TMNT: 100 Project

Publication date: February, 2017 (indicia), March, 2017 (actual publication)
Published by: IDW (publisher), Hero Initiative (co-publisher)

Summary:

The TMNT: 100 Project contains over 100 pieces of original art done on blank sketch covers for TMNT (IDW) #50.  Artists who appear in this book:

Kristin Allen
Grace Allison
Franco Aureiliani
Gabriel Ba
John Beatty
Dan Berger
Terry Blas
Dan Brereton
Jeffrey Brown
Chris Burnham
Jim Calafiore
Daniel Campos
Giuseppe Camuncoli
Ethan Castillo
Victor Castro
Ron Chan
Matthew Clark
Ryan Cody
Adelso Corona
Dennis Culver
Carlos D'anda
Michael Dialynas
Mark dos Santos
Dan Duncan
Kevin Eastman
Rich Ellis
Gabe Eltaeb
Cat Farris
Max Fiumara
Sebastian Fiumara
Tony Fleecs
Autumn Fredrickson
Agnes Garbowska
Ken Garing
Ben Glendenning
Gabriel Hardman
James Harren
John Heebink
Fred Hembeck
Christopher Herndon
Edwin Huang
Chris Ivy
Drew Johnson
Dale Keown
Lukas Ketner
Scott Koblish
Scott Kolins
Rich Koslowski
Peter Krause
Steve Kurth
Jim Lawson
John McCrea
Ted McKeever
Mark McKenna
Shawn McManus
Rodolfo Migliari
Danny Miki
Karl Moline
Fabio Moon
Albert Morales
Chris Moreno
Daryl Murphy
Marat Mychaels
Todd Nauck
Mike Norton
Michael Oppenheimer
Richard Pace
Tony Parker (presumably not the point guard for the San Antonio Spurs, but maybe?)
Hanna Nance Partlow
Khoi Pham
Joe Phillips
Whilce Portacio
Gordon Purcell
Tom Raney
Sara Richard
Paolo Rivera
Darick Robertson
Tone Rodriguez
Craig Rousseau
Stan Sakai
Alex Saviuk
Stuart Sayger
Dan Schoening
Tim Seeley
Sajad Shah
Bill Sienkiewicz
Walter Simonson
Skinner
Andy Smith
Matt Smith
Ryan Sook
Aaron Sowd
Ty Templeton
Tokka
Nate van Dyke
Mike Vasquez
Dave Wachter
Jonathan Wayshak
Charles P. Wilson III
Aaron Wood
Rich Woodall
Tom Ziuko
Jim Zub


Turtle Tips:

*As with Hero Comics 2012 #1, this special art book was released as a charity publication with all profits going to the Hero Initiative.

*Although Nick Pitarra is listed in the index of artists, his work does not appear in the book.  Unfortunately, including him messes up the index and so half of the page numbers do not correspond to the correct artist.


Summary:

I had a hell of a time finding this thing.  I had ordered it from my local comic shop and they put it on my list, but when the March release date came, they told me that it wasn't available through Diamond and that they'd have to special order it.  They tried special ordering it, but after a month they told me they'd have to back order it.  By around July they finally told me that they were never going to get it, so I should try elsewhere.  Of course, four months after release date, the thing was sold out everywhere.  Fuckin' awesome.

I lucked out, though.  I was browsing around a shop while stopped in Temple, Texas, and there it was, just chilling on the shelf with all the other trade paperbacks.  Got it for MSRP ($15).  Fuckin' awesome (not sarcastic, this time).

Now, I generally don't review art books here at TMNT Entity because, well, what can I write?  "Some of the art is good and some of it isn't."  Wow, I really plumbed the depths of my critical analysis skills for that nugget of wisdom.  But art is (mostly) subjective, so what I might think looks disappointing and what I might think looks amazing is entirely a matter of my perspective.  Chances are, I won't like what everybody else likes.  For example, there are people out there who like Erica Henderson.  I mean, I think there are.  She gets work, so there must be.  Right?

But I guess that's what's worth pointing out about this book.  There is a LOT of art in this thing and there is a WIDE variety of styles.  You WILL find something you like in here.  In fact, given the quantity of content, you're gonna find lots of stuff you like in here.

In addition to the wide range of aesthetic styles, you'll also encounter a wide range of... effort.  There are artists who devoted countless hours to their charity cover, really bringing their A-game and giving it their all...

And then there are artists who just shat a doodle out in 3 minutes and called it a night.

But hey.  Some people like doodles.  More power to ya, I suppose.

