Cowabunga Cartoon Classics!

Letters Page

2009-05-22T04:29:00.000-07:00

We always received tons of mail for TMNT Adventures. We read every letter and tried to publish all that we could. Take a moment to click the letters pages above and relive those wacky, bygone days! Did any of you write us a letter?

Tales of the TMNT #58 in stores now!

2009-05-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

As the space vampire Galactose ransacks the universe, it leaves dimensional destruction in it's wake. Alternate realities are laid bare.

Artwork by Dario Brizuela.

Terrorpin and Snappy Warhol

2009-05-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

A Playmates action figure submission by Stephen R. Bissette and Stephen Murphy.
This is just begging to be made into a custom figure!!

Grisly Grimace

2009-05-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

Grisly Grimace, the other half of Antrax! Pencils by Brown with inks by Berger.

Armaggon Attacks!

2009-05-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

Commissions from fans are always fun and we enjoy doing them when we get the chance. They give us the opportunity to work together just like back in the old days! While most requests are for the TMNT, once in a while we get to do other characters from Mirage Studio's vast array of characters. This time it's Armaggon and it's for David. Above are the blue pencils!

"...And Deliver Us from Evil"

2009-03-25T04:25:00.000-07:00

Above is the unpublished cover for TMNT Adventures #41. This was replaced with a Peter Laird cover for publication.

Coupon Expires 10-6-90

2009-03-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

Prices effective Sunday, September 30 thru Saturday, October 6, 1990!

Uncanny Trio!

2009-03-23T14:46:00.001-07:00

Mind controlling mutants who turn people into zombies! Exposed to incinerated toxic waste, this evil trio will get their revenge!

TMNT Mutant Universe Poster

2009-03-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

We think it would be great to reprint this poster for the 25th celebration!

Style Guide Art

2009-03-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

Four pages from an old Mirage Studios style guide we came across. Hope to find the rest!

No Brainer

2009-02-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

Another unpublished cover of Leo swimming in brain fluid. This one was for TMNTA #65.

Mondo Gecko Loves Candy

2009-02-22T12:26:00.000-08:00

Candy Fine that is!

Cyber Samurai Turtles Cover

2009-02-22T12:16:00.000-08:00

We can't remember why this cover for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #63 was rejected, but rejected it was!

Proposed TMNT Vehicle Sketch

2009-02-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

Pencil sketch by Pete of a cool TMNT vehicle.

Chef Boyardee

2009-02-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

Storyboards for a 1993 Chef Boyardee TMNT pasta commercial. Yum!

A Pithy Portmanteau!

2009-02-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

I remember it distinctly, the name "Mutanimals" just hit me one day, out of the blue, and I decided to develop a concept around this ( what I thought was a catchy) portmanteau. The premise would be simple, a mutant animal group whose mission it was to save the planet from mankind. I then set about the task of picking the team members and designing the logo at which time I added the "Mighty". Upon completion and with these in hand I then ran the whole thing by Murph who responded with whole-hearted, enthusiastic gusto. And while Murph thought the team was strong he suggested adding two more members. Jagwar was the first of the two with Murph creating him as a sort of a lord of the rainforest. I suggested a tasmanian wolf which Murph christened "Dreadmon".

With all our ducks in a row now, we then began to weave the story of the mighty mutanimals into the rich, resplendent tapestry of the TMNT Adventures title.

Above, Leatherhead battles his doppelgänger, Nether-dead the Doppelgator! Pencil art courtesy of Fernando!

Tales #62 Character Studies

2009-02-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Fernando sketches up Mikey, Raph and an utrom for Tales of the TMNT #62.

Tales of the TMNT #62 Model Sheet

2009-02-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

Here is a model sheet by Fernando Leon Gonzalez for the upcoming Tales of the TMNT #62.

Nether-Dead The Doppelgator!

