Before We Get Started…

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working ahead on the Newsletter so we have consistent weekly posts. If I hadn’t…I don’t think that I would have had the energy to do it this week.

If you’re not feeling up to reading this week’s post, or don’t know when you will be ready to read about non-consequential things like this, I do not blame you.

Please take care of yourself, reach out to the people you love, and do what you have to do.

I believe in you, I care about your well-being, and I thank you for being here with me every week, but I understand if you’re not in the mood to read about comic book stuff for a little while.

But if and when you are ready to come back, I will be here, and this Newsletter will be too.

Thank you,

Dave Wielgosz

TMNT: Black, White, & Green Trade Paperback Release

Next week on 11/12/24 at physical and online book retailers, and then on 11/13/24 in physical and online comic book stores, you can get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, & Green trade paperback that collects the entirety of the mini-series of the same name that came out earlier this year. For those who don’t remember, the mini-series was comprised of four issues that featured four stories about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So this trade paperback will give you sixteen stories total by some of the best creators working in comics.

Including…*clears throat*…Declan Shalvey, Dake Baker, Jesse Lonergan, Paulina Ganucheau, Lorenzo Hall, Gigi Dutreix, Mikey Way, Nikola Čižmêsija, Javier Rodriguez, Lee Loughridge, Gavin Smith, Dom Reardon, Jock, Cameron Chittock, Michael Shelfer, Carlos Giffoni, Alexis Zirrit, Chris Condon, Carson Thorn, Lee Garbett, Jeremy Holt, Sebastian Píriz, Patrick Gleason, Shawn Lee, and Nate Widick. AND…in issue 3 of the mini-series and in this upcoming trade paperback the great Riley Rossmo and I had a story. The story was called “Sin Sewer” and it focused on the great Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Raphael.

This week I interviewed Riley Rossmo about our story. Then I interviewed writer Cameron Chittock about his story “Greenlight” that he did (also in issue 3) with terrific artist Michael Shelfer. I set up these interviews in what I think is a fun way. I asked Riley and Cameron five questions each. Four of the questions are inspired by the core four Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello. And then the fifth question in each interview is inspired by a famous Ninja Turtles supporting character. And guys…the questions are color-coded.

We’re going to start with Riley’s interview!

TMNT: Black, White, & Green Interview with Riley Rossmo

DAVE: Okay, Riley, for this interview, to promote the release of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, & Green trade paperback, I am going to ask you five questions. Each question is inspired by one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and then then the fifth question will be inspired by a famous Turtles supporting cast member. And the questions are going to be color coded in the final text of the interview. Got it?

RILEY: Got it.

DAVE: All, right, awesome. We’re going to kick things off with our Raphael question. And I am going to be cute and color-code the question for each turtle.

Raphael was the star of our story, “Sin Sewer”, I loved writing him because angry characters like him usually have a lot going on narratively: they can be greatly concerned with justice, they might be heartbroken, they could be someone who has been let down more than most, and possibly someone who might just care more about things than most people. From an artistic standpoint, what is the appeal of drawing a story starring Raphael?

RILEY: It’s always easier and more fun to draw someone who over-emotes than under-emotes to me. I like Leonardo a lot but I feel like he’s the most stoic. Donatello is great but analytical. Michelangelo would be my second favorite to draw because he is also outgoing emotionally. That isn’t my ranking of who I like the most narratively, Turtle-wise, but in terms of drawing Michelangelo and Raphael give you a lot more to play with.

DAVE: More attitude and a different way they carry themselves, that makes a lot of sense to me! All right, we’re going to stoic Leonardo for this next question.

 One of the themes of “Sin Sewer” is how you can get over your head pursuing something on your own without people having your back. What do you like most about the collaborative nature of making comics? In this case the writer and artist partnership?

RILEY:  What do I like most about it…I like the surprises. When you work with someone who is hyped about the project, like you, Dave, it’s fun to get on the phone, collaborate, break down the things you had in mind, and figure out how to expand on them together. Like how we got on the phone and talked about each page of this story while we were doing it.

DAVE: I agree with you. That is one reason I very much like collaborating with you, we are talking about everything together and really getting into the nitty gritty. It makes me especially thoughtful when I am working with folks who are not you. Get ready for a party, we’ve got our Michelangelo question.

Which page was the most fun to draw? Was there one you were looking forward to more than the others, or was there one that snuck up on you and became the favorite?

RILEY: Page Three. Page Three is everything you wanted to say in a Ninja Turtles comic. Which one is your favorite?

DAVE: Page Three would have to be my favorite too, not just because it’s where the action and the fighting begins but because the last panel on that page, the way you handled how Raph was drawn, the noir-look of the story, and the negative space that came along with it I think really captures what we were trying to do with the whole story in one panel.

