Kevin Eastman
Encyclopedia
Kevin Brooks Eastman is an American
comic book
artist
and writer
, best known as the creator (together with Peter Laird
) of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
. Eastman is also the current owner, editor
and publisher of the magazine
Heavy Metal
.
. By 1983, he was "working in a restaurant and seeking underground
publishers for his comix stories," having been collaborating with Peter Laird
for a short while on various comics projects. The following year, in May 1984, Eastman and Peter Laird
self-published (for $1,200) the first black & white issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The forty-page oversized comic had an initial print run of 3000 copies, and was largely funded by a $1000 loan from Eastman's uncle Quentin, and published by the duo's Mirage Studios
, a name chosen because "there wasn’t an actual studio, only kitchen tables and couches with lap boards." By September 1985, that first issue had received a further 3 printings.
's own Mystery Men
press-kit
included "a story outline and artwork that they sent to 180 TV and radio stations," as well as both the Associated Press
and United Press International
. This led to widespread press coverage of both the TMNT property and Mirage Studios itself, creating "a demand for the interestingly-titled comic that caught everyone by surprise." With the solicitation of their second issue, Eastman and Laird's Turtles comic began a meteoric rise to success, bringing in advance orders of 15,000 copies - five times the initial print run of the first issue. This, Eastman has been quoted as saying:
The Turtles phenomenon saw the duo invited to their first comics convention
at the tenth annual Atlanta Fantasy Fair in 1984, where they mingled with the likes of Larry Niven
, Forrest J Ackerman
and Fred Hembeck
(among others).
With their (November 1985) fifth issue, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles downsized to the actual "normal" American comics-format and size, and the previous four issues were also reprinted in this size and format with new color covers. Also in 1985, Solson Publications
released a "How to draw" volume entitled How to draw Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Solson would also produce six issues of a TMNT "Authorized Training Manual" as well as a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teach Karate" volume in 1987.)
for "role-playing gamers and collectors"), Palladium Books
, who produced a role-playing game
featuring the Turtles and with First Comics
who, between 1986 and 1988, reprinted in four volumes the first eleven issues as color trade paperback collections.
Palladium's RPG brought the Turtles to the attention of licensing
agent Mark Freedman, and the Turtles phenomenon took off, with the various characters soon appearing on "T-shirts, Halloween masks, coffee mugs, and all kinds of other paraphernalia." In December, 1987, a five-part televised cartoon mini-series based on the Turtles debuted. The half-hour episodes were produced by Osamu Yoshioka, and the animation was directed by Yoshikatsu Kasai from scripts David Wise
and Patti Howeth. The success of the mini-series was swift, leading to a full (and ultimately a 9-year, 10-season, 194-episode run) series, with the mini-series forming the first season. Bob Burden writes:
In January 1988, Eastman and Laird visited Playmates Toys Inc, who wished to market action figures based on the comic book - and now animated cartoon - series, further cementing the Turtles' place in history, and making Eastman and Laird extremely wealthy, since:
Turtles comics, toys, books, games and other merchandising spin-offs have subsequently appeared, overseen, if not fully created, by Eastman and Laird. Paramount amongst these are three live action
films - in 1990
, 1991
and 1993
- a further two TV series' (Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
(1997) and a new self-titled
2003 series), and an animated feature film: TMNT
(2007).
On June 1, 2000 Peter Laird and the Mirage Group purchased all of Kevin's ownership in the TMNT property and the corporations, except for a small continuing income participation.
Laird believes that the reasoning was simply that Eastman "was just tired of it. He wanted to move on and has other things to spend more time on."
On March 1, 2008 Peter Laird and the Mirage Group completed the buyout of Kevin's entire right, title, interest and income participation in the TMNT property and the four Mirage corporations involved in the ownership, management and protection of the TMNT. This event finalizes the transaction begun on June 1, 2000.
