#1 Homage Cover & Pencils

[keycomicbooks]

Spawn #8 (1993) Todd McFarlane Spider-Man #1 Homage Cover & Pencils, Alan Moore Story, 1st appearance of Vindicator, Includes Spawn Pin-Up by Frank Miller

#Spawn #8 (1993) #ToddMcFarlane Spider-Man #1 Homage Cover & Pencils, #AlanMoore Story, 1st Appearance of #Vindicator, Includes Spawn Pin-Up by #FrankMiller Billy Kincaid is reborn in Hell. He drops out of a green goo and immediately kills animals to cover his naked body. He is continually and randomly terrorized by flashbacks of Spawn killing him.  https://www.rarecomicbooks.fashionablewebs.com/Spawn.html#8 @rarecomicbooks Website Link In Bio Page If Applicable. SAVE ON SHIPPING COST - NOW AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL PICK UP IN DELTONA, FLORIDA #KeyComicBooks #ImageComics #ImageUniverse

[vertigoartgore]

2024's X-Men Vol.6 #35/Uncanny X-Men Vol.1 #700 variant cover by David Marquez (pencils) and Rachelle Rosenberg (inks and colors). An homage to the cover of House of X #1 by Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia (released 5 years ago today on July 24, 2019).

[longwuzhere]

Some cool Easter eggs I caught watching My Adventures with Superman that I want to show to people so they can be in on it with comic book readers: For the first episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the second episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the third episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the fourth episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the sixth episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the seventh episode's Easter eggs it's here and here

For the eighth episode's Easter eggs post it's here

For the ninth episode's Easter eggs post it's here

For the tenth episode's Easter eggs post it's here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

SPOILERS if you haven't seen this week's episode obviously

We start off the episode with this shot of Superman with the drawn on glasses. A good homage to what Lois did in the 1980 Superman II movie...

where she not only drew the glasses but also a full suit and hat on a picture of Superman.

Next we see Jimmy waking up and seeing someone debunking his conspiracy theories on Sub-Diego.

Sub Diego was an actual place in the DC universe before the New 52 reboot. In Aquaman #15 and #16 (2003) , shown here (W: Will Pfeifer, P: Patrick Gleason, I: Christian Alamy, C: Nathan Eyring, L: Jared K. Fletcher for issue 15, Nick Napolitano for issue 16). The underwater city is actually San Diego, but is buried underwater thanks to a tidal wave and makes its first appearance in Aquaman #15 (2003). There was a lot of casualties from this.

When we get to our title its "You Will Believe A Man Can Lie" a reference to the tagline for the 1978 Superman movie.

As seen here on the poster, it says "You'll believe a man can fly".

Next we see our villain, well one of the villains, for the episode, Heatwave.

In the comics Heatwave makes his first appearance in Flash 140 (1963) (cover art by Carmine Infantino, Murphy Anderson, and Ira Schnapp). Heatwave aka Mick Rory is a Flash rogue usually acting as a rival to Captain Cold aka Leonard Snart. In MAwS, their Heatwave shares the same last name and powers, but MAwS Heatwave is gender flipped. You might have seen Heatwave in the CW DC comics shows where he is played by Dominic Purcell in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.

Lois, later in the episode, name drops Heatwave's name. Gotta be honest when Heatwave showed up I was like is that Rampage? Cuz the MAwS design looks vaguely like Rampage.

If she does show up in MAwS, I'll talk more about her in another post, but for now, Rampage aka Karen Lou "Kitty" Faulkner, makes her first appearance in Superman #7 (1987) (full page here: W&P: John Byrne, I: Karl Kesel, C: Tom Ziuko, L: John Costanza).

Steve drags Jimmy to film his debunking Flamebird videos and references Starro who I talked about here.

Lois, later runs around with the Daily Planet police scanner trying to catch Superman and the dispatcher reports that a robbery is in progress at McGuinness Luxe Garage.

This is a nice reference to Ed McGuinness who was the artist for Superman, Action Comics, and Superman/Batman in the early 2000s. If you've seen Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, then you'll know the movie takes inspiration from his character designs in the first arc of the Superman/Batman comic series. The Superman/Batman #1 (2003) cover here is done by Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines, and Dave Stewart. I like Ed McGuinness's pencils, very stylized.

