What issues did Jim Lawson write?

[Cipher]

Just a quick question, and I'm wondering if someone has an answer off the top of their head.

While he was usually on art duties, I've felt for a while that he was one of the best writers on the entire Mirage TMNT run. He scripted "City at War," according to the issue credits (and I think that's probably a big reason it feels more elevated than if either Eastman or Laird had written the dialogue themselves), but what else? "Sons of the Silent Age" has an "as told to Murphy/Lawson" credit, but I believe Murphy handled both plot and script on his own, right? I also believe he scripted most/all of Volume 2, but I'm not sure if he plotted it as well.
Anyone have a list?

[Jester]

Most of Tales of the TMNT Vol. 1, right?

[Cipher]

Oh, man, that's right. Well, I don't know about "most." I know he did "I, Monster," though, which was among the reasons I flagged him as one of the better writers to begin with.

I don't think he wrote Sid, Nobody and Leatherhead though, did he?

[DK2]

From what I can recall he wrote City at War from plots by Eastman & Laird. So it wasn't his story to begin with is how I see it. Just helped flesh it out. Lawson wrote the color TMNT Vol.2 book as well apparently from E&L plots or so (it seems more Laird IIRC). Or it may have been Lawson himself later on that series. Correct me if I'm wrong he may have wrote some issues from the first Tales of TMNT series too. He practically wrote all of the recent solo turtles minis from the last runs of Mirage except the Raph series. He did not write the TMNT/Flaming Carrot mini. I'm not sure what else off the top of my head but I could be wrong too. But yes he did seem to end up writing a lot of TMNT comics all of a sudden. And some of those stories I really liked.

[Jester]

Leatherhead was done in colaberation with Ryan Brown, as were many of the Tales issues.
http://www.miragelicensing.com/comic...les/tales.html
They have the issues listed, much like they used to on ninjaturtles.com, and they give a vague list of "by:....".

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by DK2

From what I can recall he wrote City at War from plots by Eastman & Laird. So it wasn't his story to begin with is how I see it. Just helped flesh it out.

Well, the "story" vs "script" credits are a little unclear, but I wouldn't underestimate his contribution.

If it's as it seems, where it was a case of Eastman and Laird coming up with plot points and handing the scripting/pacing/dialogue, etc. totally over to Lawson, we could be dealing with a totally different beast had he not filled this role.

Compare Eastman or Laird writing dialogue on their own to what we got in "City at War." Huge difference. We got real character moments instead of comic book dialogue, and I think that was due to Lawson's involvement. It's kind of why I asked for a list of his other issues, but I get the impression that most of his work seems much more subtle and, frankly, adult, than the other Mirage regulars. Usually.

EDIT --

Jester, I didn't know those listings were still up. Thanks!

Writing throughout most of the Tales Vol. 1 run is pretty dodgy, with the sole exception of "I, Monster," so that's a shame. Again, it's kind of hard to tell who did what though.

Also, yeah, he did do the post-2000 Turtles mini-series, didn't he? Also kind of a shame. Although there's still a much better use of dialogue and more gravity than a lot of issues. No matter how disappointing The Brain Thief's premise is, Donatello still doesn't talk to himself and it still ends with him killing a dog. And the Leo one was pretty bold.

[DK2]

Originally Posted by Cipher

Well, the "story" vs "script" credits are a little unclear, but I wouldn't underestimate his contribution.

If it's as it seems, where it was a case of Eastman and Laird coming up with plot points and handing the scripting/pacing/dialogue, etc. totally over to Lawson, we could be dealing with a totally different beast had he not filled this role.

Compare Eastman or Laird writing dialogue on their own to what we got in "City at War." Huge difference. We got real character moments instead of comic book dialogue, and I think that was due to Lawson's involvement. It's kind of why I asked for a list of his other issues, but I get the impression that most of his work seems much more subtle and, frankly, adult, than the other Mirage regulars. Usually.

