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NYCC ‘23 Interview with the Last Ronin Team Tom Waltz, Ben Bishop, and the Escorza Brothers: Part 2

by Kyle Tobey November 21, 2023

written by Kyle Tobey

The Last Ronin” changed the entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

The book shot the Ninja Turtles back in to the spotlight, even for lapsed fans who haven’t kept up with the turtles in decades. Telling a story of revenge for the sole remaining turtle, the tale is a gritty, bloody adventure set in a bleak future with familiar faces, and tragic endings. It’s popularity is spawning collectibles, a video game, and a sequel comic series. The Last Ronin answered the call that fans have been asking for- a dark TMNT book. Similar to their early days at Mirage comics.

For Part 2 of our New York Comic Con 2023 interview, I was able to sit down with part of the Last Ronin team to talk about the new characters driving the story, how their own lives have changed, and their favorite adopted child!

Be sure to check out Part 1 HERE!

Editors note: The Escorza Brothers communicated via an on-site translator for this interview.

TMNT.com: Speaking of the original script, which was originally conceived by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, how much of that original script continued in to the Final Cut?

Tom Waltz: Do you know what? The concept itself is their concept. This idea that there was a last turtle seeking vengeance for his family against the Foot Clan- that’s all there. And certain things like Fugitoid. Fugitoid was something that that Peter had put into the outline that, the way it was presented in the outline we didn’t follow exactly, but we were never gonna let that go. That was always going to be in the story. That was a big part, from what Kevin (Eastman) has told me, Fugitoid is very important to Peter. We’re gonna find a way to make that work. You know it’s funny, going back to your last question, at first I felt like “How do we get this robot in there? How do we make that make sense? But once we sat down and talked about it, we do have a story for Fugitoid that’s different than the Mirage story, but still close enough to know where the inspired by that. So for long time fans, and even casual fans, it’s close enough to where they know who he is, and what he is, and why he is. You don’t have to to be detailed.

But the reality is, there is no “Last Ronin” without that original outline. At all. Because that’s the inspiration. And, whether we followed it to the “T” or we deviated, we wouldn’t have been able to deviate if there wasn’t something over there to deviate from. So that was inspiration. And like I said, we wanted to the original first volume to be that based on that.

The fact that we’ve got sequels now, and prequels, is just a result of us falling in love with this universe, and as it evolved. It doesn’t hurt that fans love it.

Ben Bishop: And having more stories to tell. You’re like “Oh, wouldn’t it be great to tell this story and that story. And even reading the reviews was like, Ronin was finished and they were out- there were a lot of people saying it needed to be longer. “I wish it was longer!” We wish it was longer too! And it’s like, they wanted to see what happened right after they took Raph out of the water. They wanna see the turtles grieving. And we’ve just got to say, “Well, hopefully we do.”

Those stories are always there. How does Casey Marie get the half mask? What’s the circumstances? I think fans want to read them as much as we want to draw them.

Isaac Escorza: Kevin helps a lot. He would lay in the full New York City skyscraper and everything, there are little details he actually put in there that we weren’t aware of. He gave us the basics to think the way the city would materialize. And now with Ronin 2, we’re getting to see a totally new view of Kevin and how he’s seeing the future of New York. His actual vision is what [we] are logging right now. It feels like the turtles, it feels like New York, but it’s him.

TW: That’s one thing I will say, you know, I worked with Kevin for many years on the ongoing [series] at IDW. I was more the main writer, then I was driving story, and Kevin was working with us to create great plots. But when Kevin took over- This is definitely Kevin’s baby. Ronin is Kevin’s baby. He’s is the Batman I am the Robin on this on, without a doubt. There’s a reason he’s a legend in this industry. It’s fascinating to watch someone with such a great instincts. He’ll come with ideas and it first I’ll be like “That seems so specific-“

BB: Donnie’s hat! He showed me what he wanted to do with Donnie and I was like “Can I make that hat look badass?” And it’s the most bad ass! He knew!

TW: Yeah! One thing I will say about Kevin is that, this is a creator in tune with his fandom. I mean, he knows what they love. He knows what they’re gonna notice. He knows what they’re gonna dig, what they won’t dig and I just follow his lead. And he’s been right. There’s been times where I thought “This is cool, I’m not sure if someone will notice it” and it ends up being like the first thing they’re writing about in an article that says “did you see this thing!” Kevin was right again! So, that’s been a lot of fun for me, after all these years in this industry, to be able to still be learning, and be excited by it. To be surprised by things has been one of the best parts of this experience for me.

Esau Escorza: As Thomas mentioned, Kevin really know the turtles.

(Tom Waltz laughs)

He see the story behind the turtles have never been greater. People think that they know the turtles, but Kevin ACTUALLY knows the turtles. They’re like an extension of his being. So particularly for me, when I started working on Ronin, There were certain things that were not part of the story yet. We were like “Why Mike? Why not Raphael? And as soon as we started moving forward on the project, we started to see exactly why Mike was the Ronin. We saw why Kevin chose Mike as the Ronin. It represented all that Kevin knows about the turtles. So, for us, to see something amazing point that Kevin has on the story. That’s part of why the Turtles are such a success and they want to keep going with the story, like Ben said. To keep growing the universe of the Ronin.