Heatwave name drops Livewire and the Gazzo mod family. Both of whom I've talked about here and here respectively

Heatwave has been running away from Deathstroke here who has been taking our her crew. Notice that Slade Wilson doesn't have the half black half orange helmet yet that almost every Deathstroke depiction always has.

He, Amanda Waller, and the General who I totally think is General Sam Lane, Lois's dad, are fans of DBZ cuz of the scouters they're wearing.

Later in the scene we see the General again he's totally General Sam Lane. I'll talk more about him when we get a double confirmation through a name drop/reveal in a later post calling Amanda Waller, Mandy. What a fucking bold thing to say to Waller! Like damn! power move right there!

Superman and Deathstroke are fighting under a highway and we see the traffic is heading to Bludhaven!

Very good reference to my favorite character in all of pop culture, Dick Grayson aka Nightwing. Nightwing makes Bludhaven his city to protect. The city makes its first appearance in Nightwing #1 (1996) (the panel here - W: Chuck Dixon, P: Scott McDaniel, I: Karl Story, C: Roberta Tewes, L: John Costanza). Fun Bludhaven fact, its crime rate is WORST than Gotham! Also HIGHLY recommend reading the new Nightwing run cuz its fucking amazing! Won a few Eisner Awards (think the Oscars but for comic books) recently and I am not just saying that because I am a Dick Grayson fan.

Near the end of the episode, we see Lois willing to jump off a building to prove that Clark is Superman. A lot of discourse was happening online over this, but I do want to say this is pretty on brand for her to do.

In Superman II, Lois does something similar and Clark saves her. its just in MAwS, Clark flies to save her thus ruining the secret identity, while in Superman II, Clark does save her but he is still able to get away with it thanks to him playing it more subtly.

Don't know why people we're in such a fucking fit over something that Lois has done before.

In the after credits scene, Jimmy, who planned a sasquatch finding adventure with Lois and Clark, but they were dealing with their shit and Jimmy was by himself, decides to do the finding on his own and meets a giant gorilla. In the first episode Jimmy mentions an intelligent gorilla in France and my guess is this is Monsieur Mallah. You can read more about him here. If you made it this far down, I appreciate you taking the time to check this post out and if you want to see my other MAwS Easter Eggs posts - Episode 1 is here

Episode 2 is here

Episode 3 is here

Episode 4 is here

Episode 6 is here

Episode 7 is here and here

Episode 8 is here

Episode 9 is here

Episode 10 is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

[dirtyriver]

Sabrina Annual Spectacular #1, cover by Dan Parent

Homage to the cover of Omega Men #3, June 1983, by Keith Giffen (pencils) and Mike DeCarlo (inks), first appearance of Lobo

[deebrisbyfish]

As an artist, I LOVE creative collaboration. It's not a thing I get to do all that often, on the art side of things, as I tend to do all my own artwork from beginning to end on most of my projects, from pencils to final art. So, I'm always thrilled when I have the occasional opportunity to work on pieces with OTHER artists.  When I was doing the Wellkeeper, about half of the covers were inked by the fantastic Tony Kordos, and I adored that team-up. And recently, for the Finding Dee Kickstarter, I worked on a studio JAM cover for that book. An homage to the classic, Gil Kane "Giant Sized X-Men #1", I did reasonably tight digital "pencils" for the piece featuring Me, Heidi, and Poe bursting out of a shot with other characters from UNLIKELY HEROES STUDIOS! The awesome Laurie Foster did the inks over my pencils, which were then given awesome colors by Katy Rewston, who colored the book interiors as well. I am SUPER happy with how this came out, and now that the Kickstarter is in the can and folks are all receiving their books, I wanted to share the process a little! Hope you enjoy.

