Tag: TMNT Treasures

TMNT Treasures: 1988 Godzilla Jam Lithograph (Part 2)

Last week I put up this post showing you a very cool Godzilla Jam Lithograph I had found. At the time, we knew very little about the piece. However; the reason we do these posts isn’t just to share information, but also to collect information on things we may not know much about. This is one of those times that things worked out.

Shortly after the post went up, a GGM read by the name of John Pannozzi had this to say:

This was from a Godzilla portfolio published by Dark Horse. You can find a listing for it at http://www.darkhorse.com/Products/91-249/The-Godzilla-Portfolio-1

There was a second portfolio, which you can find a listing for at http://www.darkhorse.com/Products/91-250/The-Godzilla-Portfolio-2

Thank you so much for this new information John!

Of course as soon as I read this, I went on the hunt for the full portfolio from which this print came…and I found it!

Without further hesitation, I am happy to present to you the 1988 Dark Horse Godzilla Portfolio featuring: Arthur Adams, Eastman and Laird, Alan Moore, Doug Wildey, Paul Chadwick, Mark A. Nelson, Hilary Barta, Mark Badger, Cynthia Martin, and Bill Wray!

Click here to go to the album!

TMNT Treasures: Mark Martin Donatello Plate

Today I present you with the newest addition to the collection; and my new favorite commission! Talented TMNT artist and all around super hero, Mark Martin, created this this piece for me. This is my favorite turtle atop what is my favorite sea creature (which I actually didn’t tell Mark at the time of the commission…he just decided to draw a ray all on his own!). But what makes this particular piece isn’t necessarily the art (which I do totally love), but the uniqueness of the medium. This particular piece of art is actually enshrined into a plate! Yes, as in a dinner plate! Completely amazing. I totally love it. Thank you again Mark!

TMNT Treasures: 1988 Godzilla Jam Lithograph


(Click me, I get bigger!)

Here is something kind of special and strange I picked up from ebay. It is a lithograph of Godzilla and some of his foes, created by the Mirage A-Team at the time. Featured artists are Ryan Brown, Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Steve Lavinge, Steve Bissette, Michael Dooney, Eric Talbot, and Jim Lawson.

Michael Dooney has this to say about the art:
Steve Bissette did the rough layout for the pic and then we all picked our own creature to draw (I did MechaKong). I remember doing this very clearly, it was the late ’80’s and we did it in the then very small Mirage office…so small we were all working in separate rooms. Pete actually has some video of this day I think. I also think that at least some of the art was done as separate pieces so we could work on it at the same time, and then pasted up to make the big picture.

Steve Bessette also gave his insight on the piece:
That’s a rare piece, and yep, we all did it — a massive jam piece by the whole crew, circa Northampton MA Mirage Studios in the early days (1988). I drew the Mothra larvae with the singing ‘Peanut’ twins atop her head. With some effort, I might be able to identify who did what, to a point — that’s Peter Laird’s MechaGodzilla, Mike Dooney’s MechaKong, Eric Talbot’s Frankenstein, Ryan Brown’s Godzilla (I think), Steve Lavigne’s Barugon (right foreground), I think Jim Lawson did the Ghidrah, and Kevin Eastman’s Rodan soaring above. [We did it] just because, I think — maybe for a convention? That’s possible.

Thanks for the information guys! At any rate, I LOVE it, and it is definitely my new favorite print!

TMNT Treasures: Ken Mitchroney’s TMNT Pinball Machine

Hey Everyone,

This week I was able to acquire Ken Mitchroney’s TMNT Pinball Machine to replace my old one. This machine is special because not only was it in Ken’s studio while he was drawing the TMNT Adventures comic books (infact, he told me he used the machine as table space when putting the books together), but it was also shipped directly to his studio from the Data East Factory, so it has never seen the inside of an arcade!

Here is a video of me talking about the machine and demoing it.

Enjoy!

TMNT Treasures: Turtlemania Special – GOLD Edition

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If there is ever an item destined for the TMNT Treasures section, this would be it. There are plenty of rare TMNT items out there – Gobbledygooks, Silver Turtlemania, and many others – but this book is truly the rarest of the rare. I know I was not alone in thinking that my collection could not be complete without having this book, and frankly, I was 99% certain that there was no way it even still existed.

With a print run of only 10 books, the chance of finding one over 20 years after publication was slim at best. But at last one of these little buggers has finally come to light. As far as I know, this is the ONLY existing copy. And now it resides in my collection!

So let’s take a look at the book, and its Silver and Regular Edition brothers.

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As you can see there are some obvious differences. All of the differences in these books take place just in outer covers; the interiors are identical. The fronts of the books are identical as well, except for the color paper. It’s the back where things get interesting.

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The regular edition is the plainest of the bunch and features only the pre-printed sketch on the back. On the Silver you see the same thing, except this guy is numbered, as well as signed by Kev & Pete. The gold takes it a step further and adds all of the Silver’s traits, plus an awesome sketch.

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Let’s talk about the Gold book, shall we? The condition of this book is stunning, and really, is WAY better than my Silvers and Regular Editions. The sketch is fantastic. I knew that the Gold edition would have a sketch, but for some reason I really didn’t expect it to be so large and detailed. As a collector of early TMNT artwork as well, I can say that a sketch like that, from 1986, and from Pete, of which there are surprisingly a lot fewer early sketches than from Kev, is also a rarity. All in all, just a very cool, historic piece. And at last, we can see that at least one of these books has survived the times.

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In this photo, you can see my painted inside cover piece by Kev (and how it looks in black and white published in the open Regular edition) along side the Silver & Gold. The plan is to frame all 3 books, along with the artwork, in one frame. Should make for a nice display.

It’s obvious that the art on the Gold is Laird, so I wonder if they took turns, maybe each drawing 5 sketches? Did they draw characters other than the Turtles? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see if another copy comes to light…if one does.

-Terminator