, the pair talked to a number of creators about "the hardships and sacrifices they had to undergo to control their own work" and lack of creative freedoms, Eastman decided that he should address the problems head on, utilising his own personal knowledge and the duos connections to "offer possibilities for... other creators." Approaching Laird with his ideas, Eastman met with a less than positive response:
in 1990, to realize personal and other projects in part "because of our [Eastman & Laird] having so much success with the Turtles." Having been able to maintain ownership, copyright
and trademark
and thus keeping control both over "what was done with [the Turtles] and what was not done with [them]," the two came to realise that in the wider industry they were both something of an anomaly, and that, as Eastman says, they "didn't even realize we were being spoiled as much as we were spoiled." As part of the initial group (with Scott McCloud
, Dave Sim
and others) who "got together to form the Creator's Bill of Rights
," Eastman felt obligated to expand it beyond theory and into practice, providing a creator-friendly forum for comics creators to work for a publisher while maintaining ownership of their work.
Rick Veitch
has written that:
Moreover, Eastman provided a forum for Marvel
and DC
creators to work on projects that they could not otherwise realise:
Projects (part-)realised by Tundra included: Alan Moore
and Bill Sienkiewicz
's Big Numbers, Moore & Eddie Campbell
's From Hell
, Moore & Melinda Gebbie
's Lost Girls
(these last two original serialised in Stephen R. Bissette
's Taboo
anthology, which was also part-published by Tundra), The Crow
, Mike Allred's Madman
and Dave McKean
's Cages, and others.
Eastman initially thought that his experience at Mirage gave him "a pretty good grasp of what a publisher should be, and what a publisher needs to do," although he swiftly realised that "Tundra was not like publishing the Turtles."
, and too country for rock 'n' roll," as their intended product sat somewhat awkwardly between the comic shop and the book shop. Eastman says that he "thought that the audience was a lot larger than it actually was," citing his personal assumption that readers would "grow up through X-Men
and discover The Sandman and then Dark Knight and Watchmen
and beyond." The relatively fledgling in-roads of comics and graphic novels into bookshops at the time, however, worked against Tundra.
In addition, Eastman swiftly became aware that Tundra and the Turtles differed considerably, not least since the latter was successful enough to effectively run itself, with a few 'nudges' "to keep it moving along." Tundra, on the other hand, dealt in new properties, which required "building from the ground up," and was "a lot more work" than Eastman had anticipated, growing far too quickly for comfort, and requiring considerable injections of time and money, rather than being profitable itself.
Speaking in 1992/3, Eastman was optimistic that the company had "finally reached the point where [it had] slowed up enough... to be giving individual projects the time and attention they require[d];" Shortly thereafter, however, Tundra merged with/was bought out by Kitchen Sink Press
, closing its (solo) doors after just three years, losing Eastman between $9 and $14 million.
He makes mention of the multiple award nominations Tundra received during its first and second years, including Harvey Award
s and Eisner Award
s, but notes that despite critical acclaim, the company was not making money on its titles, and had to cease production. He notes that Tundra was one of the earlier creator-owned companies, "before Image
really took off" and before Dark Horse Comics
' "Legends line."
Eastman admits that Tundra tried to do too much too quickly, and ran into difficulties accordingly. He also suggests that "[n]ot one book made any money". He also believes that part of Tundra's downfall was tied to his offering Marvel and DC employees the chance to work on creator-owned and personal projects. He has stated in interviews that:
and fantasy
magazine, much of whose content was translated from the French, and appeared in the original Métal Hurlant
publication of which Heavy Metal is only the American-licensed incarnation. He cites it (after Jack Kirby
) as bringing to his attention the "second greatest influence" on him as an artist, Richard Corben
. He saw in its pages European art which had not been previously seen in the United States, as well as an underground comix
sensibility that nonetheless "wasn't as harsh or extreme as some of the underground comix - but... definitely intended for an older readership."
Discovering that Heavy Metal had been put up for sale, and with one of Tundra's stated aims being to bring a more adult sensibility (and mature, adult readers) to comics overlapping with the magazine's target audience, Eastman decided that Heavy Metal was "the final piece of the puzzle", and looked into purchasing it. Noting that:
Despite the audiences for Heavy Metal and Tundra's intended product (as well as more mature-themed comics in general) being of a broadly similar demographic, Eastman recognised from the start that "most of the audience who read Heavy Metal buy it off the newsstands; they're not going into comic book stores," and stated early on that his intention was to produce "numerous crossovers from the cutting edge of comics creators" to expose the magazine's readership not just to the comics industry, "but anything from the visual media that can cross over."
Eastman also attempted to bring some European hardcover comics to America, using Heavy Metal to help serialise them and both defray the costs and boost readership. Initial interest, however, was "fairly cool."
