Ask a Question: IDW's TMNT Editor Thread

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by Redeemer

I am sure he was being sarcastic lol



Bobby or Tom

I was wondering is there any chance that we can have in house IDW artist
Rob Duenas draw a mini-series or a few issues on the ongoing title???
For anyone who does not know his work here is an example http://www.deviantart.com/art/Commis...Noir-212895807

I actually didn't know the name of it! Like I said earlier, I don't really pay attention to movie/video game stuff. So no help there from me!

I don't want this to come off the wrong way, but I'll take this opportunity to say that i'm not really looking for artist suggestions (though I appreciate the intention/thought). I've got a good roster, and do my own looking for future talent, so i'm pretty up to date on folks creating TMNT art for the most part.

The vast majority of artists that fans suggest can do a good cover or pin-up, but those are pretty common in the comic book world-- i've never had trouble getting that stuff when needed. What is of more interest is someone who has proven, in a professional sense, that they can 1) handle interior sequential storytelling and 2) can do so on a monthly schedule.

That's tough and whittles the field down by a whole lot.

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

So oooooooooooon that note, question for you Bobby... is there any artist you'd like to invite on to do a TMNT issue or more, or any that you've wanted to get and be unable to so far?

Oh, there's a ton! Just today I talked to Brahm Revel about something down the line. I've been trying to get him on something substantial for about two years now. (He did a TMNT cover a while back, you can google it if interested. Also check out his fantastic Oni book "Guerrillas".)

I've wanted Wes Craig (Deadly Class) to do a cover for a long time. I'm pals with Francis Manapul, but haven't been able to get him away from DC yet.

Been trying to get an Art Adams cover for a special occasion too!

And since our TMNT began i've tried to get David Petersen to do interiors.

There's lots and lots more, that's just off the top of my head!

[neatoman]

So about the minis, we all know the main series is written with a plan in mind but I get a feeling the minis are a little more "go with the flow". Is my hunch hot or cold?

Speaking of plans, not everything can go exactly according to them, so were twists like "Arnold Jones as Hun" or "Angel as Nobody" always planned or was it more of a "wouldn't it be cool if..." type thing?

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by Bobby Curnow

I actually didn't know the name of it! Like I said earlier, I don't really pay attention to movie/video game stuff. So no help there from me!

I don't want this to come off the wrong way, but I'll take this opportunity to say that i'm not really looking for artist suggestions (though I appreciate the intention/thought). I've got a good roster, and do my own looking for future talent, so i'm pretty up to date on folks creating TMNT art for the most part.

The vast majority of artists that fans suggest can do a good cover or pin-up, but those are pretty common in the comic book world-- i've never had trouble getting that stuff when needed. What is of more interest is someone who has proven, in a professional sense, that they can 1) handle interior sequential storytelling and 2) can do so on a monthly schedule.

That's tough and whittles the field down by a whole lot.

lol I did not mean to suggest an artist honestly, but I guess I enjoy this artist so much I sub-couscously did suggest.
I was honestly just asking if there was any chance of Rob Duenas doing any issues sense he has done work with IDW and apparently Kevin Eastman in the past.
But judging from your reply it sounds like he is not on going to at this time. Thank you for the reply and I apologies I was not trying to tell you how to do your job. I am sure you get a ton of suggestions from fans all the time.

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by neatoman

So about the minis, we all know the main series is written with a plan in mind but I get a feeling the minis are a little more "go with the flow". Is my hunch hot or cold?

Speaking of plans, not everything can go exactly according to them, so were twists like "Arnold Jones as Hun" or "Angel as Nobody" always planned or was it more of a "wouldn't it be cool if..." type thing?

Well, it depends on the story. The various micros, especially the villain micros, had a lot of involvement and planning from me, as they tied pretty directly into the ongoing. Things like Turtles in Time, Mutanimals and Casey and April, we have more freedom to explore things not related to the ongoing, so I try and give the creative team as much freedom as possible. I've been on the receiving end of "feedback notes" and it can be unpleasant-- so I try and let the creators tell the story they want to tell and stay out of their way.