[dispatchdcu]

The Spectacular Spider-Men #1 Review

The Spectacular Spider-Men #1 Review #TheSpectacularSpiderMen #SpectacularSpiderMen #MARVEL #marvelcomics #comics #comicbooks #news #mcu #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #spiderman #Amazon #peterparker #asm #amazingspiderman

Writer: Greg Weisman Penciler: Humberto Ramos Inker: Victor Olazaba Colorist: Edgar Delgado Letterer: Joe Caramagna Cover Artists: Sean Galloway; David Marquez & Romulo Jr. [Foil]; David Nakayama; Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg [Homage]; Dike Ruan & Marte Gracia Publisher: Marvel Price: $4.99 Release Date: March 6, 2024 New York’s Gang War brought the spectacular Spider-Men together. Miles…

[tomoleary]

Gil Kane - Amazing Spider-Man #121 Splash Page 1 Preliminary Original Art (Marvel, 1973) Source

Gil Kane (pencils) and John Romita (inks) Amazing Spider-Man #121 pg. 1 Poster Source

Gerry Conway (script), Artie Simek (letters) and David Hunt (colors)

121 is, of course, one of the most talked about comic of our generation. Classic all-Romita cover.

Gil Kane’s end splash.

There are homages to all of these but this one is really precise.

Greg Land after John Romita Sr

[aboutzatanna]

Still annoyed by how the latter half of JLD portrayed Zee as an incompetent leader who made some  outright dumbass decisions while in charge.   

As a palate cleanser, here are some tidbits from Justice League of America Vol 1  Annual #1 written by Paul Levitz and Len Wein and pencilled by Rick Hoberg and her decisions weren’t disastrous.

This was from the period where Zee was elected chairwoman of the League: 

Oh hey look, it’s Commissioner Gordon on the Watchtower, you don’t see that every day. What could he be there for?   

(This is from the period where Batman left the League to form the Outsiders but given that he formed the Outsiders to do *more* crime fighting, the fact that Gordon had to go to the League because he couldn’t get in touch with Batman is doubly ironic.)  

Also, pretty cool how Gordon is known and respected even by the JLA.   

So Zee splits the team into groups and they go investigate the missing artists. Not everyone is too keen on her calling the shots though:  

Why Ollie? Why? Sadly, Ollie doesn’t do much in this annual besides whining and being a jerk.  

But turns out she was right and it turns out Destiny is pulling out nightmares from artists brain and materializing them in to the real world.   

Diana on the other hand, is more supportive Zee’s decisions:  

Oh hey look! It’s John Stewart!   

John teaming up with the League during the Satellite era was rare but always welcome. As a DCAU fan, he will always by *my* Green Lantern.      

After confirming Destiny’s involvement, Zatanna, Red Tornado and Elongated Man chase him into the Dreaming (a much less exciting place before Neil Gaiman joined DC):    

One of the main sub plots of the annual is Zee’s sometimes mentor/detective Ralph having a crisis of confidence:    

Zatanna summons the rest of the League and they head to confront Destiny at his HQ:  

Also shout out to penciller Rick Hoberg here; the League is flying or running towards their target but he gives each member a distinct pose that reflects their personality. Zatanna and the Hawks are soaring through the air while John and Red Tornado are darting through the air laser focused on their target while Firestorm’s pose falls somewhere in the middle.  (Also it’s funny how the Atom is on Firestorm’s shoulder seemingly rooting for him to go faster.)  Even the running poses are different from each other; Flash’s pose looks like a homage to his debut comic cover, Diana is more casual while Aquaman looks more determined whilst Ollie looks like he is oogling Dinah who seems to be doing her best to ignore him.   

The League takes the fight to Dr Destiny’s HQ but it doesn’t go as planned:  

He defeats the League in a way that makes me think the League all probably collectively agreed to never speak of again:  

 “So how did Destiny take down all of you again?”

“Yep, giant monster.” 

“Giant monster.”

“He had big fangs.”

“Don’t forget the horns.”

“And the spikes.”

“Practically untouchable.” 

“It was too powerful for us to even comprehend!”

(I’m also going to head canon this as Destiny having more power in the Dreaming.)

Unbeknownst to him however, Ralph has managed to free the original Jack Kirby Sandman, Garret Sanford.  Side note: He is the guy who passed the mantle to Hector Hall who was the Sandman who was being manipulated by Brute and Glob before being “freed” by Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.    

Destiny’s characterization here; his hatred for the League, unable to dream which in turn turned him into a withering husk because of it and usurping the power of Sandman has echoes of his story arc in Gaiman’s Sandman. The latter was more impactful but I wonder if he drew inspiration from this annual?   