You'll see a ton of recognizable names in here, featuring TMNT artists from multiple generations.  There are Mirage dudes like Lawson and Berger, and then there are IDW dudes like Schoening and Dialynas.  And this kickass piece from Duncan:

There's a whole lot of representation in here, including plenty of artists I've never seen touch the Turtles before.  Check out this gorgeous cover from Migliari:

Like I said, you can definitely tell who gave a shit and who didn't in this collection.  Because damn.

Regarding subject matter, the majority of the book features drawings of the Turtles, as expected, though there are some dark horse interpretations of them.  I was surprised to find several depictions of the TMNT from the reviled live-action Michael Bay films.  They're nice pieces to be sure, but the Turtles are still ugly.

In terms of characters, you have mostly the usual suspects: The Turtles, April, Krang, Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, etc.  Even a couple of Leatherheads.  But then you'll turn the page and get hit with a wild card.  Dr. Dome?

Is that... Venus De Milo...?

So that's what I mean when I say there's so much variety in here.  Variety of styles, variety of interpretations, variety of characters... It's an art book that celebrates the entire TMNT franchise in all its incarnations, even the unpopular ones like Next Mutation or the Michael Bay flicks.  It's sincere and I appreciate that.

All-in-all, it actually reminds me of Udon's various Capcom tribute art books, albeit in soft cover.  It follows the same formula and there's a certain joy in seeing (almost) every aspect of the franchise receive a spotlight in so many different styles.  While I know IDW did this for a special event, I'd love to see them do more periodically.  And if they do, I'll be sure to buy one from a shop that can actually order the damn thing.

Hero Comics 2012 #1

Publication date: May 23, 2012

Published by: IDW (publisher), Hero Initiative (co-publisher)

Story and art: Kevin Eastman

“Ready Set Go!”

Summary:

On a rooftop, the Turtles are engaged in a little “friendly competition”. Raph challenges Mike to make it to 14 North Moore Street and back in 9 ½ minutes, with the stakes at double or nothing. After a little goading, Mikey takes the bet and dashes off.

Sprinting through alleys and leaping over rooftops, Mikey makes it to the target and finds proof of arrival hidden in plain sight: a coin tucked beneath an old bean can. Meanwhile, at the finishing line, Raph, Leo and Don laugh that Mikey will never find the coin in such an obvious hiding place.

Mikey arrives at the last second, reminding Raph not to underestimate him. Having won the bet, Raph now has to do dishes every night for two weeks. Undeterred, Raph offers a new bet to Leo and Don: 9 minutes flat, double or nothing.


Turtle Tips:

*This story was reprinted in 2014 in the TMNT 30th Anniversary Special.

*The TMNT 30th Anniversary Special includes an introduction, placing this story in the Mirage universe rather than the IDW universe.  Specifically, the "Early Mirage" era.

*This issue also contained 7 other unrelated short stories.


Review:

This was one of the nicer surprises that IDW managed to get to the shelves this year; the last thing I was expecting was a brand new 4-page TMNT story written and drawn by Kevin Eastman! They announced the story some while back and it’s been a bit of a drag waiting for the release date (Hero Comics 2012 got pushed back a few times, I think, and issues weren’t distributed in all markets on release day).

What I love about this story is that it looks and feels like something that you’d see in “Shell Shock” or as a back-up in a TMNT (Vol. 1) issue. It is very vintage and straight-up classic Kevin Eastman. If this thing had been hand-lettered instead of digitally lettered, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Of course, if this had been a story released back in 1989 when Eastman was churning out these back-up TMNT strips by the fistful at an expedient rate, I’d probably be less enamored with it; it’s really just a short gag piece about Mikey on a scavenger hunt. However, I think what makes it feel so special is the context of its release. Eastman hasn’t written and drawn a TMNT story in I don’t know how long.

After he sold his creative rights to Peter Laird so he could focus his time on Heavy Metal magazine and its offshoots, Eastman’s contributions to TMNT became slimmer and slimmer. He released his Artobiography which was cool, and using his Heavy Metal imprint, he gave us a new printing of “Bodycount” as well as an anthology collection of his classic work in “TMNT 25th”. But anything new was strictly the stuff of sketches for at least ten years or more.

So seeing him doing a new story, as uneventful as the actual plot of said story may be, is genuinely thrilling and nostalgic. In fact, it actually leaves me considering snatching up the hardcover collection of IDW’s first four issue arc of TMNT, as it contains the full Eastman layouts for those issues. A bit pricey, though; I’ll have to mull it over some more.


Grade: B (as in, “But the only thing missing was a ‘Chet’.”)