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Originally Posted by Tetsu Deinonychus
Considering that CaW is often hailed as E&L's triumphant return to their creation, it's interesting to think that it might actually be more of a Jim Lawson story, or even a Laird/Lawson story.
It should be noted that Eastman recalls #50 as him and Laird trying to recapture the early days only to discover how far they had drifted apart, which would likely give it a somber emotional association to him. Of course, that fits the content and themes of the story pretty well too. So, it likely wouldn't have been the same without the behind the scenes context.
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To extrapolate what I know against how we know Laird worked with Jim in Vol. 2 and 4... I think that #50 was the big, "OK, we're back together... for one issue." But I'm not certain Kevin was 100% on board, and I don't think he contributed much to #51-62 beyond moral support and maybe some layouts for the action stuff. If he contributed anything creatively to #51-62, it was most likely confined to whatever original brainstorming conversations were had when "City at War" was conceptualized. Laird probably wrote the plots out for #51-62 and left Lawson to do the actual scripting (I've been told that's how they worked on Vol. 2 and 4... Laird writes plots, Lawson draws and writes in dialogue and blurbs, then Laird comes back with any final changes/additions).
As far as Eastman was concerned, #50 was probably the curtain call to him.
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I agree with you, but I think we're in the minority. People forget that the only reason the SURGE/Playmates/Fred Wolf deal happened in the first place was because Mirage itself was a surprise success.
That said, who's to say how long they would have kept interest in doing TMNT before wanting to move on to doing other comics? Eastman has mentioned in interviews wanting to do other projects, and being more of an "Underground Comics" kinda guy, where they tend to stick to shorts and one-shots.
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Hard to say. It might be like George Lucas when he said he can't wait to leave Star Wars behind so he can work on all of those indie movies.
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Horribly messy continuity aside, I like Volume 1 the way it is too. It's TMNT at it's most classic. But, it's weird to think that Staffers and guest artists probably contributed more to it than it's original two creators.
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There's a couple of tiny spots in Vol. 1 I'd have... tightened up... but it's a hell of a volume.