' Howard the Duck
") at the Atlanta convention he and Laird attended in 1984. Collecting subsequently became "quite an addiction" for him, and, combined with his experiences in getting his (and others') comics work recognised as "Art," led to him founding the Words & Pictures Museum.
dedicated exclusively to comic book art. His interest in art collection was twofold: both "for the sheer beauty of it, but also for what [he] was learning" about different techniques and modes of working from seeing the original work up close. His personal interest was also reflected in his friends, who he notes would often visit ask to see his collection, leading him to think that:
In addition to perceived interest, he recalled the reaction to comic book art in his portfolio (specifically his "best Jack Kirby
homage") being considerably less than positive, an attitude which has:
Combining these thoughts (personal interest and wider snobbery), Eastman recalled that "the French government has a state sponsored museum dedicated to comic books," but that America did not, and decided to rectify the situation by "open[ing] a museum that would be dedicated to a little bit of what brought us here, a lot of what's going on today, and also a look to the future of comics."
in 1992, and "[k]ept it open for as long as [he] could afford to keep it open." Ultimately subsequent cash flow problems with Tundra, and the ebbing of the TMNT fad, led to the closure of the Museum in 1999, although it maintained something of an online presence at WordsandPictures.org for some time. However, the website has also been shut down.
actress and model
Julie Strain
. This relationship saw Strain star in the animated film Heavy Metal 2000
, based on Eastman's magazine property Heavy Metal, and the direct to video sequel to the 1981 feature film Heavy Metal.
Being married to a model led to Eastman experimenting in photography himself, producing images (primarily of his then wife) which are available on the Heavy Metal website, in galleries entitled "I Shot my Wife". This led to Strain taking up the camera herself, with some success, resulting in a number of books published by Heavy Metal Magazine of and by Strain-Eastman.
Eastman himself has also acted
alongside his then wife in a small number of films since the mid 1990s onto the twenty-first century; notably Guns of El Chupacabra
in 1997 and The Rock n' Roll Cops
in 2003.
He also had a supporting role in the 2004 Troma film Tales from the Crapper
. Before that, he had a cameo in the 2000 sequel to The Toxic Avenger
called Citizen Toxie, alongside Julie Strain in both films.
Eastman and TMNT co-creator Peter Laird voiced together in Turtles Forever
, where one says of the first TMNT issue, "boy, I sure hope this thing sells."
on one occasion, but failed. Deciding to continue working after the time limit had expired, this 24+ hour method is called the Eastman Variation.
He is a featured interviewee in the movie Independents.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
American comic book
An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, best known as the creator (together with Peter Laird
Peter Laird
Peter Alan Laird is an American comic book writer and artist. He is best known for co-creating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with writer and artist Kevin Eastman.-Early life and career:...
) of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...
. Eastman is also the current owner, editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
and publisher of the magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...
.
Early life
Eastman was born on May 30, 1962 in Springvale, MaineSpringvale, Maine
Springvale is a census-designated place in the town of Sanford in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,488 at the 2000 census...
. By 1983, he was "working in a restaurant and seeking underground
Underground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...
publishers for his comix stories," having been collaborating with Peter Laird
Peter Laird
Peter Alan Laird is an American comic book writer and artist. He is best known for co-creating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with writer and artist Kevin Eastman.-Early life and career:...
for a short while on various comics projects. The following year, in May 1984, Eastman and Peter Laird
Peter Laird
Peter Alan Laird is an American comic book writer and artist. He is best known for co-creating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with writer and artist Kevin Eastman.-Early life and career:...
self-published (for $1,200) the first black & white issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The forty-page oversized comic had an initial print run of 3000 copies, and was largely funded by a $1000 loan from Eastman's uncle Quentin, and published by the duo's Mirage Studios
Mirage Studios
Mirage Studios is an independent American comic book company founded in 1983 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, based in Northampton, Massachusetts and best known for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series.-History:...
, a name chosen because "there wasn’t an actual studio, only kitchen tables and couches with lap boards." By September 1985, that first issue had received a further 3 printings.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Laird's newspaper experience led to the two creating "a four-page press kit," that, according to Flaming Carrot-creator Bob BurdenBob Burden
Bob Burden is an American comic book artist and writer, best known as the creator of Flaming Carrot Comics and the Mystery Men.-Early life:Burden grew up in the industrial rust belt of the Northeast United States...
