Turtle

I didn’t know Bird outside of the Holiday events here on the boards, but from the sounds of it, I missed out. Condolences to his family. I’d also be interested to know if there is anything the family needs.

Such good stuff already! Need to figure out what I’m offering.

Someone is on the ball!

26 hours left to sign up. Any other takers?

I’d agree with this. I’d also add that sharing pics when the box arrives helps build excitement and enjoyment for the community. Santas: I’d highly encourage wrapping the the gifts to enhance the festivities. In some cases, wrapping is not practical. Writing “Do Not Open until ___” helps. And make sure you include a way to reveal your identity. This can be on the tag on the gift or a surprise when the gift is opened, dealer’s choice. You may think this goes without saying, but each year we see people forget this step, leaving the recipient wondering who their generous Santa was. Recipients: Unless marked specifically to leave the shipping box sealed, open the shipping box. Either way, share pictures of whatever arrived. This is a courtesy to let your Santa know that the box arrived safely and wasn’t stolen by a porch pirate or delivered to the wrong address…both things that can’t be determined by a tracking number showing “delivered”. Give your Santa Peace of mind this year. Plus, it’s fun seeing all the pictures. It builds anticipation for everyone. Really looking forward to this!

Mail call! She didn't have to, but my aunt sent me a box with the goodies she picked up from the manhole ceremony.

We are close to the end of the year so I figure I'd do a recap of some of the TMNT-related events I took part in this year. As far as being a TMNT fan is concerned, the first half of the year was pretty slow, but it really ramped up by the end. First off, I went to the Garden State Comic Fest around June or so. I did get to talk to Jim Lawson a bit at the show but outside of that, it was my first time meeting Bill Anderson, who did some of the inking on a few of the issues in TMNT volume 1 (Twilight of the Ring and Juliet's Revenge). Overall, a pretty quiet show that I used as an excuse to catch up with a few collector friends of mine. I did pick up a TMNT print from Bill, though. This was an older print of his. His newer ones are pretty cool. He prints them 2-sided so he has the black and white version on one side and a colored version on the other. After that, there was the TMNT fan event at the Mahoning Drive-In showing the first 2 live-action movies and featuring a guest appearance by artist Chris Allan. I covered that shortly after the event, but here's the link in case you missed it. After that, there was a smaller show in NYC called FlameCon in August. I'd never done that show before, but IDW TMNT artist Michael Dialynas was going to be there. He lives in Greece and I hadn't seen him since NYCC 2018. I'm working on a couple of Jam Pieces I wanted to add him to. I'll show those off when they're complete. That's the artist for the Mutant Mayhem print I showed off a few months back. However, I also had the opportunity to speak with James Tynion IV, who wrote the Batman/TMNT series. He even did a small sketch for me: After that was Baltimore. That's always a fun show, though there wasn't a huge TMNT presence. Always a pleasure to chat with Michael Dooney. I tend to pick up some prints from him when I see him. Lately, he leaves a little room on the bottom of some of them so he can do a more involved sketch. I think these are great: I also got a chance to meet Sarah Myer, who is working on the TMNT Saturday Morning adventures series. Relatively speaking, she's new to the professional TMNT scene, but you can tell from her work that she's been a fan of the property for a long time. If you get a chance to meet her, at least swing by and say Hi. I did pick up an original I saw in her portfolio that just grabbed me for some reason. It was clearly from the Donatello one-shot story featuring Kirby, a clear homage to Jack Kirby. Such a great issue. She said she planned on finishing it digitally and making the print available at NYCC a few months down the road. I also stopped by Dave Petersen. I was able to pick up some truly terrific "roughs". I put that term in quotes because they look really great for roughs. They are each of the turtles in the famous pose from the splash page in issue #1: After that was Granite State Comic Con in September, which is the best show of the year for Turtle fans. It's basically an unofficial TMNT-con with a few other comic creators mixed in. It's a good chance to meet newer TMNT artists that live abroad like Mateus Santolouco , Mike Rooth, and Jon Sommariva. Steve Lavigne was also in attendance and he hosted the impromptu Peter Laird signing at his table, which was great. While Jim Lawson wasn't there, he did hold a signing during one of the days at a museum in Dover (near the new manhole cover) that had a temporary TMNT exhibit set up. I'm expecting big things from that show next year for the TMNT 40th anniversary. Eastman is slated to be there and I'm guessing Lavigne will be there as well. I'm hoping they can get Talbot and Lawson there like they were in 2022. Santolouco will be there as well, who is easily one of the best TMNT artists out there right now. The guy does stellar work! Anyway, I got a few small sketches and some prints. Sommariva did the sketch and the print, Rooth (who was the reigning sketch-off champ from last year and cover artist for the show program this year) did Usagi: In early October, I did NYCC for a day. It makes for a long day, but it's still a fun show. I was able to get Nick Pitarra (Bebop and Rocksteady Destroy Everything) to do a great sketch for me. I've got 2 Rocksteadys in my sketchbook but no Bebops. He wanted to fix that. I also got very lucky and was able to catch Rick Remender. While he has largely moved on to writing duties while running his Giant Generator imprint at Image comics, I mostly know him as an artist from Tales of the TMNT vol. 2. While he claimed to be rusty, I thought he did a great job and I feel fortunate to get a sketch from him at all. John Giang always has nice prints, though they are oversized so I don't have a great way to display them. I'll have to figure that out. I also stopped by Tyler Walpole. He hasn't worked on TMNT since the early IDW days, but he did make some prints of those covers. I'm still hoping he puts out a print of his MC Escher-inspired Baxter Stockman someday. I also stopped by Sarah Myer again and was able to pick up the finished print of the original I bought in Baltimore. Finally, I did the Rhode Island Comic Con. Kevin Eastman, Steve Lavigne, and Jim Lawson were there. The show jumped the gun and briefly announced a Peter Laird appearance on Twitter in the weeks leading up to the show, but they pulled it less than a day later. However, they also made some cool looking banners that said that Laird would be there. Alas, it wasn't to be. There were a lot of people involved with TMNT media there though. I got some books done, but I'll show those off when they are back from CGC. They had the voice actors for the 4 turtles and April from the 80's cartoon, Judith Hoag (Movie 1 April) was there for the first movie, and Ernie Reyes Jr. (Keno) and Paige Turco (Movie 2 and 3 April) were there from the second movie. I also got Seth Green (Leonardo) and Nolan North (Kraang) to add to my 2012 animated cast-signed book. The show has very expensive tickets, but there are a lot of good guests there. I also got to meet up with Simon Bisley and picked up a print from him. Like I mentioned, I'll have some books to show off when they're back from CGC. 2023 has been a good year to be a Turtle fan. Here's hoping it's even better in 2024 for the 40th anniversary.

