Interview with Tom Waltz on Writing IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Hey, this is Tom Waltz, IUW's Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtle Rider, and you have jumped inside

the pull bag. Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us

as we dig out our latest comics and discuss them

with a rotating panel of the GCRN crew. So sit

back and enjoy this week's Pull Bag. Hey, Raph!

Welcome back, bro! time for this and why not

because we're not alone hello and welcome to

the pull bag i'm your host tf2 and mike and joining

me is joe reid hello hello ladies and gentlemen

i thought that i was gonna have to put our latest

guest in the never gonna happen folder along

with peter cullen frank welter and mark hamill

luckily this isn't the case because today we

have the pleasure of welcoming welcoming for

the first time the turtle who writes IDW Publishing's

TMNT Ongoing, let's all get our spoons ready

to dine on some turtle soup with Mr. Tom Waltz.

Hey guys. Hey Tom, how are you? Good, how are

you? Pretty good, pretty good. Before we get

started, give us the scoop on what's going on

in the world of Tom Waltz. Any upcoming turtle

events you can reveal without shredder cutting

your head off? Well now we're actually working

right now on issue 55 is what I'm currently writing.

We actually did something a little different

this time because we've had a bit of a change

of artist while Mateus Sanluko has taken a break

after the big issue 50. So what I did was I wrote

through issue 54 and then I skipped ahead and

wrote issue 56 so we could get Mateus started.

And then I kind of circle back to right issue

55. Kevin, Bobby and I have been working pretty

hard to plot things out, out to 100 basically.

We've already pretty much got the story, at least

in a general sense, in some of the arcs specifically

plotted to issue 100. So I was able to kind of

circle back. 55 will be a standalone, in a sense,

a standalone issue. It was one that I could...

could skip and then come back to without being

too worried about continuity. Other than that,

we are, like I said, really busy plotting out

things for the future, working on some of the

big storylines and figuring out how we want to

break them down as the arcs continue. On the

turtle front, I'm not a part of this, but on

the turtle front, we've got the big turtles Batman

crossover. that's coming. I've seen some of the

first issue, and it's really cool. The guys over

in DC are doing a really good job. And so I'm

excited for fans to see that. And really, that's

it. I have some stuff going on I can't talk about,

but I'm very excited about probably later this

year being able to talk about it. At this point,

I can't say anything. We'll make them tell us

off air, folks, and you just won't hear about

it, and we'll already know about it. Do you and

the IDW folks have any convention appearances

coming up? We're kind of at the end of convention

season this year, but I just found out that Kevin

Eastman's coming to my Grand Rapids Comic Con

in 2016. What about the rest of you guys? You

know what, it's funny, I don't... I always, I

don't tend to go to a lot of the conventions.

They kind of keep me strapped to my desk here.

But Kevin's always on the go. And matter of fact,

it's funny that you mentioned Grand Rapids, because

I'm from Michigan. I grew up in Michigan. And

I'm always wishing one of the Michigan conventions

would invite me. It just never happens. But the

company itself stays pretty busy. I'm not sure

specifically what they have coming up. But I

don't have anything planned myself. Like I said,

I tend to... sit in front of the word processor

and not leave too often. Awesome. I asked Bobby

this on our second interview. If you were stranded

on a desert island, what IDW TMNT arc would you

want to have with you? Oh, man. You know what?

I think that's a tough one. I don't know about

an arc itself. I can think of specific issues,

I think. If I could have like four issues that

would kind of make its own little arc. I was

really happy with issue five when we showed the

reincarnation story. That was a big deal for

me. I think one of the issues, maybe the culminating

issue in City Fall, I really like that. In Northampton,

wow, that's a tough one. I had a lot of fun writing

the Michelangelo issue where he was writing the

letter to Woody. and then and I think maybe for

the fourth issue for the arc is would be issue

50 but that's tough. There are so many storylines

that mean a lot to me for different reasons.

I mean I didn't sit here and I always tell people

sometimes it's the little things that I remember

the most and I remember a scene where Casey is

hanging out with Master Splinter and Master Splinter

is cooking you know and they're just talking

and it's like and little things like that are

always People always laugh at me because we have

all these big fights and all this dramatic stuff

going on. And just those little moments mean

a lot to me. The turtles playing Twister was

one and one issue. So it would be tough for me.

So I think I would pick those specific issues.

But I would happily pick a big long box if I

could and take them all. Yeah, I can see when

you're picking those moments. These are like,

oh yeah, I responded to those too. Especially

those small moments. They're such nice little

gems where we really get to know the characters.

Yeah, Bobby always laughs because a lot of times

when I love writing those interpersonal moments

more, I think now that I'm older, then maybe

when you're younger and you're starting, you're

thinking of all the action and the superhero

stuff. But it's funny that I think that stuff

resonates with me more. Not that I don't like

the action, but it's sometimes more difficult

for me to write the action scenes than it is

for me to engage myself with the, what I guess

we call talking head scenes. But I think it's

one of those things where I had the leeway with

Bobby and then... And then Nickelodeon, who also

critiques the scripts and gives me notes, they

always say, you talk a lot at first, we got to

bring you back. So now after 50 -some issues,

they're used to me. I said, let me talk. Let

me get out of my system. And then you guys start

making cuts. And I'll happily rein myself back

in. But it's been a lot of fun. And the nice

thing with turtles especially is it's such a

story about family and interpersonal relationships

between. Different groups and different individuals

that I get the opportunity to do that Well, I

think you especially are are doing really well

making all of these Characters come together

making those moments for us I mean all of us

fans of the turtles who grew up with them in

the late 80s and early 90s We're all in our 30s

now and those talking head moments We all all

of us adults can relate to that more and it's

exactly what I want out of my ninja turtles now

that I'm Of course, one of the questions that

we always get, Kevin, Bobby, myself, is, who's

your favorite turtle? Which is your favorite

turtle to write? And I always, my answer is kind

of, my patented answer now is, actually the one

I relate to more than anybody else is Clinter

at this point. You know, he's a dad, he's got

responsibilities, he's got those kind of pressures,

and you know, I'm in my mid -40s now, so I absolutely

relate to that old rat more than I do those young

turtles sometimes. All the second thing when

you said that is Mikey from the 90 movie you

dirty rat you killed my brother you dirty rat

So I guess we got it we got to cover this because

it's still even though it man probably was almost

a year ago now How was the fan backlash for the

Don death of Donatello the death finger quotes

in the air? How was that received in the office?

Do you have any memorable hate mail? Got some

death threats. I actually got a death threat

from Singapore that they were gonna kill me for

that. But it was in bad English, too, so it made

it even funner to read. That came on Twitter,

I think. But you know what? It was weird, because

when we were writing that, or when we were plotting

that out, and then when I was writing it, Bobby

and I were really focused on making sure everything

we did work its way to 50, because 50 was really

important to us. And from the very beginning,

when I first started, even before body came on

board, I knew that somewhere, and it ended up

being issue 50, I wanted to have the confrontation

between Splinter and Shredder, where, spoiler

alert for anybody who hasn't read issue 50, where

Splinter and. and Schroeder had that moment where

Schroeder commits seppuku and using splinter

as a second. And so we were really focused on

that for a long time. And we were so concerned

that everything had to fit and pace itself correctly

to get there that the Donatello moment for us

was kind of like, was more like a means to an

end. Does that make sense? So it was just like

another piece in the puzzle. And we knew it was

a big deal. But none of us, and I'm sure Bobby

will attest to this, Kevin, none of us expected

what happened. Because the issue that went out

to stores, we came in that Wednesday, and all

of a sudden I'm being told, USA Today wants to

talk to you. And I was like, about what? And

then it really hit us how big a deal that was.

And then just how widespread, because that news

went out to the world. The probably the comic

fandom was a small aspect of that that news story

You know I went everywhere and so and then it

was funny getting emails For people who were

mad at me because they just started watching

the TV show and now we killed Donnie How could

we do that and not realizing one had nothing

to do with the other? You know TV show and our

comic book are two separate things, but it really

it really struck home to us I know I can speak

for myself personally how important in how loved

these characters are. You know what I mean? And

so it really was an eye -opener for me. And it's

actually, in a way, it's kind of affected how

I write or the stuff we plot now, because we

do realize that this can have an immediate and

massive effect on fandom and people. But for

the most part, I think there was a lot of shock.

