IDW Publishing’s new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ongoing series has been firing on all cylinders and is a must read for any Turtles fan. Tom Waltz and Kevin Eastman are doing a great job of drawing from every Turtles universe to develop a rich, new timeline. One of the tools that IDW has used rather nicely is the Micro-Series (guest one-shots). Instead of telling a unique story that has nothing to do with the ongoing, they have used their guest one-shots to build on, and expand, the current Turtles universe. I recently had the opportunity to ask Ross Campbell (Twitter @rosscampbelll), the artist on the Leonardo Micro-Series issue, some questions about his experience.
@xovercomics: Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions. I have seen some of your Turtles art from when you were a child; obviously, you were a fan growing up. Can you elaborate on your Turtles childhood? To give our readers an idea of what kind of TMNT fan you are, please list your following favorites. I will give you mine.
Favorite Turtle: Donatello
Favorite non-Turtle character: Casey Jones
Favorite comic book series: Mirage (Return to New York, City at War, Gang Wars in particular) but IDW is catching up quickly
Favorite animated series: 4Kids 2K3 TV series (first 2 seasons in particular)
Favorite movie: First live action movie (Turtles Forever was pretty amazing for different reasons)
@RossCampbelll:
Favorite Turtle: Leonardo. But if you'd asked me just a year or two ago I would've said Raphael.
Favorite non-Turtle character: Can I have 3?? I have a tie between Casey Jones, Splinter (particularly first movie Splinter), and Fugitoid. I also love April in the first movie. And Renet! And Alopex!! Argh, too many good ones.
Favorite comic book series: Mirage. I think the first 11 issues are my favorite but I also love Return to New York, City At War, and The River. My favorite single Turtles story is probably New York Ninja, but it's a tough call.
Favorite animated series: I don't know that I really have one. I watched the Fred Wolf show when I was a kid but not religiously, I was mostly into the toys, that's what really got me into Turtles. I was never a big TV person even as a kid. When I discovered the Mirage comics in 1990 I left the cartoon behind and never looked back, and I've since seen some of the 2k3 show on video, I never saw it when it was on TV, but I haven't gotten into it much. It feels stiff to me but I'm planning on watching more and trying to get into it. Can I say the Nickelodeon 2012 series even though I've only seen the 2-part pilot episode? I love it so far.
Favorite movie: The first/1990 movie, hands down.
One TMNT thing that was huge for me as a kid that I want to mention, was the Palladium Books' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness tabletop RPG book. I can't quite remember if that's what lead me to the Mirage comics or if I got into them around the same time, but regardless it was a big thing in my childhood, we were really into role-playing gaming and the Eastman and Laird artwork that filled the book was amazing, and I loved dissecting the Turtles' character stats in the back of the book. The book's system for creating your own mutant animals was and still is awesome, so that set me up for a lifelong love of mutants! Palladium's supplement books were also super cool, like Mutants Down Under and Transdimensional TMNT. I love that stuff.
@xovercomics: I am really hooked on what IDW is doing with the Turtles. If done properly, I could see this series being better than the Mirage series. Have you been following the IDW TMNT ongoing series? What do you think of their current incarnation?
@RossCampbelll: Yes! I love the IDW series, it's great, I love what they're doing. I think they've nailed the tone and struck a nice balance with the different concepts and characters they're bringing in. And I love the new characters like Hob and Alopex. I think the reincarnation aspect of the new origin is great, too, lots of Turtle pathos there! I think the IDW Leonardo is shaping up to be as good as the 1990 movie Leo which is my favorite version of him, they're both very multi-faceted. I also love IDW Donatello so far.
@xovercomics: Where do you draw your inspiration from when you draw a comic?
@RossCampbelll: Depends on the comic, but usually my biggest inspiration is plain old real life, even for something like Turtles or my more fantastical work like Shadoweyes and Mountain Girl. Real life is both the most interesting thing around and also the most grounded, from the most mundane things to the craziest, nothing gets my imagination going like planet Earth, humanity, culture, animals, science, friends, strangers, and the mysteries about Earth and outer space that we haven't solved.
