tristan, we can only hope that we will see him again in the future that is Non-Mirage turtles…

I thoroughly enjoyed this issue. But the Mikey fan in me is probably the reason behind it. Tristan and Jim really did a great mix of action with a bit of humor. Mike narrates the story with this wonderful dry wit as he explains how he gets the ‘verbal spanking’ at the beginning of the story. Yes, you read that right…

Mike goes on to explain this elaborate Rube-Goldberg sequence of events that involves the foot clan, an underhanded Chinese businessman, a flaming skeleton and a scene involving Leonardo dressed up as Batman. Taking place not long after the death of Oroku Saki, Leonardo and Michelangelo discover the Foot clan stealing a relic from a private collector. Said relic turns out to be holding some sort of Chinese curse, which has been set after the businessman Li Xiao Yao.

Mike finds himself alone in dealing with this new threat, and  the ending results in the massive chaotic destruction of a good couple blocks of Chinatown. Not to mention Mike being broadcasted on National News. Good Times by All!

Of course, Mike’s totally innocent in all of this. A Victim of Circumstance. Or Murphy’s Law… seriously, you feel bad for him after a while. Between problems with the communicators, and his attempt to disguise himself with a set of nose-glasses, the turtle needs a vacation.

The cover looks is a pose right out of Indiana Jones. All he needs now are the artifacts and giant killer boulders. The addition of color Really helps Jim’s artwork stand out much more. The frontispiece is a fantastic scaly monstrosity, courtesy of Michael Dooney. We even get a little of “Mikey style” artwork, which strangely reminds me of the Canadians from South Park.

In all, this was a great issue, and it pains me to think that we will lose out on further creations from Tristan. Change can be good, but it is oh so hard… So a hearty thank you to Tristan and all of the Mirage Crew. You’ve been such an amazing group, we will always be grateful for your hard work.

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So Buy it, read it, and Love it! ZOUNDS!

~Machias

Ross May’s “I LOVE HALLOWEEN” COMIC CONTEST **

Ross May :: ” .. .. I’m holding a Halloween-themed
contest on my blog. People can send me an email with an attached image
of them in any sort of costume, and I’ll pick two winners to receive
Horrific Tales #2 (an anthology I contributed to that’s out this
month) and my moldy old Tales of the TMNT #19 and 22, all signed by
me.

** http://rossmay.livejournal.com/**

I know this is self-serving of me to tell you about it but hey,
thought maybe turtle-fans might be interested.

Cheers,
-Ross

Tales of the TMNT #62 – Adventures in Bunny-Sitting

Greetings!

Our newest issue of Tales of the TMNT takes a step into the twilight zone…

“Adventures in Bunnysitting” has a blend of Old toon antics and B-movie horror. Our story involves a grieving Michelangelo as he pines for his beloved Klunk, which we were reminded of his untimely demise in Dan’s story recap. A friend’s attempt to ease the mourning turtle’s pain only proves to be more trouble than the original intention…

AS always, if you don’t want a lot of spoilers, skip the next couple paragraphs…

We’re first re-introduced to the Utrom Klag and our dear ally Leatherhead. Preparing for a weekend trip, Klag visits Leatherhead in the laboratory to check on the recent findings with their experiments involving mutagenic nucleotides. They may be just steps away from discovering a cure for cancer. Break out the champagne! The revelry comes to a halt as Klag gets a call from Michelangelo. Mike’s feeling sentimental over lost friends, and just wants a shoulder to lean on. Eager to mend his friend’s broken heart, Klag gets the idea to have Michelangelo baby-sit for him for a couple weeks. Plus it would be a good break for the test-sbject: a fluffy, doe-eyed lil rabbit worthy of being called ‘Bunny’.

For most of the duration, Mike has coddled Bunny and let her run rampant around the lair, must to Raphael’s dislike. The final straw comes when Bunny steals Raph’s seat for the football game. Probably left him some presents while she where t0 here. Raph tries to grab her, only to get bitten in the process. Bunny has drawn blood… which seems to have set something off. The once precious bunny evolves into a blood-thirsty monster that attacks Raphael at every turn. The battle moves out to the sewers, leaving the lair a disaster.

Mike returns to the mess after getting Bunny’s dinner, and recieves a call on his cell. Apparently, Leatherhead checked the findings, and it seems that there might be some problems with little Bunny. Problems that Raph is currently dealing with. The monster even tries to copy Mike’s form, though unsucessfully. Bunny mutates into a multi-headed, tentacled beast with teeth and claws coming out of every orifice. Just seconds from Raph getting eaten, Mike’s arrival halts the attack – Bunny reverting back to her adorable, furball self.

Mike scolds Raph for tormenting the poor rabbit and carries her away, leaving Raph steaming. Leatherhead soon retrieves Bunny, and Mike comes to the realization that nothing could Ever replace Klunk.