TMNT.com: You guys (the Escorza Brothers) got your start at Heavy Metal Magazine, you (Tom Waltz) have been at IDW for years, and you (Ben Bishop) were stuck in the Small Press area for years-

BB: Fake it ‘til you make it! Draw a bunch of fake covers until they give you a real one. And wait years for it to come out. And then maybe they’ll put you on the inside. It really took Kevin saying “Ben is drawing this.”

TMNT.com: So it’s an overnight success.

BB: (Laughs) Yeah! Yeah, just thinking, like, since I met Kevin, right around when I turned 30. And I’m 38 now, it’s been going like 1,000,000 miles an hour. I realize it’s been the entirety of my 30’s! My life is flashing before my eyes. But I’ve made all the stuff! And it’s going well! It’s like, “OK, well I’ll give it a couple more years before I slow down.” It’s been amazing.

TMNT.com: How else has your lives changed since, now Last Ronin has become a New York Times Best Selling book?

BB: Still! It’s been out for like three years now!

TW: We were just talking- I think this month was the first month we weren’t number, we were number two in a more than a year on some graphic novel list, or whatever. Which is pretty amazing, in general, but for $29.99 book competing against cheaper manga volumes and stuff. And that’s been exciting. We can thank the fans for that. The video game announcement didn’t hurt! For me personally, it is like Kevin said. I’m kind of like a 20 year overnight success, I guess. So, yeah, I’ve been in the trenches for many, many years. We talk about turtles- Turtles is interesting because, all the success, you see our name on lists above Batman and the other big ones, and they still consider us like that little indie book that “Oh yeah! There’s also turtles in this industry!” Do you know we’re selling more than you? But thats part of the fun.

BB: It’s the most successful indie thing. And it’s the most successful main stream thing. So, I feel like the comics community as a whole is just like “Yeah, that’s happening.” But they don’t necessarily- it’s not like it’s Spider-Man. It’s not like it’s Batman. For whatever reason we’re still just a turtle guys.

TW: But I love that! I’m not gonna lie, you know, my situation at IDW has changed. I was an editor for many years and now I’ve gone freelance. There’s been jobs that have opened up for me that I’m currently working on. Some stuff for the “Big 2” that I can’t talk about. But the reality is, as exciting as that is for me personally, it’s always fun and broaden your horizons and try some new things creatively- I’ll always be turtles first. Because I know those things aren’t happening without the turtles.

It’s like the new turtles. The new turtles don’t exist without old turtles. So, whatever Tom is doing now is happening because all those years the turtles been so good to me. I still get excited when we have meetings, creative meetings, not just about Ronin but about turtles in general. I’ve done video games. I’ve done other comics, and it’s still a property that means the world to me and it feels like this team is my family. Turtles is my family. It’ll always be turtles first. It certainly has, I think, given me attention I didn’t have before. But, you know, it’s like Ben says, when you’re in the middle of it- you’re just working. I think someday maybe when I’m an old man, and if I ever do stop, maybe I can look back on it and say “Oh, that was pretty cool!” but right I’ve got four deadlines and that’s all I’m thinking about right now.

BB: The most like visual, like oh yeah, slap in the face of how big all of this has gotten, how fortunate and grateful I am, is all the toys that I get to draw the packagings for. I’m going to play with those toys on the floor in front of the cartoons like I did when I was 10! It’s just- I’ve got drawings at Target! I’ve got drawings at Best Buy- so that part has been, very obviously, a big wow moment for me.

But, we talked about how every other comment online has been , “This book got me back into comics!” “This is the first time I’ve even read a turtle comic!”

TW: That means more to me than anything!

BB: And you’ve still got people just still discovering it! Every hardcover I’ve sold at this show, there’s still people who haven’t read it yet. “I can’t wait to read it!” and I’m like “That’s crazy. It’s been out for 3 years. It’s huge! I think that’s why it remains on the list. All these new people finding out about it and having to pick it up.

IE: For me personally, it has been a complete game changer after the turtles. Now it a constant presence. There may come a day where we actually dress up as turtles. We have a lot of Turtle games, and toys, and things like that. People close to us, our friends, call us “Turtle Guys”. Our family thinks we’re turtle guys now.

Everything around us looks like turtles. Our lives are turtles right now. We have bandanas, the weapons, we have some real props. We’re now appearing that we’re appearing at a convention, and as Ben mentioned, we see our drawings. We see our covers, and people coming to us asking for a picture or an autograph. Our lives are completely different now. It’s all thanks to Kevin and the Turtles team.

The success, I think, no one was expecting. We’re really grateful.

EE: Our life completely changed. We have a lot of work that we didn’t have before!