And we got a lot of sad emails, a lot of sad

letters. People were upset. But I think... For

the most part it was one of those things where

where people I think maybe were maybe Impressed

that we went down that that road I think there

was that initial, you know, I guess Cynicism

where people say what it's comics and he's not

gonna he'll come back to life But we always knew

that he never really was going to die Per se

that you know, he was just gonna be in metalhead

for a while But it really was I think I was probably

more shocked by the reactions than how shocked

the people were about, you know the circumstance

It was a pretty bizarre thing. I've never Never

expected that and I don't know if we could ever

ever had to happen again You know, you even wish

what happened with shredder in issue 50. There

was no reaction like we got with Donnie dead

Well, okay, I'm sure there are plenty of shredder

fans out there, but I mean this is Donatello

This is one of the turtles this and you just

said it yourself this news went worldwide I think

this is probably the biggest news in comics since

the death of Superman at this point So, you know

our CEO And now I'm known as, hey, this is our

senior staff writer, Tom. He writes The Turtle.

And he killed Donatello. That's how I'm known

now. So I'm always laughing in it. And I always

say, but nobody knows the big picture. I think

that was Bobby's idea. So we can blame Bobby,

but I get all the blame. Your name's on the book,

man. Well, after all, you know. What actually

led up to us getting this interview, folks, is

you and Bobby and Kevin had done an interview

with another website recently, like within the

last three or four weeks or something, and one

of the questions over there was something about,

you know, how has the turtle thing gone on this

long, and you had said something to the... It

was my favorite answer I've ever seen in an interview.

And you're like, yeah, I don't think Bobby's

getting any sleep in like four years. I was like,

no, he probably hasn't. No, and you know what?

It's amazing because... Bobby has to, I mean,

not only is he editing, you know, he's co -clotting

these stories. But it's not just this ongoing

that he's working on. It's just everything, everything

turtles. But also within IDW, he does My Little

Pony, Godzilla, you know, and various other books.

So, you know, and those are no slouches either,

especially My Little Pony. That's a huge book.

So he stays busy. And it amazes me because one

of the... And he was about to kill me when we

started writing issue 51 and 52. He said, you're

supposed to slow down on the plot lines. And

I said, I can't help myself. So we had all these

other new plot lines that are running out of

issue 50. But his job is to keep all this stuff

organized. Because we've always had these ancillary

miniseries going on. Most recently was the Casey

and April storyline. and you know including things

like we just did one the Turtles Ghostbusters

crossover and now this Turtle Batman crossover

and then other things it's it's a big job you

know and he's got to keep that all sort of in

his head because what we've been trying to do

from the start is make sure everything counts

so we're doing the miniseries there there's things

that are that tie in directly to the ongoing

always and including Casey and April people thought

you know I really like that series, by the way,

and I saw some slack online about it, or flack,

I mean, but the reality is there was a lot of

things that happened in that Casey and April

mini -series that are important to what's gonna

happen in the ongoing. And that's something that

is, I'm proud that we do, and I give all credit

to Bobby keeping it so that that's possible,

because continuity's a bitch, excuse my French,

but it is. Don't worry if you need to curse go

ahead. It's okay With with the Following up to

that previous question there. Well, what's your

opinion in the offices there? And as the writer

of the speculators who jump on top who jumped

on top of that Donatello book and Drove the collectability

and people who actually wanted to read it couldn't

get it Do you guys have opinions on that in the

office or do you just kind of you're too busy

birthing the baby? It's funny because I mean

we love the sales, we love the numbers, I mean

that's great. Oh yeah. But I think it was a unique

opportunity for us because we our numbers jumped

at a kind of a weird place in a series for numbers

to jump you know sales wise and then and especially

unannounced you know because a lot of times you'll

you'll see like the Vets at Camps in America.

Well, you kind of know that it's coming. Marvel

does a good job of getting the word out. The

retailers know they know when to order. We didn't

say anything, you know? And we get a lot of credit

that we're geniuses for that, but it wasn't by

design. We just, like I said, we literally thought

people would be surprised if they read the story.

We just didn't know it was going to be what it

was. But we were in a unique position and a fortunate

one where the story I thought was strong enough

that yeah that was a big deal and we brought

in a lot of speculators and maybe some bandwagoners

but but damn it this story was good and they

shunned on board you know what i mean so so our

numbers went up but it wasn't like hey it was

this giant leap for 44 and then this like you

know just massive drop to 45 our numbers kind

of leveled out in above and beyond where they

were prior to 44 and they kind of they've stayed

that way um and i feel like you know 50 was a

really strong strong issue. We had really good

numbers there. I would just see, I just was looking

at some numbers on, I think it was Bleeding Cool,

and it's like both 50 and 51 were in the top

100 for October, I want to say. September, October,

whatever month they came out. And so, for us,

it's a boom. Obviously, the sales are great.

So in the business sense, we love that stuff.

It's kind of like when we print multiple covers,

I look at it this way. We'll catch a lot of heat.

People say, wow, why do you need so many covers?

I can't pay for all these covers. But we're thinking

we're really not making you buy them. So why

would we not do that if there wasn't a market

for it? And two, it's employing artists. You

know what I mean? That's an opportunity for us.

Those sub variants and those retailer. incentive

covers and retailer exclusive covers where we

can test out artists that we've been really wanting

to work with but you know you just never know

you've seen samples and you think okay this is

I can test this this person out on the cover

and see how it goes and you know nine times out

of ten it's a good thing and so I always feel

that I always kind of feel good about those covers

because we're employing people that that might

not otherwise get seen and then gives them an

opportunity for future work once they are seen.

As far as, it's a good question. I always equated

to this. I'm working on issue 55 right now and

I already wrote 56. So technically, I should

be at 56. 52 hasn't even hit the stores yet.

So it's kind of like we're in this weird time

warp. So people are talking about 52. My brain

is already at 57. So when 44 came out, I was

already 46, probably in my head, probably 47.

And so you kind of got to shift gears. That's

why I can totally understand now. I remember

something about, I think it was Derek Jeter from

the Yankees. I'm a big sports fan, and they were

asking him about some kind of record that he

had going on and how he felt about it. And he

said, you know what? He said, someday when I'm

done, I'll be able to. sit back and think about

it, but right now I'm just too worried about

the next hat back. And that's kind of how it

feels in this business. It literally does. I

mean, it's, it's what have you done for me lately

or what are you doing today? Tomorrow was yesterday.

I mean, yesterday is gone, you know? And so,

so it's, it's, it's one of those things where

when 44 hit and all that stuff was happening,

it was exciting, but I was freaking out about

my next deadline. I Saw recently I forget when

it was it was maybe a couple weeks ago where

I saw him post on Twitter He's like, okay freelancers

get ready deadlines coming up That's funny You

mentioned earlier that you grew up in Michigan.

Did you ever think you'd be living in California?

You know, it's a funny story, because I grew

up in Michigan, a little town called, and I'm

still proud to be from there, called Clinton,

Michigan. And down in southeastern Michigan in

Lennon Way County. And when I was, as soon as

I turned 18, I went to the Marines. So I was

in the Marines for four years. And the last year

I was in the Marines, I was actually in Desert

Storm. When Desert Storm hit I was actually supposed

to go to Okinawa, but I obviously detoured into

the desert and I was there for a year and I only

like a couple months left in the in my enlistment

when when the war ended so I They just sent me

back to Camp Pendleton just to you know finish

out my enlistment and The entire time I was in

the Marine Corps I knew guys from in the Marines

that were from Southern California and I would

say I'm going back to Michigan. I'm I could never

live in Southern California. I'm a Michigan guy.

I'm going to go back to Michigan. I came to Camp

Pendleton, got a few months of San Diego in my

system, and I never went back. It's hard to believe.

