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Ice this past Labor Day in Las Vegas !!
.. thanx, Mike !!
~ t
Hey everyone, just a quick heads up the the pre-orders for the Donatello Comiquette (Due out Q2 2010) are up. The statues come in two flavors. Regular, and limited edition. The latter having an interchangeable mask so you can have purple or red Don. Remember, you don’t actually get charged for anything until the item ships, and these are going fast, so if are even slightly inclined to maybe get one, we would recommend putting in your order now. You can always cancel later.
!["MAGGOT MAN" design by S.R. Bisstette (( 1989 )) [[ Courtesy of SRB ]]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/3922232939_eee4ce853d_o.gif)
” Hey, look what I found this weekend! This is a blast from my checkered past, a 20-year-old monster movie design for a movie that was never made.
Back in early August, TMNT fan, Myrant reader and artist in his own right tOkKa wrote my old Mirage Studios friend Ryan Brown, asking about one of the many snapping turtle monster designs I’ve posted on Myrant this year.
Ryan recalled, “My memory is sketchy about this but… The proposed film Steve mentions was by my friend Jon Killough (Skinned Alive, 1990; Robot Ninja, 1989; The Dead Next Door, 1989)…”
Ryan continued, “I was asked by Jon to create a mutant leech monster for the never-produced flick and I mentioned to Jon that I might be able to get Steve Bissette to design for the film.”
Ryan indeed got a design sketch or two from me — and it’s the best of ‘em I’ve put on sale here today.
Ryan adds, “Jon had worked on The Dead Next Door (1989) and was proceeding with new film projects with his friend J.R. Bookwalter. In mid-1985 Sam Raimi put up some money for Jon’s 19-year-old friend J.R. Bookwalter to film The Dead Next Door. Bookwalter shot the film in Akron, Ohio during the summer of 1986 with area residents playing zombies. Fangoria wrote about the film in the March, 1987 issue. Jon was involved heavily with this film.”
!["MAGGOT MAN" design by Ryan Brown (( 1989 )) [[ Courtesy of SRB ]]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2552/3923018718_2b8128c87d_o.gif)
But Maggot Man was never made, to the best of Ryan’s and my knowledge.
Thanks to tOkKa’s email, though, I got to thinking about that project and just this past Sunday turned up this wormboy. Thanks, tOkKa and Ryan, for reminding me of that which was long forgotten!
Just to be clear, my Maggot Man sketch is what’s for sale here; I’ve included a scan from the photocopy I kept of Ryan’s sketch for historical purposes only (I am not selling Ryan’s artwork, folks).
This uber-rare Maggot Man sketch is huge — the original measures 14″ x 22″, drawn with black pen and marker, some pencil underdrawing is visible; it’s on 2-ply board that is slightly discolored with age around the edges with a very minor 1/4″ tear at the bottom, center. This is vintage work, and goes for $135 plus shipping — first to email me at msbissette@yahoo.com can forever gaze upon this maggot, man.
Per usual, first Myrant price is forever the best price — in a day or two, I’ll be taking this off its Myrant debut slot and moving it to the sketchstore archives and Comic Art Fans Gallery at a higher price.
**2009 sketches and much vintage art can be snapped up 24 hours a day in the Sketch Store section (click this link), which offers a monstrous menagerie of still-for-sale Bissette sketches — Swamp Thing, Godzilla, Tyrant, Constantine, Vermonsters and many published original art rarities — for your pleasure.
Maggot Man created by Jon Killough and Ryan Brown, 1989; Ryan Brown’s Maggot Man artwork ©1989, 2009 Ryan Brown; my Maggot Man artwork and design ©1989, 2009 Stephen R. Bissette, all rights reserved.
☠ ☠
Again Stephan threw caution to the wind and handed me the heady responsibility to review a TMNT comic book. The book this time is….well you read the title. So lets get on with it! This review, unlike my last may be spoilerific, so those of you who are faint of heart, skip ahead a paragraph or two.
Hey! Why are you still reading this. Do you want to be spoiled? HUH!? DO YA!?
And now to our regularly scheduled spoilers already in progress…omic opens with the Turtles and Casey besting Robo-Baxter (TMNT Vol 2 Issue 9. 
Thanks ninjaturtles.com.) Donatello, sneaky scamp that he is, decides that he will take the brain of the Stock-bot to a secret undisclosed location and attempt to bring some of it’s basic subroutines online. (Wow, all that Star Trek: TNG paid off.) Once Baxter-bot (I got a million of them…or at least 4) is back on-line, Donnie asks him what he knows about the whereabouts of a certain moody and broody brother of his. Meanwhile, some strange bio-mechanical ooze assimilates a cockroach, and wanders the sewers in it’s new form. While picking up and collecting Robo-Stockman’s (see…I knew I had one more.) pieces, Don encounters not only the polymorphic techno-sludge (hooray thesauruses!!) and even it’s brand spanking new host. Will Donatello escape this new threat alive? Will he pry info about Raph out of Baxter-Bot 5000? (I know I used it before, but 5000 makes it fresh!) Is this whole “ask a handful of questions” ending totally cliched? FIND OUT NEXT ISSUE!
Ok, the big bad spoilers are gone, you can come out now.
Now to the critical analysis of this comic in the grand scheme of the ever expanding universe….nah, I’m playing let’s discuss the art a minute though. I’ve never been a huge fan of Jim Lawson’s work (Though to be fair, I couldn’t do it any better. If I drew it, it’d be stick figures. But for the sake of this review, think of me as Michelangelo…the actual Renaissance artist, and not the lovable anthropomorphic Turtle), and this is no exception. I’m not sure what it is. It may be the ultra-stilization. It has a weird way of cartooning things, but also having bizarre attention to detail. Case and point this panel:
I mean, it’s very stylized. Incredibly cartoony. But you can still see that dog’s anus. Yikes! It’s also very black and white. There’s little shading, which I loved in Tales 61, but we are talking about 2 totally different artist here. All in all I give the art a 3 out of 5. Good…not great.
The story itself is simple, but then again it’s also the first part of a 4 part story, so it’s supposed to be vague at this point. 4 out of 5 for the story thus far.
So there it is, Donatello: The Brain Thief #1, written and drawn by Jim Lawson. To be honest, I can’t wait to read the other issues. You got me Mr. Lawson. I gotta know how this ends. Just don’t disappoint. 😉
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