(Everyone laughs)

We are always working on the next turtle, the next page, my life became a complete Turtling. (The translator let me know that Esau used Turtle as a verb, so they didn’t have a translation)

We have breakfast, dinner, lunch, and everything related to turtles. We have a new fame that we weren’t expecting. We consider ourselves as hands working on the comic.

Before turtles, no one recognized us. No one knew who we were. We think we have something we don’t deserve. We’re here now, and people recognize us. Hearing people come to our table saying “You’re a great artist” or “You did a great job.” I just say “Thank you” and keep drawing because I don’t believe you. But we have to believe now. We do our best to give something back to the fans. Because of the love that they have passed on to us.

BB: One more story on that- I was on the phone the other day with AT&T support for my cell phone. I was having issues, and we were waiting for an update to go through, and the guys like “So, what are you doing this weekend?” I’m like, “Hopefully working. I think I have the studio all to myself.”

He’s like, “A studio? What are you do, music?” And I was like “No, I’m an artist. I like to just zone out on the weekends and get the pages done.” And he’s like, “Oh pages? What are you doing?”

“Comics”

“Comics?”

“Turtles.”

And said, “You didn’t do the Last Ronin, did you?” And I was like, “What?!” And I was like, “I’m one of the guys that did that!”

Then he goes “Oh my God! I was just talking to my-“ and it’s the AT&T guy about my cell phone, and then it turns out, he’s like “I was just talking about it with my friend. I haven’t got it yet but I think it’s coming out here in Mexico soon!” And I was like “Oh, well did you know the other two artists and Luis Antonio Delgado (colorist) are in the same city as you? The guy was in Mexico City. And I was just like, “What a crazy moment! That this random AT&T call, knew the book, and then I was able to tell him half the team is in his- around him! It was amazing!

TMNT.com: Did he fix the problem?

BB: Yeah. AT&T support is pretty damn good.

TW: What I love about the universe, is that it has a way of humbling you. And I think that’s important because if people ask you like to be famous, I go “I don’t know, ask Taylor, Swift.” But the thing is that-

BB: She probably thinks that way about some other people.

TW: Yeah, the thing is that there’s always an imposter syndrome. I think everybody kind of deal with it in their own way. Because we know how unglamorous it is behind the scenes. It’s a grind. You don’t get days off, doing comics. You just don’t. And you feel guilty when you do take a day off! I was in the store with my daughter, and we happen to see this display. It had one of the variant covers on sale that Kevin and I had signed somewhere along the line, I don’t remember. It was going for like $400. The store owner came over to me and he said, “Oh, yeah? You like that?” I go “Yeah.” He goes “You should read it, it’s pretty good!”

That’s the universe saying “Don’t get too big of a head, dude.”

TMNT.com: Before I let you guys go, who is your favorite of the new turtles?

BB: So hard! I can never answer this. I try to think of it like, maybe who’s my favorite to draw? And I think as a baby, Oden was definitely my favorite to draw. I think that was the first one where I was like, “That’s the cutest thing I could ever draw.” And then Yi now, I’d say, is my favorite to draw because she could be serious, and she’s got the markings, and I like her costume- it’s got all these nods that I won’t get into, but I think she’s fun to draw.

TW: Yeah, it’s tough. It’s kind of like the four originals. I get asked that a lot and I always feel like, I don’t know. The originals feel like my step children and I love them all. And then these feel like my babies now. But I don’t know if I could pick a favorite! It’s fascinating to me because this is really an opportunity for me to kind of explore even my own personal quirks through these characters. So I have a favorite at different times for different reasons. But right now, if you said today, because we had some really neat plans for Moja. Moja’s been in my mind a lot.

BB: (Under his breath) That’s ironic.

TW: That is ironic. But, you it’s funny in my house- I will say it’s Uno. Uno is the favorite. My wife loves Uno, know that’s that’s her favorite. Seeing that she has a favorite shows me the fans will have favorites. I thought for sure my wife would like Odyn. He’s like, the cute, goofy one. I go “You know, he’s kind of a bastard.”

And she was like “Nope, I still like him!” I think what that showed me was- This will be a new generation of Turtles where, we will have, and I’ve always seen this during signing, we will ask fans. And it’s almost 25 percent, 25 percent, 25 percent, down the line. There’s never a lot of Leo fans and nobody else. There’s Leo fans, and Raph fans, Donatello, Mikey. They all have their favorite, and it’s pretty much equal. And I think that’s gonna happen with these new characters as well.

IE: My favorite is Odyn. Same as Ben. Because, this turtle, everything is difficult for them. And that extra effort, has to be put down by Odyn, to be different. So you feel empathy with them. It’s big, it’s a little fatty. So, it’s harder for them than anyone else. So we notice the extra effort to keep the peace. That’s why I think Odyn- right now.But we’re still getting to know the others. Maybe that will change in the future.

EE: I may sound like a simple guy, but Uno is my favorite. There are a lot of things around, but it looks like the leader. But, mainly because of the graphic design. The actual design. The color being so- white, it’s easy to contrast everything. You want a dark background? Uno in Front! Uno will shine! If we need, Uno can change color and we can do something different! So we can contrast Uno well. The actual shell is completely different from the others. It looks like there is a wrap around it. So that’s my favorite right now. Especially, Spanish, Uno is my language- so, you know.