Sandman calls in the cavalry in the form of Superman

and takes on Dr Destiny again and in probably one of the funniest moment of this annual:   

So how did they escape?  

Ralph: The MVP.   

Later, the League offers membership to Sandman who turns it down.  Also, turns out Superman’s dreams are special:   

So there you have it; Zee was a competent chairman, Ralph got his confidence back by being the MVP, John Stewart finally got some lime light  and Superman dreams about ~peace~.    

Honestly, wouldn’t mind a variation of this story but with the League meeting Morpheus.    

[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #24

#125 - Speaking

This phone call is pretty much verbatim one I had at work, including incorrect shop name, incorrect town, asking for a confirmation that I was definitely not in a completely different shop in a completely different town, and that sign-off.  I was dumbfounded, but my first thought was “well, thanks for the free comic, stranger.”  It didn’t feel like substantial enough a comic on it’s own though so I decided to double-down on funny customer stuff with what came next, which I’m thankful to say, was an original exaggerated scenario on my part.

Lyndhurst is an intentional shout-out to a real, lovely little town in the New Forest area of the UK which I visited on holiday and had a lovely slice of cake and coffee in a corner tea shop that Google Maps tells me no longer exists, boo.

Layla’s box warns not to place any items on top of it, which of course the present annoying customer does.  The final quick little joke that I hoped everyone picked up on is said customer complaining that the radio plays awful music, considering, y’know, the music that comes out of a radio is at least partially the user’s own selection.

#126 - Previously

A personal little favourite one of mine.  The original joke was just “parody “Previously On...” segments in TV shows that makes it very obvious the seagull will have something to do with the comic, and then have it not show up”.  But I kept riffing on the initial non-reveal of the pigeon at the window and just got sillier and sillier to the point where I was like “is this too far for the tone of the comic?” but I was chuckling away to myself making it so much that I just decided to roll with it.

Turns out “Pizza Boys” is a real TV show - not the gritty crime drama genre that Cammie appears to be watching though, and I believe my comic predates it too, so maybe I did google it at the time and found nothing.  The pigeon at the window is a rather strange design because it is in fact the same pigeon from my 2015 24-Hour Comic Day Comic: “Nuts” (to read: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3).  Future Cammie is using a ladder, but the window cleaner isn’t. He canonically has terrifyingly long legs.  Future Cammie’s inexplicable maid outfit comes from this End of Month Pin-Up (and popped up again for Apricot Calendar 2019).  The eyepatch, shaved haircut and trench coat just come naturally from being from the future, of course.

I remember a bunch of webcomics I grew up with in my teenage years like Dragon Tails and maybe Real Life Comics used to enjoy doing a bit of time travel stuff where they’d plan stuff out in advance so when you went back to earlier comics, there’d be background events that show those time travel plots were always destined to happen!  I have no such plans for Cammie, and as said, this comic was just the result of me having a bit of a silly, but now it’s done and part of the comic, it feels like a sort of subtle homage to those time travel plots that once seemed like a thing all webcomics ought to do sooner or later (or earlier!  dohoho time travel!!).

#127 - Unreasonable

Another one I really like.  It’s a pretty-well covered joke but I’m just happy with how my own take on it came out here.  Brianna continues to be my spirit animal here, I truly hate how christmas overshadows all other holidays towards the latter half of the year. It’s funny seeing any pre-2020 reference to the year 2020. That number fills us all with such dread now.

Hard to tell at web size but of course the advent calendar Brianna has picked up is Frogy themed:

Those penguin toys on the shelves... I have a default way of drawing penguins if I don’t put effort into them that is absolutely basically entirely the “penguin” design from “Bang on the Door”:

This brand was everywhere in the early 2000′s with a focus on stationary (”groovy chick” was probably the most popular design, you probably knew someone or two with a folder or pencil case at school/college). I love this penguin, I had that toy too.  It’s permanently overwritten what my brain thinks cartoon penguins look like. This lil’ guy just lives in my head rent free and I have to look at a picture of an actual penguin to draw them anything close to properly.