RILEY: Agreed. Page five is a runner-up, though, I like the multiple exposures for Raph in the first panel, even though it’s just Raph in panel one the multiple images make it feel like it’s the whole team.

DAVE: A rare having your cake and eating it too, moment! Okay, brace yourself for something brainy, because this is the Donatello-inspired question.

 From the title “Sin Sewer” it’s no mystery what comic we used as primary inspiration, but this comic is also an ode to so many things, and especially an ode to a type of tough guy/vigilante comic of the eighties and early nineties. What are some of your favorite comics of that type from that time?

RILEY: Oooh. Hmm. That’s a good question. My favorite would be the Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri issues of Wolverine, especially the one-shots that are disconnected from the continuity/the overall narrative of the series. The issues that have Wolverine going on missions, executing things, and getting stuff done. Very objective-based stuff.

DAVE: Yeah, you and I have often talked about those Wolverine comics as a touchpoint for both of us, and I agree they are tremendous. That run is in an omnibus now and folks should check it out, or seek out the Marvel Visionaries Wolverine by Marc Silvestri trade paperback which will give you a lot of that stuff!

And here’s the final question. Inspired by…MASTER SPLINTER.

This is our third collaboration together as writer and artist, and I think the collaborations are getting more simplified from a communication standpoint and more complex in the final products. How close to your hopes/vision for this story did we get? For me, this is one of the best final results I’ve had in making comics so far.

RILEY: It was pretty fun. I think we set out to do exactly what we wanted to do. I don’t think we could have done anything better to clarify the vision. I would give us both a big mission accomplished seal of approval.

DAVE: That’s something I can feel good about! Riley, thank you so much for your time. And thanks as always for being an A+ collaborator and friend. We’ve already been lucky enough to hear from a lot of folks about “Sin Sewer” when it originally appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, and Green #3, but I hope we hear about it from even more readers when the trade paperback comes out next week on 11/12/24.

Huge thanks to Riley for taking time out of his incredibly busy schedule to do this. In addition to his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, & Green story, this year Riley returned to the creator-owned comics world with the tremendous Image book The Moon is Following Us with Writer/Co-creator Daniel Warren Johnson. If you’re not reading the book? You’re missing out on one of the best damn books of the year.

Next up we’re talking to writer Cameron Chittock. In case you’re unfamiliar, Cameron, like me, was a long-time comic editor, he edited a lot of fantastic comics for BOOM! Studios. He has made the jump to comic writing, and he is crushing it. He is the writer of the YA graphic novel series Mapmakers with art by Amanda Castillo, he wrote the mini-series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles X Stranger Things with art by Fero Pe, had a great Superman story in DC’s Spring Breakout anthology with art by Marco Santucci, and of course, he had the aforementioned story “Greenlight” in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: Black, White, & Green with art by Michael Shelfer and we’re going to interview him about that story right now!

TMNT: Black, White, & Green Interview with Cameron Chittock

DAVE: Full disclosure, we were supposed to do this for the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, & Green #3, which we both had stories in, but I…didn’t get my act together in time to do it, and now we’re doing it to promote the trade paperback release of the book which comes out on 11/12/24, wherever graphic novels are sold!

Cameron, thank you so much for doing this, I am really excited to get to talk to you about your fantastic story “Green Light” that you did with artist Michael Shelfer.

CAMERON: I’m excited to be here (as long as you don’t use all this talk of green as an excuse to bring up your Celtics).

DAVE: Challenge accepted on the Celtics front, bud. All right, as I said to Riley Rossmo in the interview running above this one, I am going to ask you five questions. Four of them will be inspired by each one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, each one will be color-coded like the Turtles are, and then the fifth question will be inspired by a famous Ninja Turtles supporting cast member. Does that all make sense?

CAMERON: I. Am. Ready.

DAVE: I can feel it, game faces are on. We’re going to kick things off with our Donatello-inspired question.

“Green Light” the terrific story you wrote, beautifully drawn by Michael Shelfer, has the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and April O’Neil in a car chase and then a road-set battle with some fierce robots. Car chases are very hard to pull off in comics, but you and Michael did it excellently. How did choreograph the scenes mentally, and how much was trusting Michael to execute on the premise of the story?

 CAMERON: I’m glad to see you ordered the questions with the greatest Turtle first.

When scripting the car chase, I tried to alternate between panels following the vehicles and panels up close with the Turtles to hopefully keep the action and stakes clear. But as is the case with most pieces of comic storytelling, it comes down to the artist and Michael blew the roof off those pages. 