's own Mystery Men
Mystery Men
Mystery Men is a 1999 comedy film based on a Dark Horse comic book series feature in Flaming Carrot Comics by Bob Burden, directed by TV commercial director Kinka Usher. It stars William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, and Hank Azaria as a trio of lesser superheroes with fairly unimpressive superpowers who...
press-kit
Press kit
A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use...
included "a story outline and artwork that they sent to 180 TV and radio stations," as well as both the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
. This led to widespread press coverage of both the TMNT property and Mirage Studios itself, creating "a demand for the interestingly-titled comic that caught everyone by surprise." With the solicitation of their second issue, Eastman and Laird's Turtles comic began a meteoric rise to success, bringing in advance orders of 15,000 copies - five times the initial print run of the first issue. This, Eastman has been quoted as saying:
- "basically ended up with us clearing a profit of two thousand dollars apiece. Which allowed us to write and draw stories full time: it was enough to pay the rent, pay the bills, and buy enough macaroni and cheese and pencils to live on."
The Turtles phenomenon saw the duo invited to their first comics convention
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
at the tenth annual Atlanta Fantasy Fair in 1984, where they mingled with the likes of Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
, Forrest J Ackerman
Forrest J Ackerman
Forrest J Ackerman was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan...
and Fred Hembeck
Fred Hembeck
Fred Hembeck is an American cartoonist best known for his parodies of characters from major American comic book publishers. His work has frequently been published by the firms whose characters he spoofs. His characters are always drawn with curlicues at the elbows and knees...
(among others).
With their (November 1985) fifth issue, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles downsized to the actual "normal" American comics-format and size, and the previous four issues were also reprinted in this size and format with new color covers. Also in 1985, Solson Publications
Solson Publications
Solson Publications was a New York-based black-and-white comic book publisher active in the 1980s. The company was founded by Gary Brodsky, son of long-time Marvel Comics executive Sol Brodsky; the name of the company was derived from Brodsky's name: "Sol's son" = Solson.- Titles published :*...
released a "How to draw" volume entitled How to draw Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Solson would also produce six issues of a TMNT "Authorized Training Manual" as well as a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teach Karate" volume in 1987.)
Licensing
Mirage's Turtles comic led to a widening media presence for the eponymous heroes: Eastman and Laird began to widely merchandise their property, including with Dark Horse Miniatures (who produced a set of 15 mm lead figurinesMiniature figure
A miniature figure is a small-scale representation of a historical or mythological entity used in miniature wargames, role-playing games, and dioramas. Miniature figures are commonly made of metal, plastic, or paper...
for "role-playing gamers and collectors"), Palladium Books
Palladium Books
Palladium Books is a publisher of role-playing games perhaps best known for its popular, expansive Rifts series . Palladium was founded April 1981 in Detroit, Michigan by current president and lead game designer Kevin Siembieda, and is presently based in Westland, Michigan...
, who produced a role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
featuring the Turtles and with First Comics
First Comics
First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983–1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable...
who, between 1986 and 1988, reprinted in four volumes the first eleven issues as color trade paperback collections.
Palladium's RPG brought the Turtles to the attention of licensing
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
agent Mark Freedman, and the Turtles phenomenon took off, with the various characters soon appearing on "T-shirts, Halloween masks, coffee mugs, and all kinds of other paraphernalia." In December, 1987, a five-part televised cartoon mini-series based on the Turtles debuted. The half-hour episodes were produced by Osamu Yoshioka, and the animation was directed by Yoshikatsu Kasai from scripts David Wise
David Wise (writer)
David Wise is a television and animation writer, tutored by writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Frank Herbert, Harlan Ellison and Theodore Sturgeon whilst attending the Clarion Workshop.-Early life:...
and Patti Howeth. The success of the mini-series was swift, leading to a full (and ultimately a 9-year, 10-season, 194-episode run) series, with the mini-series forming the first season. Bob Burden writes:
- "within days of it airing it was apparent that the TMNT would prove every bit as popular for the television audience as it had been for the comic readers. From there, Surge Licensing formed an unstoppable creative marketing powerhouse that set a new standard of excellence in the licensing and merchandising industries."