And plus, my beautiful wife I have now, I met

at that time. So that was a huge incentive for

me to stay. But that was in, gosh, 1990. 1991

when I first came to San Diego. There was a point

where I went back to Michigan, maybe a year and

a half for a job. And that was one winter and

a half and too many. And I said, I can't. Once

you know the difference, it's hard. So I still

love Michigan. My entire family is there and

we still have to go back. But I've been in San

Diego many, many years now and it would be hard

for me to leave. What were some comics that you

read as a kid and were you reading comics at

all or you know I did I mean the first my initial

exposure my one of my uncles had a Marathon gas

station repair place and he had a lobby we'd

go over there sometimes and in his lobby he had

You know greasy greasy copies of you know the

kind you would see in a mechanics shop of What

was it? Golly, what's his name? the rich kid

rich rich and so and i remember thinking that

kid is the luckiest bastard in the world i wish

he had so but it was you know things like richie

rich um you know maybe some of the old old disney

stuff but when i really i think what really hit

me as far as what comics could be my cousin when

she's older than me she was married and her husband

collected comics and so he would let us look

at them and he this was you know the quick kind

of the Chris Claremont era X -Men. He had a lot

of that stuff. He was a big Marvel guy. And to

this day, because of that, I'm a big Marvel guy

too. I like Batman and some stuff at DC, but

mostly I tend to read the Marvel stuff when I'm

not reading our stuff. And I read the Brood Saga

and it blew my mind that once I read that, I

thought, okay, this is... some of the greatest

stuff I've ever seen in my life because I didn't

I hadn't really been exposed to this idea that

beyond obviously you know Newton powers and all

that there was this underlying drama almost like

you know soap opera I mean if you guys remember

the Brutal Saga even Wolverine got pregnant from

the from the Brutal Monsters and the Brutal Monsters

freaked me out you know they were they were out

there with the alien monsters and so I remember

that being a big deal for me, some Daredevil

from that time. And then, you know, later on

reading the, obviously, the Frank Miller Dark

Knight stuff, things like that. But I kind of

went away from comics. Like I said, when I was

in the Marines, I was pretty busy. I had a job

that I was going a lot, doing a lot of weird

things, and just didn't have a lot of time to

do any reading like that. I did have a friend,

though. Speaking of speculators, I never forget

this. I had a friend in the Marines that was

a collector. So this is the late 80s when everybody

thought they were going to be bazillionaires

from their comic book collection. And he, every

payday, we didn't get paid a lot in the Marines.

They still don't get paid a lot. It's a crime

how much they get paid. But we would get our

paychecks and on a Friday, on Saturday, we would

go off base to a comic book store and he would

buy two copies of everything. And the one was

to read. and the one was to put in the box to

save. And I can never, I'm one of those guys,

if it's got words on it, and it's supposed to

be red, you should be holding it in your hands

reading it. I would never be able to be a collector,

never. Toy is nothing. If it's a toy, I think

you should play with it. So I remember thinking

he was the craziest guy, but he was the one,

ironically, that introduced me to the turtles

for the first time. I was talking earlier about

how... I didn't really, you know, I wasn't in

the comics at the time and that was sort of the

heyday of the mirage stuff. But he had, he would

also collect magazines, catalogs for, you know,

the resin role -playing game toys or figures.

And there was a turtles resin role -playing game,

I believe, at the time. So I was looking through

this magazine and a lot of it was Dungeons and

Dragons, stuff like that. And there was a page

that said, you know, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

and it showed the different resin figures you

could get for the game. And I remember looking

at him and I said, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard

of in my life." And he goes, and he goes, no,

I swear, dude, it's cool. It's really cool. And

I looked at it and I said, it does kind of look

cool. And that was it for me for Turtles for

a while until later on when I was, you know,

with my oldest son watching some of the Fred

Gustav. So that was my first experience with

Turtles. And I always thought, Kevin, the first

time I saw your Turtles, I said it was the stupidest

thing I had ever seen in my life. And Kevin says,

so did we, dude. So who were some of the writers

that you admired kind of as you came into the

profession? Who were you looking at for inspiration

and what did you take from them? Well, first

and foremost, I always say, I always. I grew

up in Michigan, a small town. The best stories

are in the Bible. Most of the most violent ones

are in the Bible. So there were some good stories

there. The other ones are, I am a writer now

because of my fifth grade teacher, and I actually

ended up having him in sixth grade too. His name

was Mr. Dennis Bowman, and he read the Hobbit

to us. And once I heard the Hobbit, and he was

just such a great teacher, and he was passionate

about it, and just one of those guys, people

that can just read so well and make it so entertaining,

I remember thinking, I want to make people feel

the way this story makes me feel. And so that's

when I knew I wanted to be a writer. And so at

least, I mean, my earliest memories from fifth

grade, wanting to be a writer. As a matter of

fact, when I went into the Marine Corps, I was

supposed to go in as a journalist. And right

at the very end of boot camp, they let me know

that that school got closed. And my life took

a whole different path after that for a while.

But writing is something I've always wanted to

do. So early on, it was a token. I liked a lot

of Stephen King at some point. I love F. Scott

Fitzgerald. I think The Great Gatsby is probably

my favorite book. But I read a lot of stuff.

Lately, I've been really into... things like

there's a writer named Mark Booth things that

you know like sacred history secret histories

I'm really into kind of this maybe it's maybe

it's Splinter's influence on me or Kitsune I

don't know these like books about you know sacred

histories and and and histories of religions

and the history of the world and and everybody

calls me the Illuminati freak here at the office

because I'm knee -deep in every conspiracy trust

me And they're only conspiracies until they're

not. You just stick around a moment though. But

I'm pretty open -minded. Lately, I could say

there's a writer that I've just discovered, he's

been around for a while, but I've really discovered

a name, John Connolly, who writes a series of

mystery books with a private detective named

Charlie Parker. And those have been a lot of

fun for me. But my daughter, my little daughter

takes after me at this point. If I can get my

hands on it. I'll read it. I remember, I think

you guys were saying the Kingpin with Woody Harrelson.

I laughed so hard at that scene. And my wife

laughs too. That scene where the guy has to go

to the bathroom and he wants me something to

read. And he said, I already read this bottle

of shampoo. That's me right there. If it can

be read, I will read it. I will say this. I always

want to, you know, there's There's well -known

writers and there's lesser -known writers in

this world. When I first started coming into

kind of writing, I guess, what you call professionally,

I worked on an online website that did superhero

prose called Cyber Age Adventures. And the guy

who ran that was also a writer and an excellent

writer. His name is Frank Ferdella. And, you

know, he and I are friends to this day. Frank

had a huge influence, I think, on, you know,

we were talking earlier about those talking head

scenes. How I approach a story especially something

that's that's kind of you know fantasy driven

or superhero driven It was a rule he just like

pounded in into us when we were we were ready

for that magazine and we were doing this online

free Weekly, so we were writing weekly stories.

It was weird You know you weren't even getting

paid you had these like crazy deadlines every

week But it was just a great challenge, and I

loved it was just a great time of my life as

a writer But his thing was that that the characters

are what's important everything is character

driven. If the characters don't drive the story,

people can't relate. And I said this in the interview

you guys were talking about earlier. Most of

us aren't ninjas. Most of us never fight with

samurai swords. I can't fly. Matter of fact,

I got a bad knee. I can barely run. But the thing

is that I have siblings, and I have parents,

and I have interpersonal relationships that are

complicated, and people I love. and people I

don't love so much and who don't love me. And

so those moments always resonate the most. Those

are the ones that people can relate to. And so

when you approach it that way and remind yourself

that the things like the ninja fighting and the,

I don't know, the arcane ninja magic and all

those things, that's just the part of the setting.

That's like the icing on top. If the other stuff's

not working, none of that stuff matters. Because

if a story was 20 pages of just fighting, and

that was what you did month after month, that

would get boring. It would be boring to write,

I think, and then it would be boring to read.

And so I think that's been a huge lesson in my

life and something every time I sit down, when

I write page one for every script, my thought

is, I'm always thinking, don't worry about the

fights, they'll work themselves out, worry about

the people that you're writing about. Very cool,

and it shows too, like we said earlier. The fans

of the turtles I think a lot of the fans you

read this book have grown up We need those scenes

and we need those interpersonal relationships

and it keeps our interest as well Yep. And I

think that's why it hit people so hard. Absolutely.

What I found interesting is outside of your writing,

you're also editing now. You are editing the

Back to the Future miniseries for IDW. That's

actually been a huge hit for us. I mean, a massive

hit. That's been a lot of fun. I think that gig

kind of came my way. I've actually been editing.

