MIKEYSTMNT.COM

–>> When one’s heart weighs heavy, “Black Friday” can take on a whole new meaning.

While it’s been stated otherwise ..  but ::

“Ya know what.. it really is kinda big deal.” ..

• •

In lieu of events of the past several weeks, the chaos of art shows, a  death in  the family that i’ve barely been able to mourn, and the overwhelming tasks i have lying ahead just before the years end here .. what was to be a general news Round-up has turned into something  a little more introspective.

I don’t normally go to such in-depth lengths on this site, unless it’s absolutely called for.  There’s allot of pain inside right now, and as i am STILL trying to get a grasp on not just the future of the franchise, i’m having to pick up broken pieces of my heart as i once again have fallen and risk to going into a much darker place. It’s not anything new, buy each time it happens it gets harder.

Hm, and a know doing a News Round-up is never easy either..but over the coarse of a month, real-life events intervene and can disrupt what i feel would be a normal “NEWS” cycle. Then again, covering the weekly exploits of this truly one-of-a-kind phenom that has become part of so many fans’  lives in quite a daunting feat in and among itself. I think, though it is important in some context to cover as much as possible & with my power not only to fill in the gaps for bits the more casual fan or people just so overwhelmed by all  the happenings with the franchise.

With over a month’s passing on announcement of VIACOM taking over the Turtle Empire ..

• ** ..decent coverage  of the aftermath can be found in the archives  at GGM **

• *** ..also, opinionated but incredibly in-depth coverage of the events are covered by Rose’s blog ***

So many interesting things have happening, while following the all of this sometimes has become a chore, there some startling things that even make my head spin. Like Mark Freedman of the original TMNT Licensee company, SURGE advising in the Viacom / TMNT deal. So if you have had a tough time wrapping your head about it all, the two resources listed above may be of value to you in further reading. Not only to get an understanding of the deal, but perhaps even to get a sense sense of what lies on the horizon in the coming years. Also they will provide a diversity of perspectives and opinions from those that matter the moat regarding the subject.

Obviously, there’s nothing easy about any of this all around. From what i gathered .. most of the TMNT fandom community, like it or not is adjusting in some form or fashion to this new reality their favourite characters have been thrown in. It represents so many changes not just in how the the characters will be represented in media in the future, but also disrupts what i’ve considered the true heart of the TMNT , Mirage and the TMNT comics.

To me it really has not ever been a question on “Will TMNT Survive ?!”  at least in gerneral. As i loose myself in a lot of deep thought regarding the subject, i have to reflect on why the heck i’m even here on Mikey’s. At the end of 2009 ..i’ll have been at this TMNT – blog news thing along time. For about 8  years. Even before that, i had been following this site regularly as it became one of my fave TMNT destinations on the net. I liked it  for it’s small, down to Earth feel. Here was this guy that was an approachable,  likable TMNT fan. The type of person very knowledgeable and just about as  excited for Turtles and the art of TMNT as you were. Mike may as well have been your best bud down the block or a ol’ grade school friend. A pal  you could go over as kids and read Turtle comics with, play TMNT video games, or crack out your ol’ PLAYMATES figures and pit the Green Team in a battle royal against Shredder and the Foot Clan.  I got hooked on this site.  In time the site would become as much a part of my life as Mirage and the Turtles themselves. Mike too would become one of my best friends, like a brother and part of that valuable surrogate family i’ve relied on in part of my survival.

Part of my goals within’ joining the news team  here, at least in the interim was driven in part by ignorance and anger at other so-called news outlets and fan-boys considering TMNT just another FAD when i had been hollering since the mid-1990s that i KNEW FOR A FACT that it was so much more. A piece of pop-culture history and a staple. One fact that has only been embraced in the years following up to the 25th anniversary event this year.

Fan bases for other other iconic Pop-cuture staples.. most notably ‘STAR WARS’ off the top of head, had extensive and MASSIVE fan-sites delving into every single media available regarding  the property. Art, comics, movies, toys, books , games.. you name it.  My hopes were that i  could help be part of the development of such a vast fan-based news network to rival the “BIG GUYS”.

But aside from the challenges life threw my way, threw at Mike .. school,  work,  ..the “deficit” and schizophrenia in  my head, and the actual pursuit of a career in the arts ( whatever that means for me anymore ), it hasn’t been an easy ride at all. While i think in the end.. something actually BETTER than what i had envisioned what Mikey’s could have with the integration of the work i do here on **GGM . We’re able to cover even more of an audience and even up-and-coming fans in as much an unbiased way as possible.

That last part is especially important to me. Sure , any of these fanboys can get on their and be a smart ass or pepper their news with geeky one-sided opinions. It becomes tough for me to see their points tho’, especially when the recourse i’m trying to get some straight facts from only have a bit of knowledge from their history with Turtles with the perspective based on a limited amount of media say like the original cartoon.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing. That can work for those people and their audience. However that is the type of thinking that leads to things like questions like , “Well why isn’t Bebop and Rocksteady in such and such .. or in this comic or that T.V. show ?!.” ect.