In January 1988, Eastman and Laird visited Playmates Toys Inc, who wished to market action figures based on the comic book - and now animated cartoon - series, further cementing the Turtles' place in history, and making Eastman and Laird extremely wealthy, since:
- "crucially... they were wise enough from the outset to properly copyright and trademark their creation, and were never tempted to give over control to anyone but themselves."
Multimedia
Multiple otherTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (disambiguation)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a group of anthropomorphic mutated turtles that originated in comic books.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aka Ninja Turtles aka TMNT may also refer to:...
Turtles comics, toys, books, games and other merchandising spin-offs have subsequently appeared, overseen, if not fully created, by Eastman and Laird. Paramount amongst these are three live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
films - in 1990
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...
, 1991
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is a 1991 American live-action film, It is the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, being the direct sequel to the 1990 film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Secret of the Ooze was then followed by a third film in 1993, and a fourth...
and 1993
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is a 1993 American live-action film, the second sequel of the 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. It was produced by Clearwater Holdings Ltd. and Golden Harvest. This was the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film released by New Line Cinema and...
- a further two TV series' (Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation or Saban's Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation is an American live-action television series produced by Saban Entertainment, which ran on the Fox Kids network from 1997 to 1998. The short-lived series was based loosely from Mirage Studios' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...
(1997) and a new self-titled
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American animated series, mainly set in New York City. It first aired on February 8, 2003 and ended on November 21, 2009...
2003 series), and an animated feature film: TMNT
TMNT (2007 film)
TMNT is a 2007 film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. This is the fourth and final installment in the original film series. The film sees the Turtles grow apart after their defeat of The Shredder. Meanwhile, strange things are happening in New York City...
(2007).
Eastman & Laird: separate ways
Eastman and Laird, as with many creative partnerships, did not always see eye-to-eye and their creative partnership became difficult. Speaking in 2002, Laird noted that the two "didn't really have anything to do with each other for the last nine years. He had moved to California and I stayed in Massachusetts."On June 1, 2000 Peter Laird and the Mirage Group purchased all of Kevin's ownership in the TMNT property and the corporations, except for a small continuing income participation.
Laird believes that the reasoning was simply that Eastman "was just tired of it. He wanted to move on and has other things to spend more time on."
On March 1, 2008 Peter Laird and the Mirage Group completed the buyout of Kevin's entire right, title, interest and income participation in the TMNT property and the four Mirage corporations involved in the ownership, management and protection of the TMNT. This event finalizes the transaction begun on June 1, 2000.
Foundation
While co-managing Mirage StudiosMirage Studios
Mirage Studios is an independent American comic book company founded in 1983 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, based in Northampton, Massachusetts and best known for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series.-History:...
, the pair talked to a number of creators about "the hardships and sacrifices they had to undergo to control their own work" and lack of creative freedoms, Eastman decided that he should address the problems head on, utilising his own personal knowledge and the duos connections to "offer possibilities for... other creators." Approaching Laird with his ideas, Eastman met with a less than positive response:
Intentions & output
Eastman founded the creator-friendly Tundra PublishingTundra Publishing
Tundra Publishing was a Northampton, Massachusetts-based comic book publisher founded by Kevin Eastman in 1990.-Overview:Tundra was meant to provide a venue for high-quality work by talented cartoonists and illustrators. Its publications were noted in the trade for their high production values,...
in 1990, to realize personal and other projects in part "because of our [Eastman & Laird] having so much success with the Turtles." Having been able to maintain ownership, copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
and trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
and thus keeping control both over "what was done with [the Turtles] and what was not done with [them]," the two came to realise that in the wider industry they were both something of an anomaly, and that, as Eastman says, they "didn't even realize we were being spoiled as much as we were spoiled." As part of the initial group (with Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium...
, Dave Sim
Dave Sim
David Victor Sim is an award-winning Canadian comic book writer and artist.A pioneer of self-published comics and creators' rights, Sim is best known as the creator of Cerebus the Aardvark, a comic book published from 1977 to 2004, which chronicles its main character in a 6,000-page self-contained...
and others) who "got together to form the Creator's Bill of Rights
Creator's Bill of Rights
The Creator's Bill of Rights was a document drafted in November 1988 by a number of independent comic book artists and writers, designed to protect their rights as creators and aid against their exploitation by corporate work for hire practices...
