"Moon Eyes Saga" (Archie)... J.D. Vollman

[Andrew NDB]

This appears to be the writer on this. Was this a real person, or a pseudonym for someone? Even another "Dean Clarrain"?

[bushido]

According to Mark Pellegrini, it's Steve Murphy. Don't know where he found this information.

*"J.D. Vollman", like "Dean Clarrain", was a pseudonym used by series writer Steve Murphy (why he changed pseudonyms is unknown).

http://tmntentity.blogspot.com/2012/...ntures-67.html

His theory for the name: "Just something I found out today while doing a bit of googling, but a “Mark Volman” was the lead singer of a popular 1960s rock band called The Turtles… Which I think explains the genesis of Murphy's new "J.D. Vollman" pseudonym."

http://tmntentity.blogspot.com/2012/...ntures-68.html

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by bushido

According to Mark Pellegrini, it's Steve Murphy. Don't know where he found this information.

http://tmntentity.blogspot.com/2012/...ntures-67.html

*"J.D. Vollman", like "Dean Clarrain", was a pseudonym used by series writer Steve Murphy (why he changed pseudonyms is unknown).

Definitely thought that was a distinct possibility. Thanks!

[Joey Kamikaze]

The explanation I've heard before, and who knows if it's true or not, is that the suits were tired of Murphy/Clarrain introducing more mature subject matter and wanted him off the book, so he swapped pseudonyms for this last arc before they just canceled the book entirely.

[oldmanwinters]

There was fever-pitch tension between Archie's editorial brass and Murphy/Clarrain on account of him pushing the TMNT series more and more into mature territory with stories like Future Shark, Terracide, and Cyber Samurai (Hitler!) arcs. I think Murphy either posted about it on his old blog or else answered a fan question about it in the comments section. He just needed something for Mirage to tell Archie they found a new writer. Of course, Archie then decided to push the Mirage involvement out altogether with the Year of the Turtle mini-series, only to give up on the franchise after the third issue.

I think Murphy first announced to the world he was Dean Clarrain on September 26, 2008, although it was something of a throw-away comment on his old blog as he probably assumed most fans already knew. He didn't exactly try to disguise himself in this old photo printed in the TMNT magazine:

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

There was fever-pitch tension between Archie's editorial brass and Murphy/Clarrain on account of him pushing the TMNT series more and more into mature territory with stories like Future Shark, Terracide, and Cyber Samurai (Hitler!) arcs. I think Murphy either posted about it on his old blog or else answered a fan question about it in the comments section. He just needed something for Mirage to tell Archie they found a new writer. Of course, Archie then decided to push the Mirage involvement out altogether with the Year of the Turtle mini-series, only to give up on the franchise after the third issue.

I think Murphy first announced to the world he was Dean Clarrain on September 26, 2008, although it was something of a throw-away comment on his old blog as he probably assumed most fans already knew. He didn't exactly try to disguise himself in this old photo printed in the TMNT magazine:
https://i.imgur.com/CDGrUKOh.jpg

That's really unfortunately. Because i loved those stories.

[Leo656]

Even as a kid I was pretty flabbergasted by what the TMNTA comic was able to get away with. It made me very happy, but it was bizarre just the same. They may have resembled the TMNT characters from the cartoon show, but literally nothing else was the same, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Sigh. Those were the days.

[oldmanwinters]

Murphy talks about "J. D. Vollman" beginning at the 48 minute mark of this interview, courtesy of MightyMutanIMAL:
https://nerdyshow.com/2014/05/episod...-steve-murphy/

Murphy has no idea why he picked that particular name and at one point had to be reminded by a fan that he ever used that name.

[snake]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Even as a kid I was pretty flabbergasted by what the TMNTA comic was able to get away with. It made me very happy, but it was bizarre just the same. They may have resembled the TMNT characters from the cartoon show, but literally nothing else was the same, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Sigh. Those were the days.

Seeing Hitler pop up in a turtles comic intended for a slightly younger audience was f*cking bananas.

[Leo656]

Absolutely.

Although I was getting the book off the spinner rack at 7-11, and thus missed quite a few issues which I only managed to find later (still missing a few). So before I actually saw the Hitler thing, I first saw the spread of The Mutanimals with all their guts blown out.

Not what a 10-year old expects to see upon flipping past yet another full-page ad for "Betty & Veronica's Double-Digest Magazine", or whatever. But it was still much appreciated. I mean, I *liked* the characters, but absolutely no part of me expected them to stay dead, because... y'know... I read comic books. So that's a bit of a downer, but all the same, I did and do appreciate that such heavy stakes were thrust into what was ostensibly a "childrens' comic book".

"Bananas", indeed.

[Andrew NDB]

Plenty of things super cool in the Archie stuff.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by snake

Seeing Hitler pop up in a turtles comic intended for a slightly younger audience was f*cking bananas.

And had one of those iconic comic panels. Which was in itself a homage to Captain America punching Hitler.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by snake

Seeing Hitler pop up in a turtles comic intended for a slightly younger audience was f*cking bananas.

Or having his brain involved in Armaggon's and Verminator X' time machine.

[TigerClaw]

Its stories like that. That I would like to see pop up in the IDW comics.

Its what I loved about the Archie Comics. The Turtles were growing. and not acting like Teenagers any longer. They were becoming more mature as the comics went on.

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Its stories like that. That I would like to see pop up in the IDW comics.

Its what I loved about the Archie Comics. The Turtles were growing. and not acting like Teenagers any longer. They were becoming more mature as the comics went on.

I mean, IDW is mostly doing that too, right? The turtles are a lot more mature than they originally were, their personal development has been one of the pillars of the IDW story.

[Joey Kamikaze]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Its stories like that. That I would like to see pop up in the IDW comics.

Its what I loved about the Archie Comics. The Turtles were growing. and not acting like Teenagers any longer. They were becoming more mature as the comics went on.

I feel like we have gotten pretty good character development and maturation of the leads over the course of the run. I <3 IDW, as someone who grew up reading Archie and Mirage. But I would love to see IDW do a world tour arc for a year or so like Archie did between Midnight Sun and Future Shark Trilogy. Maybe after #100?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Joey Kamikaze

But I would love to see IDW do a world tour arc for a year or so like Archie did between Midnight Sun and Future Shark Trilogy.

A good international storyarc requires:

Reasons why the turtles are travelling. Winning a vacation isn't the best.

Villains to fight. The same bad guys can't just happen to be where the turtles are every time (unless the same villains follow them).

Writers who know a lot about the countries the turtles visit

Things Archie in their international tour and Fred Wolf in Vacation in Europe did well was having Splinter starting as Hamato Yoshi, and being more of a globetrotter rather than full of mysticism.