EDIT --

Jester, I didn't know those listings were still up. Thanks!

Writing throughout most of the Tales Vol. 1 run is pretty dodgy, with the sole exception of "I, Monster," so that's a shame. Again, it's kind of hard to tell who did what though.

Unlike TMNT Vol. 4 series where the turtles or any characters inner thoughts are still actually spoken. Thats horrible placement of what should be spoken and what should be thought captions.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by DK2

Unlike TMNT Vol. 4 series where the turtles or any characters inner thoughts are still actually spoken. Thats horrible placement of what should be spoken and what should be thought captions.

Kind of what I was getting at with Laird writing on his own. I like a lot of what Volume 4 was doing, but there's no character exploration, no breathing room, and the dialogue is just endless and completely unbelievable.

Eastman's different and isn't as wordy, but I think we can all agree he's not huge on realistic character growth or dialogue either. That's why I have to think those elements working well in "City at War" are entirely the result of Lawson's scripts.

[HotJuicyBurgers]

if you peruse through here http://miragelicensing.com/html/comics.html

you should be able to see the credits for most comics.

[Cipher]

Thanks for pointing out that list is still up.

Just checked his Tales Vol. 2 writing credits, which was what I really wasn't sure on. Very solid. He did "Blind Sight" and "The Path" entirely on his own, which are excellent. He also did "Rocks," which is pretty middle-of-the-road but with that incredibly somber ending. And he did the last issue and, more unfortunately, the "Christmas Alien" repeat.

All in all though, I think he still had one of the most consistently somber and mature approaches to the Turtles, and given the right amount of pages or the right starting point, presented some of the best work of the series. Doesn't get enough recognition for it.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Jester

Leatherhead was done in colaberation with Ryan Brown, as were many of the Tales issues.
http://www.miragelicensing.com/comic...les/tales.html
They have the issues listed, much like they used to on ninjaturtles.com, and they give a vague list of "by:....".

Originally Posted by HotJuicyBurgers

if you peruse through here http://miragelicensing.com/html/comics.html

you should be able to see the credits for most comics.

Is there an echo in here?

[HotJuicyBurgers]

Originally Posted by Jester

Is there an echo in here?

Woah sorry lol

I read through the thread and somehow missed that
My bad

[Jester]

No big. Great minds think alike they say...

[Rooish]

Jim is the best Turtles writer, for sure. Followed by Murphy and Berger. Laird is good but the talking aloud is very concerning...

[CyberCubed]

His Donatello microseries sucked though.

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

His Donatello microseries sucked though.

Yeah, no arguments. It still hits the somber note at the end, the dialogue is still good (what there is of it), but I wonder what was up with him thinking that was a good way to spend four issues. It's pretty contrived, too, and misses the fare more somber and disturbing plot point: that Donatello is more or less holding Baxter against his well. Probably his biggest miss among the issues he wrote.

Originally Posted by Rooish

Jim is the best Turtles writer, for sure. Followed by Murphy and Berger. Laird is good but the talking aloud is very concerning...

Murphy at #2 I agree with hands down. "Sons of the Silent Age," "Scars," and a whole bunch of others that are either nearly as compelling or very entertaining. He gets a little flowery and wordy though (which really brings "Silent Age" down whenever April's narrating). (Also, this is my creative writing major speaking.)

Beyond that, though, it gets a little more muddled. Among the regular contributors, I could probably agree with Berger at #3. Depends on what you're going for, though. Lawson and Murphy turned out quite a few deeper/more "literary" stories, which is why I like them, but Berger goes straight genre fiction most of the time (things like "Cold, Cold Ice" and "Dark Shadows" kind of/sort of not withstanding ... sort of). And if you're going to get into who produced the most entertaining or tightly woven genre stories, there are quite a few other contenders; more recent guys like Tristan Jones, etc., who could whip out a really exciting and punchy tale.