#128 - Wireless

A silly physical comedy one - I’m pretty sure it’s physically impossible to knock wireless headphones out with a hair fluff, but this is Cammie’s hair we’re talking about.  It was fun to learn how to actually draw a street drain for that close-up (as oppose to how I’ve always drawn them which is a rectangle with a load of lines down it), and Jez is always allowed a little Draw Cammie In Her Sports Bra Again, as a treat.

[More Chamomile Comic Trivia] (Above link may not work correctly on tumblr app)  

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

A BATTLE ROYALE FOR THE PROVERBIAL HISTORY BOOKS -- IN THE MIGHTY MARVEL MANNER!

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a Hulk Vs. Thing homage piece by MC Wyman & Bob Almond, after the historic cover by late, greats John Romita Sr. & Frank Giacoia for "Fantastic Four" Vol. 1 #112 ["Battle of the Behemoths!"]. July. 1971. Marvel Comics.

Pencils by MC Wyman

Colors by Tom Smith

Inks by Bob Almond 

Resolution at 1280x1914 & 607x800.

Sources: www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=57543 & Pedrigree Comics.

[keycomicbooks]

Pinky and the Brain #23 (1998) Walter Carzon JAWS Homage Cover, Dana Kurtin & Jesse Leon McCann Story, Walter Carzon Pencils, Rare Comic Only 7,365 In Circulation

#PinkyandtheBrain #23 (1998) #WalterCarzon #JAWS Homage Cover, #DanaKurtin & #JesseLeon McCann Story, #WalterCarzon Pencils, Rare Comic Only 7,365 In Circulation A special all-monkey issue! Brain becomes King of the Sea Monkeys, and plans to infiltrate the masses' homes by way of..the back covers of comic books! https://www.rarecomicbooks.fashionablewebs.com/Pinky%20and%20the%20Brain.html#23 @rarecomicbooks Website Link In Bio Page If Applicable. SAVE ON SHIPPING COST - NOW AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL PICK UP IN DELTONA, FLORIDA #KeyComicBooks #DCComics #DCU #DCUniverse #KeyIssue

[floppyhatwitch]

Last new year's eve, I made a resolution that I would learn to draw by drawing one page every day of 2023. I was meant to post this recap on January 1st, but it turns out that I have like a full thesis worth of infodumping about this project, so it got pushed back. Art dump time! <3

(editor witch here. This post is LONG. Like, tumblr-can't-save-the-draft-properly long. I've decided to split this into multiple parts to mitigate formatting issues and pulling my hair out when it inevitably comes out wrong. This is part 1 of 2)

Long post incoming! Art under the cut :)

First off we have the OG, the Day 1.

I try not to pass judgement on my earlier works, because getting more confident with drawing was the entire point of the resolution. However, I can definitely say I've improved a whole bunch since then. It's basically just copied from reference material and the proportions could use a little work.

Fast forward to Day 11 where I had the first piece I thought was kinda good.

Still goes pretty hard tbh. Love a good beholder.

The first piece I ever got a compliment on was this goopy texture text stuff.

Unfortunately since all the early drawings were done in pencil, a lot of them have been ravaged by the unholy nature of graphite smearing.

Day 49 is another one of my favourites, I'd just won big in a no stakes poker match against my mates and thought I'd celebrate with a rendition of Mr Green.

On Day 100 I decided to draw my top 100 favourite pokemon. It took SO much longer than I anticipated, but I still think it was worth it.

After passing the Day 100 mark I thought it was about time to start varying my materials, so I gave pen drawing a go.

I learnt crosshatching and absolutely loved it, it's still a staple technique whenever I go for pen exclusively, highly recommend.

By Day 121 I was fed up of fumbling MY way through drawing faces so I decided to really crack down and try and learn.

As you can tell, it was a long and arduous journey.

By Day 125 I had filled up the first sketchbook and started a new one. As has become tradition, I decided to draw V2 again to see if I'd improved.

While still not my best (that one's coming up) I'm definitely a lot happier with how this one turned out compared to the first. Being able to see how I'd improved gave me so much inspiration to keep going.

Day 136 was the first time I decided to crack out the coloured pencils, so I commemorated the occasion by depicting one of my homebrew DnD deities bring colour to the material plane.