Fugitoid as Chet, Arnold as Hun, and Angel as Nobody were all things we came up with after the original incarnation of their characters were introduced, sometimes, like with Nobody, a good deal after. Fun fact, Angel as Nobody was Kevin's idea!

[CyberCubed]

Perhaps the mods should sticky this thread so its at the top of the page and doesn't get buried due to new topics.

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by Redeemer

lol I did not mean to suggest an artist honestly, but I guess I enjoy this artist so much I sub-couscously did suggest.
I was honestly just asking if there was any chance of Rob Duenas doing any issues sense he has done work with IDW and apparently Kevin Eastman in the past.
But judging from your reply it sounds like he is not on going to at this time. Thank you for the reply and I apologies I was not trying to tell you how to do your job. I am sure you get a ton of suggestions from fans all the time.

No worries-- I think it kinda sounded like I was defensive about it or something, but not the case at all. The thought is appreciated. And there's no harm in throwing artists' links on this thread. I probably just won't respond to it, because I don't want to detail my opinion of different folks in public, if that makes sense.

[PangolinFeets]

It will be extremely unrealistic if April grows her hair out because once girls chop all their hair off they realize it was the best decision of their life and never grow it back. #shorthairdontcare

I want Alopex to learn the true meaning of Christmas!!!



I have another question!!! Just about all the turtles have a buddy that they confide in (Raph has Casey and Alopex, Mikey has Slash and Woody, Donnie has Harold and April) except Leo. He seems to have a stronger bond with Splinter, but he doesn't bond with other characters as much. I thought he was going to end up having a big heart-to-heart with Alopex, but she spends more time with Raph and Angel. Was that a conscious decision to keep him as more of the distant leader figure or are there plans for him in store?

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Bobby Curnow

I actually didn't know the name of it! Like I said earlier, I don't really pay attention to movie/video game stuff. So no help there from me!

I think the reason they asked is that the game uses new Santolouco art for the cover and is speculated to be IDW-based. Since nothing's been said officially, a lot of people are grasping for any new info that can be dug up.

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by PangolinFeets

I have another question!!! Just about all the turtles have a buddy that they confide in (Raph has Casey and Alopex, Mikey has Slash and Woody, Donnie has Harold and April) except Leo. He seems to have a stronger bond with Splinter, but he doesn't bond with other characters as much. I thought he was going to end up having a big heart-to-heart with Alopex, but she spends more time with Raph and Angel. Was that a conscious decision to keep him as more of the distant leader figure or are there plans for him in store?

I wouldn't say conscious, no-- but none of those pairings have really been "we need to give X a friend!" it just sort of developed. Leo tends to keep to himself, but that doesn't mean he won't develop relationships with folks. We'll have to wait and see!

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

I think the reason they asked is that the game uses new Santolouco art for the cover and is speculated to be IDW-based. Since nothing's been said officially, a lot of people are grasping for any new info that can be dug up.

Ah, yeah-- I have seen some stuff in passing, and it looks cool. But that's about all I can say on it... literally, I don't know anything more than that!

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Hey Bobby, what suggestions would you give an aspiring writer who wants to break into the comics business but doesn't have an artist?

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Hey Bobby, what suggestions would you give an aspiring writer who wants to break into the comics business but doesn't have an artist?

First step is to just get really good at writing. Tons of people have ideas and therefore think they can be a writer, but there's a lot more to it than that. I always say that a good measure is to write for an hour every day, for a year. Doesn't even need to be every day, you could stockpile "hours" on the weekend, but keep track and see if you have 365 hours by the end of the year. If you don't that means you made some excuses along the way, and aren't serious about being a writer.

I think a lot of people could save themselves years of fanciful and frustrating dreams if they took that advice. And hey, worst thing that happens if you don't make it is that you can try again the next year, with the knowledge of how hard it is. Hopefully by writing often, you will get better. Can't hurt.

Hey, it's early in the year yet, start now!

