Ask a Question: IDW's TMNT Editor Thread

[Ninturtle]

1. Was Krang taking the DNA of Himato Yoshi and his dead sons planned from the start or was it an idea that came to you?

2. Who comes up with the idea above?

3. Where there any ideas in IDW that made it in the the comic that you were hesitant to put in?

4. Are there any things that made it in the comics that you weren't a fan of?

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Bobby, what's the setting when you, Tom, and Kevin meet to discuss the next issue or story arc?

A Skype meeting with everybody in their own offices remotely, or all three of you sitting around a desk or table somewhere, diet sodas and coffee in hand? I'm really curious to know which it is...

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by Ninturtle

1. Was Krang taking the DNA of Himato Yoshi and his dead sons planned from the start or was it an idea that came to you?

2. Who comes up with the idea above?

3. Where there any ideas in IDW that made it in the the comic that you were hesitant to put in?

4. Are there any things that made it in the comics that you weren't a fan of?

1 & 2: It was something that came up in the last two years. I think it was me who thought of that epilogue to #50.

3. Not that I can think of. There's been pitches for micros and mini-series that had ideas that I was hesitant about, but we ended up not doing them.

4. Related to the previous question, I'm the main person approving or rejecting stories and art, so I tend to be a fan of most things that make it to the printed page. But that doesn't mean I don't think our execution could be better here and there. Sometimes things aren't plotted as well as they could be in retrospect, (looking at myself here!) or deadlines have had an adverse effect on the quality of art.

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Bobby, what's the setting when you, Tom, and Kevin meet to discuss the next issue or story arc?

A Skype meeting with everybody in their own offices remotely, or all three of you sitting around a desk or table somewhere, diet sodas and coffee in hand? I'm really curious to know which it is...

The first three years of the book, Kevin lived in LA. Both Tom and I editors at IDW in San Diego. During those three years, Kevin would drive down to San Diego maybe two or three times a year, and we'd sit in the IDW conference room and maybe order a pizza and talk for a few hours. For the rest of the year, it would just be me and Tom chatting with each other (we sat right next to each other in the old IDW office) at any given time of day. We'd type up a proposal and send it to Kevin, and he'd on occasion throw in a note in response over email.

For the past two years, Kevin has lived in San Diego, so we have much more frequent meetings at the IDW office, i'd say once a month. This enables us to focus more intently on the storyline at hand, but we almost always spiral out into ideas which affect things way down the line. For instance, we met just yesterday to move a storyline up in front of another for various reasons both logistical and for storytelling. But of course we spent about an hour discussing things that probably won't happen for a couple years, if ever!

[Mew]

Bobby, how is it working with the TMNT creators?

[Etsyturtle2]

Originally Posted by Mew

Bobby, how is it working with the TMNT creators?

Creator- if you are referring to Kevin Eastman who was one of the co creators of the tmnt. Peter laird does not work on this series. But, you may be referring to the others who work on the series such as artists and writers and other people who work on the series. In that case, I'm also curious. Is it cool, knowing that you're a part of such a beloved and popular franchise?

[Mew]

Originally Posted by Etsyturtle2

Creator- if you are referring to Kevin Eastman who was one of the co creators of the tmnt. Peter laird does not work on this series. But, you may be referring to the others who work on the series such as artists and writers and other people who work on the series. In that case, I'm also curious. Is it cool, knowing that you're a part of such a beloved and popular franchise?

That's what I meant. Weird auto correct.

[Etsyturtle2]

Originally Posted by Mew

That's what I meant. Weird auto correct.

Yeeeeahhhh. We'll go with that.

[Mew]

Originally Posted by Etsyturtle2

Yeeeeahhhh. We'll go with that.

It's true, brah.

[CyberCubed]

How did the idea come to use Fast Forward characters like Jammerhead and Darius Dunn recently? Given these characters are relatively obscure, did you guys binge watch the Fast Forward season on DVD recently and say, "Hey, we can do something with these guys."

Do you guys get DVD files from Viacom of all the episodes or so to watch through them? Seeing relatively obscure TMNT characters show up is rather cool.

[Powder]

Thanks for the insightful responses to my questions, Bobby! Funny coincidence about Woody, I love that it can have a double meaning if you should want it to. Red masks, eh? I knew you were a man of good taste. Nah, I totally get it, from a business standpoint there's no smarter move than having the instantly recognizable look there to grab potential buyers or casual fans. At this point I've realized you guys probably did us Mirage fans a favor, too. It'd be weird to see red masked turtles that'd be aesthetically synonymous with Mirage, fighting Fred Wolf villains or making reference to other more kid-friendly material from over the years. I guess that's why I was critical of certain elements in those first few issues. The red masks had me thinking things would go in a somewhat different direction (not that I'm complaining, mind you!).

Anyway, this question would probably be better directed at Tom (or any other prominent writer for IDW's turtle books, for that matter), but since you are directly involved & readily available, hopefully you don't mind handling it. How much influence does he & his scripts have over the layouts of each issue? Do his works, like film scripts often do, depict the scene's appearance? Like say, "Wide shot of the 4 turtles startled expressions" or "Cut to a Manhattan sunset", "Raphael punches a foot soldier while Leonardo kicks an elite guard", that kind of thing. I've always been curious about that!

[AquaParade]

Bobby, this thread is wonderful to have. Thanks!

I love hearing about Kevin's contribution to the book. Are there any specific story beats you can remember him coming up with?

I really dug the combination of Eastman layouts with Duncan finishes from the first arc and wouldn't mind seeing something like that collaboration again.