Banger after banger Day 137 is still one of my favourites. One day I'll make it into an album cover or something.

Jeff Bezos exploding in space because his stupid fucking cowboy hat isn't pressurised at all.

Day 142 I started experimenting with including the day number in the art itself, which was a trend I continued throughout the rest of the project.

After seeing Across the Spiderverse, I couldn't just not dedicate two pages and 4 hours of my life to making a tribute piece to the film. I still absolutely adore it, it's easily my second favourite film of all time (right behind the first one).

On Day 163 I recreated the Creation of Adam with my hand and my son.

This is my son btw:

I love him dearly and he is an excellent muse (he sits so still!)

Anyway so the next day I drew my top-secret creative process since so many people were asking for it.

Gettin naked and eating paint in the forest, duh.

Day 178 I made a spidersona, which is kinda my first ever OC? Like official one anyway.

Gave him a spruce up and a colour for ArtFight (which is SO FUN OMG)

Day 183 was the halfway mark (if you round up from 182.5) so I had to pay homage to the modern classic.

The face is my favourite bit.

Speaking of ArtFight, I made a whole cast of characters for it! I was a little apprehensive to participate at first, since I still wasn't super confident in my abilities, but it turns out that the community is super welcoming <3. If you wanna see the whole shebang you can check out my profile here, but my most popular character was Alice.

Which is awesome because we need more rollerblading rep in this world. We have Jet Set Radio and Ramona Flowers, but we need MORE.

I went to see the Barbennheimer double feature and had the time of my life during it, so I had to go home and make art of it.

Come to think of it, I use art to commemorate a whole lot of stuff. Isn't that neat?

On Day 221 I had just finished my first real short film for school and I was so happy I had gotten it all done. It was like 30,000 words of documentation, 7 months of work and I had to act as a man in it (damn you gender binary!) So I personified the relief of completion as the spectacle of gratuitous violence.

On Day 230 I finished Act II of Ultrakill for the first time (which at the time was the full game) and I couldn't get over just how hard Gabriel's monologue goes so I had to draw my favourite intro ever.

I still haven't played layer 7 though so no spoilers pls.

My son again! This time he's posing like Kali Uchis in her album "Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios)" I won't pretend like I understand what that means, but the album sounds so beautiful and the cover is to die for so I put my son in there.

Day 235, the first full appearance of Spider-Girl. She's talking to her friend (Batman Beyond) who is trapped by the Riddler and forced to write a analytical essay of 12 Angry Men. Fun little detail with the day number is that Doc Ock actually threw the D at Spider-Girl as an attack.

frog cowboy :)

I don't remember drawing Day 244, but I think it's actually really nice. Like an abundance of material slowly being wasted on someone hesitant to accept it or something. Idk I was probably sleep deprived to hell.

It's kinda pretty right? Some little art fairy must have broken in an done it for me

DAY 252! A momentous day. It was my second time switching sketchbooks and so I had to give V2 another crack and...

Still my favourite drawing of V2 I've ever done. Getting the ricochet coin in there as a framing tool is just so slay.

On Day 254 the pen I was using to take notes at school was finally laid to rest. I captured its final lines in this piece.

It's actually kinda moving. That pen was so good.

This is the part where I circle back and remind you that this is too long for one post, so check out part two here

[tyej49]

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[kudosmyhero]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (vol. 1) #1: The Turtles' Origin Is Told

Read Date: November 25, 2022 Cover Date: May 1984 ● Writer: Kevin Eastman ◦ Peter Laird ● Penciler: Kevin Eastman ◦ Peter Laird ● Inker: Kevin Eastman ◦ Peter Laird ● Colorist: {not applicable} ● Letterer: Kevin Eastman ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● I'm so excited! ● tails!! ● [pg. 8] the turtle fingers gripping a manhole cover is such an iconic image. I love that it was here from the very beginning. The narrative tone is solid so far. Definitely sounds like Leo. ● I've heard somewhere that the story of the mutagen (blind man, truck, kid being struck by toxins) is homage to Matt Murdock (Daredevil)'s origin story. Considering the similarity, I'd certainly believe it to be true! I know TMNT and Batman have teamed up several times, but I'd also love to see a team-up with Daredevil… especially one that closes the loop on their shared origins. ● ah! The afterword mentions the homage to Daredevil. Good to have validation!