I spent some time talking about just writing because too often folks try to jump into the artist stage when they aren't ready. But that being said, getting your writing drawn IS really important-- just be prepared for artists to flake on you, for the results to be subpar, etc. That's part of the learning curve too.

But get to know artists, and how art works. Study comic book art. Spend extra time in your comic book story studying artists in lower-level publishers, or if they have an indie-DIY section. Write down names. Go to online art sites like Deviant Art. Do your research. I think this is a great thing to do during that "test-writing" year. Carve out an hour or two each week to do this research. By the end of that year, you should have a good list of potential artists to work with. If you're realistic, and have a couple dozen potentials, and are willing to pay them, I bet you can get someone to work on your writing.

(I recommend always paying the artist SOMETHING, unless it's a good friend who owes you one).

Start small. Don't make the first thing you hire an artist for be a full issue, or anything bigger. Start with a 5-10 page script. Anything larger, and you will be wasting your money and their time, because you probably aren't ready yet. Once you do that, you can consider doing a one shot comic.

A lot of people think they are serious about becoming a writer, but they can't do the above... which really isn't all that much work if you ARE serious. Becoming a writer doesn't happen over night. Don't expect any success or to get your money back in your second year. Or third. It can take MANY years.

If that sounds disheartening, then writing might not be for you. It should be something you HAVE to do, no matter how high the obstacles are. Those are almost always the folks who DO make it.

Lastly, comic education courses are making strides in recent years. Some colleges offer coursework, and I personally went through Comics Experience, which teaches online classes in writing, art, coloring, and more. Classes, either online or in real life, are a good way to learn, and meet people who are doing the same thing you are doing, and making friends with those people is often more valuable and educational than the actual classes.

Might be more than you personally are asking for, I don't know where you're at in your development, but I get asked that question a lot, so figured I might as well give the full speech.

[Mew]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Hey Bobby, what suggestions would you give an aspiring writer who wants to break into the comics business but doesn't have an artist?

I could be an artist. I've been told my art on pen is better than my posted art...

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Bobby Curnow

Spoiler:

First step is to just get really good at writing. Tons of people have ideas and therefore think they can be a writer, but there's a lot more to it than that. I always say that a good measure is to write for an hour every day, for a year. Doesn't even need to be every day, you could stockpile "hours" on the weekend, but keep track and see if you have 365 hours by the end of the year. If you don't that means you made some excuses along the way, and aren't serious about being a writer.

I think a lot of people could save themselves years of fanciful and frustrating dreams if they took that advice. And hey, worst thing that happens if you don't make it is that you can try again the next year, with the knowledge of how hard it is. Hopefully by doing writing often, you will get better. Can't hurt.

Hey, it's early in the year yet, start now!

I spent some time talking about just writing because too often folks try to jump into the artist stage when they aren't ready. But that being said, getting your writing drawn IS really important-- just be prepared for artists to flake on you, for the results to be subpar, etc. That's part of the learning curve too.

But get to know artists, and how art works. Study comic book art. Spend extra time in your comic book story studying artists in lower-level publishers, or if they have an indie-DIY section. Write down names. Go to online art sites like Deviant Art. Do your research. I think this is a great thing to do during that "test-writing" year. Carve out an hour or two each week to do this research. By the end of that year, you should have a good list of potential artists to work with. If you're realistic, and have a couple dozen potentials, and are willing to pay them, I bet you can get someone to work on your writing.

(I recommend always paying the artist SOMETHING, unless it's a good friend who owes you one).

Start small. Don't make the first thing you hire an artist for be a full issue, or anything bigger. Start with a 5-10 page script. Anything larger, and you will be wasting your money and their time, because you probably aren't ready yet. Once you do that, you can consider doing a one shot comic.

A lot of people think they are serious about becoming a writer, but they can't do the above... which really isn't all that much work if you ARE serious. Becoming a writer doesn't happen over night. Don't expect any success or to get your money back in your second year. Or third. It can take MANY years.

If that sounds disheartening, then writing might not be for you. It should be something you HAVE to do, no matter how high the obstacles are. Those are almost always the folks who DO make it.