TW: One thing I will say that I am really enjoying, is this continuation of the April and Casey Marie story on. And there’s gonna be a lot that happens with them in this. We kind of set the table in “Lost Days” and then we’re definitely picking up from there. It’s not gonna be- this is not an easy journey, for either one of them. This is not rainbows and unicorns bringing these new turtles in existence, and in the aftermath of what happened in the Last Ronin. April in particular, April is such a mainstay, obviously, in turtle world this is really going to be a chance, I think, to really expand, not only her role, but I think I saw her overall importance to this to this brand, and this title. It’s a fun challenge. I’m really excited about that and I think fans are gonna dig it I really do. I hope so.

Once again, a huge thank you to Tom Waltz, Ben Bishop, the Escorza Brothers, and Gregg Katzman for putting this together!

Be sure to pick up The Last Ronin and Last Ronin: the Lost Years now available at comic shops and retailers everywhere!

Last Ronin 2 is set for release February 28, 2024. Add it to your pull list at your local comic shop!

November 21, 2023 0 comment

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NYCC ‘23 Interview with the Last Ronin Team Tom Waltz, Ben Bishop, and the Escorza Brothers

by Kyle Tobey November 5, 2023

written by Kyle Tobey

“The Last Ronin” changed the entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

At New York Comic Con 2023, I was able to sit down with part of the Last Ronin team to talk about killing their heroes, the potential of future versions of characters, and predicting the future.

Editors note: The Escorza Brothers communicated via an on-site translator for this interview.

TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles.com: Thank you guys so much for being with me! Good morning, everybody. So, I guess my first question is- What was it like to murder the Ninja Turtles?

(All laugh)

Tom Waltz: Cathartic!

Ben Bishop: People call me the turtle killer, and I always just say I was under orders! I just do what I was told and sending them out in the most honorable way I could, and doing my best. Obviously, as a kid born in ‘86, grew up with all these guys, it was just as painful for me. Every, every scene I was drawing, I had chills, and it really was just making sure to do it right. And make sure they went out in a way fans would say like, “That makes sense for him.” That was their call, of course, but keeping it you know, respectful and honorable and emotional, and I think that’s why Kevin wanted me to do it. I make people cry in a lot of my books.

TW: That was the challenge, too, because the flip to that was the story what we wanted to tell ultimately was vengeance is futile. There’s no reason to pursue revenge because you’re really hurting yourself. And so, the death were amazing and they were honorable- but at the same time, we wanted to kind of present this idea that, “OK, now they’re dead. Now What? You know? Was it worth it worth this long family feud just to lose everybody? I mean on both sides, really! I think that was the key to us kind of “End-capping” that was the “No Peace” thing. So, the whole idea was, there was never any peace. In the end, Michelangelo, once this family feud was finished realized really, the only thing that matters is having peace. That’s what you should be seeking because- we’re all dead. We’re all gone, and for what? What we wanna do now in the new series is take that a step further. OK, was is it worth it? What comes out of that destruction now? And is it good? Or is it bad? Or is it both? And that’s the thing we’re going to be exploring.

Isaac Escorza: It has been a privilege to work on the project on the project. I think this is the best thing we, as brothers, have worked on in our professional careers. We never imagine that through the death of the turtles. So, actually following a script from Tom and Kevin, was like “Ok, we’re killing the turtles. We’re going to keep killing the turtles.” Kevin sometimes says, “Don’t think of all the designs, the layouts, everything they gave to us to look at. Everything related to the print, what we have experienced has been a complete different experience from what we have experienced before.

And now, we have Ninja Turtles in everything. We know as the story continues, now we have a new family to follow. It’s not over. The things that started two years ago are continuing now, and we have new things to tell to all the people.

Esau Escorza: Working the Turtles is something that was completely unexpected for me. I always followed the turtles. I always liked the cartoons, and the video games. In the 90’s I used to watch the movies, and stuff like. When we’re drawing human beings- actual human beings- some superheroes, we never saw each other drawing something like a mutant. And less- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I have drawn so few turtles, some realistic turtles, I used to draw a cartoon version just for myself. I never imagined that I would be drawing these professionally. It has been something completely surprising for me time. It has been something really nice. It has been a great experience. I learned a lot about it. It was such a short notice that when we were already starting to draw the Ninja Turtles! So we kept working the script and drawing- because we weren’t given a clean script. We were given a few pages here and there. And the story kept changing and moving. So, we were fans actually following the comic! What’s going to happen? What happened here? What happens next? When the story was over, Kevin and Tom already knew what was going to happen. They had surprises for the fans. It was a complete revelation for (us). It was an amazing experience. I was like a fan- reading then drawing. We had a complete year to read, so we had to wait the whole time for it to be complete. So that is something unique for us.

TMNT.com: At the end of the Last Ronin series, we got a glimpse of the next batch of turtles that are now coming out. When you had that teaser- was there already a plan in place? Did you have any personalities ready to go?