Synopsis: The book opens with the Turtles battling some 15 gun-toting thugs and mopping up the New York City alleyway with them. Once the police show up, the Turtles head for home in the sewer. The TMNT find Master Splinter and tell him of their victory. Splinter decrees that they are now ready to be told of their mission… a mission of retribution!

The Sensei tells the Turtles, for the first time, their origins. Splinter was once the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi, said to be the greatest shadow warrior of his clan, known as the Foot. While watching Yoshi practice his art of combat, Splinter would mimic his movements and eventually became as adept as his human benefactor. Splinter explains that Yoshi had a bitter rivalry with a fellow clan member, Oroku Nagi. They competed fiercely in all things, even in matters of the heart. They both fell in love with a beautiful woman named Tang Shen, but she loved only one of them in return: Splinter's Master, Yoshi.

Nagi became extremely jealous and one night in a fit of rage he went to Tang Shen's home and demanded that she love only him. She refused, and Nagi began to beat her. Just then, Yoshi came upon them, and in a fit of red rage he slew Nagi. This was a shameful act in the eyes of the Foot Clan, as one member must never kill another. Yoshi had two choices: he could take his own life in ritual suicide and hope for honor in the next life, or he could flee the Clan and attempt to start a new life. Master Yoshi decided on the latter, and fled to New York City with Tang Shen, Splinter, and a few possessions. He started his own martial arts school and all went well for years.

In Japan, Nagi's brother Saki had sworn vengeance against Yoshi, the man who had killed his sibling. His anger pushed him to become a premiere ninja in the Foot, and as a reward for his hard work and diligence, the Clan sent him to New York City to lead the Big Apple's branch of ninjas. Saki recognized this as his opportunity to reap his revenge against Hamato Yoshi and slay him.

Saki quickly built the New York branch of the Foot into a criminal powerhouse involved in many illegal activities; from drug smuggling and arms running to their specialty of assassination. But he never forgot his goal, and after a time he tracked Yoshi and Tang down, and set his vengeance into motion. While Yoshi was away at work, Saki broke into his apartment and murdered Tang Shen. Saki lay in wait until Yoshi returned home. As Hamato walked through the door he saw his dead wife and her murderer Oroku Saki, who proclaimed himself to be the Shredder. A great fight broke out, and Splinter's cage was broken, freeing him. Eventually, the youthful Shredder bettered his older combatant, and Yoshi was slain as well. Anguished over the death of his Master, Splinter fled to the alleys and lived off of garbage scraps.

Until the day when a TCRI truck drove by, and a strange canister flew out of its hold. The container struck a young man in the head, bounced off of the pavement and smashed into a boy's aquarium filled with turtles. The shattered glass, canister and turtles all fell into an open manhole cover, dropping into the murky sewer below. The metal container held some strange chemical, and when it hit the floor of the sewer it broke, bathing the Turtles in its glowing ooze. Splinter, curious, went to see what had become of the turtles. He collected them into a coffee can and cleaned the goo off of them as best he could. The next day the wise rat found that he and the Turtles were mutating… becoming more human-like with each passing day! Eventually the turtles spoke, and Splinter began to set his own plan for vengeance into motion. He began training the turtles in the art of ninjutsu that he had learned from Hamato Yoshi. He named each Turtle after a famous Renaissance artist, whose names he had found in an old book forsaken in the sewer.

After hearing the tale of their origins, the turtles knew what they must do: they had to avenge the death of Splinter's Master Yoshi… they had to defeat the Shredder in mortal combat! Raphael goes on a guerrilla mission to deliver a message to Saki… which he does in typical Raphael fashion. The message demands that Saki meet the Turtles on the rooftops to duel to the death in the name of honor. The Shredder brings many Foot with him, and a great battle between the Turtles and the ninjas erupts. The turtles win hands down, forcing Shredder into combat. The fight is close, but the Turtles use teamwork to best Saki. Once the turtles have defeated Shredder, they demand that he commit seppuku to regain the honor he had lost when he murdered Yoshi. Saki refuses and displays a thermite grenade that he had concealed in his costume. The Shredder vows that if he is to die he will take the Turtles with him. Donatello saves the day by throwing his bo staff into Saki's jaw, knocking him and the grenade from the rooftop. As the Shredder falls, the Turtles rush to the edge of the building, seeing the handheld bomb go off in a blinding flash. The turtles have performed the task that Master Splinter had trained them for. With their mission complete, the Turtles fade into the night.