 DAVE: He certainly did, but I think you bring up a great point. Keep it simple. Executing something at a high level is always going to look complex, so start with a plan everyone can understand. Next, we’re going to go to our Michelangelo question.

 As a family man, would you rather have the Turtle Van or the Batmobile as your personal ride?

CAMERON: While I highly doubt the Turtle Van has a five-star safety rating (or even usable seatbelts), I cannot express how much I’d never want to be behind the wheel of the Batmobile. I can barely handle my Toyota Camry.

DAVE: I think I would break both cars after my first spin at the wheel myself, I’m a man of words, not a car guy, not a cool guy even! Get angry because we’re going to our Raphael question.

The story has a fun, chaotic feeling to it. Unlike the guy who wrote these questions, you managed to get all four Turtles into your story, and gave them each a moment to shine. How did you make sure every turtle got their line and moment? And then a credit to Michael, because the story only shows the color black, white, and green, the turtles had to be even more specifically written and drawn for readers to recognize them, I think you both pulled off your jobs tremendously on that front. Part two of the question because Raph doesn’t follow the rules, what page was your favorite once Michael turned it in?

CAMERON:  It was definitely a goal of mine to make sure each turtle (and April) had a moment, but I tried not to worry about it until after my first time through the script. I wanted to make sure all the narrative beats landed first and I then went back through and fleshed out individual moments for each character. The only character beat I knew from the jump was that Donatello would be solving the problem in the end because, as everyone knows and agrees, he’s the best Ninja Turtle.

As for my favorite page…I’m going to take after Raph, break the rules, and pick two pages: the double page spread on pages four and five.

DAVE: The door was open to break the rules and I’m glad you took the bait. And that’s a good note to the up-and-coming writers reading this. This is why we do multiple drafts and passes, you get things right as you go! I hope you’re feeling like a leader because we’re kicking it to our Leonardo question.

When it comes to contributing to an anthology, I think the greatest success comes from following the rules/boundaries of the project, but seeing how far you can wander off within those boundaries. We were all told for this anthology to think of something green to center our story on, something green other than just the Ninja Turtles, how did you come up with the “Green Light” idea and did you have any back-up ideas?

CAMERON: Our amazing editor Maggie Howell offered up the challenge of finding an outside-the-box way to implement green and, honestly, I think I started by just listing out possibilities regardless of how mundane they might be. It was a ruthlessly boring list, but once I got to stoplights, the story started writing itself.

DAVE: Maggie does rule. Her, Nic Nino, and Thea Cheuk did a phenomenal job editing the Black, White & Green series. Last but certainly not least, we are going to ask this question inspired by the legendary April O’Neil.

Pick four worse comic characters to have in your car with you than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

CAMERON: As much as I adore the Flash family, I am a notoriously slow driver and I can only imagine how insufferable they’d be while waiting an eternity to reach our destination. 

DAVE: Agreed. I especially wouldn’t want Bart Allen (AKA Impulse) in my passenger seat!

Cameron, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. I am so excited for readers to check out the phenomenal work you and Michael Shelfer did with “Green Light”. Where can readers find you next and is there anywhere they can find you regularly?

CAMERON: Thanks for having me! I am always happy to talk Turtles, comics, and anything other than the Celtics. My newsletter is the best place to find me and hear about upcoming projects. TMNT fans should also check out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Stranger Things from me and the incredible Fero Pe.

So from all three of us, and the rest of the great creators in the book, please buy the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Black, White, & Green trade paperback on sale next week. And if you buy it and you’re in Easthampton, Massachusetts on Saturday December 21st you can come out to Comics N’ More from 1 PM-5 PM and I will sign your copy! Wouldn’t that be neat?

I have one more thing I want to talk about this week and that is the first annual Dave Wielgosz Holiday Q&A. On Thursday, December 5th, 2024 I will be doing a Newsletter post where I take questions from you! Yes, you, my hopefully kind audience that wants to send me questions about comic writing, the process of making comics, comics I have written, maybe reach into the past and talk about comics I edited, and hopefully get a silly question or two! Last year I had a fairly successful social media post where I gave my tips for writing comic book short stories, and I thought this would be a fun extension of that. Also, I figured it would be a fun way to end the year, and maybe help out some folks who want to make comics.

We will be taking questions at the email [email protected], I will not run your name with your question unless you want me to. All I ask is that you keep things as nice as possible, please don’t send me pitches, please don’t send me scripts, and please don’t be mean to me because I am trying to connect with this world! And if we don’t get enough questions? Eh, we’ll do something else that week. But…I have a feeling we can get at least seven to ten good questions that I could answer.

All right, that’s it for this week! See you next Thursday!

Stay safe!

—Dave Wielgosz