Lastly, comic education courses are making strides in recent years. Some colleges offer coursework, and I personally went through Comics Experience, which teaches online classes in writing, art, coloring, and more. Classes, either online or in real life, are a good way to learn, and meet people who are doing the same thing you are doing, and making friends with those people is often more valuable and educational than the actual classes.

Might be more than you personally are asking for, I don't know where you're at in your development, but I get asked that question a lot, so figured I might as well give the full speech.

Thanks for the in-depth reply, Bobby! I've been writing for a number of years now, and have self-published five novels (sixth in progress). Back when I was trying to figure out what to do with the first three, as my gig with audio drama had fallen through with the company, I considering adapting them to comics. That ship sailed without me, but it's good to know how to start if I ever decide to reopen that idea.

Thanks again!

[CyberCubed]

Are there any discarded or unused plots you guys decided to abandon that you can share? Like IDW was planning to go in a certain direction with a character or plot, but then decided against the idea and went another way. I don't know if you can share this or not, but maybe some brief idea you guys were kicking around but didn't work so you left it aside?

[MikeandRaph87]

As a supplement to what Cubed ask, Apolex was not originally intended to paired with Angel, correct? Was she intended to be apart of the Mutanimals instead and was Sally Pride the mutant lioness created due to that to have a female mutant in the group?

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Are there any discarded or unused plots you guys decided to abandon that you can share? Like IDW was planning to go in a certain direction with a character or plot, but then decided against the idea and went another way. I don't know if you can share this or not, but maybe some brief idea you guys were kicking around but didn't work so you left it aside?

Nothing comes to mind, really. There's stuff that I wish we could have spent time on, like the various gangs in City Fall, or what Don's mind was like in Metalhead. But we usually at least get to touch on those things, or figure out a way to come back to it in the future in a meaningful way.

There are probably some other things, but I don't have a great memory for that type of stuff.

[Bobby Curnow]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

As a supplement to what Cubed ask, Apolex was not originally intended to paired with Angel, correct? Was she intended to be apart of the Mutanimals instead and was Sally Pride the mutant lioness created due to that to have a female mutant in the group?

Alopex is a character who we had plotted through Northampton. Then we thought more about the Kitsune connection and got her back to New York, and from there the Nobody partnership just sort of naturally occurred. Once we saw Alopex talk to Nobody in whatever issue (#38?) we thought it might be fun to see them together more often.

That was before Mutanimals was ever plotted, we never intended her to be a part of that group, but toyed with the idea-- that's why Hob asks her if she wants to join up. By that point we thought it'd be more fun to have Alopex and Nobody do their own thing, and we wanted to keep Alopex closer to the Turtles.

Sally Pride came from Paul Allor. We discussed how it would be fun to bring in another old character (who ended up being Man Ray) and also bringing in a new character, so the group would be a nice mix of old and new. Sally is all Paul and Andy's creation from there.

[neatoman]

I have a few questions about choices with the characters, this is a little long so please bear with me.

So I noticed how you guys at IDW and the Nick crew seem to pick roughly the same characters from the lore, is it coincidence or does Nickelodeon insist on certain characters?

As for characterisation, how do you guys decide on what to change from earlier incanations and what to keep the same? Some examples here, Bebop/Rocksteady are basically just more violent versions of the characters from the cartoon, Hun is similar to the original Hun but his dynamic with Casey is different and Angel as Nobody is pretty much only similar to the old Nobody in that she's a superhero. All have changes but they are quite different types of changes.

Finally, are there any things that were tempting to do with certain characters but you guys decided against in the end? For example, while I'm personally happy you didn't make April a newsreporter since I don't like the idea of her being a newsreporter, considering that News April is the version of the character many people have nostalgic feelings about, I imagine someone must have been tempted to make her a newreporter? I know some of the Nick crew really wanted to hint that their Teenage Alien Psychic Ninja version of April would somehow become a reporter, so it's not hard to imagine something similar might have gone down over there.