Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Co-Creator Launching New Series at Image Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman has set his next comic book series, Drawing Blood, to launch via Image Comics in April. Eastman – who has remained involved with the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics even as they approach a high-profile relaunch, and is also a former publisher of Heavy Metal magazine – is teaming with writer David Avallone (Elvira, Batwheels) and artists Ben Bishop (The Aggregate, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin) and Troy Little (Rick and Morty, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) on the 12-issue Drawing Blood maxi-series. Eastman first launched Drawing Blood on Kickstarter and hopes to bring the book to a larger audience with Image’s backing.

“The completely fictional true stories of Shane ‘Books’ Bookman sums it up the best,” said Eastman in a press release. “Set squarely in our collective world of Comics, part autobiographical, part tall tails and legends, I wanted a fictional character we could really put through the paces. Drawing Blood is all that and a basket of kittens…”

Avallone added, “When Kevin told me his idea for the project that became Drawing Blood, I immediately understood three things: it was something that hadn’t really been done before in comics, it could be really amazing… and that I wanted to write it with him. He kindly brought me on as co-creator, and we’ve had a blast turning all the crazy stories of a life in comics into this funny, entertaining, and heartbreaking saga of survival and redemption in show business.”

“Drawing Blood truly is a story unlike any other…” Bishop said. “It’s not only a glimpse behind the scenes at the world of making comics, and what life might be like decades after co-creating one of the world’s biggest franchises—but a look inside the tormented mind of the comic’s creator—as he searches to reconnect with that part of himself who once drew pictures on his bedroom floor with his brother and dreamed of one day making comic books for real. We all put our hearts and souls into this book and it’s so incredibly special to each of us. I know people are going to be able to feel that when they’re reading. Get ready…”

Described as a “true fictional story,” the press release says Drawing Blood “will follow the jaw-dropping journey of Shane Bookman—a cartoonist whose real life has become more absurd and action-packed than any comic book story he could dream up! Once upon a time, Bookman co-created The Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls: a gritty, funny indie comic that became a billion dollar global franchise. Now, years later, the partnership dissolved, the corporate buy-out all spent, Books is struggling to recover from the hit-and-run driver called early success… and looking for the will and the joy to create something new again.”

“The Mirage Studios Turtles had a massive impact on me wanting to become a comic creator so there’s a lot of full circle happening for me with Drawing Blood and the Ragdolls,” said Little. “Being able to collaborate with this team to create and expand a meta-fiction where I get to draw cats with ninja weapons based on a hit property that never existed, creating a sort of Mandela effect… I mean, you all remember the cartoon series from the ’90s, right? Those cats were badass!”

Drawing Blood #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, April 24th. It will also be available on digital platforms.