I started at IDW as an editor. because I came

in to help with the Gene Simmons books way back

when, 2006 or 2007, and it just haven't been

able to get rid of me since. But the Back to

the Future thing kind of, I think, dovetailed

out of Ghostbusters. I've been editing Ghostbusters

for almost as long as I've been writing Turtles,

and probably a little longer. And that's been

a really fun, consistent success for us. I've

got a team of the writers, Eric Burnham, artist

Dan Schoening, colorist Luis Antonio Delgado

that I've been working with for years now, and

they are the Ghostbusters in my mind. It's such

an easy book to edit because they just make it

wonderful to work on, and they know exactly what

they're doing. They're all a wealth of Ghostbusters

knowledge. So I think that kind of influenced

the bosses here to kind of push back to the future

my way. And I was a Back to the Future fan. Not

a huge fan, but I was a big fan. I, again, like

the Donnie thing, talk about not expecting what

came about. I didn't realize people were that

big in Back to the Future fans. Now I am. And

now I've been blessed to work with Bob Gale on

this. I work with him directly every day. He's

very much involved with this, one of the co -creators

of Back to the Future. And just kind of through

him, especially recently with Back to the Future

Day, it really has... become apparent to me that

there's a massive fan base, a loyal fan base,

and it's been a lot of fun. I mean, I knew it

was gonna be a cool job, but it's actually turned

out to be like Ghostbusters, just this fun thing

to be a part of something that people are so

passionate about. That's what happens when you've

been thinking fourth dimensionally for 30 years.

I tell you what, it's the hardest thing. I thought

the Ghostbusters wacky science stuff was hard

to handle. And I would get proposals from Eric

and some of the other Ghostbusters writers, try

reading time travel pitches. Oh my god. I have

to step back sometimes and say, I can't even

understand what is going on here. All right,

since this is our first time chatting with you,

tell us the story of how you came to IDW and

eventually got to reincarnate the turtles. Here's

how I came to IDW. So before IDW, I had a comic

book that I was doing on my own with an artist

named Casey Maloney who I still work with. We

just finished another creator -owned book called

The Last Fall together. It was a book called

Children of the Grave, which was a military horror.

And that was with a small, you know, little kind

of vanity company called Shooting Star Comics.

And that actually kind of, I got involved with

them through my work with Frank, Fredella, and

Sean Taylor at Cyber Age Adventures, the pros

website I mentioned earlier. So I had done this

comic and really had funded it myself through

their imprint. They were able to get into Diamond

and, you know, we were selling maybe a couple

hundred copies of each issue. It was a four issue

series. But I happened to be, I think it had

to be around 2000, I want to say four or five.

I was in the comic book store here that I go

to in San Diego called Kamikaze. And it was a

free comic book day. And Ted Adams was there

and the owner of Kamikaze introduced us and his

name is Robert Scott, the owner. And Ted said,

oh, you write the Children of the Grave comic.

I really like that. Would you be interested in

us collecting that? And I couldn't say yes fast

enough. So, you know, IDW volunteered to collect

Children of the Grave, which we did. And through

that process, I got to know Chris Weill, who's

editor in chief here and the chief creative officer.

Well, as it turns out, one thing Chris and I

have in common, we hit it off right away, but

a big part of that was we love bad 80s hair metal

big time. So, you know, that was just like something

we just... We hit it off right away, you know,

over talks of comics and Iron Maiden and everything

in between. We, you know, became pretty good

friends. Well, I was still, you know, thinking

about writing comics. IW, this was, you know,

2007. We were still a small company at the time.

And he texted me one day or he sent me an email.

I can't remember what it was, but he said, guess

where I'm going? And I said, where? And he said,

I'm going to Gene Simmons' house. And I was like,

oh, you lucky bastard, have fun. And he said,

no, I'm telling you, because this will be important

to you later. So basically, what happened was

they wanted to talk, at the time, IDW wanted

to talk to Kiss about doing Kiss comics. And

the rights weren't available. I think they were

with platinum or somebody at the time. But Gene

Simmons said, I'd like to do some comics. I had

this Simmons Comics group in print I'd like to

bring to IDW. And so IDW agreed, long story short.

I was working in the defense industry at the

time, but I was still writing on the side, doing

that stuff on my own. And Chris called me and

said, look, we have a small staff here at IDW,

which seems weird now because now we're 50 plus.

But at the time they were like, you know, it

was a skeleton crew. And he said, we'd like you

to freelance edit these books for us with Gene.

And he said, and also, you know, If you want

to write one of them, you could write one. And

I jumped at it. I thought, hey, this is a way

to kind of get into the business a little bit

more official and learn a new skill, which was

comic book editing. I had done editing. This

would be kind of new for me. But it was actually

very exciting. So luckily, with my job in defense,

I worked in computers. As long as my system was

running and I could monitor the systems. I had

a lot of time to actually go to the IW offices,

because I could work remotely. And so I got to

know the people at the IW offices. And it's funny.

We were looking at the conference room I'm sitting

in right now, which is like an echo chamber because

it's so big. But this conference room is almost

as big as our offices were at IW when I first

started. So the growth has been phenomenal. And

so I was working with them on the Gene Simmons

book. I worked closely with Gene Simmons and

Chris, doing it kind of part time. And what happened

was the defense company I was working for decided

that it was cheaper to do business in Florida

than it was in California. And so they were leaving

and I was going to be out of a job or at least

a full -time job. And Ted Adams said, we'd like

to bring you on full -time. If you're willing,

you've been working with us, you know, it was

almost like a year, almost two years doing that.

And they said, come on board. And I jumped at

the opportunity. It was, you know, like again,

one of those. blessings that I don't know if

I deserve it or not, but I'm forever grateful

that it came along. And Ted's been great to me

ever since I started working at this company,

all the way back to that first day at Kamikaze

when I met him. And so I came in full time. And

then from there, this is the funniest story of

all. So before I even knew Chris Ryle, before

I even knew anybody at IDW, and I was doing the

Children of the Grave comic, I got an interview

on some online website, and one of the interviewers

asked me, what would you like to write? And I

said, I wish I could get a hold of that guy,

Chris Ryle at IDW, because I want to write a

Silent Hill comic, because they have the Silent

Hill license. Well, sometimes they came out for

it. So once I started working full time, they

decided they wanted to do some more Silent Hill

stuff. And in a meeting Ted said, does anybody

know anybody who'd be interested in writing Silent

Hill? Like a kid in the classroom, I raised my

hand in the middle of this meeting and said,

I would like to write Silent Hill. And so it

just, that was absolute serendipity at its finest.

And so since then I've written four, I think

four, one, two, three, four Silent Hill comics

and actually worked on the most recent video.

So I actually, Konami hired me through IDW to

write the video game. So it's just funny how

it works out. You never know, but it just, sometimes

I guess you do throw it out to the universe and

it comes back to you if you really want it bad

enough. I don't know how to explain it, but looking

back on it now, it's bizarre. But again, as things

are happening, you just kind of just ride the

wave. And there's one minute you're... playing

Silent Hill with your brother -in -law in the

middle of the night saying, oh, I would love

to write one of these stories. The next thing

you know, you've written one of the video games.

So it's weird how it works out. But I'll forever

be, like I said, grateful for everybody here

for giving me the opportunities and allowing

me the chance to, you know, to prove myself.

And then that kind of paid off with the Turtles

because we, you know, once we got the license,

we were actually trying out other writers. And

this is before we knew Kevin would be on board.

And I wasn't really involved at the time. And

Bobby really wasn't either, because he was more

of an assistant editor, a new guy at the time.

And Scott Newbear was going to edit the turtles,

because he had a relationship with the folks

at Nickelodeon. And we really didn't know what

we wanted to do. And I was more of kind of the

fan in the room. You know what I mean? We had

these editorial meetings. And I knew I liked

turtles. And I thought it was a really cool thing.

But I just thought, hey, we're going to bring

in some fun writers. This is going to be exciting

to have this book at the company. And I was busy

with some other stuff. And then in a meeting

one day, Ted said he had been talking to Kevin

and that Kevin had expressed an interest in getting

involved. And now all that's history. We know

what's happened to all of us. But at that point,

it was a surprise. And he said, you know what,

Kevin actually would like to be involved with

plotting and artwork or however we'll have him.

So he thought, this would be a good chance to

get some new Kevin stories. He said, but he doesn't

want her writing. He just wants to kind of be

part of whatever brain mail the editorial has

when we're plotting the stories out. And that's

when Chris turned to me in the meeting and said,

Tom, you love turtles. Why don't you write it?

