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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem launched a whole new era for the heroes in a half-shell, and with the movie's continuity spreading into an animated series, and now comics, the world of Mutant Mayhem is getting bigger by the day. Now, a classic TMNT character who goes back to the earliest days of the franchise is joining the cast, with Fugitoid making his debut in IDW's Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4.
Written by Andrew Joustra and drawn by Louie Joyce, Tales of the TMNT #4 brings the quirky and beloved android into the continuity of Mutant Mayhem with a twist that helps him fit right in alongside the new TMNT.
Newsarama spoke with Joustra about bringing Fugitoid into a new era, while also hearing from Joyce about his design process for creating the revamped hero, who goes from being an elder scientist's mind in a robot body to a much younger engineer closer to the Turtles' age. Along the way, we've also got an early look at pages from Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4.
Newsarama: Andrew, talk to me about Fugitoid! What do we need to know about this version of the character?
Andrew Joustra: Fugitoid is my favorite TMNT character, so it was especially important to me to honor the things that made Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s version unique while making him feel like he firmly belongs in this new iteration.
To be more relatable with our turtles, we’ve aged Zayton Honeycutt down, so he’s 19. He’s a brilliant scientist and he’s developing technology that ends up attracting the attention of the E.P.F. who hire him and fund his research. But it’s not what he signed up for and through a series of devastating events, Zayton winds up in the body of a robot that goes on the run.
What's the process like for bringing a classic character into this latest incarnation of the TMNT? I have to imagine things can get tricky when dealing with corporate IP.
Joustra: Honestly, I was very fortunate to have a good amount of freedom and support from both Nickelodeon and IDW in reimagining the character. Chris Yost and the team from the Tales animated series signed off on my scripts and Rustam Hasanov who was a character designer for the show came in and did designs for Fugitoid, Zayton and a few other characters.
I wanted the look to be consistent with the characters in the show and Mutant Mayhem, so like those I looked at the action figure from the original Playmates toy line first. That’s why he has the gold and black color scheme and similar shapes.
In your mind, is this basically the continuation of the show? We've seen comics before that go down the route of being something like a new season of a show, conceptually.
Joustra: I would say so, yeah. I had read all the scripts and seen the existing episodes when I started writing, so I was careful not to contradict anything that had already been done. I know the continuity is a little murky, but the events of Mutant Mayhem, Chrome Alone 2 – Lost in New Jersey, and the Tales series all take place before this arc begins.
How does writing the comic compare to working on scripts for the animated version?
Joustra: I feel like for a comic script I get to be a lot more specific about what I’d like to see in each panel. It’s almost like directing (which is something you try to avoid in writing a screenplay). With animation you know that what goes on the page is going to get storyboarded and changed repeatedly, while there’s less iterating with comics.
A comic script is also more conversational. In a lot of the descriptions, I’ll just be talking to Louie asking him to try things a certain way. It’s a lot of fun.
Louie Joyce: When I first saw Mutant Mayhem I looooved the unique visual aesthetic of the film! It's so playful, sketchy and grotesque! I also really liked how Tales of the TMNT took that aesthetic and translated it to a more 2D, cartoony style.
It's been so much fun taking all that visual inspiration, smooshing it up with my own stylistic inclinations and pouring it out onto the comics page. I've always loved the Turtles, and there have been so many great takes on them over the years, but this iteration feels like the perfect fit for me as an artist!
Speaking of new TMNT… what can you tell us about the upcoming movie, if anything? Just a taste.
Joustra: I can’t say much other than Shredder is the villain and the turtles are not remotely prepared for what’s coming. High stakes, lots of action, and I truly think it’s going to blow people away. It’s been a blast seeing it come together.
Pie in the sky, if you could bring in any classic TMNT character to the current version, who are you picking?
Joustra: Fugitoid was my dream character to write and I'm still pinching myself that I was able to do that. I'd love to do more stories with him, whether it's in this iteration or something else. More Fugitoid!
But if we're talking another character, I think it would be fun to do a new story with Armaggon, the shark mutant. Sharks make their way up the East River from time to time, which we’ve already established was exposed to some ooze, so you never know… (cue Jaws theme).