2009-01-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

Magligna creates a Doppelgänger of Leatherhead to infiltrate the Mutanimals
and destroy them. The beast has a special hatred for Leatherhead and wants him dead.
Not included in the Mutanimals animation bible but intended for a second season pitch had the series made it that far, this drawing along with accompanying notes also state that Maligna would have manufactured an evil team of Mutanimals in the deep, dank caverns of the Hive-World and that they were hatched from egg cases full of goo. Eew!

Up The Stairs, First Door On The Left.

2009-01-16T03:23:00.000-08:00

Getting nostalgic during this 25th anniversary of the TMNT.
This is the apartment building on West Street Jim and I occupied during the early days of Mirage Studios. Good times. The best of times. Tales began here. REM fills my head as I see Jim at the kitchen table working on Bade and Orson.

I designed the Thieving God idol just up the street at Forbes Library and Mirage was at 16 Market Street.

Thanks to Dan for snapping this photo!

Mutanimals by Fernando Leon Gonzalez!

2009-01-08T06:58:00.000-08:00

Awesome artwork of the Mighty Mutanimals battling Vid Vicious!

Burnebot

2009-01-07T07:41:00.000-08:00

This gets our vote as a better Burne figure. Not much potential there anyway but Pete did put an imaginative twist on it. Such a shame Playmates passed on it.

Blister Card Pencil Art

2009-01-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

Above are a couple examples of pencil art for the TMNT blister cards.

Baby New Year Mike!

2008-12-31T12:22:00.000-08:00

Best wishes to you for 2009! I re-inked this old piece of licensing art for the holiday!

Looks like Steve penciled this straight from the spread in the first issue of TMNT. Licensees liked to request poses from
the original comics.

Market Update

2008-12-25T04:02:00.000-08:00

Lots of TMNT toys are showing up at local closeout stores for under $5 bucks. Time to hit your local liquidation store and complete your collection cheap! Alien hunter turtles and the aliens, mutations, assault turtles, as well as lots of turtle motorcycles and vehicles. So when you're out bargain shopping tomorrow spend some holiday cash on the TMNT and help save the economy from total collapse.

Season's Greetings!

2008-12-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

Turtle fans are the greatest! Best wishes to all for a prosperous 2009!!

The artwork above is based on the cool International Silver Company wooden ornaments from 1990.

Storm Drain Savers Reprint

2008-12-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Murph asked if Steve and I could reproduce this TMNTA cover for an Australian reprint of the mini-comic, "Storm Drain Savers." No problem! Here it is.

Get your copy today!

One Man's Trash...

2008-12-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

Here we have the junkyard theme. Two designs from 1990, both curiously called Junkman, one by Mike and the other by Jim. Playmates passed on both.

A third design, submitted to Mirage in the fall of 1991, featured a junkyard robot made from cast off stereo equipment. Mirage passed on that one.

Playmates even went so far as to have their rendition sculpted up for presentation.

They would do this sometimes when they felt particularly strong about a certain character. Still, no deal.

Body Of Work

2008-12-11T07:04:00.001-08:00

In 1990, Murph and Dan imagine what Krang's real body looked like in Dimension X. Playmates didn't go for it.

World's Deadliest 2 - The Sequel!

2008-12-10T09:33:00.001-08:00

A while back I submitted a story that continues immediately after the events of Tales 50 and, as luck would have it, Dan has just informed me that it has been approved! More details as they become available.

At Playmates No One Can Hear You Scream!

2008-12-10T06:42:00.000-08:00

More for the "Mirage Mutants that Playmates Rejected" toy line, my lame xenomorphic Alienator!

A shameless attempt at cashing in on a Playmates "theme" turtle. Rejected!

Ripley: "These people are here to protect you. They're soldiers."
Newt: "It won't make any difference."

It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)

2008-12-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

Here's another one for the "Mirage Mutants that Playmates Rejected" toyline.
The Aerosmith-Cinderella-Guns & Roses Mondo Gecko!