TW: No, honestly. This is how that came about. So, as we were coming to the end- it was a long process, as mentioned, there were delays- and then we wanted to make sure we had this kind of epilogue. The epilogue obviously dealt with Casey training, kind of that idea was more of Casey Marie was the one carrying the traditions and the torch. Kevin (Eastman) said, “Oh you know what? Let’s blow everybody’s mind and have a terrarium with 4 turtles in it. I said “OK.” (Tom shrugs this off)

We weren’t even sure! We had talked about sequels, and we had ideas for sequels- again, a lot of the stuff is kind of centered on Casey and her story. So he (Kevin) says “Let’s just throw those four turtles in there and see what happens!

But, again, it’s the kind of thing where ideas beget ideas, right? And sometimes, teasers beget ideas. And once we did that, and Last Ronin has been amazing to us, and we start to feel like this is its own universe. This Ronin-verse can be something bigger than than what we actually initially had planned. Then we started talking about “What we can they be? Who are they? What are they? Then we got really hyper into the weeds looking at different different species of turtles, all kinds of things. But the original idea was more of this kind of cool Easter egg that maybe fans go “OH!” and it maybe filled in with their own headspace and their own fan fiction in their mind. This is what would happen if they were four more turtles! But the idea grew on us too, and then the rest is history.

TMNT.com: Are there any versions of current villains that might make an appearance?

BB: We maybe can’t say.

TW: Nothing is off the board! One of the things that we want to do with Ronan that we’ve always done with turtles at IDW is- Nothing will happen in serves the story. For long time I wrote the ongoing series and we would never bring in characters, like big villains and guys like Leatherhead, until later in the series when it made sense. I mean, when we created Jennika, Kevin and I wanted to make a female turtle from the very beginning. She didn’t become a female turtle until issue 9! And we didn’t even know who she was going to be until [issues] 50’s 60’s when we realized “Oh! Jennika’s our turtle! How do we make that happen? And it took us 30 issues to make it happen. Same approach for Ronan. We’re not gonna force feed anything. We do you want there to be, the same, this new world and new characters. At the same time, we never forget about the four original turtles. We don’t forget about the history that has inspired these new turtles. So, I’m hoping that we do have some cool flashback stuff to take a look back and maybe some of those those classic villains or characters will appear.

TMNT.com: Were there any ideas that- I know it’s a very collaborative process- but were there any ideas that maybe Kevin through out that was a little bit too far gone?

BB: Things that didn’t make the cut?

TW: There were things we talked about that didn’t happen.We thought we were gonna go left and we went right with certain storylines and certain characters, but to be honest, it’s been a pretty grounded experience because it’s such a serious story. If anything, I think it’s the opposite was true. When Kevin showed me the original outline, and it was written ‘87 and it was like 30 years in the future? The future wasn’t futuristic enough! In 1987 it was! Peter Laird (co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) is Nostradamus, is what I call him because he just predicted things that happen!

BB: Flip phones that run on batteries- It says in the script “It would be able to last a whole day! And you would watch your sports on it!

TW: It looked like a modern flip phone! It blew my mind! There are diagrams and-

BB: It was right under a drawing of Fugitoid’s head and I was like “Is Fugitoid coming? Is this real?

TW: So what I said to Kevin was, “We’re going to have to make it a little more futuristic because everything exists that’s in this story! We had to go in the opposite direction and get a little more crazy! As far as like the other characters themselves and the concept, we’re trying to stay in an area that’s grounded. We don’t want to get away from graphic storytelling or the excitement of comics and in action adventure. But, at the same time, it’s a very serious story of a family that’s gone and the family that’s come, you know? And what problems do they deal with the other ones didn’t, but what are some of the same issues? It’s never been a thing where I felt like like “Nope! You can’t have robots from Mars on this thing!” Does that mean we can’t later on? Maybe we will. Only if it makes sense to the story.

The truth is that I will always felt like all of us have had this kind of weird synchronicity- all the way through our colorist, Luis Antonio Delgado, where we we know the mood we’re trying to set, we know the story we’re trying to tell, and we’ve all come together, both story-wise and design-wise to make that happen.

TMNT.com: Speaking of the original script, which was originally conceived by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, how much of that original script continued in to the Final Cut?

Stay tuned for part 2 of our interview with this part of the Last Ronin Team where we tackle the original script and how their own lives have changed!

Huge thank you to Gregg Katzman and IDW comics for the opportunity to talk to the team, and thank you to Tom Waltz, Ben Bishop and the Escorza brothers for their time!

Be sure to pick up “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin” collection in bookstores everywhere now!

“The Last Ronin: The Lost Years” collection is also available now, and “The Last Ronin 2” issue #1 will release in comic shops everywhere December 13, 2023.

November 5, 2023 0 comment

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NYCC 2023: Interview w/ TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Comic Artist Sarah Myer

by Kyle Tobey October 19, 2023

written by Kyle Tobey

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures has refreshed the original 1987 cartoon into a new comic series!