[Ninjinister]

A few things that sprang to mind tonight:

1) Any chance of a wardrobe change for the Turtles, maybe a permanent one? I really enjoyed their Stump Wrestling uniforms (although a few of them, if ever re-used in a more modern setting, might have to be tweaked a bit due to being pretty overwhelmingly nineties), and I felt that their "Vision Quest" uniforms from the current cartoon should've stayed as their primary appearances... I know the boys have an "iconic" look and that you guys (as a whole and with every individual artist) have given your own individual "spin" to them... but sometimes a costume change in an iconic character might actually be more beneficial, y'know?

2) Among the same lines of "permanent change"... were any of the major shakeups in the dynamic (Dark Leo, Metal Don, Mutanimal Mike) at any point given consideration to be permanent? Would that be a thing that could ever possibly happen, or do you feel like those above you would shoot it down?

3) Can we expect any sort of development and expansion on Koya + Bludgeon and the Mutanimals as individuals (outside of Slash 'n' Hob since we knew them before the team) anytime soon? I'd especially be interested in Koya and Bludgeon's sibling-esque relationship, why Mondo and Herman adopted the personae they have, and pretty much anything about Sally and Ray.

I actually had another one but it escapes me at the moment....

Thanks again for everything! Hope our questions aren't keeping you *too* busy!

[Utrommaniac]

Originally Posted by MrTrikey

I'll be waiting to see what you do with them. "Utrom Empire" set up so many possibilities, and then there's Zog who I could easily see sliding into a Traximus-like role.

I did wonder where Zog had gone off to after he dropped Krang out of the ship. He just sort of vanished after that, and there's no word on if he's dead or not. Makes me think of that bit from ATLA.


It would be silly to ask if the Triceratons are waiting to spring from the shadows, because they most likely are. Probably getting into the place that they typically hold and looking like big hypocrites after their part in rebelling against the Utroms.

[neatoman]

So from the looks of it, the cartoon tie-in book isn't doing so well even after you rebranded it. Is it in danger of of being chancelled or is it safe for a little while longer?

There's also the matter of the Archie reprints, do you regret that you opted to ignore the controversial issues instead of simlply editing them? I know depicting Mohammed is a bit of touchy since it has spurred acts of violence, so I understand why you did it.

[Wentos]

Hey Bobby, thanks for doing this. I love how friendly with the fans the IDW crew is. My question is, what exactly does the Foot Clan do when they aren't fighting other people? And what is their ultimate goal?

One thing I always liked about the Mirage Foot Clan is that they existed as their own entity with their own agenda long before the turtles even came on the scene. Their motives as a group were simple and easy to understand.



And to be honest, one of my pet peeves with other versions of the Foot is that they seem to serve no purpose other than to give the turtles a headache. I understand that the Foot's primary function is to be the turtles' antagonist, but the mark of good writing is that every character (or group of characters) has an agenda outside of being an obstacle for the protagonist.

Does the Foot serve a purpose beyond being Shredder/Splinter's private army? And what do they as a group ultimately want?

[Tazi]

Hey Bobby,

I always wondered why the Foot Clan moved to USA in IDW. I think so far it's not explained. In Mirage it was just the smaller US branch of Foot with Saki as the leader, and Karai as her 'boss', but obviously it's not the case with IDW. I guess USA becoming a superpower, thus making sense to move there from Japan with the aim of world domination makes sense... except Shredder was sleeping at that time, and wasn't there with his grandiose plans.
Any chance for exploring this terrority more in the comic later? I know that the next logical step is exploring the phanteon stuff, but it would be nice, to also learn more about the Foot clan's history.

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by Tazi

Hey Bobby,

I always wondered why the Foot Clan moved to USA in IDW. I think so far it's not explained. In Mirage it was just the smaller US branch of Foot with Saki as the leader, and Karai as her 'boss', but obviously it's not the case with IDW. I guess USA becoming a superpower, thus making sense to move there from Japan with the aim of world domination makes sense... except Shredder was sleeping at that time, and wasn't there with his grandiose plans.
Any chance for exploring this terrority more in the comic later? I know that the next logical step is exploring the phanteon stuff, but it would be nice, to also learn more about the Foot clan's history.

In the early issues Karia was narrating a brief history of the foot clan and how they became greedy with no honor and moved to a financial market scheme. The biggest financial market in the world is the U.S. so I assume thats why the moved to New York specifically.

[phillytmnt]

Hi Bobby, I have a couple of questions.

1. When will the pantheon story really kick into gear? It has been building up for a while but with all of the new story points introduced after issue 50, it seems like it will be a while before Kitsune and others have their plans play out.

2. Is there more with the whole dragon warrior stuff with the shredder than what was brought up so far or was it just a way for Kitsune to manipulate Saki? After SHOF it seemed to be forgotten about until issue 49 when Kitsune calls him it. Also in SHOF, it was brought up that Shredder became immortal after he was resurrected. Did that mean he just doesn't age ever? It was never really brought up again.

3. I was curious in issue 50 about the conversation between Yoshi and Saki when Yoshi says"It is true, you are very powerful Saki but it is a power that chose you and you not it. A power that deludes you into believing you cannot be defeated, cannot be destroyed." I was wondering if I could have your take on it. Was Yoshi talking about Saki's desire for dominance or more about his natural fighting ability and desire to be the best like when he beat up that foot member when they were young in the issue?

Thanks to you and the IDW team! I absolutely love what you guys are doing.

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by Mew

Bobby, how is it working with the TMNT creators?

Not a very interesting answer: it's great. I've been really lucky in that i've enjoyed working with everyone working on the book. Virtually everyone has been a big TMNT fan themselves, so they are excited to be working on the book. No one has had a big ego. Some people are difficult with deadlines, and that causes some stress, but otherwise everyone has been easy to work with, and it's been great to see the creativity, energy and humor they've brought to the job.