," Eastman felt obligated to expand it beyond theory and into practice, providing a creator-friendly forum for comics creators to work for a publisher while maintaining ownership of their work.
Rick Veitch
Rick Veitch
Richard "Rick" Veitch is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked in mainstream, underground, and alternative comics.-Early career:...
has written that:
- "One of the plans was for Tundra to act as an exoskeletonExoskeletonAn exoskeleton is the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal skeleton of, for example, a human. In popular usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as "shells". Examples of exoskeleton animals include insects such as grasshoppers...
for an existing self-publisherSelf-publishingSelf-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...
; offering marketing muscle, higher production values, printing costs paid and a page rate up front for half the action no strings attached."
Moreover, Eastman provided a forum for Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
creators to work on projects that they could not otherwise realise:
Projects (part-)realised by Tundra included: Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Bill Sienkiewicz
Bill Sienkiewicz
Boleslav Felix Robert "Bill" Sienkiewicz [pronounced sin-KEV-itch] is an Eisner Award-winning American artist and writer best known for his comic book work, primarily for Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin...
's Big Numbers, Moore & Eddie Campbell
Eddie Campbell
Eddie Campbell is a Scottish comics artist and cartoonist who now lives in Australia. Probably best known as the illustrator and publisher of From Hell , Campbell is also the creator of the semi-autobiographical Alec stories collected in Alec: The Years Have Pants, and Bacchus , a wry adventure...
's From Hell
From Hell
From Hell is a comic book series by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell, originally published from 1991 to 1996, speculating upon the identity and motives of Jack the Ripper. The title is taken from the first words of the "From Hell" letter, which some authorities believe was an authentic...
, Moore & Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie is an American comics artist and writer, probably best known for Lost Girls, the three-volume graphic novel she produced in collaboration with writer Alan Moore, published by Top Shelf.-Biography:...
's Lost Girls
Lost Girls
Lost Girls is a graphic novel depicting the sexually explicit adventures of three important female fictional characters of the late 19th and early 20th century: Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz and Wendy Darling from Peter Pan...
(these last two original serialised in Stephen R. Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette
Stephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is best known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC comic Swamp Thing in the 1980s....
's Taboo
Taboo (comic)
Taboo was a comics anthology edited by Steve Bissette that was designed to feature edgier and more adult comics than could be published through mainstream publishers. The series began as a horror anthology, but soon branched out into other genres as well...
anthology, which was also part-published by Tundra), The Crow
The Crow
The Crow is a comic book series created by James O'Barr. The series was originally written by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his girlfriend at the hands of a drunk driver. It was later published by Caliber Comics in 1989, becoming an underground success, and later adapted into a...
, Mike Allred's Madman
Madman
Madman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero created by Mike Allred and most recently published by Image Comics. He first appeared in Creatures of the Id...
and Dave McKean
Dave McKean
David McKean is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician....
's Cages, and others.
Eastman initially thought that his experience at Mirage gave him "a pretty good grasp of what a publisher should be, and what a publisher needs to do," although he swiftly realised that "Tundra was not like publishing the Turtles."
Difficulties
As part of Eastman's designs for Tundra were to produce personal projects of a more adult nature than the Turtles-oriented Mirage was geared towards, this saw Tundra fitting in the dubious middle-ground of being "too rock 'n' roll for countryCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, and too country for rock 'n' roll," as their intended product sat somewhat awkwardly between the comic shop and the book shop. Eastman says that he "thought that the audience was a lot larger than it actually was," citing his personal assumption that readers would "grow up through X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
and discover The Sandman and then Dark Knight and Watchmen
Watchmen
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
and beyond." The relatively fledgling in-roads of comics and graphic novels into bookshops at the time, however, worked against Tundra.
In addition, Eastman swiftly became aware that Tundra and the Turtles differed considerably, not least since the latter was successful enough to effectively run itself, with a few 'nudges' "to keep it moving along." Tundra, on the other hand, dealt in new properties, which required "building from the ground up," and was "a lot more work" than Eastman had anticipated, growing far too quickly for comfort, and requiring considerable injections of time and money, rather than being profitable itself.
Speaking in 1992/3, Eastman was optimistic that the company had "finally reached the point where [it had] slowed up enough... to be giving individual projects the time and attention they require[d];" Shortly thereafter, however, Tundra merged with/was bought out by Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
, closing its (solo) doors after just three years, losing Eastman between $9 and $14 million.
