As you probably know. Peter requested a clause in the sale contract of the TMNT that allows Mirage to publish 18 issues of TMNT a year. Today on his blog, Pete talks about the need to distance himself from the Turtles, and when/if we may see books published under the clause.
It seems, paradoxically, that it has been both a really short time and a very long time since the deal with Nickelodeon was finalized and announced, but in reality it’s only been about a week. In that time, I — and the folks at Mirage — have gone through a lot of different thoughts and feelings, but the one thing that seems to be common to all is that it is going to take some significant time to come to grips with all of the changes that this sale has wrought.
I was just chatting with Jim Lawson about this, and realized that it has been a very long time — not the whole twenty-five years of the Turtles’ existence, but definitely the greater portion of that time — since I was NOT the person (or one of two people, when Kevin was my partner in Mirage) who was responsible for the Turtles and their “empire”. It’s been so long that I don’t even remember what it felt like to not have that responsibility. And now I don’t have that responsibility, and I realize that it is a very strange feeling… not a bad one, but a strange one. It’s going to take some time to get used to it again.
One thing that is becoming clear to me is that, right now, I need to really step back from Turtle stuff. I am feeling strongly that I need to distance myself from the TMNT to truly grasp what has happened, and become accustomed to it.
With that in mind, I have to say that it is likely that any new TMNT comics coming from me/Mirage (under the “reserved rights” clause negotiated in the sale) are probably not going to be seen anytime soon. Although I do have the right to publish up to eighteen issues of TMNT comics per year, it is highly unlikely that I will do that right away. In all honesty, the idea of doing ANY new Turtle stuff right now leaves me cold.
I need to get away from it.
During the negotiation, I asked for those “reserved rights” because, on some very basic, gut level, after putting so much of my life into the TMNT property over twenty-five years, I wanted to walk away from it with roughly the same deal with which I walked into it — the freedom to do some TMNT comics. But I also have the freedom to NOT do them.
I can’t guarantee when — or even if — Mirage will produce new TMNT comics again. It is most likely that the next TMNT comic thing I work on will be the conclusion of TMNT Volume 4, but at this moment I can’t even guarantee when — or if — I will do that. It’s too soon to make those plans. — PL
Hooray to the second TMNT dark ages…i.e. the gap between now and the new series and movie in 2011-12.