Would you? And again, just like with Silent Hill,

I said, yes, I would. And that's how it started.

So we had it. Like I said, we had other proposals

that for whatever reason, I thought that a lot

of them were really neat and they were interesting,

but it wasn't what Nickelodeon was looking for.

So they were kicking them back. And then I knew

I had this idea about the reincarnation. That

was the thing that was in my head. I just didn't

want to throw it out and influence anybody or

step on any toes with my ideas. So it was my

chance to, I had to leave that meeting, literally

go to my desk, because they said, we need a proposal

tomorrow. And so I thought. Oh, great. Sometimes

when you do ask for things and you get them,

it's a little horrifying. So I had her at my

desk. I sat down. I worked all night. And so

with that nugget of an idea that the turtles

were actually humans at one point that were reincarnated,

I put together the initial proposal. We all sat

down. We sent it to Nickelodeon. They liked it.

We whittled it down to what it became. And the

rest is history. And like I said, 56 issues later.

still going strong but but it's I'm just just

spoken that wheel and there's so many people

that make this what it is that that I like I

said I just I'm happy and grateful to be a part

of it in any way and fortunately for me I you

know I get my name on the books but those books

don't happen with just my name there's too many

people involved and like I said it all starts

with Bobby without without I think I think he

is the unsung hero in all of this. And it makes

me feel bad sometimes because I'll get a lot

of credit for things and I'll step back and say,

you know, this is comics. And probably what drew

me to comics is the same thing that drew me to

the military and sports when I was growing up

is this is only as good as the team. You know,

and I like working on a team. It's a lot of fun.

It's challenging. It's exciting. You know, and

I'm a fan too. So sometimes it's cool to be a

fanboy in those meetings, especially, you know,

when you got a rock star like Kevin sitting next

to you, who by the way is probably the nicest.

That was the most terrifying part for me when

they said, you know, do you want to write it?

And then they gave me the job or they gave me

the chance. I was thinking, who am I to tell

this guy? This is how our story is going to go.

The guy who invented these things. I mean, I

love Kevin. We call each other brothers from

another mother. He is the nicest guy, genuinely

nicest guy you can meet in this business, genuinely.

You've miraculously, you have like knocked out

our next three questions that I have, which is

perfect. But yeah, it's I met Kevin Eastman at

a convention a couple of years ago. There is

this weird kind of genuine he's excited that

you're excited for him. And so that is I can

totally jive with that. Yeah, his energy is infectious,

there's no doubt about it. And the reincarnation...

Idea that is the single most I think incredible

and wonderful contribution that you've brought

to the world of turtles So and and Jen and then

going off of what you said you you have assembled

this perfect team this wonderful storm of brains

making a great book and It sounds like you feel

that you know that I'm glad for your enthusiasm

because I don't want you guys to stop It's just

such a huge advantage to have so much history

before, and to be able to kind of dig into that

lore. We always call it cherry picking, finding

things that are exciting to happen in The Turtle

in the past, and then just bring them into our

stories. And I really like that. One of the things

that we've been really disciplined about, it'd

be so easy to bring so many characters in, and

we've already got a lot, but there's so many

more out there you could bring in. But we do

a really good job, I think, of trying to make

it count. So, you know, like with Leatherhead,

for example, we could have brought Leatherhead

in early on, but the way we're bringing Leatherhead,

I think, is most effective. And that was by waiting

until it, you know, it mattered, and we got some

other things out of the way. But yeah, it's,

and just having a wealth of talent around you,

a lot, I mean, I had the reincarnation idea,

but that thing really became, to me, solid gold

after... Mateus and Eric Burnham worked on Secret

History of the Foot Plan. You know, that was,

that came out mostly from Mateus that he and

Eric kind of developed together. And I mean,

that thing was huge. That thing, when I read

it, I thought, man, my idea might've been, you

know, like I said, was a nugget, he turned it

into gold. And it was exciting for me because

I thought, wow, that maybe I was onto something

there because it was more exciting for me not.

to watch somebody else develop it, then we develop

myself, if that makes sense. Because then it

felt like, okay, it does have some legs, and

this proves it. And so from there, I just started

running with it from the storyline that they

built. with all these different heads coming

up with these different ideas and with that reincarnation

thing you you've also continually done this wonderful

job making us care about each of those characters

uh in that reincarnation issue issue five i think

it was um is your four yeah they yep they uh

uh the death of the turtles uh shredder having

the turtles executed and watching Saki freak

out when that issue hit and I read that. My son

is a newborn and for the first time in my life

I related to Splinter and since that book has

gone on I've had a chance to relate to everybody.

Is it a challenge or how do you pace yourself

for needing to focus on all these different characters?

It seems to be your strength and your team's

strength, but do you want to talk on that for

a minute? Yeah, that's probably that is the biggest

challenge. And I think that's again, like I said,

having somebody who can coordinate it like Bobby

and who has kind of his his view on the big picture,

it really helps a lot because, you know, it's

it's one of those things where in a sense it's

a team book too, you know, kind of like an X

-Men or Avengers. You want everybody to get some

face time, but it's tough. And I think one of

the ways we've kind of gotten around it is everybody

gets their moments. We try to make sure that

every conversation counts, that there's no wasted

space because we're just moving at light speed,

but that each kind of story arc And I'm not just

talking about four issues, but I'm talking kind

of like the big storylines revolves around ultimately

one of the turtles. So we started with Raphael

being lost and then rejoining the family. It

moved to Leo and the whole Dark Leo saga with

City Fall and then to Donatello with everything

that happened there leading up to issue 50. And

now we have a chance to really focus on Mikey.

Luckily, people have stuck around, and we're

still writing, you know, 50 issues in. It might

not have worked out if the book got canceled

after 12. But it's one of those things where

we want everybody to have their time, everybody

have their big moments and their small moments,

but also not losing sight of the fact that it's

a comic book. That's one thing with Nickelodeon,

and I'm glad they do that. Every once in a while,

they'll say, don't forget, this is a comic book.

It can't always be a soap opera. We need to see

some swords flying and throwing stars getting

flown across the room, and they're right. But

they've also been really supportive of Bobby

and I saying, you know what? We had two issues

that were full of action. We'd like to have two

issues that are a little quieter, a little more

introspective and a little more interpersonal.

And they've been really, really nice about allowing

us to do that. as it's turned out and fans have

picked up on this reviewers we've kind of found

that rhythm and I think that's been the big key

is you know big action sets then then then the

quieter issues followed by you know big action

sets so it's always feels like there's always

kind of like this this underlying uh drama that's

always taking place build up and then boom and

then back to the build up you know which includes

the drama and interpersonal moments but yeah

that's the biggest challenge I mean it's a big

challenge page to page, panel to panel, issue

to issue, arc to arc. And again, it takes a lot

of people in a room sometimes arguing to get

it where it is. I remember it's almost been about

two full years since Joe and I have reviewed

here inside the pullback. We've done audio reviews.

everything up until 46 we still have to record

our 47 we still have to record 47 or 49 and then

our issue 50 episode but I remember the first

thing two years ago when Joe was like you really

need to check this out come on let's do this

whatever soon as I opened the first because I

had it in trade at first so I open the first

trade I'm like because I come from 1987 I come

from them having four different color bandanas

and as soon as i opened it and i'm like oh they

all have red bandanas no come on give me a break

and then joe is like don't worry about it it's

gonna work out it's gonna make sense it's gonna

be awesome i was like all right and i've just

been hooked ever since now we already talked

about forty four let's talk about fifty for a

second because I was on board once I realized

that Donnie wasn't exactly dead. I think the

action in 44 of how Rocksteady quote -unquote

kills him is really what obviously made everyone

be like, oh, nope, he's dead. And then everybody

started speculating on, oh, what if he's going

to be putting metalhead? Or what if he's going

to do this? What if he's going to do that? And

once he was putting metalhead, I was fine. I

was like, all right, that's cool, whatever. And

then 50 comes along. And you ostensibly. basically

kill a character and revive a character in one

fell swoop because you have metalhead going self

-destruct and then all of a sudden on the next

panel it's like it's like Donnie with the bow

staff whacking Rocksteady's like man I've been

waiting a while to do that it just as soon as

I saw Donnie's face it just made me tear up all

over again how dare you make us cry Well, one

of the things that we're going to be working

with and these the art that we're writing right

now starting with issue 56 You know, we're gonna

have the Leatherhead storyline and we're gonna

find out more about kind of what happened off

screen there when when Metalhead blew up and

Donnie appeared so and Leatherhead is a big part

of that and so but yeah, that was one of those

things I was actually I was excited to to get

Donnie back in the fold. And I think Mateus was

too, because he said that he hates drawing the

robots. So it was one of those things where we

were really excited about that. In retrospect,

I wish we had 48 pages. If we would have had

58 pages, maybe there'd be a little more fun

on there. But we had to keep things rolling.