@xovercomics: How much freedom are you given when you are asked to draw a licensed property? Were you given guidelines to follow or asked to make changes to your original Turtles designs?
@RossCampbelll: There weren't many guidelines up front, it was mostly I'd draw the character and the powers-that-be would react to that and we'd mold it that way. The only thing right up front that I wasn't allowed to do was draw tails on the Turtles! The bosses knew I was a big proponent of turtle tails. Which is fine, since Dan Duncan's Turtles didn't have tails so it would've been weird if they suddenly appeared. There were some other things I had to concede, but overall I was given way more freedom than I was expecting so it was cool. I'm really proud of how the issue came out and the things they let me get away with.
@xovercomics: How does drawing the Turtles differ from drawing something like Wet Moon, a comic that you both write and draw?
@RossCampbelll: With my personal comics like Wet Moon or Shadoweyes, the biggest difference is that with those, there is literally nobody I have to report to. I hole up for 6 months and draw a book and I rarely if ever talk to my editor or anyone else, I turn in the book when I'm done, they never request changes, that's it. Whereas with Turtles, or most big properties owned by someone else, there's an approval process, there are a lot of people involved as opposed to the one-man-show on my own comics, I have to take into account people looking over my shoulder, and the audience consideration factor is much bigger. In terms of the craft, though, it's pretty much the same, I sit down and draw the comic and do my best.
@xovercomics: I read your planned, unused Tale of the TMNT story. Do you have any interest in writing a Turtles story for IDW? The Micro-Series issues would be a great platform since they allow for guest writers.
@RossCampbelll: Yeah, I would love to. I did pitch a micro-series story but it didn't work out, hopefully I'll get another shot or maybe I can resurrect/repurpose that pitch for a different issue. The IDW TMNT feels so fresh to me like anything could happen and people's creative energy is high and it's infectious, so I'd love to be involved on the story end of things and contribute ideas and character development rather than just drawing.
@xovercomics: Originally, I was not too fond of your style when drawing the Turtles. The more work of yours that I see and the more I compare it to others, the more I really like it. You probably cannot go into much detail, but are there any plans for you to guest on the TMNT again? Maybe more covers?
@RossCampbelll: I appreciate your honesty about my art style, thanks, the reactions to my Turtles seem to be either people love them or hate them and not much in between. I'd love to do more TMNT work, definitely. I truly appreciate all the fans that want me to return to Turtles, it really means a lot to me. I'm not sure when I'll be back, my plate is overflowing right now and I got stressed out working on Turtles so I'm still figuring things out, but I will say that the wheels are in motion!
@xovercomics: After 12 issues, Dan Duncan has had to step away as the artist for the TMNT ongoing. Andy Kuhn has stepped in to do issues 13, 14, 15, 16, and Ben Bates will be drawing issues 17, 18, 19, 20. Would you be interested in being the artist for issues 21, 22, 23, 24?
@RossCampbelll: I can't wait to see Ben Bates in action on TMNT, that guy's great. I love Andy's work, too, he's top notch. I'd love to do a 4-issue stint like that but it would depend on whether IDW wants me back and on the schedule, I have to finish volume 3 of my Shadoweyes series first before I take on anything else! We'll see, though.
@xovercomics: I have heard rumblings that you are working on a Turtles fan comic. Would you care to elaborate?
@RossCampbelll: I can talk a bit about it, sure! I had the idea for a Turtles fan-comic a few years ago but never took it seriously, it was more of a joke that I never planned on actually doing. But earlier this year I decided that I should seriously do it, I have a lot of ideas for TMNT that I'd probably never get to do otherwise, so I decided I should do my own thing and do a Turtles comic that's 100% for the pure joy of it. No money, no stress, no pressure, totally for fun and for the love of TMNT.
