Kevin Eastman wanted April to be black?

[CyberCubed]

Kevin has often said his interpretation of April was a slightly dark skinned (although not very dark), female in her 20's with curly black hair.

April's name itself came from Kevin's real-life girlfriend at the time who was named April, and I believe she was black, although I could be wrong here.

Tales #7 (the one with the dinosaurs and Savanti), April looks very dark skinned in that issue, and if you didn't know better, you would say she was black.

Why do you think April was always drawn as white otherwise, (as well as when the cartoons/movies started, she was white with red hair most of the time), yet Kevin wanted her to be black?

[Roseangelo]

Someone doing interviews brought this up a year or so back (I can try and look up the source). Your recollection of Eastman's claims are accurate; he was dating a black woman at the time and went on record a few years back as saying he intended for April to be black.

Yes, I have first hand account of this.

When it was mentioned to Laird, he basically said Kevin was lying. That April was always meant to be a caucassian redhead (hence the Irish last name).

Dawnatello told, I believe this very board, the story Kevin had told at Comic-Con. Peter went nuts and sent her a scathing e-mail calling everyone liars. And as recently as last year he claimed to have never done this. But he did.

But I dunno, Laird's kind of a dick, so who knows.

Basically this.

[oldmanwinters]

I don't think we'll ever get a clear answer from Eastman and Laird, but I'm inclined to think that the April who appeared in TMNT #2 was intended to be redheaded caucasian. I think the best evidence might be the 1986 reprint of that issue, which clearly seems to depict her as such. I've seen some of Corben's earlier sketches for this cover and even those seem to share the same color scheme.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/slimer2erasmus/Magazine%20Scans/TMNT2cCover.jpg

[Powder]

Jeez, I never realized how friggin' long that sword is.

[oldmanwinters]

Alright, I just checked Kevin Eastman's Artobiography and here's what it says:
Originally created as an "Asian" character in Pete's notes, but named after an "African American" woman I once knew, the character of April O'Neil was introduced in issue #2, and would have a bunch of different "looks" throughout the TMNT history.

So I'm guessing April (at least the one who made it to print) was never supposed to have been an African American, but the name was an homage to one of Kevin's old flames.

[Venom]

Jeez, I never realized how friggin' long that sword is.

:tlol::tlol:

[Samhain]

But I dunno, Laird's kind of a dick, so who knows.





Just curious. Why do people share this opinion on Laird?

[Leonardo Mystic]

Just curious. Why do people share this opinion on Laird?

I don't know, but it may be that he tends to hold himself above everyone else and looks down on you. He seems to get overly defensive over sometimes just little things people might make less than stellar comments on. He doesn't appear to take criticism very well.

I have never met the man myself, but by recounts of people who have and reading through his blog and some letters from which he used to publish in Volume 4, I'm wary of coming face to face with him at some point in my life. Which is kind of sad when you think about it because he is someone I would want to meet being the creator of the characters who has had the most impact on my life. However, it's not enjoyable to tiptoe around someone wondering if even the way you walk will offend them.

[bridgegrn]

I guess it depends on catching him on a good or bad day because I've met him lots of times and he seemed like a genuinely nice person.My first time meeting him I even knocked over a sign by mistake when I reached to shake his hand and he laughed it off with me lol. Sucks people have had bad experiences with him though.

[Seurat]

I also suspect that part of it is his bad reputation when it comes to his reaction to Venus DiMilo from Next Mutation. While she isn't the most popular Ninja Turtle character - one might even call her "the Scrappy Doo of the Turtle Multiverse" - Kevin Eastman will at least acknowledge that she existed. Peter Laird, however, has been known to get angry and refuse to talk about her whenever she's mentioned.

I'm with Leonardo Mystic on this; it's a shame that he's created such amazing, enthralling, inspiring characters, but he himself may not be the best company to have around. I believe that when one is an artist, mistakes are inevitable - a natural part of the creative process. But in order to improve as an artist, one must learn from one's mistakes, and to learn from one's mistakes, one must accept one's mistakes. I think Eastman, despite being the one who left the Turtles first, may be the better artist of the two for this reason, at least in this sense.

[shuriken]

Rereading the issues recently, she does looks like she could go either way. But more importantly, I've been noticing that Eastman and Laird drew a really, *really* ugly April. I mean yechh...
HAHA! There are some decent looking April's in the Eastman and Laird Run. I think Lawson's manly looking April take the cake for fugliest looking April's though.

