Well this is the first significant post I've had in awhile that wasn't related to one of my projects. I've been following some of the news regarding the new Michael Bay film version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). Seems there is a lot of buzz regarding a statement from Michael Bay, "These turtles are from an alien race, and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely lovable." So they are changing the background of the turtles which kind of changes the name to TANT. Actor Robbie Rist wrote in a letter to Bay that he posted online, "You probably don’t know me, but I did some voice work on the first set of movies that you are starting to talk about sodomizing,...I know believing in mutated talking turtles is kinda silly to begin with but am I supposed to be led to believe there are ninjas from another planet? The rape of our childhood memories continues." So here we have another example of Hollywood taking something that has a strong fan base and saying screw you fans, I have better ideas about what you want to see in this movie forget all that stuff you learned growing up reading the comic or from the first films. Now granted he didn't outright state that but that is the message fans are receiving. I've been a comic book fan my entire life and do own some of those first issues of TMNT form the early 1980's and as an artist I use ti love drawing them but I admit I was never a diehard fan. What I am a fan of is history and respect of that history. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird devoted several years on creating that TMNT universe that the fans love so much that should be respected by Bay even if he is suppose to be working directly with one of those creators. What these people forget is that the fans are the ones that make their product possible as a film. If there wasn't already a built in audience they wouldn't be having someone like Michael Bay involved, he is known for big splashy shoot-em, explosions films with huge budgets. The only reason anyone green-lighted the project is because of the history and the fact that they have a 30 year long following with most of those people now having children to drag to the theater. I personally am tired of seeing the characters I grew up with being changed constantly, just last year DC Comics did an entire reboot of their entire universe, changing characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman etc... It seems like every 5-10 years they are doing that over at DC. Marvel has been doing some of the same over the years just hasn't attracted the attention DC has because their changes are usually minor. I haven't read the new Superman, I did read the first issue of the new Justice League and really didn't like it. Superman has always been referred to as the big blue boy scout and you know what, we need those kind of heroes in this world, we don't need all of them to be dark and grimacing like Batman. If the big comic book companies really want to build their audience back up, then they should really devote a little of their creative efforts on reaching younger audiences with children comics and have them grow into the darker adult fare. My generation grew up on Richie Rich, Hot Stuff, Caspar the ghost, and Archie comics. Where are these now or their replacements? Archie Comics is still around and publishing teenage story lines. Disney owns Marvel, yet I never see any Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck monthly comics, they were around when I was young. I know, I got off the original subject, but my point is don't rewrite history, some of these characters have been around for over 70 years, whether the powers that be like it or not they are part of history. The attached image is borrowed from TMZ, please go to their website if you want more information.
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