One can sympathize with those questions from younger or misinformed fans, and i really do.  But when a “news source goes off on a tyraid about something like that, i find it challenging taking them seriously. Sometimes they just come off as ignorant and obnoxious. Unless it’s based specifically in humour, i don’t see how that’s helpful when i’m trying to get to the facts.

Then again i do become guilty of all that myself at times. Still -

Luckily the friends and relationships i’ve developed within  and , yeh even outside ) the confines of TMNT fandom have helped me feel less isolated, alone in this fandom. You come to realize that these people are just as passionate about TMNT as you are. It’s integrated into their lives as much as yours. In time .. those people too have become so integrated into my life as well.  The peers, the fans, and even the creative talents at Mirage itself are people i’ve come to know and love. To care about their well being. And even when i get in those darkest of states i am so “famous” for,  they sometimes do bring a level of well-being in spite of my fractured life-style.

For the hard – core Turtle/Mirage  fans and friends i know it really is  a hard time .. i mean big BIG changes are happening or are going to, jobs are being cut or soon will be lost, comics have been getting canceled.  The overall landscape of these writers, artists, creators who’s work and in some cases the actual persons behind the work who we know and love is changing in such a surreal way .. it’s tricky not to feel some heartache within that. Of coarse “CHANGE IS NEVER EASY”, but it’s allot more complex than that and compounded by certain injustices that are currently going about within the finer details of the transition. Still it has been over a month, and we are dealing with little kids here so i suppose everyone will and is making their own adjustments as time goes on. Making plans for the future and dealing with the ramifications in their own lives with their own support systems.

While everything changes, so much is still staying the same. And like i’ve stated.. Turtles and Mirage is so ingrained in my very existence,  i’m not going anywhere just short of being smooshed by a meteor or something.  So, again ..love me or hate me  – - .

Still -  overall ..outside of it being hard,  it’s a very  strange feeling to have as a TMNT fan and artist right now.

I’ve been pretty lucky not only to be part of a grander network of TMNT support and has i stated : to have been connected on a personal level with those fans and creators, i’ve also been able to witness the evolution ( or is that evolved mutation )  of the Turtles since veritably the very beginning. While not quite in 1984, my earliest experience to the comics themselves was as early as 1986. Sure, it didn’t get stapled into my psyche until around 1987 and the classic cartoon.. and then fully through my exposure of Steve Murphy’s TMNT Adventures title.

I’ve taken each and every incarnation of the Turtles with stride, appreciating all of them for their histories of creative evolution and story telling.

It’s moved me positively, creatively , negatively , manically, obsessively and every thing in between. Even a limited amount of official creative work has entered into my repertoire and portfolio which is something i never would have dreamed of happening to me eons on ago as a screwy, weird , misunderstood, shakey, seizure ridden, ans suicidal kid in cartoon and art school.

To this schizo .. it’s been the the bane of my existence and the best thing to ever happen to me. Sure i suppose there are dozens of examples how i could have perceived things or approached things .. mistakes i’ve made and handled them differently. Still if i had to do it all again, laborious as that sounds.. i prolly would.

Honestly , i really have witnessed so much of the evolving TMNT history on such an amazing level. It’s so hard to define or put it in own perspective.

“End of an Era” is term people are using allot right now. I will agree with that statement a bit. “Beginning of a new Ere” – of coarse ..

Simultaneously ..is it the evolution of an Era ?!

In someways. It is. It’s been stated to me by a wise individual that in some ways it may even get better.

Maybe so. I still fear that Viacom could ignore the “COMICS TMNT” fans by totally focusing on the Childrens’ aspect and side of the property. While i am all for that.. as i too, like many of you was exposed to the heavy “Toony”, Kid – Friendly TMNTs of the 1980s and 1990s. There is a key demographic and an important one with those areas of fandom where the comics are as integral, if not the very lifeline and core of all of TMNT combined.

“The Heart of it all.”

Just from even a marketing standpoint it would be very foolish for Viacom to alienate that section of fandom. A nostalgia all it’s own has been slowly and finally tapped into as people are finally able to even by action figures not based on animation or movies but the actual and original PRIME Mirage TMNTs !! Something unprecedented even a decade or so ago !! !!

Heck, the animated “Turtles Forever” movie.. that too was something beyond most TMNT fans wildest dreams as the original comic TMNTs came to life in animation !!

Might i add that this is GROWING section of fandom.. as globally fans are becoming familiar with the classic stories and creators that helped make the TMNT the powerhouse of a brand that they are today.

I guess i too don’t have the answers as we will all see this fold out over the coming months – changes are already underway. It’s not gonna be pretty in some regards, some things tho’ may happen .. -good ones we may never have imagined.

Guess it’s an issue of “Wait n’ see” i suppose. Hope for the best, plan for the worst ( or plan for something better [ ?! ] ).

As i’ve made clear to people.. like Disney , “It all started with a Mouse.” -

Not only do i hope the new TMNT owners loose sight of the fact, but that NONE of us ever forget..

..it all started with a Comic.

( ..i’ll try  to get back on track with a regular round-up and basic schedule with Mike’s updates in the coming days to parallel those by Steph and the team at **GGM . )

~ t