The new series takes the aesthetic and personalities of the characters from the series so many of us grew up with and gives us new stories to enjoy. There’s known favorites and deep cut characters coming back for another round against the turtles.

I got to speak with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures artist Sarah Myer about how they found out they got the job, putting their stamp on the characters, and what they want to work on next!

TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles.com: Thank you again for meeting with me!

Sarah Myer: Of course, yeah!

TMNT: So I know that you are now doing artwork for the Saturday Morning Adventures for IDW- What was it like to get the call that you’re gonna be working on a Ninja turtles book?

SM: I got to tell you, guess where I was? Disney World! When I got the call for the artwork, the interiors. It was May of this year and I was on vacation in Disney World and I was like “Wow, it lives up to his reputation. I was so excited in fact, like I looked at my email when I saw it at like seven in the morning. I was in Pop Century Hotel in Disney World and, I literally was so excited I almost like walked around just telling strangers. Like, I felt like I wanted to do that, you know? But, yeah, and it was just amazing. Because prior to this I had worked as a colorist on TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures 1-4. And I was doing variant covers, so it’s been awesome. I’ve had so much fun drawing the interior so far.

TMNT: Has it been difficult trying to follow the character models at all and still putting your own spin on the characters in the book?

SM: I would say not so much! Not a lot, which I’m really happy for. A big amount of that has been due to Nickelodeon being so easy to work with. You know, basically, if I get a note from them, because they’re usually so easy going with it, I know that it’s literally just if it’s something absolutely necessary. I have no absolutely no qualms whatsoever about modifying something or changing something if it needs to. But they give us a lot of freedom and I really appreciate that. One of the things, with regards to the ‘87 turtles- It looks so different from season to season, depending on the animation studio. I would say, if I had to describe like what version I generally draw like, it would probably be what I consider TOEI Animation, but B-team. They worked on a lot of episodes from like season 3-4, 5 even. And six, here and there. “Donatello’s Degree” is an example. “Leonardo versus Tempestra”, if you look at the turtles characters, they look a little bit more- almost like Doraemon, or like, Keroppi like. I don’t know if you have a pen or something I can draw it for you.

At this point, I start to scramble for the sharpie and LITERALLY any scrap of paper I can find. It’s Comic Con, so there were plenty of sampler books! Thank you again IDW!

SM: So, like essentially, I don’t wanna get get caught or whatever while I draw for you while I’m talking. I tend to draw kind of that sort of more- the cutesier looking turtles. But, I always make sure to keep the characters a model. I think the side characters are more challenging! It’s like Chromedome, for example, you got to make him look right! He’s a robot, so you definitely have to keep all the proportions right. But the Turtles I tend to draw a little bit more like- flexibility in terms of their facial expressions, you know?

TMNT: Have you done anything that you can put your own stamp on? To say, “This is my artwork in this book!”

SM: Oh, I guess I guess the one thing if I had to say, there was one sort of stamp, in terms of like, that would make people think “Yeah, that’s a Sarah Myer turtle right there.” Would be the guy I like to make full use of their eye ridges. They’re at the ridge above the where their eyebrows would be. Kind of considered their eye ridges, or eyebrow ridges. For example, if I draw like a worried looking Donatello here.

Sarah takes a second to touch up their Donnie sketch

SM: I always like to sort of draw like that. I always kind of map out where even part of there their eyebrow ridge might actually come up over, outside the circular shape of their heads. That, I guess, would be something. l guess I just draw them very expressively. I always try to draw the moments like you’re in mid motion, too in the in the comic.

TMNT: I know that’s one thing that’s really hard to do with artwork is to make the characters not seem stagnant. To make it seem like it even though you’re looking at a still picture, you wanted to seem like it’s mid motion, and you do that really well!

SM: Oh, thank you! Thank you! I guess it is probably the one rule that I try to give myself is keep it on model as much as possible but don’t sacrifice-and this is something I’m telling myself you know-but don’t sacrifice your expressiveness for for the old model looks. So, like, you know they’re the face shape might be a little bit distorted if it needs to be. If I’m like, having them be really worried, you know, then then the line then becomes lower. That might not have showed up as much in the show, but it’s like for the purposes of the comics it’s really expressing their emotions.

TMNT: It almost reminds me of old “Tom and Jerry” cartoons.

SM: Yeah, the squash and stretch!

TMNT: Yeah and how accentuated their face would be. It gives me a lot of that vibe.

SM: Oh, thank you! I actually it’s funny you should mention like old school animation because I do try to put a little bit of- any time Raphael shows up in a panel- look at him if he’s not talking. Especially because I’ll probably try to draw him like looking right at the reader. So, it’s like if Leonardo is in front panel going, “We gotta do somethig!” You’ll see Raph looking right at you. It’s a very Chuck Jones thing I like to put that in there.

TMNT: Are there any characters or any storylines that you want to tackle that you kind of remember from the ‘87 show?