On the back cover, we see a happy Michelangelo cuddling his precious Bunny. Hearts abound..

Okay, you’re safe to read now…

Now, according to the recap, this was a continuation from the Michelangelo Mini-series from a few years back. Not to mention, based on real events that happened involving Ryan’s own pet bunny and some traumatic misadventures involving Steve Lavigne and Kevin Eastman. That I’m not sure where to go with it…

But in all, this was a cutesy cornball story (I think) written merely for the creation of some exciting (and bizarre) battle scenes. As I’d said at the start, it reminded me a lot of the old toon with the stand-alone incidents with the ‘monster of the week’ kind of flavor. Some craziness that doesn’t amount to anything significant in the near future. Unless Brown and Gonzalez have something hidden up their sleeves…

The drawing style isn’t the usual blood and gore and dark kind of stuff. It looks almost like a Looney Tunes episode, up until Bunny goes crazy. And you can really see something Disney-esque in the art style – particularly in Bunny and the way the eyes are drawn. Even Klag looks like something you want to hug and squeeze and call George. The cover and Frontispiece are not overly complex, but definitely worth a look over.

But in all, this was a pretty off-the-wall issue, probably better appreciated while under the influence of some substance – caffeine, sugar, who knows…

Thanks for Reading!

~MachiasB

Tales of the TMNT v.2 #62 peek // page 21 .. pencils by Fernando León González, Inks by R. Brown (( September 2009 ))

–>> Who’s your bunny ?!

~ t

Tales of the TMNT v.2 #62 peek // pencils & colours by Fernando León González, Inks by R. Brown (( September 2009 ))

Tales of the TMNT #62

Available for pre-order in Diamond Comic Distributors’ July catalog, “Previews” V19 #250

Ship Date: September 14, 2009

Format: 32 B&W pages, full color cover, standard size comic

Retail Price: $3.25

Cover art by Fernando Leon Gonzalez, Ryan Brown & Steve Lavigne; plot/layouts by Ryan Brown, script by Dan Berger, pencils by Fernando Leon Gonzalez, inks by Ryan Brown

“Adventures in Bunnysitting” – Michelangelo’s Utrom friend, Klag, asks the good-natured ninja to take care of his pet bunny while he’s away. Unfortunately for Raphael and Mikey, Klag was unaware that the rabbit was a test subject for mutagenetic studies – and once the little critter gets agitated, things go from bad to worse – much, much worse! Based on a true story… well, kinda…

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Tales of the TMNT Review #60

Greetings all!

Today I present to you a review of our upcoming issue of Tales of the TMNT, #60 “Nobody Does it Better”

The first thing I gratefully mention is the Recap at the start of the issue. This was a big reminder of how tightly intertwined the people and events are throughout the Mirage comic’s universe – Whether the events happened fourteen issues ago or fourteen years ago. The Frontispiece, by Michael Dooney, gives us a few questions to ponder about existence and one’s purpose in life. Very nicely done, writing-wise and artistically.

As always, if you want to avoid anything spoiling in nature, just skip the next four paragraphs.

Our story opens in the early hours of morning, going back and forth between a government bunker in Nevada and the rooftop of a pizzaria in New York City.

In Nevada, The military is checking in on an old alien ambassador after a fourteen year coma. The alien is awakening, and top brass is preparing for  any possible threat. Things get chaotic, and something get shot out of the alien and into the atmosphere.

With Raphael and Casey, only a few days have past since April’s departure for some seriously needed soul searching. Casey is trying to drown his sorrows away, leaving Raph to put up with his rapidly deteriorating temper.

Nobody appears, much to their surprise. It turns out he was the projectile shot out of the Alien. Armed with new abilities, he also has a new purpose – to protect the ambassador at all costs. The guys end up getting a taste of what Nobody’s new life will involve, and the issue ends with them parting ways. For now.

Okay, you’re safe now…

In all, I did enjoy reading this issue. Given the amount of background information needed to understand the story, this would seem more appropriate as a regular TMNT issue. For a regular joe to pick this comic up in a store and glance through it, there’s a lot to swallow in one sitting.

With this new situation of the Alien Ambassador and the new alien threat, we’re bound to see Nobody again in the near future. Nobody’s character is an interesting one. As a simple disguised cop-turned-vigilante, he probably could never have predicted his new purpose in life being that of a protector of an intergalactic diplomat. Who could really look at their life now and say for certain what it would be in ten, twenty years?

As for the Artwork… While I’ve always been a fan of B&W, this issue proved to be a bit difficult to understand some pictures. I think it would actually be easier to comprehend if it was colored, like the cover. Which, oddly enough, has Raph shown as a normal turtle. Why this is, I do not know.