Market Watch

2008-12-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

While searching for Red Hulk Marvel Legends and Kalibak DC Universe figures this holiday season we came across a couple karai figures, a movie Don and some Mini-Mutants turtle figures at Walmart and Target. Nothing much to speak of. The aisles were packed with panicked parents pushing carts full of Star Wars, Hulk, Batman and Iron Man stuff though.

"Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet? "

2008-12-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

My grasshopper-man mutant action figure, a homage to one of my favorite shows! Needless to say, Playmates rejected it.

Cryin' Hound

2008-12-03T06:41:00.000-08:00

One character from the TMNT Adventures got closer to being an action figure than anybody else.
Cryin' Hound made it to the "sculptural input drawing stage" but I'm afraid that's where he stayed.

Snake in the Grass

2008-12-03T04:37:00.000-08:00

We love Pete's snake character Scalien! This was submitted to Playmates to be included in the TMNT toy line but was rejected.
I think we need a "Mirage Studios Rejected Ideas for Action Figures" toyline.
We'd collect them all for sure!

What Do We Know?

2008-12-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

Back in the day Murph and I tried relentlessly to get Playmates to do
something, anything from the TMNT Adventures book. But there was real resistance to our ideas at every turn.

One thing we pushed hard was the "wrestling turtles" --
actual legit early Pete and Kev designs. Playmates was pumping out every conceivable turtle variant they could think of except the one that Murph and I thought made the most sense -- the wrestling turtles! Oh well, what do we know, we're
just artists.

Would you have bought Archie "wrestling turtle" figures?

Keep On Truckin' !

2008-11-19T10:34:00.000-08:00

Don poses for this pic on the movie studio backlot. Wish we had this truck, it's a part of TMNT history. Wonder where it is now? We always thought it'd be cool to have this as a Matchbox or Hot Wheels type of toy truck with a tiny turtle figure in it.

On The Road Again

2008-11-13T04:56:00.000-08:00

Back in the day we logged a lot of miles traveling to comic book stores and conventions for appearances to promote the TMNT books. Most of the time we packed into Pete's Honda Wagovan to make the drive or we would board a crowded, over-booked plane for the trip. But once, for a trip to the Mid-Ohio-Con, Mirage rented a tour bus with driver, used by the Rolling Stones no less, to make the haul in style. Everywhere we stopped people would ask us if we were in a band.

Pictured inside the bus are, among others, Steve Bissette, Kevin, Eric and Dan.

Trick Or Treat!

2008-11-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, we're late with this but we just remembered we had this picture set aside for Halloween. Here's a pic of April and Donatello taken on the set of the first TMNT movie.

Billy the Kidder Strikes Again

2008-11-11T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here are the fantastic first 3 pages of the Tristan Jones and Fernando Leon Gonzalez Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa project! Awesome! Now only 93 more pages to go!

Unruly Cowlick

2008-11-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

While in the midst of our creative pow-wow about the direction and
plot points for the 3rd installment of the continuing TMNT/MooMesa
saga, Dean and I, oops...I mean Murph and I were pleasantly surprised when Pete, out of the
blue, suggested that Cudley the Inter-dimensional Cowlick show up on
Moo Mesa!

We whole-heartedly agreed and quickly set about to make it
happen! Be sure to pick up a copy of Tales of the TMNT #52 this month.

Turtle Soup Misprint

2008-10-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

With Halloween fast approaching we thought it relevant to mention this marvelous misprinting of Turtle Soup.
Imagine our surprise when we opened the box and found this fiasco, a Tales cover stapled to the interiors of the new Mirage title Turtle Soup.
Can't remember if any them shipped or not. This one has been kicking around the studio for over 20 years and has seen better days.

Take a look at that snazzy ad on the last page. Did any of you attend the show that year and purchase the limited edition tour shirt? Ah, those were the days!