Anyone ever seen these mech-inspired TMNT figures by Heatboys? I believe so far only Leo and Mikey are out. Raph is next, then Don. It kind of looks like we may get a Splinter, Shredder, and April as well. I don't know that I'll get the whole set, but I may pick one up. They look really great!

I wish I could have, but it was too far away for a mid-week trip. However, I have an aunt who lives about 10 minutes from there and she kindly went in my place and took some pictures. She's great!

I'm in!

Thanks! The cover mentions Dooney, Brown, Talbot, and Bissette as well. I'm sure I'll get Dooney and Talbot to sign eventually. The other 2 will be tough. I've seen Bissette at 1 show, but that was around 11 years ago. I've never met Ryan Brown. That one will also be tough. Just for fun, here's a sketch I got from Steve Bissette at the show. It was in Cincinnati in 2012:

I went to the Rhode Island comic con today and added a few more signatures to the TMNT Compendium:

$200 OBO

Reduced again! $225 for the lot. Don't like that price? Send me an offer.

Reduced to $250 shipped. Motivated to move this. Send me an offer if you're interested.

Really cool! What show was that from @srezvan?

Reduced to $275 for the lot. Open to offers (also trades for any cool TMNT items you may have. )

Hey all! I've got a group of Walking Dead slabs available from the Whisperer War storyline. These are all variant covers by Art Adams. All 4 are signed by Adams, 158 and 159 are also signed by Robert Kirkman. All are CGC 9.8 SS. $300 $275 $250 $225 $200 shipped to the US for the lot:

I'm there Friday only. I'll be all over the place if anyone wants to come find me.

You're a freakin' treasure.

Much appreciated! That's incredibly nice, but I wouldn't do that to you for a couple of reasons. First, I'll be going to NYCC myself...at least for Friday. Maybe I'll see you there. Second, the book is a staggering 832 pages! Way too heavy to schlep around at a show like NYCC. For NYCC, I bus in, walk the show, and bus out on the same day. I only get signed what I can carry so I think I'll be leaving this cinder block at home for that one. Instead, Kevin is scheduled to be at the Rhode Island Comic Con in November. I think that one seems like a far more reasonable setting to get the book signed. But again, I appreciate the offer!

Believe it or not, it was 2016! Also, I'll mention that my wife and I discuss your kindness during that last Shellback signing on most of our road trips up to the New England area. The quick recap: I was driving up from PA to Maine on the morning of the final Shellback signing before the store closed in 2016. It was around a 7 hour drive and when I got to about 45 minutes from the signing, my car breaks down. After a few texts, @nriccijr abandons his primo spot in line (he may have been first...at least in the first 5) to come pick me up at the mechanic where I towed my car. We go to the signing and we're WAY back in line. It's a limit of 2 per person but you can go through the line as many times as you can before the signing is over. We finished our first lap and we're asked to cap the line when we get to the back. As we were the final people in line when we get back to the table, Peter did some great sketches for us. That was a very kind thing you did for me buddy. I'll never forget it. ANYWAY, the signing this weekend was completely by surprise so I didn't really come prepared as Steve Lavigne was the only Mirage artist scheduled to be in attendance. I had heard all weekend that Peter may show up, but he wasn't committing to anything. He did show up on the final day of the show. He was limiting signatures to 2 per person, but that got reduced to 1 per person after about 90 minutes or so just so they could try and get through the line. Every signature I saw came with a sketch that is more detailed than his standard turtle face. Most had neck, shell, and flowy bandana. While his hand was moving a little slower than it did back during those Shellback signings, I'll say that he was in very good spirits. He was posing with people for pictures and shaking hands with fans. I told him that if he ever felt like finishing Volume 4, I'd definitely be onboard. He said, "Well, that's 1 sale". I was able to pick up a TMNT Compendium book for him to sign (pictured). With any luck, I'll get it signed by Kevin at the RICC later this year. In any case, it was a real pleasure to see Peter Laird again. This appearance gives me hope that we'll see him at a show or two next year during the TMNT's 40th anniversary.