But all credit to Mateus. I didn't know how he

was going to pull that off because when I wrote

the script and I was looking at it, I was like,

gosh, I mean, that happens really fast. But he

just made it work. And the big part of that was

just how well he did the self -destruct sequence

with Metalhead. And some people told me before

they turned the page, they were ready to kill

me again because they thought, you're killing

Donnie a second time. That's what I thought.

But no, so that really worked out well, and I'm

really happy with that issue. That's one that

there was just so much going on. Even having

it be double -sized, it just felt like it was

packed full of moments and important scenes.

Corey and Mateus and Rhonda. Rhonda's our superstar.

Rhonda Paterson's our colorist. She's been there

from the start. So she just keeps us like Bobby.

Bobby keeps the stories cohesive. She keeps the

art cohesive. And when I was done with 50, I

can honestly say it was a cyber leap because

I was very happy with it. And I was really nervous

going into it. I mean, extremely nervous. About

as nervous as I was going back into issue five.

which was that was actually 55 was the reincarnation

issue. And that was one I remember being really

nervous about. The other issue that was a tough

one was the Leonardo brainwashing issue. We did

many drafts. That one had probably the most drafts

of any issue we ever did during City Fall. So

I thought 50 was gonna end up being like that,

but it actually went smoother than I thought.

And then when the art started coming in, I was

just ecstatic. Very, very cool. We're gonna step

behind the scenes at IDW for a minute. I recently

learned that some branch of IDW is working on

a TMNT board game that's supposed to be very

story -based. Have you had a chance to play it?

Are you in on that? And how much of the board

game is coming directly from the IDW comics?

They're still developing it. We're actually,

Bobby and I, every day look at some of the molds

for the little... characters that will be part

of the game and the cards and the artwork, but

it's actually 100 % directly from our comics.

So it'll be, I don't know if I'm allowed to say

what it is, but it will be a storyline from our

comics. And then they'll expand from there, but

it will follow IDW storylines and characters.

I'm pretty excited for that. The world of board

gaming is new to me, but I fully intend on being

the guy who brings that game to area conventions

and demos it for people, because I love the series,

and I think I understand how that game's gonna

be played. I think I can compare it to things

that I have played, and I'm kind of excited to

kind of DM that for people. I think it'll be

a good experience, and it'll get them a window

into the IDW comics, and I can say, that's a

good book, you should go read it. There's a couple

of board games going on right now that we're

going to have the Back to the Future board game

is another one we're doing. And then one we didn't

do, but I'm excited about, is the Ghostbusters

board game from Cryptozoic, because that's based

on our Ghostbusters comics. And Dan Shoning and

Eric Burnham were very involved with the creation

of that game. They're part of the Kickstarter.

And then once the Kickstarter went through, like

big time it went through, they were brought in

to write backstory and design. a lot of the artwork

for the game. So it's neat. And it's funny, because

I'm the guy that with the board games, I'm the

guy that just makes the little characters fight

each other on the table. Because I don't understand

the dice or any of this. I'm just a dumb Marine.

Because there's a huge gaming group here at IEW.

They play every week. And I'll watch them. And

they look at me. And I know they're thinking,

you don't get it, Tom. Never mind. I go, but

the characters look cool. I like the cards. I

start rolling dice and I'll say, I don't understand.

It's too much math. It seems like you'd be a

good DM as a storyteller. You'd be good behind

the DM screen making everybody else. Yeah. I

think I'll have to find my spot. Yeah. I remember

my daughter loves Pokemon and I remember at Comic

-Con one time. And she was small. So there was

going to be no way she was going to get it. But

she asked one of the people that were there demoing

Pokemon to show her how to play. And he kind

of had this look like, OK. And he was very patient

and very nice trying to show her. And he knew

she wouldn't get it. Little did he know, I had

no clue what he was talking about either. I'm

looking at 50 right now. And just the whole.

the whole section it's veterinarian stupid no

freaking way man that felt just i as soon as

as soon as i saw the no freaking way from the

from the other three i'm like okay yeah donnie's

back what did you just do to me oh my god and

then mickey has to come in with the with the

comedy whoa kettle drum That was the biggest

challenge in that issue. And we kind of stole

from the old video games and some of the old

stories with Be Bob and Rock Steady was we kind

of had painted ourselves into a corner. We loved

the Be Bob and Rock Steady that kind of evolved

in our book. But then we realized, how do you

beat these guys, especially in something like

the gauntlet? And so I told Bobby, I said, I'm

going to have to have them beat each other up.

That's the only thing that would make sense.

And so that's where Mateus was a genius in that

book. He turned that into a great fight. with

comedic elements. But it's still probably the

most violent part of the gauntlet fight, other

than Leo slashing Koya's wings, which was Bobby's

idea. So Bobby's the sadistic one. But what happened

was we put that scene together, and then I wanted

to kind of have the little cherry on top. So

we talked about, obviously, Donnie was going

to need a new So I thought, why can't the shell

be something that's really, really hard? And

then let's just do it with the bow staff. So

it made sense that when he came back, these two

guys, even when the robot blew up, they didn't

get knocked out. He knew where to hit them. It's

not in the comic, but in the script. He hits

the nerve points on their necks with that bow

staff. And it's some kind of metal bow staff

now that ends up, you know. doing the trick and

knocking out the two people that he probably

most wanted to knock out in the world. Absolutely.

You mentioned earlier, and I know I'm kind of

jumping around here, but I want to get this out

before we have to let you go. You mentioned earlier

that each kind of arc so far has been, you know,

the first arc was Raph, second arc kind of was

Leo's. And then now we, you know, we're just

wrapping up on Donnie's whole arc. And I had

asked Bobby in the last interview we did, I said,

it seems like Mikey is the only one that just

doesn't have anything bad happen to him. He's

he's always the one that's you know, the easy

easy going upbeat kind of guy and Bobby's like

just wait. Yeah Yeah, he's gonna go through the

ringer and it's actually as soon as issue 52

50. Yeah, let's see 52 53 really is where it

really starts to to effect a 51 and 52 we we

kind of deal with some of the stuff mostly about

the turtles being new to the foot. And then 53

and 54 are big meat animals issues. And, you

know, Mikey's kind of got this desire to be a

hero, you know, and he's got a friend in Slash

who kind of buys into that whole thing. But they're

working for Old Hob and we like to keep Old Hob

ambiguous and mysterious. We've already seen

that he's rescued Hun from the police. And so

that's going to be one of those things that kind

of comes around to affect the storyline. But

Mikey's going to go through the ringer, and he's

going to have to grow up a little bit. But he'll

never lose his good -natured personality. His

youthful exuberance. Yeah, exuberance and just

his eternal optimism. But I think it's going

to be a little more tempered now. And I think

it's kind of like. It's one of those things where

what you're going to see in this arc, I was telling

another interviewer, we're dealing with this

idea that obviously power corrupts. And even

power with the best intentions sometimes, in

this case maybe splinter with the foot, isn't

always wielded easily, nor is freedom sometimes.

And Mike, he's on his own. And he's able to do

these things he thinks that he's always wanted

to do. And they're not always what they. they

seem like on the surface. So he's gonna find

out, I think the hard way in a lot of cases,

that compromise is okay. That being away from

your family for any reason, in this case, his

desire not to be part of the foot isn't always

the best decision. It still could be detrimental.

stepping away from that. It's going to be fun,

because it's tough with Mikey, because he is

such a nice guy. I almost feel bad sometimes

when we do it to him. He doesn't deserve it.

Yeah, why don't you rap? You're like, I don't

rap. He probably deserved it. But with Mikey,

it's tough, because he's such a nice guy. Yeah.

