Crowning Achievement

Just spent the evening playing and beating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game!!! #TurtlePower

Happy Valentines Day!

Comic Book Pick: 1/17/18

This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...
BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II

Batman and the Turtles go on the offensive in the belief that they can take Bane down while he's weakened, due to a lack of Venom on the Turtles' world. But that's not true any more! The Turtles' foe Baxter Stockman has found a way to reproduce the deadly substance that feeds Bane-which means the Dark Knight and the Heroes on a Half-Shell are in for the fight of their lives.  

(W) James TynionIV (A/CA) Freddie Williams II

SRP: $3.99

Synopsis provided by PreviewsWorld.com

Good times!

Took the kids into the sewers today and look who we ran into! #TurtlePower

Kevin Eastman Fan Club

I make it no secret that I am a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan! So when I kept seeing posts pop up on my Twitter feed with the option to purchase autographed TMNT figures from the personal collection of Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman, my interest was piqued. I tried a few times to grab one, but they sold out within hours. Finally I was able to get one...

Head Droppin Leonardo made it to my house within a few weeks of purchase and he is AWESOME! I tried to find a figure I currently don't own that I could add to my collection. He was on sale, but I can see the prices for these items scaring off potential customers. Even with the discount he was around $50. At least they added in a few Topps TMNT cards as a bonus!

As you can see, this is a used figure that Kevin Eastman hand signed himself across the chest. The accessories for the figures are not always the correct ones that belong to the character, but I am glad some were included at all. The box design is nice and includes some Kevin Eastman artwork. 

Along with the figure, I also became a member of the Kevin Eastman Fan Club. My 6 month membership cost $30, but it included some comics...

This foam board was on the top of the box when I opened it and was meant to protect the comic books inside. I don't know who scribbled this on the front, but I'm hoping it was Kevin Eastman himself. That would be RADICAL!

The foam board did it's job and my comics arrived without a dent, scratch or tear. I have a massive collection of TMNT comics spanning from the Mirage run to Image comics to the new IDW series, but I did not have these in my collection yet. The comics are IDW issue #73 Comics and Ponies Retailer Exclusive variant and IDW issue #69 El Paso Comic Con Exclusive Variant. I would have paid almost $30 for these comics alone online...

The cool thing was that issue #73 was signed by Kevin Eastman with a little turtle head sketch.

The prices for these figures right now run anywhere from $67 to almost $200! I'm glad I've added this piece to my collection, but unless the prices go down a little bit more this will be my only Kevin Eastman turtle added to my collection. If you are interested in grabbing one of these Turtles or one of their friends & foes visit Kevin Eastman Studios at https://fan.kevineastmanstudios.com/ 

Comic Book Pick: 12/20/17

This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...

BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II #2

The team behind the smash-hit crossover series is back to reunite the Dark Knight and the Heroes in a Half-Shell. When Donatello goes looking for a new mentor to help him improve his fighting skills, he opens a doorway to another reality, hoping to summon the Turtles' one-time ally, Batman. But instead, he gets sent to Gotham City and someone else comes through the open portal-Bane! Suddenly, there's a new gang boss in New York and he's out to unite all the other bad guys under him. Can Donnie get back in time and bring Batman with him to help his brothers before Bane causes irreparable destruction? Co-published with IDW.

(W) James TynionIV (A/CA) Freddie Williams II

SRP: $3.99

Synopsis provided by PreviewsWorld.com

Keepin it Christmas!

There are so many great things about this time of the year. Besides getting gifts there's the music (I'm looking at you WHAM!), movies, books and random items you find at the Dollar Tree. While unpacking our decorations to make our house a festive wonderland, I uncovered a few gems from my collection that make me happy it's Christmas.

This is one of my favorite issues of the original Mirage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle run. First of all it features Michaelangelo as the lead, it introduces his cat..Klunk and it's set during Christmas in NY! The gist of the story is that Mikey goes gift shopping, he spots some baddies robbing a toy store and he fights to get the toys back so they can be delivered to some underprivileged orphans. The artwork is vintage Eastman/Laird Turtles and the story is solid. I always had a soft spot for this issue and then a few years ago my sister bought my family this DVD for Christmas...

and it contains a pretty faithful cartoon version of the Michaelangelo Christmas special right down to the "Little Orphan Alien" toys. We watch this every year now as part of our Christmas special viewing rotation! You can view it for your holiday pleasure by clicking the YouTube video below!

Christmas is coming fast and I still have quite a few things to do before it gets here. So, I wanna join Mikey in saying, Thanks for reading and...