Sophie Campbell plans her own FAN COMIC!?!

[Ninjinister]

Oh I get it. Bow and arrow... like Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Pretty sneaky Ross.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

A much better designation for a fifth turtle than "Venus De Milo," IMO.

Artemisia was an actual artist, rather than a "work of art." Plus, the Baroque era wasn't too far removed from the Renaissance either. The de Milo was Greek, after all.

Originally Posted by The Ninjinister

Oh I get it. Bow and arrow... like Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Pretty sneaky Ross.

Oh... Maybe Ross did sneak a little Greek culture into his vision after all!

[CyberCubed]

How is the 5th Turtle going to be worked into the plot of the second movie?

What, will they just discover him in the TGRI building or something?

[oldmanwinters]

Because I love you folks (sort of), I've copied some recent comments Ross made on his DevArt page and reorganized them under specific themes:

Just how much will this comic resemble the plot of the film, Secret of the Ooze?

the subplot from the movie will be in the comic but it's got a totally different angle to it. i got a whole new spin on it.

the characters will be a bit different since my style of writing is different than the movie's writers, of course, so it will have my own sensibilities. they'll probably make less jokes, there will more interpersonal drama between them, more talking about their feelings and stuff like that, haha. their dynamics will be pretty similar to the original movie with some changes, but i totally get what you mean about the risk of Artie seeming like she's just along for the ride or tacked on so i've been brainstorming and making notes and trying my best to make her enmeshed in that and feel like she's part of the group. her presence alters some of the dynamics of the other Turtles, and she'll have her own relationships with all of them and with Splinter. the story i'm working on is also more sprawling and involved than the original movie, so Artemisia will have own role in the story.

as for the protagonist/deuteragonist thing, i'm actually hoping to give equal roles to all of the Turtles, and i'm outlining character arcs for each of them. i like the first 3 movies a lot but i always found it frustrating that in each movie at least one of the Turtles got the shaft; in the first movie it was Don, the second it was kind of both Leo and Mike, like you said, although at least Mike came up with the donut idea, and then in the third film i'd argue Don got shafted again and was relegated to making jokes. and in my opinion the 4th movie was the biggest mess in that department, Mike was barely a character and Don was a non-entity with like 2 lines of dialogue and nothing to do. i get why writers do that, it's tough to highlight 4 characters in a 90 minute movie and i also think most writers don't seem to know what to do with Don and Mike, but in a comic where the length is more fluid i think i can remedy that and give equal weight to all the Turtles. the Turtles aren't like the X-Men or something where there are main character and supporting characters, all 4 (or in my case 5, heh) of them should be the main characters since that's a huge part of the appeal of TMNT, at least for me. i don't know if i can pull all of this off yet but i'm going to try!!

Regarding the gender, design, and inspiration for the Artemisia character:

yeah Artemisia is a girl. no shell boobs or eyelashes here! she's also the tallest Turtle. . . .

she lurks in the shadows and strikes from afar! . . .

i waffled on Artemisia's name for a long time, i love the name and the artist, but i think Gentileschi is also considered early Baroque, or she straddles the two periods, so i was like ahhh is she REALLY a Renaissance artist? should i call the girl Turtle Sofonisba or Caterina instead??? but Artemisia was still the best choice (and the best artist), and plus Artemisia = Artemis = bow-and-arrow...

there are other female Renaissance artists, like Sofonisba Anguissola and Caterina van Hemessen, but i suppose they aren't renowned. . . .

for Artie's color, at first i was going between white and grey and i also tried black, but all of those got lost from a color scheme point of view, which maybe would have worked on a symbolic level since she's the shy Turtle. i also tried giving the Turtles all red markings since the type of turtle they are is a red-eared slider, and which would've been like the red Mirage masks of course except you could still tell them apart because each one's markings are a different shape. i guess the red is more believable, the red-eared slider thing, but i felt like the different colors worked better. anyway i think the yellow works well, and also being a separate color like you said with Venus. red, orange, purple, blue, and... light blue. the yellow also doesn't overwhelm or muck up Mike's orange like Venus's blue did with Leo's blue. . . .

i was apprehensive about fans reacting to a 5th/girl Turtle so i was nervous about posting this! not like it's canon or anything official so at the end of the day who REALLY cares, but i know some TMNT fans can have strong feelings about this sort of stuff. . . .

i'll win you over with Artemisia once you see how awesome she is in action.