Aftermath
Despite heavy financial losses, Eastman remains philosophical about his work with Tundra, drawing the analogy that:- "doing the Turtles was like going to college and doing Tundra Publishing was like getting my Master's degree. So I learned a lot with the Turtles and I learned the rest of what I needed to know.. when I did Tundra."
He makes mention of the multiple award nominations Tundra received during its first and second years, including Harvey Award
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
s and Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
s, but notes that despite critical acclaim, the company was not making money on its titles, and had to cease production. He notes that Tundra was one of the earlier creator-owned companies, "before Image
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
really took off" and before Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
' "Legends line."
Eastman admits that Tundra tried to do too much too quickly, and ran into difficulties accordingly. He also suggests that "[n]ot one book made any money". He also believes that part of Tundra's downfall was tied to his offering Marvel and DC employees the chance to work on creator-owned and personal projects. He has stated in interviews that:
- "In my personal opinion, we took away so many creams of the crops artists like Dave McKean, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Mike Allred... [that] the two big companies had the power to go to the key distributors and made them short shell, under ship and ____ing bury these guys because now that Dave McKean is doing stuff at Tundra, the big publishers were losing money because Dave's not doing Arkham Asylum 2 and Alan Moore's not doing Watchmen 2, he's not doing Swamp Thing, but instead he's doing From Hell with Tundra...
- Basically, we got the raw end of the deal."
Heavy Metal
Kevin Eastman has been a longtime fan of the science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
magazine, much of whose content was translated from the French, and appeared in the original Métal Hurlant
Métal Hurlant
Métal Hurlant is a French comics anthology of science fiction and horror comics stories, created in December 1974 by comics artists Jean Giraud and Philippe Druillet together with journalist-writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet and financial director Bernard Farkas.The four were collectively known as "Les...
publication of which Heavy Metal is only the American-licensed incarnation. He cites it (after Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
) as bringing to his attention the "second greatest influence" on him as an artist, Richard Corben
Richard Corben
Richard Corben is an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in Heavy Metal magazine...
. He saw in its pages European art which had not been previously seen in the United States, as well as an underground comix
Underground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...
sensibility that nonetheless "wasn't as harsh or extreme as some of the underground comix - but... definitely intended for an older readership."
Discovering that Heavy Metal had been put up for sale, and with one of Tundra's stated aims being to bring a more adult sensibility (and mature, adult readers) to comics overlapping with the magazine's target audience, Eastman decided that Heavy Metal was "the final piece of the puzzle", and looked into purchasing it. Noting that:
- "In my life, too many things have happened in a weird, sort of shit-luck sort of fashion," Eastman purchased the magazine in January 1992.
Despite the audiences for Heavy Metal and Tundra's intended product (as well as more mature-themed comics in general) being of a broadly similar demographic, Eastman recognised from the start that "most of the audience who read Heavy Metal buy it off the newsstands; they're not going into comic book stores," and stated early on that his intention was to produce "numerous crossovers from the cutting edge of comics creators" to expose the magazine's readership not just to the comics industry, "but anything from the visual media that can cross over."
Eastman also attempted to bring some European hardcover comics to America, using Heavy Metal to help serialise them and both defray the costs and boost readership. Initial interest, however, was "fairly cool."
Art collection
Eastman purchased his first piece of original artwork ("a couple of pages that were penciled by Michael Golden and inked by Bob McLeod for Marvel ComicsMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered, anthropomorphic, "funny...
") at the Atlanta convention he and Laird attended in 1984. Collecting subsequently became "quite an addiction" for him, and, combined with his experiences in getting his (and others') comics work recognised as "Art," led to him founding the Words & Pictures Museum.
Background
Eastman cites his personal interest in art collection as a primary reason for his foundation of the Words & Pictures Museum, a museumMuseum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
dedicated exclusively to comic book art. His interest in art collection was twofold: both "for the sheer beauty of it, but also for what [he] was learning" about different techniques and modes of working from seeing the original work up close. His personal interest was also reflected in his friends, who he notes would often visit ask to see his collection, leading him to think that:
- "[I]t was a shame that the only time these beautiful drawings and paintings got seen [was] when people visited [his] house."