[Coola Yagami]

Well, people are people and the things they do don't change who they are sometimes. So maybe Laird was a dick all of his life, and having a hand in creating some of the most awesome characters of all time.... doesn't make him less of a dick.

[John Pannozzi]

Reading his blog, I get the feeling that Laird is starting to become much less of dick after selling the rights to the Turtles. He's going through some pretty major soul-searching/mid-life crisis.

[Venom]

Funny thing, I found my old copy of the Official Treasury and a story is related that Kevin sent Playmates sketches of April based on the Corben design and much to his surprise they accepted them.

I think I left out a part... :/

[Mr._Mutant_Man]

One thing is for sure from that cover. April O'Neil was always meant to have a huge rack.

[Donnie]

Simply put, you all have it right, in my opinion --- PL is a not a person I desire to meet, regardless that he created my childhood heroes. He is way too insecure sounding and hot/cold, Eastman has always been straight forward and from what it appears, honest. PL decided not to come to the TMNT 25th Celebration in NYC, yet he thought it was okay to send in a 2 minute clip of himself apologizing for not being there. If you're not going to show up, why would you think spending a cheap video in of yourself was compensation? Kevin Eastman was there, and he doesn't even own the rights to TMNT anymore. Laird sold the rights to Nick a few months after the 25th celebration.

Case in point, PL is of a yellow-bellied ilk, as opposed to Kevin Eastman who seems to at least value integrity concerning his artistic endeavors.

[NameGoesHere1066]

a black April would have been kick ass!

[BigApple3AM]

I like Mr Laird. I met him at NYCC a couple years ago. He's just a more literal/serious person than Kevin. Apples/Oranges. I wish him the best in his future stuff.

And April: I think it makes sense to give her an Irish background, but that early stuff is pretty ambiguous.

[Abnormal Freak]

Tales #7 (the one with the dinosaurs and Savanti), April looks very dark skinned in that issue, and if you didn't know better, you would say she was black.

Ever seen the colored reprint of vol. 1 #32 (Turtles go to Egypt)? She's full-on black, no doubt about it, in that one.

http://whooties.homestead.com/files/blackapril-sm.jpg

She's not toned that way in the first printing, so it's kind of weird.

http://whooties.homestead.com/files/whiteapril-sm.jpg

It's interesting to see that, with that frizzy black hair she has, she really can go both ways.

[oldmanwinters]

Ever seen the colored reprint of vol. 1 #32 (Turtles go to Egypt)? She's full-on black, no doubt about it, in that one.


Issue 32 is really out in left field. April is actually a reporter in that issue.

Thanks for scan.

[oldmanwinters]

Wow, that's... crazy.

Where was issue #32 colorized? A trade paperback collection? Just curious, since that's a neat bit of trivia I'd like to keep track of.

It was simply a reprint that came out a couple years after the original B&W:
http://www.miragelicensing.com/comics/mirage/volume01/32/32.html

I'm surprised you've never run across it, Spengs! I actually found the color reprint before I got my B&W copy!

[John Pannozzi]

FYI,V.1 #18 was also reprinted in color. (http://www.miragelicensing.com/comics/mirage/volume01/18/18.html)

Mark Bode must really have a thing for (re)coloring comics, as he also redid the color for Tundra's TMNT Adventures collections IIRC.

[oldmanwinters]

Huh. Didn't know THAT, either. Strange that the TMNT 25th book from Heavy Metal opted for the black and white version when they seemed to be going out of their way to use colored versions of as many comics as possible.

Wow, Spengs, I used to think you habitually browsed through the Mirage Comics online listings to gather info on reprintings and other data for your chronology list. Could it be I was mistaken?:tlol:

[Abnormal Freak]

I suspect the B&W version of #18 was used for Eastman's 25th anniversary book because it looks so much better. Of course, I find the coloring of Raphael #1 to be really weak, yet that's in there... Blatantly digital coloring just doesn't go so well with that kind of thick, gritty artwork.

[Ch'rell]

April's hair was straightish/wavy (but not curly) in her first few appearances, then she gets a haircut and asks the turtles if they like her new hairdo. I always assumed she got it permed, as that was a popular thing for women to do in the '80s.

Of course, if you ask me, like many of Kevin Eastman's female characters, she turned into Julie Strain at that moment and stayed Julie Strain from then on.

[Ch'rell]

It's Heavy Metal 2000 all over again...

Yep! Also the woman in Body Count is totally Julie Strain again, even if it wasn't Eastman drawing.