SM: Well, I love Eric Burnham scripts. I got to say, currently I’m drawing issue number eight which has Mr. Ogg in it. I don’t think he was anybody’s favorite! But here’s the thing I never expected. I’m so excited to draw any of this but when I when I started drawing it in reading his script, I laughed so hard reading it. I was like I can’t believe this, but I’m actually really getting a kick out of drawing Mr. Ogg with the way he wrote it, you know? So I feel like Eric can write any character that you know appeared in the show and make their story interesting. I loved like for example what he did with Thrum the rock soldier. He was kind of an original character for Saturday Morning Adventures comic, but he’s based on the rock soldiers from the show. I feel like that script has made him such an interesting character, and it had a really good message. Having said that, I would love to work on some thing where it’s Donatello and Irma paired up as a team. They are, in a sort of an away the two clumsiest members of their own respective teams. I would love to see more of Mona Lisa, which I can’t really give too much away, but I might be working on something with that. More Donatello centric stories will be fun. I would love for the chance to do a mini series. That be fun.

TMNT: How has working on TMNT: SMA been different from working on your other books like “Monstrous”?

SM: Oh yeah I guess so it’s you know two different publishers so it’s a different editorial style and everything. Well, “Monstrous” took like 2 1/2 years to write and draw and go through edit stages. That took a long time I guess the one thing objectively that’s different is speed. This is so like breakneck speed fast! It feels like just yesterday that I was even drawing the inks for the Halloween special and now it’s out. And that can create a little bit of a kind of a different sense of a mental space, you know what I mean? It’s a little bit surreal in a way. I guess with “Monstrous” there’s so much leading up to it that I was ready for it when it came out. I forget, sometimes what Streetfighter issue is out! I was like “Wait, Ariel, is our number four out today? He’s like “Yes” I was like, “Oh crap! I haven’t even seen it yet with all the lettering, so that is surreal. In terms of like, editing, even though there’s different styles of editing on both of those books and in both of those publishers, I’ve really enjoyed working with both of the editing teams. I’m so excited to work with my team from First Second and I love working with the team at IDW. Nick and Tia have been awesome.

TMNT: Is there anything else Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle related you want to work on the future?

SM: Oh my God! I guess- OK so and I’ve said this before. I think that I told them this. If there’s any room, I would love to do a “Last Ronin” variant cover down the line. Just to draw like a more gritty style which I have dabbled in a little bit, just before I officially got to work on it with IDW and turtles, I drew a lot of fanart. In different styles. I don’t know, like I mentioned anything Donatello centric, it could be cool to do a mini series. I was also telling somebody else earlier today, I would love to draw the line art for the turtles coloring book! I think they’ll be so much fun you know because I I just want to like I think it be fun to inject all that energy into just the lineart and I think readers would have fun coloring some things. Like, I don’t know, how about we draw like Shredder and Krang having a picnic or something. That would be they’re Spring time page.

TMNT: For TMNT:SMA, it caters to both an older Ninja Turtles fans familiar with the cartoon, but it also skews to younger fans with the nature of the cartoon in general. Have you seen any big differences in the Fanbase in terms of age range?

SM: Oh man, you know I got to say- I think most people who have come by and mentioned it have been my age which is almost 40. And in some cases, I think they’ve been in their 40’s. So, it is I think it’s definitely all the kids that were young in the 80’s and 90’s tend to be the main demographic. But, at the same time, I have heard a lot of people say that they’re excited to share it with their their kids or their nieces or nephews. I guess in a way it’s sort of like all the aging millennials and younger GEN-Xers, but then also Gen-Z but like the much much younger Gen-Z.

TMNT: Is Donatello your favorite turtle?

SM: OK, so, as an adult I really relate to- Rewatching the ‘87 show- I was so amused by how stressed out he is. Also by how strangely incompetent he can be despite him knowing a lot about you know various subjects. I kind of found it very humanizing, you know? Very relatable. His inventions often don’t work! But then he will sometimes come up with just the right thing. But it’s his moments of incompetence that I is in a tote really related to. I mean how how freaking poetic does that sound? It’s like it was his moments of incompetence and failure that really spoke to me as an adult.
-Done at NYCC 2023

I want to send a huge thank you to Sarah Meyer, Gregg Katzman, and IDW for their time and support!

Be sure to check out “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures” in stores now! Check out our other interviews from previous Comic cons!

October 19, 2023 0 comment

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New York Toy Fair 2023 Spotlight: The Loyal Subjects

by Kyle Tobey October 9, 2023

written by Kyle Tobey

New York Toy Fair is where exhibitors showcase their upcoming products, existing toys, and maybe a glimpse at what’s to come. It’s where industry professionals and influencers meet to see what’s coming up and what trends will be for the coming year.

The Loyal Subjects is starting to carve their own niche in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Toy world, and they brought a ton of previews to Toy Fair. The Loyal Subjects have exclusively been bringing the world of the IDW series and Mateus Santolouco’s artwork to life inside a window display box. I was able to get a small preview of what they have coming up in their Ninja Turtles line, and they are going to make fans of the IDW series very happy.