In addition to perceived interest, he recalled the reaction to comic book art in his portfolio (specifically his "best Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
homage") being considerably less than positive, an attitude which has:
Combining these thoughts (personal interest and wider snobbery), Eastman recalled that "the French government has a state sponsored museum dedicated to comic books," but that America did not, and decided to rectify the situation by "open[ing] a museum that would be dedicated to a little bit of what brought us here, a lot of what's going on today, and also a look to the future of comics."
Short-lived
Eastman established the Museum in his hometown of Northampton, MassachusettsNorthampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
in 1992, and "[k]ept it open for as long as [he] could afford to keep it open." Ultimately subsequent cash flow problems with Tundra, and the ebbing of the TMNT fad, led to the closure of the Museum in 1999, although it maintained something of an online presence at WordsandPictures.org for some time. However, the website has also been shut down.
Julie Strain, photography and acting
Eastman was married to B-movieB-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
actress and model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
Julie Strain
Julie Strain
Julie Strain is an American actress and model who was Penthouse Pet of the Month in June 1991 and later chosen as the magazine's Pet of the Year in 1993.-Early life:...
. This relationship saw Strain star in the animated film Heavy Metal 2000
Heavy Metal 2000
Heavy Metal 2000 is the 2000 follow-up to the 1981 animated cult film Heavy Metal, based on the fantasy magazine of the same name. The story itself is based on the graphic novel, The Melting Pot, written by Kevin Eastman, Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot...
, based on Eastman's magazine property Heavy Metal, and the direct to video sequel to the 1981 feature film Heavy Metal.
Being married to a model led to Eastman experimenting in photography himself, producing images (primarily of his then wife) which are available on the Heavy Metal website, in galleries entitled "I Shot my Wife". This led to Strain taking up the camera herself, with some success, resulting in a number of books published by Heavy Metal Magazine of and by Strain-Eastman.
Eastman himself has also acted
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
alongside his then wife in a small number of films since the mid 1990s onto the twenty-first century; notably Guns of El Chupacabra
Guns of El Chupacabra
Guns of El Chupacabra is a 1997 martial arts based monster film that was directed by Donald G. Jackson and was produced by and stars Scott Shaw. The co-stars of this film include: Julie Strain, Kevin Eastman, Conrad Brooks, Joe Estevez, and Robert Z'Dar....
in 1997 and The Rock n' Roll Cops
The Rock n' Roll Cops
The Rock n' Roll Cops AKA Rock n' Roll Cops 2: The Adventure Begins is a 2003 martial arts based action movie directed by Scott Shaw....
in 2003.
He also had a supporting role in the 2004 Troma film Tales from the Crapper
Tales from the Crapper
Tales from the Crapper is a 2004 straight-to-video anthology film that was a spoof of the Tales from the Crypt comics. The film was released by Troma Entertainment.-Plot:...
. Before that, he had a cameo in the 2000 sequel to The Toxic Avenger
The Toxic Avenger
The Toxic Avenger is a 1984 comedy horror film released by Troma Entertainment, known for producing low budget B-movies with campy concepts. Virtually ignored upon its first release, The Toxic Avenger caught on with filmgoers after a long and successful midnight movie engagement at the famed...
called Citizen Toxie, alongside Julie Strain in both films.
Eastman and TMNT co-creator Peter Laird voiced together in Turtles Forever
Turtles Forever
Turtles Forever, also known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever or TMNT: Turtles Forever is a 2009 made-for-tv animated movie that was produced by 4Kids Entertainment...
, where one says of the first TMNT issue, "boy, I sure hope this thing sells."
Other comics work
Aside from his work on multiple Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles projects, and as publisher of Tundra Publishing, Eastman has done little other comics work. He did however attempt to produce a 24-hour comic24-hour comic
A 24-hour comic is a 24-page comic book written, drawn, and completed in 24 hours. Scott McCloud originally came up with the challenge for himself and Steve Bissette as a creative exercise...
on one occasion, but failed. Deciding to continue working after the time limit had expired, this 24+ hour method is called the Eastman Variation.
He is a featured interviewee in the movie Independents.
External links
- Gary Groth interviews Kevin Eastman pdf download (270kB) from the Heavy MetalHeavy Metal (magazine)Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...
site; this piece appeared originally in The Comics JournalThe Comics JournalThe Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
No. 202 - Official Heavy Metal website
- Kevin Eastman interview from Newsrama