The Dean Clarrain Exposé

2008-10-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

Summer:1989. The archie book is in utter chaos and on serious brink of
breach of contract. I get the idea to take over the title and dump the
adaptions for new,original stories that meld the Mirage TMNTs with the
animated TMNT and combine the best of both worlds. But I can't do it alone
so before approaching Kev and Pete I go to new-found friend Steve Murphy and
discuss my plans with him and ask if he'd be interested in writing it. He's
reluctant. I explain what a great opportunity this is. He's mum. I force the
issue with him. He's totally emersed in THE PUMA BLUES and all of it's DAVE
SIM, DIAMOND controversy at the moment. Threats are made, arms are twisted
and I berate him until he caves! His only stipulation... that he write
under a pseudonym. We move forward with a story about a new character I've
just created in honor of, and based upon, him! Steve Murphy!! (more on that in a later post)
We pull it all together post haste and approach the Dynamic Duo. They are
ecstatic. We get their blessing, hoo-rah! With time fleeting and everything
due "yesterday" , we hit the ground running trying to catch up to a mess of
already missed deadlines and a totally insane schedule looming on the
horizon. We try to cover all the bases, the cowabungas, the pizzas, the
constant pressure from Playmates to make every damn panel on every
frickin' page a toy commercial. Dire jeopardy reins, but with sleepless
nights, hard work and lots of mountain dew we get The New Direction to the
creative team and history is made...the triumphant issue five of Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures!!

Dramatic Effect

2008-09-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

When Paul sent this page in for final approval I suggested adding a shaft of lightning in the last panel for dramatic effect.

Paul cheerfully obliged but for some reason it didn't make it into the book.
So here it is. Didn't want Paul's extra effort to go unnoticed.

Who Can We Turn To...

2008-09-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

...now that the Mighty Mutanimals are dead?

They lay bathed in black blood. Archie would not allow it to be colored red.

Dean Clarrain is Steve Murphy and Vice Versa

2008-09-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, my old partner in crime, Steve Murphy is Dean Clarrain. Or rather, Dean Clarrain is actually Steve Murphy. Read his shocking confession at The 5th Turtle!

Armaggon Would Love This

2008-09-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

Evidence that millions of tons of methane gas is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists.

The sea is foaming with gas bubbling up through "methane chimneys" rising from the sea floor. The sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a "lid" to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age.

Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and scientists fear that its release could accelerate global warming leading to further permafrost melting and the release of yet more methane. Earth is doomed.

This mutant shark was created by Pete and submitted to Playmates Toys as a possible addition to the TMNT toy line. They soundly rejected it. Years later, Murph salvaged the design and used it as the look for his character Armaggon, a shark monster he had created for the Archie Adventure series. A copy of Pete's original design was inked for this blog post.

Needless to say, this shark mutant was a huge hit with the fans and would have made a most radical action figure.

All The News That's Fit To Print

2008-09-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

Behold! Here is a copy of the Mirage Times. These were available to retailers to pass out in comic stores. Do any of you collect these?

Mondo Trouble

2008-09-23T06:38:00.001-07:00

Environmental degradation, massive corporate and government
corruption leaving
the U.S. economy in shambles,
seems the Mutanimals were right in their fight.

Go Mutanimals Go !

2008-09-19T03:43:00.000-07:00

These Mighty Mutanimals by Kyle A. Carrozza are mighty cool!

Extra Digit

2008-09-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, the Fugitoid only has 3 phalanges not 4 as pictured in the cover above. Where's the quality control?

Who Wants To Be A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?

2008-09-15T04:53:00.000-07:00

A while back I was hit with this idea for a new reality show to celebrate the TMNT's 25th anniversary entitled "So You Want To Be A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" (working title). Stupid, right? Well the idea kept nagging at me and with time growing short I fired off a proposal to Mirage. who in turn fired it off to the appropriate parties.