I was heartbroken the whole thing with him and

Woody. I didn't cry, but it just kind of just.

my I don't know it's like my heart sank into

my stomach from Mikey at that point and Then

the one thing and I'm kind of glad you're here

so I can say this to you and maybe it'll happen

at some point ever since Alopex was introduced

and she and Raph have this really really weird

honeymooners type relationship. I really want

to see an Alopex and Raph miniseries or some

weird thing because like wow those two. A lot

of people ask about that they also ask about

a nobody Alopex miniseries. We're going to see,

actually, Alapex is going to be a big part of

things that are coming up because, you know,

even like in issue 51, people saw Kitsune's messing

with her head a little bit. And Angel, as nobody,

will play a big role. Like I mentioned earlier,

some of the things that are happening to Casey,

and not necessarily good things, kind of roll

out of the Casey and April miniseries. You know,

in that miniseries. We saw Rat King again on

one of the other Pantheon members named Akka

and all that stuff. Like I said, if people ignore

that miniseries, it doesn't mean they can't read

the ongoing, but I always suggest go look at

that miniseries because those stories count.

Yeah, I'm one of the ones that wasn't too thrilled

with Casey and April. I just, I don't know. It

just felt like nothing happened to me in that.

I don't know. Maybe I missed the point of it.

I'm not sure. A lot happened. But a lot happened,

like I said, not just specific to that mini -series,

but I think that'll overlap into the ongoing.

I have a feeling in 12 issues, a lot of what

happened in that issue is going to nail us hard.

And we're going to look back on that and go,

oh my gosh, all these seeds got planted. Now

they're growing all over. Well, IDW seems to

be the company that's known for taking these.

old 80s properties that we 30 -somethings and

early 40 -somethings love and make magic with

them. What does that come from? How did you guys

become that company? I think we found the magic

potion and what that is is we don't worry about,

how do I say this? We know that there's Back

to the Future fans. And we know there's Ghostbusters

fans, and we know there's Turtles fans. And we

know that initially, to get people on board,

we just need to say we're doing a Ghostbusters

comic. A number one is going to sell. Retailers

will take a chance. People will clam on board.

Just to be there at number one. Number two is

the tough one, because then we have to give them

something that will bring them back. I don't

care how much they love Ghostbusters or Turtles

or any of these properties. If the story stinks

or they can't relate to it, then they're just

going to bolt. They're not going to spend their

money on it, and they're going to be grousing,

understandably so, that the product wasn't what

they wanted. What we do then is we find the creative

teams that care about it, that are passionate

about it. They don't got to be an A -lister.

Eric Burnham and Dan Shoney and Luis are pretty

well known in the comic book world now, nobody

knew who they were when I brought them into Ghostbusters.

But I knew they were going to make good Ghostbusters

stories, and that's where I give all credit to

Ted and Greg Goldstein, our president, and Chris

Royall. They trust the editors here. You know,

it's easy to say, hey, we want a name on this.

You know, it'd be great if you could get like

a Brian K. Vaughan on one of these books or something

like that, because that name sells. But ultimately,

when it comes to the licensed books, it's the

license that matters. It's the stories and the

characters. And we need people who will come

in and make it feel like you're reading a Ghostbusters

movie in a comic book form. You know what I mean?

And that's what those guys did. And I think that's

the formula that we've kind of really nailed

and have been. I always say the bosses are courageous

enough here to allow the editors that leeway

to say, I have this artist, nobody knows who

they are, but I promise you they're going to

make a great Jim story or a great, I don't know,

Godzilla story or whatever. And then our boss

is like, you know what, go for it. And when we

do, it works out. Most of the time it works out.

I've worked on some books that we've had name

creators on. that you could tell it was you know

it wasn't a bad comic it wasn't a bad book but

it wasn't that that wasn't why they were doing

it it was it was a gig you know and it wasn't

something they were passionate about it was they

were hired for their name got maybe like here's

the wiki here's the wiki information for this

character or this this property can you write

us a a four issue comic series and they do it

and it's professional and it's it's It's fine

enough as far as the entertaining story is concerned,

but it just doesn't strike those chords that

need to be struck. And I think that's the key

here is our editorial staff has that ability

to take chances with unknowns. And like I said,

take chances with unknown creators on a known

property, but doing that known property the way

it's known. My golly, that's risky. But it's

worked out. It is, you know, and it's one of

those things where I think what's happened to,

you know, Gene Simmons is somebody that I worked

with a lot. And I respect Gene a lot. I mean,

I never met a guy that works harder than him.

And one of the things he always said to Chris

Ryle and I is he said, you know what, I bust

my ass for many years and now I have a lot of

sweat equity. And meaning, you know, I don't

need to give money for things anymore. My name

is enough because I've proven I'll do what I

say. And so I think what's happened is IDW to

a certain extent has gotten that sweat equity

over the years. And so because we've proven we

can do these books, the retailers are willing

to jump on board, for say, for example, for Back

to the Future. And it's just up to us to keep

doing what we've been doing. I'm piggybacking

off of that question. I kind of feel bad because

I read about all of the licensed IDW books because

they're amazing. Ghostbusters is great. Don't

do the My Little Pony, but that's okay. It's

not my thing. But what are some of the IDW verse

books that aren't properties that we should all

be reading and we're just too chicken to take

a chance on something? And forgive me, I'm gonna

be typing these down as you go through these.

Oh man, there's so many. You know what? The sad

truth is there are so many. I couldn't even name

them all. We have so many. I think we're doing

up to 90 books a month at this point. And so

it's a lot of books. Plus, we work with Top Shelf

now. I would definitely say things like Zombies

versus Robots. Gosh, I can't think. We just did

one Chris wrote, Stream Divers. Winona Earp's

getting ready to take off again. Plus we have

the TV show that ties into that. Brooklyn Animal

Control. I just did a creator -owned book that

I love people to go read called The Last Fall.

Geez, there's a ton. What I would say, actually

what I would tell people to do is go to our website.

Our website, iwpublishing .com is great. We've

got a great web team here. They really... brought

that thing into the modern age, and it's really

easy to navigate, and there's a lot of good information

out there. Just, you know, if you go on our site,

what you'll see is we've got something for everybody.

I mean, we've got all ages books, all the way

to, you know, terrifying horror books like Silent

Hill, for example, and everything in between.

You know, we work with Steve Knaus a lot. We've

got 30 Days of Night. Obviously, you know the

license book transformers my little pony turtles,

etc But I think the best thing is there's just

so many books and so many choices That I would

say go under our website and just just browse

around And you'll probably find something in

some genre or some niche that that appeals to

you and all these books are done professionally

There's not one book I can think of that that

we do that that I wouldn't put in front of somebody

and say go for it You're gonna like this Absolutely

And the Top Shelf stuff, like I said, we've just,

Top Shelf joined us a little while back and man,

they got some cool books. One book that's just

gorgeous, absolutely freaking gorgeous is Troy

Little's adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las

Vegas, the Hunter S. Thompson classic. That book,

we actually did a signing here the other day.

We did one first for the IDW staff and then they

did another one over at our art gallery here

at the offices. That was a kind of a passion

project for Ted Adams, our CEO. And we brought

Troy Little in to adapt it. And it's bonkers

cool. It's an adult book, without a doubt. There's

a few drug references in there. But man, I had

seen it, and I had seen it in progress. And then

we had this signing the other night, and I got

my copy, and Troy signed a copy for all of us.

And I was blown away looking at it. Finally getting

to really sit down and look at it. That guy's

going to be a superstar. Awesome. Lots to spend

money on. Thank you very much. And then, of course,

our artist editions. Can't say no more. Oh, I

love those books. Yeah. Yeah, you mentioned earlier

about you know the whole multiple covers giving

artists you know a chance at a job or whatever

else and Joe when it comes to the TMNT Joe is

one of those collectors when I told him there

was like I don't know 14 different covers for

issue 50 or whatever it is he's like how am I

gonna track all those down I have I can't go

for the convention covers because you know I'm

not driving you know but I did manage to get

all the covers I wanted including the Jack Kirby

Kevin Eastman inked cover. Once I got that, I

was, that's good. That's all I need. I'm good.

You should have seen how many we had from, did

you see how many we had from Back to the Future?