Updated:

[Regarding] Venus's origin, it was a big retcon to the established origin which can be okay in itself, retcons can be good if done well, but it seemed so forced and having her drift downstream and conveniently get picked up by ANOTHER martial artist is a little too much. plus if she grew up in China and never met Splinter or the other Turtles, why does she wear a mask like they do?! and finally none of this was helped by Venus not having a very strong characterization, it was never entirely clear what she was about other than being "the girl."

so anyway, i'm taking the most straightforward route with Artemisia and the mutation origin: she was there in the beginning in the fishbowl with the other Turtles, just like Venus, but she never got separated from them and she grew up with them and Splinter the whole time, the end. there's no twist or reveal with her showing up later, she's just there as one of the Turtles from the get-go and that's it. no further explanation, it's a different continuity and a different origin, and you'll learn about Artie throughout the story.

On the Turtles’ colored face markings:

the basic Turtle face is pretty iconic at this point and most people treat the masks like part of the characters' faces, and i realized that all you need to identify them as Ninja Turtles is a splash of color around the eyes, it doesn't matter if it's a fabric mask or facepaint or natural skin markings. . . .

plus most artists treat the masks like it's part of the characters' faces anyway, and it always bugged me how the Turtles never seem to take the masks off, at least outside of the Mirage comics...

i did think about warpaint, which is a cool idea and opens up being able to draw the facepaint all cracked and smeared and streaming down the Turtles' faces during fights as the battle gets more intense, but after mulling it over (i've been cooking this up for a while now so i've had a lot of time to think about it!) i decided i wanted the color to be permanent and be there all the time. i also thought about things like where do they get the paint, what if Leo runs out of blue paint and can't find any or he accidentally uses some toxic type of paint, haha, i don't know, too many variables.

On why he went the fan-comic route as opposed to pitching this to IDW:

i've been brainstorming for this a while now.

i thought about pitching it to IDW but i didn't think they or Nickelodeon would be keen on having a non-continuity story that didn't relate to the main TMNT book, and i wasn't sure if what i wanted to do with the character designs was too radical and i really wanted to do my own thing and do ideas that would never fly in an official Turtles story, and i didn't want to have to worry about people hovering over me. i loved doing Leonardo for IDW, that was a dream come true and i loved working with Bobby and i hope i can do more, but it was also really stressful and lots of pressure, so i wanted to a TMNT comic that's free of that where i can goof off and be in charge. i guess Nickelodeon might cease-and-desist me but i'll deal with that if it happens, and not like i'll be making any money off this, nor do i want to. or maybe they'll really dig it and want to publish it, haha.

this will also be bigger than a one-shot, i think, it's probably going to be pretty long, like graphic novel length, i don't know if IDW or Nick would be into that. we'll see!

On Shredder, Tokka, Rahzar, and Vanilla Ice!:

Tokka and Rahzar are totally cooler than Bebop and Rocksteady!!!

Tokka and Rahzar are going to rule! the Tokka in the comic will probably look similar to this older Tokka i drew a couple years ago:

you'll have to wait and see about Vanilla Ice, that will be a closely-guarded secret...

i have plans for Vanilla Ice and that whole scene and how to do it, but you gotta wait!

in any case, i'm excited about it, i really hope i can make it work and not drop the ball. hopefully i'll have some more character sketches to post soon, i've already started on Shredder and he's like nobody's ever seen him before!!

[Princess Anri]

...pretty damn excited about this.

We believe in you, Ross.

[Jester]

Wonders if IDW would do a TMNT Elseworlds imprint. I mean, it could bring in some awesome, non continuity stuff, like this.

[Slap-Happy]

Man, when he said he was working on a fan comic, I was very excited.

But, this fifth turtle thing... It's a deal breaker for me.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by Jester

Wonders if IDW would do a TMNT Elseworlds imprint. I mean, it could bring in some awesome, non continuity stuff, like this.

Soul's Winter is one of my favorites, so I'd be all for a Elseworld/What if comic line

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by Jester

Wonders if IDW would do a TMNT Elseworlds imprint. I mean, it could bring in some awesome, non continuity stuff, like this.

If they do I'm gonna have to throw a story at them I've been writing on and off for a few years now. It's perfect for a Elseworld's style book.