What follows is a portion of said proposal:

This is a reality based television game show where 20 hard-core TMNT fans are
outfitted with a tortoise shell vest, a carapace back with a plastron
front, elbow and knee pads and bandana which they must wear until they
are eliminated. The contestants are isolated in a NYC sewer setting
and compete for cash and prizes by learning martial arts from Master
Splinter, a martial arts expert in rat's clothing. They must live
like the TMNT and endure rigorous activity with, daily training
sessions, the constant odor and filth of the sewer environment, and
can eat nothing but pizza for the duration of their stay. The show
would use progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to battle
each other, both physically and by answering Ninja Turtle trivia,
until only four final contestants remain and must use their combined
strength to defeat an actor portraying the Shredder in a series of
Battle Nexus bouts (of varying mental/physical forms). The final
contestant wins a cash prize in the season finale and the right to
be named "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle."

Other than Murph, no one really shared my enthusiasm. End of story.

Dangerous Crossing

2008-08-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

While running errands today I came across a little turtle trying to cross the road. So, just like Michelangelo, I quickly jumped from my civic and transplanted the tiny terrapin into the creek on the other side of the road. Animals just don't have a chance in hell anymore and it's only getting worse as we humans overpopulate the planet.

50/50

2008-08-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

Spoke with Dan this morning and the orders for Tales 50 are in. Only about a 10% jump in sales. The books should ship around the middle of September and should be available for purchase at your friendly neighborhood comic shop about a week after that.

"Always Low Prices"

2008-08-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

Was in Wally Mart yesterday and saw a slew of Mini Mutants in the clearance aisle. Discontinued already? Seems like they just shipped. They had quite a few TMNT movie figures and vehicles in the clearance aisle too.

Dollar General had a bunch of Fast Forward figures at $5 each and TMNT vehicles and motorcycles too. Box sets were $15.

For fun and practice, I inked over a copy of an old pin-up by Kevin for this post's artwork.

Bargains Galore!

2008-08-06T04:47:00.000-07:00

Would you shop here?

NECA Buyer Beware!

2008-08-02T04:22:00.000-07:00

Looks like Leo is down to one katana now. The other one broke as I excitedly pulled it out from underneath the tape. Snapped right off. I thought they were made of that thick, rubbery plastic. Stupid,stupid me...should have cut the tape.

Needless to say, I was quite inconsolable after this happened.

Paul Pages

2008-07-31T04:03:00.000-07:00

Just received a brand new batch of pages from Paul. Words cannot describe how awesome they are! Tales 50 ships in September and I can't wait!

This is from a character study of the Mothman for that issue. Vile.

7 Lovefield Street

2008-07-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

Want to thank my good buddy Dan Berger for snapping this pic of where Leatherhead was created. I occupied the basement apartment on the right.

So when you're on your TMNT pilgrimage to western Massachusetts be sure to stop by 7 Lovefield St.in the beautiful town of Easthampton. It sets directly across from the abandoned Rat King factory. At least it did way back in the late 80's.

In the Utrom tongue, the name Leatherhead translates as "Moment of cognizance, birth of understanding."

Mighty Mutanimals

2008-07-26T07:11:00.001-07:00

What a treat to finally be able to add Jagwar to the Mutanimals toys line-up!
Courtesy of adam, here's a swell pic of our environmental heroes with his awesome customized Jagwar figure.
I love this group shot so much I just had to post it.

Visit The 5th Turtle for more pics!

Could Dreadmon be far behind?

SDCC

2008-07-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone at the SDCC has a great time! Grab those Neca TMNT exclusives! For those of you unable to attend, enjoy this great group shot by Kevin.

Don Saves The Day

2008-07-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

Think about it, it was really Donatello that saved the day. Without him the turtles would have never made it past issue #1.
Donatello should be everyone's favorite TMNT.

Studio Space

2008-07-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Our studio space at 320 Riverside Drive in Florence, Massachusetts. Steve's is in the corner. This is shortly after we all moved in. I can tell because there isn't that much stuff yet!