34. Oh, man. I got the Turtles cover. That's

the one that I wanted, because I love that dude's

art. I told everybody, I said, if I don't write

Turtles past 55, it's because Back to the Future

killed me. That was a lot of covers. That was.

That was. All right. Would you like to inform

the fans of where they can interact with you

online, sir? You know what? I'm on Facebook.

Just search for my name. I'll be the guy that

looks like Splinter with the baseball hat. And

then I'm on Twitter. It's at Tom Waltz. And that's

generally the two places where you'll find me

most. Other than that, I. As for the Turtles,

there's a forum called the Technodrome forums.

Bobby and I jump on there every once in a while.

But mainly Twitter and Facebook. And then I do

some stuff here through IDW itself. Cool. Cool.

All right. Before we let you go, remind the listeners

of what you have coming up. We know issue 52

is coming this month. Issue 52 will be the next

issue that's coming out. That's coming out this

month, probably toward the end of the month.

Then I have actually the day after tomorrow on

Wednesday, the last fall number five, which is

the fifth issue of five in that first volume

of that series. That's my, it's a military, kind

of a sci -fi military drama. with a little bit

of conspiracy in there. I told you guys I'm the

conspiracy guy. So there's some conspiracy in

there, and that's with my longtime creative partner,

Casey Maloney. He's the artist. Like I said,

I will just say I just finished writing a video

game that I'm not sure when that comes out, and

I can't say anything else about it, but I'm really

excited about that. So first chance I can, probably

on one of my social networks, I'll announce it.

But I think fans are going to dig that. And then,

gosh, I don't know. I don't have any other writing

going on other than kind of some stuff I do here

as the staff writer for special projects. But

Turtles is in high gear. Ghost, as far as editing

is concerned, Back to the Future is in full swing

right now. Really excited about that. And this

is going to be a huge Ghostbusters year. We've

got to. an annual that's coming out that's just

chock full of fun stuff. We just did a real Ghostbusters

crossover, a little mini series, and that trade

is coming out. And then that jumps right into

our third volume of the ongoing series that we've

done here at IDW that's going to be called Ghostbusters

International. And you're going to see the Ghostbusters

all over the world. And then I will say this,

all of that kind of ties into something that...

that I think people are underestimating and I'm

gonna say it right here, right now. The Ghostbusters

movie is gonna be huge. It's one of the best

movie scripts I've ever read. It's hilarious.

I can't wait to see it. It's gonna be a monster

and then I'm hoping that kind of expands our

Ghostbusters reach as the year progresses. So

any doubters out there, trust me, I've read.

Two or three versions of the script as it's evolved

and it only gets better every time I read it.

It's really I mean like Spitting my coffee out

funny in some parts. I've had this feeling that

that movie is gonna surprise people like It's

a Ghostbusters movie, you know because you were

like It's a Ghostbusters movie. Trust me. It's

a Ghostbusters movie has all those elements,

but what I like about it I think what really

makes me warm warm to it is that that What they

do in the movie is explain things, like kind

of like we try to do with the turtles and their

masks. You know, that was a big deal for me,

the turtles going to the colored masks. It was

funny you mentioned that. That was something

that I felt like there's just no way of getting

around that. Yeah, I know there were the Harport

fans and we caught a lot of flack for not keeping

them in the red mask. But really, you know, things

evolve and the turtles evolved over the years.

And the majority of people know them as the turtles

with the four different colored masks. But I

just didn't want to... throw it out there. I

wanted it to at least have a story behind it

or some kind of meaning behind it. And the same

with the reincarnation aspect. Well, in this

Ghostbusters movie, Paul Feig does a lot of that.

So I mean, we'll know why the No Ghost logo is

the way the No Ghost logo is, to why they wear

overalls. All of that stuff gets explained, has

a practical explanation that also is funny. Awesome.

Very cool. We'd like to thank mr. Waltz for taking

this time to chat with us here in this latest

interview here inside the pull bag on Get the

geek cast radio network follow me my sons Oh,

yes, it is Alright folks, that's it. That was

our interview with Tom Waltz, the head turtle

writer at IDW Publishing. That was so cool. That

was a great interview. He basically, I don't

know, did you send him a copy of the script?

Because he just hit every one of my questions

before I got to ask it. It was perfect. no i

didn't send him a copy of the script at all what

i told him was you know we've got some life questions

about you we've got some hard -hitting turtle

questions we've got some other behind the scenes

stuff so but i didn't actually send him the actual

questions at all but yeah i'm like you know the

whole time and people don't people sometimes

don't realize this when we're doing the podcast

interviews folks whoever i'm like if it's me

and joe or if it's me and steve and me and whoever

else I'm constantly on mute when the guest is

giving their answers, and I'm like, okay, he

already answered this, skip to that, he already

answered this, it's like, those things, like,

wow, no, that dude was awesome. Tom Waltz, oh

man. And coming up for Turtles, oh god. It's

gonna be so cool, folks. If you're not reading

Turtles right now, you need to read Turtles for

Mighty W. And they have done a fantastic job

of keeping up a really good set of trade paperbacks

and collections with the miniseries woven in,

with the miniseries not woven in, so there's

really no excuse to kind of avoid it or not catch

up. I don't even think, if you start from, if

you have to start from the Free Comic Book Day

issue, you can start there. But it's really just

too easy to get everything and it moves so fast

You know, I mean 50 issues in a spider -man comic

covers years This really is a compressed story

that you just get a lot of that character development

and it's all thanks to to Tom and Bobby and everybody

who are just brain babies over there, just spewing

these beautiful ideas and character moments.

Absolutely. Now, I do want to bring up one thing

since you mentioned the collections. Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles, the IDW Collection Volume

1, the TMNT ongoing. It's a hardcover. It is

out now. It is on Amazon for $29 .45. That's

cheap. It collects. I'm trying to see here. It

collects. Let's see, where is it? It collects

the first 12 issues of The Ongoing, plus the

Raph, Mikey, Donnie, Leo, and Splinter micro

series one -shots spliced in between so they

are in... If you get the hardcovers, folks, it's

in story order. The next one, actually, TMNT,

the IDW Collection Volume 2 hardcover, comes

out in February, February 18th, according to

Amazon of 2016. This one has the issues 13 to

20 of the ongoing plus Casey April fugitoid crank

and Baxter micro series and it also has secret

history of the foot clan at that price according

the pre -order price is on amazon thirty three

dollars and twelve cents oh my gosh that's a

steal i know right i bought the first hardcover

at the last con i was at in grand rapids and

uh i think yeah those are those are great series

great books So coming up here in the pull bag,

folks, in the next couple of weeks, hopefully

Joe and I can get to the two episodes we've been

meaning to record. I'm sorry, I'm moving to a

new house. It's not your fault. It's not your

fault at all. One episode, as I already said,

is going to be 47 to 49, which is leading up

to 50. And then we're just going to do one episode

for 50 itself. And then after that, how we're

going to do it is, as Tom mentioned and as Bobby

has mentioned to me, fifty one and fifty two

are a two -part story fifty three fifty four

or two -part story of the fifty five stand alone

and fifty six starts the next art so we're gonna

do an episode for fifty one fifty two and another

one for fifty three fifty four so that's how

that's gonna work uh... at some point probably

when we get to the issue fifty review i will

be reading the solicits for fifty one through

fifty three year or whatever solicits I have

information on. So that's what's going to be

happening in the pull bag that will be leading

up to our dark side December where Ryan Drost

from Star Joes and I are going to be talking

some Star Wars comics for December this year.

Anything else you want to say before we get out

of here? I don't think so, except that I'm going

to probably try to invite Tom to Grand Rapids

Comic -Con so we can hang out with Kevin and

I can get a bunch of books signed. Yeah, that's...

purely not self uh... uh... self -indulgent at

all. No, but hey, you know, if I got these connections,

I might as well use them. Yeah, absolutely. I'll

take pictures. Alright folks, uh... I guess Calabunga

says it all, right? Or Buyakasha, depends on

when you get to it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no. I don't mind Buyakasha, but I'm glad

that, you know, I've seen... I think through

the end of season 3, and I like how after there

was the meet Mondo Gecko episode in the Nick

series, I like after that that Mikey has started

using both, Biyakasha and Kalabunga. So, very

cool, very cool. Alright, make your greatest

game in the comics and we will catch you next

time. I made a bucket!