It’s going to be called Secrets Of The Ooze, and it’s a loose re-telling of the second TMNT movie, with my own spin on the characters, plus a few new characters I’ve made up, new ideas, and not just one secret of the ooze, hence the title. I’m hoping to get the comic started next year when my schedule is looser, and I’ll run the comic online for free, probably on my Deviantart page or my blog but maybe its own website, not sure yet. I still have my main comic projects to do so I’ll be working on this in my free time, which means it’ll probably be on a page-a-week schedule, but none of this is nailed down yet. I’m really excited about it, I hope I don’t drop the ball!
@xovercomics: Before we end the interview, I don't think we can talk TMNT without getting your opinion on the following.
Michael Bay’s original comment: "When you see this movie, kids will believe one day that these turtles do exist. These turtles are from an alien race, and they're going to be tough, edgy, funny, and completely lovable."
I was not worried at first because the ooze is of Utrom origin; maybe he misspoke. I was completely fine with his comment; then this happened.
Possible movie synopsis: “After their planet’s destruction, four turtle-like alien warriors and their master come to Earth, where they join forces with reporter April O’Neil to prevent the extradimensional conqueror Krang from enslaving the human race.”
And recently at Comic-Con, Kevin Eastman reassured us a little bit with this comments.
Kevin Eastman’s comments at Comic-Con: “From what I've seen, it's easily the best 'Turtle' movie yet. We're talking 'Raid: Redemption'-style fight scenes; we're talking about epic 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' sort of effects. A lot of people are worried we pushed the release date from December to May, but the 30th anniversary of the 'Turtles' is in May, so it worked out perfectly. Every person that's grown up inspired by that material wants to put their stamp on it a little bit. It just keeps getting better and better, and to have that opportunity is pretty awesome. I know that Michael [Bay] and his group really like that and that Paramount was supportive of that, so I think that it's great. I grew up reading 'Captain America' and 'The Avengers' and all that stuff, and over the course of the comic book history, since 'Avengers' has been around, how many times has it been reinvented, reformatted, restructured, replatformed?”
Where do you stand on the new Ninja Turtles movie? Have you read the “leaked” script?
@RossCampbell: I did read the script, it's pretty hilariously awful. It's terrible and boring if you approach it as a script on its own terms and it's doubly terrible as a Turtles story. I can sum it up by saying it has no mutants, no ninjas, and no turtles, and that's just the beginning of its problems, haha. Right now I can't care too much, though, since who knows what'll happen. Did anyone even confirm 100% if the script is legit?
And ultimately, too, I don't really mind if the movie is bad. I want a new good TMNT movie same as anybody but if this movie blows it won't retroactively make the other TMNT stuff worse or somehow change TMNT as an entity, and I also love a good cinematic bad movie trainwreck so even if the movie is terrible I'd still love to see it and laugh. It would only make me appreciate the good TMNT stuff more. I don't need an unending in-flux of new TMNT material, I love the Turtles enough that there could be no more new material, or bad material until the end of time, and the Turtles I love will always be there.
Anyway, I'm kinda going off track here, and I'm too focused on the IDW comics, the Nickelodeon show, and the great existing Turtles stuff to worry about it. I was re-reading a bunch of the Mirage comics recently and that stuff never gets old.
@xovercomics: I want to thank you again for taking the time to answer these questions. Anything you want to plug?
@RossCampbelll: Thank you so much for having me! I appreciate the opportunity and interest. I'll plug my comic Shadoweyes, which has some TMNT-inspired elements, the main character is basically a Ninja Turtle combined with the alien from Alien, heh. There are 2 books out so far and you can read it online for free at Shadoweyes.net, with a new page every Monday. I also have to plug Glory, the revamp of Rob Liefeld's character that I'm drawing, written by Joe Keatinge, from Image Comics, the first 6-issue collected book just came out and the 7th issue, #29 (I know, confusing), will be out in October. And finally, the 6th volume of my slice-of-life/drama/horror/comedy series Wet Moon just came out in September from Oni Press!
Please go back and read my review of IDW’s Micro-Series Vol 1 TPB collecting the first 4 Micro-Series issues, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo. The TPB was released in June 2012. If you are in the New York area this week, Ross Campbell will be at the New York Comic Con at booth R8B in the Artist Alley.