Threads

2008-07-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

Sneak peek at the up-coming back-up story that will be in Tales of the TMNT #50. This story is culled from my file of old, unused Tales ideas from back in the late 80's. What's old is new again.

Break Time

2008-07-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Inked this for fun on my lunch hour today. Came out okay I guess. Just wanted to mix things up a little with inking styles and I love the drawing by Pete.

Order Up!

2008-07-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

Just a friendly reminder that if you want a copy of Tales 50 be sure to order it right now!

Morning Has Broken

2008-07-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

And it's going to be a hot and sultry 4th of July. Happy 4th everyone!

House Signing

2008-07-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

We even did house signings. Here's Kevin doing a turtle sketch for some lucky kids in 1989. We were on our way to Mid-Ohio Con.

Tagged

2008-07-04T06:19:00.001-07:00

SDCC is close and I found these old name tags with the TMNT buttons. I'm happy I saved these from the early years of Mirage. We did a lot of convention appearances and store signings in those happy carefree days!
When we weren't working we were traveling and meeting the fans!

Yellow Button Set

2008-06-27T09:08:00.001-07:00

This is the yellow set of buttons. They are not numbered and are photocopied on yellow paper instead of white.

Button, Button, Who's Got The Buttons?

2008-06-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

Anybody got these hand-made Mirage TMNT buttons from 1985? I thought I had lower numbers dang it! Collector's item classics.

Mondo Metal

2008-06-18T03:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you guitar heroes remember this or not, but did any of you actually play the song by Mondo Gecko's band, Merciless Slaughter, transcribed between the panels of Archie TMNT Adventures #18 ?

Look Familiar ?

2008-06-16T03:55:00.000-07:00

The inspiration for the Man Ray shirt?

Vintage Turtle Power T-Shirt

2008-06-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

Here is another shirt I found with the Man Ray one. It was a give-a-away and was printed up to celebrate the astounding success of the first film. It includes a quote from funny man Robin Williams in the bottom left corner.

Model and Toy Collector

2008-06-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

Any of you hard-core collectors have this early interview with Pete and Kev? It was conducted by famed toy czar/dealer Bill Bruegman. Mr. Bruegman is pictured here with Kirk Hammet of Metallica and Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen after their show in Cleveland.

P Donnie

2008-06-11T12:16:00.001-07:00

Here's P Donnie from the Archie Adventure "Sun and Steel". This issue features one of our favorite characters Chu Hsi.

Rejected Retro

2008-06-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Another rejected retro re-inking! We did not do this originally but I was asked to re-ink it anyway for the 4Kids retro program.

Vintage Man Ray T-Shirt

2008-06-11T04:04:00.000-07:00

Here we have the vintage Man Ray T-shirt. Finally found it! Enjoy!

Drug Rap

2008-06-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

Honestly, did the rap song in this book help anyone to not do drugs?

"Some kids at the playground say they just smoke pot.
But listen, buddies, you'd better not.
Once potheads want to have a high,
there's lots of poison they might try.
You're not dumb, so don't take dope.
When they pass those joints, be like us. Say "Nope!"

So let's have a pizza with extra cheese.
No anchovies, if you please.
No crack, no smack, no angel dust-
Just the Turtles and you...the kids we trust!"

Vintage Mondo Gecko T-Shirt

2008-06-06T03:58:00.000-07:00

Here's that rad reptile, Mondo Gecko on a 1991 T-Shirt.

Vintage Wingnut T-Shirt

2008-06-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

Haven't found the Man Ray shirt yet but ran across the Wingnut one. Luckily I didn't wear this shirt so it's in mint shape.

The Vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shirt Off My Back

2008-06-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle T-shirt I've had for years. Back in the day these were everywhere around Mirage and we all snagged a few to wear. I grabbed this one when I saw that crazy cockroach, Scumbug was on it. I have a Man Ray one somewhere and also a couple with Wingnut and Mondo Gecko on them. I had a bunch with different turtle art but they must be long gone. They were faded and tattered anyway, worn out by all the repeated washing and wearing.

