As a child of the 80's and a life-long comic geek, I LOVED the (pre-TV) turtles. I'm talking no pizza, no rocksteady and be-bop, black and white awesomeness. This book had a huge impact on me as a kid. Aside from being a truly original concept which revolutionized independant comics, it was published just an hour or so away in Northhampton, MA. There was a hometown attachment for me, for sure. And it was a cool book. Often dark and gritty, it was geared towards an older crowd. On top of that it was very independant which means extra effort had to be made in just finding it! If you didn't have an actual comic shop near you, you were screwed. They did NOT have this book on the rack at your local grocery store.
Then, as we all know, came the cartoon. And that was all she wrote. The mystique was shattered. The coolness - gone! I've never really had any interest in anything turtle-related since those first 20 issues published by little old Mirage Studios. I can honestly say I still do not.
But, this week IDW launched the first issue of Kevin Eastman's TMNT revamp, and it did make me a little nostalgic. There are 4 stores in New England selling a special blank sketch variant cover. The idea behind these blank sketch variants (I gather) is to bring them to conventions and have your favorite artists sketch a custom cover for you. I'm lucky enough to have one of those stores right down the street - Friendly Neighborhood Comics. (Pretty much the best comic shop ever, and my kids have no idea how lucky they are to both have a place like this, and two dorky parents encouraging them to go there every weekend!)
Well, I decided there was one artist in particular I wanted to draw the cover of this new TMNT #1 - ME! So, here you go - my first comic book cover. Limited run of one!