As always, Jim’s use of texture and lighting help to bring an image off the page, whether it’s a sandblown army hummer or the scaly, dinosaurid body of Raphael. Raphael’s current state is one of the things I really enjoyed about the issue. I don’t see TMNT as much as I should, but this look of Raph’s reminds me of Jim’s Paleo: Tales of the Cretaceous comic. If you get a chance, be sure to check out Jim Lawson’s blog. He’s always posting great artwork, both TMNT and Non-TMNT – He’s in our list of links, stop in and say hi…

Overall, it’s a three out of five stars. Not a bad read at all…

Machias

A “Tale” by 2 Newbies or A review of Tales 61

While vegging online the other day, Stephan IMed me and asked me if I’d be willing to help him out by reviewing an upcoming issue of Tales. I told him of course, seeing as how I hadn’t posted anything substantial in awhile. (Heck, I still have 3 issues of Turtle Soup left to review.) As to give me a little more time, he handed me responsibility of reviewing issue 61, produced by the creative team of Tristan Jones and Andres Ponce (when I realized that tid-bit I was even more excited. I heard these guys were good.) Alright. Enough exposition, on to the review.

So as to keep this a from being too spoiler-ific, I’m gonna just break the issue down into 2 parts, art and story. I’m not going to tell the story, you’ll have to read it for yourself, I’m just going to “grade” it. (Boy, this is gonna be rough…where do I come off, right?)

ART:
Andres’ art is very impressive, lots of great detail and gritty images. The Turtles are as lean and green as ever, leaping into lots of great super-hero action poses, that don’t bend the laws of physics. The characters are also recognizable. I know, what kind of odd praise is that, but let me regale you with a story. You see last week my fiancé was in town and we went flea marketing. At one store I found a black and white one shot comic called Xeno-Men (I know, original right?) Anyway, in this book it was hard to distinguish any 2 characters from another. Here, Andres, also in black and white style, uses shading to make characters distinct, even the four Turtles, whither it be with costuming or other identifying marks. I’d probably give the art a 5 out of a possible 5. What can I say, I’m not hard to impress. Kidding.

STORY:
I liked this story. No easier way to say it. It was action packed, but also had some character moments. The story picks up from Tristan and Andres last “Tale” and I have to admit, I didn’t read it. (My local comic shop doesn’t carry TMNT books.) But despite that, I was more than able to enjoy the “kick butt ninja action.” Trist also adds a lot “bleeped” profanity, making the book a bit grittier and, dare I say, PG-13. (Actually if you un-bleeped the bleeped words, it’d probably be R. Wonky rating system.) Another thing I enjoyed were the pop culture references. As a pop culture junkie it made me smile. I do have one minor complaint, and it has been brought up before elsewhere with Tristan’s stories and it’s the “established Mirage timeline” issues. Tristan has explained that he sees the Turtles timeline similar to the Marvel/DC time line, where time is relative, and, in the case of say Spider-man, Peter Parker wasn’t bitten in 1962, but a year ago. Here we see the Turtles using cell phones, quipping about Michael Bay (a reference I loved, oddly enough), and playing Guitar Hero. Again, works in a “time is relative” Mirage Universe, but with the Mirage Universe (and by extension the Turtles) aging more or less in real time, it can be slightly jarring when you realize that the City at War this is supposed to be surrounding happened, in canon, over 20 years ago. Again though, minor quibble in an overall good book. A score of 4 ½ out of 5 shows how minor said quibble is when you’re engaged in the story.

So there you go, a spoiler free review. I’m surprised I could pull it off. How’d I do guys?

Previews for Tales of the TMNT #60 and #61

Tales of the TMNT #60 hits stores THIS WEDNESDAY!! Make sure you get out there and pick it up, and while you’re out there, make sure you’re down for #61! Both issues are doozeys!

Tales of the TMNT #60

“Nobody Does It Better” – This action-packed issue features the shocking return of Nobody, the crime-fighting vigilante thought to be slain in “TMNT” volume two #12! We discover the fate of the not-so-fallen hero while Raphael and Casey Jones encounter a new villain with super-human (and extraterrestrial) powers!

Tales of the TMNT #61

“Sometimes They Come Back” – Rising talent Andres Ponce (Firebirds, Noble Causes) and acclaimed writer Tristan Jones team together to bring you one of the most action packed comics of the year! Continuing on from the critically acclaimed “Tales of the TMNT” #56 and #59, the Turtles battle an enemy they never dreamed could create the chaos you’ll find within this book! Gangs, robots, road rage, crazy Australian mercenaries, and as if that weren’t enough… the long-awaited return of the malevolent MOUSERS! NOT. TO. BE. MISSED.

Tales of the TMNT v.2 #63 ..pencils by Jim Lawson, inks by Ryan Brown , Colours by Lavigne (( October 2009 ))

“Monster Island” – immediately following the events of “Tales of the TMNT” #50, billionaire munitions master Mr. Marlin escapes death (once again) and renews his hunt for the TMNT and Leatherhead. Marlin appears to be unstoppable – can our heroes hope to escape both him and the monsters that dwell on the deadly island?!”

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