Tune Up

2008-06-04T05:04:00.000-07:00

Found this old photo of Pete tuning up before one of our jam sessions. Dig that crazy swirl pattern on my Lido Supreme drum kit. So 60's. Oh, and that is Dan with all the hair in the foreground.

For Your Approval

2008-05-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

Now this is the stuff we saw nearly everyday. Concept art coming through the approval pipeline. Usually done with markers and mounted on Bristol board, this is the first glimpse of what the product would look like. A lot of this is showing up in online auctions and for our money is the cool stuff to collect. One of a kind and just seeing it again brings back fond memories for us. Maybe you recognize some of these items or have them in your collection?

Movie Memory

2008-05-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

More shenanigans on the set of the first movie.

And They Call It That Good Old Mountain Dew

2008-05-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

Our drink of choice since 1964! Couldn't hit a TMNT deadline without it!

Mickey Mouse Club

2008-05-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

Back in the mid 90's the agency that I was employed by got me quite a bit of Disney work. I had a lot of fun penciling and inking such properties as The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Lady and the Tramp, and Winnie the Pooh. I also worked on such classic characters as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, amongst many.

Odd Rods

2008-05-03T04:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a certain ruler of Dimension X on his Silly Cycle way back in the early 1970's.
Steve and I just LOVE this fad from the 60's! We had them all, Odd Rods, Silly Cycles, Fiends and Machines and Rat Fink.

Those Were The Days

2008-04-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken at one of the many photo shoots in the old Florence studio. We were all in the background trying to crack them up. I had an excuse for goofing around because the photographers always commandeered my space for the backdrop. That's why I was always late with the inks for Tales, yeah!

Say "cheese".

Shine Like A Lighthouse

2008-04-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

As the summer reading season approaches be sure to pick up a copy of Steve's children book. He's hard at work on it's sequel right now. Those characters are so darn cute!

Movie Memory

2008-04-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

Fun times on the set of the first film.

TMNT Fun Fact

2008-04-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

When Steve and I were searching for a name for Cherubae we were having no
luck. We even considered combining the names of our then girlfriends at the
time but that didn't work either.

As fate would have it we both kept humming the Rolling Stones song "Shattered" and
somewhere in there we both thought we had heard the word
"cherubae" and bingo! that's the name we went with! I don't know if that
word is really in there or not but it did help us solve our dilemma.

Now that I listen to it again I guess Mick is singing "shadoobie".

The Buglys

2008-04-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some characters I created for a kid's meal promotion back in 1999. This is a catalog page featuring the Buglys. I was asked to create
the characters first and then the program was developed around them. I provided the sculptural input drawings also. They are 4" tall and include the groovy 60's ladybug in high heels, grasshopper basketball player, tea sipping honey bee and sleepy snail with his teddy bear and bunny slippers. Collect them all!

Mondo Murderer

2008-03-27T05:13:00.000-07:00

MWS does it again. Another good guy gone bad. Mondo Gecko prepares to execute Michelangelo.

Batty Bad Guys

2008-03-26T04:55:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Mr. Wolf, a villainous Screwloose and a very rotund Wingnut make plans for world domination and then try to brainwash Zach. No Mutanimals here.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T07:26:00.001-07:00

Japanese Leatherhead

2008-03-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

If you collect variants here is the 1989 Leatherhead figure released in Japan with 1992 packaging.

Hothead vs. Rattlor!

2008-03-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hothead's extending neck was courtesy of Rattlor. Although Playmates wouldn't spring for the mechanism and simply had the child pull the neck out like Extendar.

Michelangelo in Blue

2008-03-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

Another Archie Adventures style pinup or convention sketch I inked. Michelangelo attacks! Grrrrrrr!

I know the nunchakus are the wrong color but I like the orange.