(https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Turtles%27_Origin_is_Told)

Fan Art: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by iangoudelock

Accompanying Podcast: ● Shellheads - episode 01

[dirtyriver]

Heat Seeker #1, Stadium Comics variant cover by Nuno Pereira

Pereira has done a number of Archie variant covers for Stadium paying homage to classic super-hero covers. This is the first time I've seen him reverse gears and do a tribute to a classic Archie cover.

Veronica #28, June 1993, cover by Dan DeCarlo (pencils) and Alison Flood (inks)

[fallloverfic]

While this is technically possible, I believe the maybe Deep Lore must be shared. Under the read more because Rob Liefeld's art is a content warning. (Also with the caveat the below is just me rambling about stuff I've seen wandering the Internet, wiser comics folks likely know this stuff far better than I)

(Also the further caveat, Kun seemingly has him with chest hair in the comic, at least judging by the cover art)

This is a page from "Youngblood #1" (April 1992) (Image Comics)

Creator, Plot, Pencils & Inks – Rob Liefeld Dialogue – Hank Kanalz Color Design – Brian Murray Color Separations – Digital Chameleon Editor-in-Chief – Chris Ulm

This is Chapel and an apparently unnamed woman.

I have no idea if this is the exact panel being referenced (particularly given I have avoided Liefeld's art in the wild wherever possible, even though that's admittedly somewhat difficult given how much he's drawn over the years). I only know about this page because of The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings. (The link not the comic is recommended read, it's very funny, as is the sequel). Notably, Dolph and Alex's pose is nearly identical to that first panel, and Chapel is also apparently hairless.

Captain Laserhawk: Blood Dragon Remix is based on the Far Cry 3 DLC, Blood Dragon, which is an homage to 1980s action films, cartoons, and video games. The protagonist's (Dolph Laserhawk) design is very clearly heavily reliant on the design for the DLC's protagonist, Sergeant Rex "Power" Colt. Rex looks a lot like a cross between Marvel's Winter Soldier (2005) and Cable, another Marvel Comics character who first appeared as a baby in 1986 (Chris Claremont (writer) and Rick Leonardi (pencils)) but later appeared for the first time in his more well-known adult appearance under Louise Simonson (writer) and Rob Liefeld (art) in 1990.

(Though Cable does... seem to have hair on his body, so... RIP Alex I guess).

Alex Taylor also looks a bit like a cross between Sabretooth (another Marvel character) and Shatterstar, a character created by Fabian Nicieza (writer) and Rob Liefeld (art) in 1991.

(This is mostly how Liefeld used to draw him. He looks a lot better under the hand of other artists these days, even just artists drawing for the same issues).

I don't think all roads lead to Liefeld. The guy mimicked a lot of stuff that was popular back then as far as I can tell. But even Kun's cover reminds me of a lot of covers Liefeld would draw (but actually good, because Kun's a good artist, and Liefeld is not).

Hallmarks of Liefeld's covers: lots of weapons everywhere, particularly guns, lots of buff dudes standing close together, giant crotches, and some wild hairstyles. (I like to think a theory for the Laserhawk animated series is "what if the homo-eroticism of all this wasn't subtext").

Statistically speaking, it's probable that first screencap references a lot of things, likely the same stuff Liefeld was inspired by, and maybe only unintentionally appears to look like that panel. But that terrible panel of Chapel was one of the first things in my mind when I saw it, because of how clearly this series is heavily referencing art from that era.

Okay... you got me. They're cute.

(Screencaps from the trailer for Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, featuring the apparent protagonist and his canonical boyfriend whom Ubisoft describes as "the love of his life").

Also Tokyopop is doing the comic adaptation and the cover art by Bayou Kun <.< for the "boys love manga adaptation" - iOS