The turtle brothers themselves have been released in a few color ways already. My personal favorite is the Black and grey Comic Con exclusive. Each turtle comes featuring the fantastic artwork of Mateus on the box and, for those brave enough to take your figures out of the box, a limited trading card! These work really well in bringing the comic book artwork to life. Each figure here, and with all of Loyal Subjects lines, are highly pose-able. Even with tiny feet (comic accurate, baby) they can be posed to not fall, even without a stand. Or- you could get a Raphael figure with motorcycle. I need this figure. Turtles have a long history with vehicles, but it’s rare they look this grounded in reality.

I think the best in show for the Loyal Subjects was their upcoming Shredder in Hell figure.

The figure has a slight orange tint that doesn’t look unnatural, but gives it a tone that feels different than the others. The Shredder in Hell Issue #1 cover is the box art and, it’s such a fantastic cover, why change it?

Continuing the comic lines are more combo figure and comic packs. Super Shredder and Super Size Krang Both look accurate to their cartoon and big screen counterpart. I love the bright purple on Super Shredder. Each figure also comes with an included comic from IDW.

Figures we’ve already seen was on display as well! We got a good look at Raphael with his motorcycle at SDCC, and I’m VERY jealous of everyone who got the gold variant for the Motorcycle. What I love on each of these is that Mateus made exclusive artwork for the box on each.

I’m so so excited to see what Loyal Subjects does with their IDW line.

What they brought to Toy Fair really stood out among the vendors for adult collectors. They are the only one doing figures for the continuing IDW series and I’m sure they have new characters, artists, and figures on the horizon. Or- at least I hope they do! I would love to see what they do with Sophie Campbell or Ben Bishop contributing artwork. And think of the characters they could release!

On the animated series side of the table, we got another look a few figures already in stores. Bebop and Rocksteady both come with a swappable permutation head as well! Loyal Subjects could have easily made this a separate figure, but I appreciate that they didn’t release the same figure with 1 minor difference. The turtles in disguise are a fun version of the 4 brothers not seen very often. With each of these, theres a chance of a rarer variant. Each variant also comes with exclusive accessories. The prototype variant is limited to only 100! If you are lucky enough to find one, please let us know! I still haven’t seen one yet.

Tokka and Razar are getting figures for their animated forms. Slash is getting his animated version. Classic versions of Casey and April are hitting stores. I think this animated line will have enough variety to keep collectors interested and returning.

Look, I’ve been wanting an IDW line of figures for a long time. I think the designs that Mateus created are going to be timeless version of the turtles and the figures really do his artwork justice. I’m absolutely thrilled to see Shredder in Hell getting a figure. It was an absolute standout for me. I’m excited to see this show up and give the book it’s due. It’s an exciting time to be a TMNT collector! I’m excited to get my hands on more figures from the Loyal Subjects, and can’t wait to see what’s next.

What do you think? Will you be picking up any of their figures? Check out what’s available and preorder here! Let us know in the comments! And check out another article here!

Loyal Subjects : Shredder in Hell — Loyal Subjects NYTF 2023

October 9, 2023 0 comment

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Iron Studios 1/10 Statue Review

by Kyle Tobey October 2, 2023

written by Kyle Tobey

There is no shortage of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collectibles out there. With even with all the figures and toys being released, it’s always refreshing to have something more upscale. Enter the Iron Studios TMNT Statue series.

The 1/10th scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series from Iron Studios has definitely stepped up with something suitable for “grown up” collectors, without completely destroying your wallet.

Each statue features a turtle on a detailed sewer pipe display. There are several details showcased in each that make it so each statue could be viewed at any angle. Even at such a small scale, Iron Studios managed to pack in enough keep each statue fresh. Destroyed mousers, pizza boxes, and anti-Foot logos fit each brother, adding more personality to each dynamic pose.

The colors on each statue really pop. The designs are based more from a realistic and gritty point, rather that the animated versions we might be used to. Each one is really heavy. I love how sturdy they feel, but at the same time, I’m nervous to put these in my case. They’re so heavy, I’m afraid they’d break the glass! I love the poses as well. The way the bandanas float almost looks like the turtles are falling into an action pose.

My only critique is a strange detail I notice on the front shell. There are black paint splotches going right up the center of each. One a series where the rest of the paint is really well done and meticulously detailed, it really stands out. So much so that it almost feels like an error. When I got the first package I thought it might have been a defect, but as I opened each statue I realized that this would happen on each one. I have the rest of the series on Preorder from Sideshow Collectibles, so we’ll see if that continues through the other characters. Clearly it wasn’t a big enough issue to cancel my preorders!

Overall, I definitely love these statues from Iron Studios. It’s a great addition for adult collectors.

I got the Color versions, but a black, gray, and red version is also up on the Iron Studios Website! I have a little bit of buyers remorse getting the color over the black, gray, red version, but again- I still love these.

What do you think of these? Will you be picking up any of these? If so- are you getting the entire set or just 1 character? Do you prefer these or something more for a younger audience? Let us know in the comments!