[Plasticplayhouse]

Originally Posted by pannoni1

A bow and arrow is not a ninja weapon though, so its not really a "ninja turtle", more like a "Vernonturtle!" Since a team as only as good as its weakest link, it will be interesting to see how Splinter/the others can make her a worthwhile fighter. I thought that was mutated April from that comic though seeing the yellow though.

the bow and arrow is one of the world's earliest weapons. it was also a HUGE part of both china and japan's warring culture. you’d better believe both samurai and ninja were well trained with the bow and arrow. it was the most compact form of a long-range attack they had. any faction who's sole purpose is war/attacking/defending would have, without a doubt utilized such a profound piece of weaponry. in many cases the bow and arrow gave an advantage to whom ever had them/more of them.

Originally Posted by Powder

Yeah I saw this on DA today too. Not really a big fan of the whole 5th turtle thing everybody wants to do, but I'll humor it. Outside of that I'm sure at the least the art will be awesome and seeing the return of SOTO characters will be a delight.

agreed. i'm so not into the fifth turtle idea either. though i have to say that i've heard Ross' pitch for this before and it is the most appealing that i've heard from anywhere. i LOVE the use of the bow and arrow. in my mind it's the most logical weapon to follow. his art is always on point and we know from wet moon and shadow eyes that he is an equally talented writer. the only thing i'm not really feeling was the name Artemisia. it feels a little too complex of a name. i would have chosen Monet (Mona for short) if the name had to be from the Italian renaissance period than i would say Masaccio (Mace for short). but in all likelihood, she was not brought up/raised by splinter so he probably has a more crafty kind of name that was given to her as a nickname which would have been inspired probably by her personality. in the end the name is trivial. the key to a successful fifth character would be in the character's personality and how well she gels with the other four. i'm looking forward to reading this story and Ross' interpretation of the secret of the ooze

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Jester

Wonders if IDW would do a TMNT Elseworlds imprint. I mean, it could bring in some awesome, non continuity stuff, like this.

I was thinking the same thing, man. If TMNT books are selling well, why not capitalize on the interest?

However, Ross's project is one of love rather than business. He just wants to do his own take on the Turtles and doesn't want to be bothered by the stress of deadlines.

[CyberCubed]

I don't think we need else world tales this early into a new TMNT series. Stuff like this should stay as fan comics.

Else world tales ruined the middle of Volume 1.

[Cowabunga Carl]

I think if they are ever think of doing an Elseworld title they should just go straight TPB with them. Don't make them part of the monthly series.

Ross's project has me excited. I'm really curious to see how he pulls everything together.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Else world tales ruined the middle of Volume 1.

Only due to the fact they were forced in place of the main narrative. On their own, as another volume, would've been fine.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Powder

Only due to the fact they were forced in place of the main narrative. On their own, as another volume, would've been fine.

The only good else world tale was Soul's Winter, everything else was just a goofy parody. Don't forget those green-grey soup sushi turtles in the Turtle Soup volumes.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Don't forget those green-grey soup sushi turtles in the Turtle Soup volumes.

I liked them; the Green-Grey Sponge-Suit Sushi Turtles were probably Mark Martin's best contribution to the TMNT books. The official first movie parody was a pretty good commentary on the TMNT's evolution from indy comic sensation to mass-marketed kid's franchise. That type of multi-verse story worked much better than trying to shoe-horn Martin's unique ideas of art & comedy into the ongoing title in issues #22-23.

[Candy Kappa]

I really love the designs of Artie, no human female curves, no boobs. I'm a huge fan of his early Venus design

It's very refreshing

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Powder

Only due to the fact they were forced in place of the main narrative. On their own, as another volume, would've been fine.

Exactly. I would want the "Elseworlds" TMNT stories to be distinctly OUTSIDE the continuity. There'd be no confusion...these are alternate, what if stories/universes.

[CyberCubed]

In all seriousness I would actually drop the IDW series if they introduced a 5th Turtle as part of the "team." For fan projects like this its OK, but I don't even want to see in in "elseworlds" tales either.

Thankfully Tom has already stated before there shall be no 5th Turtle.

[Cowabunga Carl]

Where did Tom state there wouldn't be a 5th turtle? I mean I'm not saying that I want one, but I'm not opposed to the idea.

Anyway how do you guys think he will work the Utroms in to the narrative of SotO?