The Shredder – Future Erred – MK Stangeland Jr.

(RAPHAEL has found himself in a dark, war-torn version of the future. Here, he’s confronted by what at first glance appears to be the SHREDDER.)

(4~ Panels)

Panel 1: SHREDDER removes his mask as he holds RAPHAEL in the air, revealing himself to actually be a future version of RAPHAEL – SHREDDER!RAPH. His armor is redesigned to fit the turtle’s body structure. His face lacks his typical red mask, but he has a number of scars and where future versions of RAPHAEL normally have an eye-patch, his missing eye is instead flowing with dark, mystical energy.

SHREDDER!RAPH: Why would I want to kill you when you offer us a second chance?

RAPHAEL: You…Me…?!

Panel 2: SHREDDER!RAPH drops RAPHAEL, who fails to catch himself on account of shock.

SFX: thunk

SHREDDER!RAPH (1): Yeah. I’m who you become.

SHREDDER!RAPH (2): Or I was.

Panel 3: RAPHAEL holds his sais as he picks himself up, positioning himself like he’s ready for another bout against his future self. SHREDDER!RAPH is unimpressed.

RAPHAEL: I’m going to need a better explanation than that!

SHREDDER!RAPH: I’ll give you one.

Panel 4: This and the rest of the page should flow together as if they were one large panel, even as they have their own individual pieces. The whole of it is highlighted against a backdrop of the same kind of energy flowing out of SHREDDER!RAPH’s missing eye, and should be arranged so that it starts from the corner of SHREDDER!RAPH’s missing eye and then flows to fill the rest of the page.

Panel 4-1: SHREDDER – OROKU SAKI – stand above the slain bodies of MASTER SPLINTER, DONATELLO, and MICHELANGELO. He holds LEONARDO by the neck and prepares to kill him.

SHREDDER!RAPH (1): He killed ‘em. All of ‘em. My brothers, Master Splinter. Even Casey Jones.

SHREDDER!RAPH (2): Almost killed me too. I barely escaped, and then spent years planning revenge.

Panel 4-2: RAPHAEL stands triumphant above the dead body of ORODU SAKI and holds SHREDDER’s helmet in his hands above him like he’s just claimed the worlds greatest trophy.

SHREDDER!RAPH: And then killed him and seized control of the Foot. I tried to use them to do some good in this world. In my family’s memory.

Panel 4-3: SHREDDER!RAPH – now appearing in his present armor, but without all the battle scars and with both his eyes. He leads an army of FOOT NINJAS into battle.

SHREDDER!RAPH: I think you can tell that didn’t work out too well.

(END PAGE)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - TMNT MAX - Danial Carroll

PANEL ONE, WIDE
Establishing shot of an expensive mansion. Armed guards, some with dogs, patrol the grounds. Think True Lies.


PANEL TWO
Two guards are patrolling together, passing under a tree. They have a dog with them.


PANEL THREE
The dog is being pulled into the air via a long garrote wire around its neck. The guards are staring in shock.

GUARD: Wha--


PANEL FOUR
Close up on one guard, holding his neck. We can see a ninja star protruding from between his fingers. Blood is spraying from the severed carotid artery.

GUARD: ->GLKK<-


PANEL FIVE
Close up on the other guard. He has his radio to his mouth, about to speak. He looks terrified. Behind him, in the darkness, we see two black glistening eyes and the shine of a blade approaching the man's neck.


PANEL SIX
Wide shot, showing the dog hanging dead from the tree, the first guard dead on the ground, and the second guard on his knees, clutching at his slashed neck, his hands and clothes already soaked in blood. There is no sign of their assailants.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Secret Origin - Matt Duarte

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in “Secret Origin” by Matt Duarte

Panel 1

Description: A young man, with shinny red hair is standing in front of a pet shop. He is looking eagerly at the displays in the window. Around him, many people walk in the busy sidewalk.

CAPTION: “Turtles have it all figured out, son!” he used to say whenever we passed in front of this shop.

CAPTION: “Slow an’ steady wins the race izza given, but they know how to roll with da punches. They get into their shells and wait until it’s safe ta come out. It’s not fear, it’s called being practical.”

CAPTION: That was my dad’s fighting style in a shell, so it’s easy to see why he would relate.

Panel 2

Description: A woman and her son are walking out of the shop. The boy coming out is carrying a small fish tank with four turtles inside. The red-headed boy who was staring through the window is now walking after them, looking at the tank.

CAPTION: He had promised to buy me a set of turtles as pets. He knew I didn’t have many friends because of my constant studying, and wanted to make it up to me.

CAPTION: “Once th’ next check comes in”, he said. I was already planning what to name them in between my history homework.

CAPTION: Perhaps after great Egyptian leaders. Or maybe skillful Civil War generals. Or even famous renaissance artists.

Panel 3

Description: The mother and boy are standing at a pedestrian’s cross in a busy street. Meanwhile an old blind man, carrying his walking cane, is crossing in the middle of the street. Behind them all, the red headed boy from earlier is trying to get across, and accidentally pushes the boy with the turtles, knocking the tank off his hands.

CAPTION: That’s what I was doing, settling on the names, moments before the accident, as I followed the lucky boy that had gotten four turtles from the pet shop.

CAPTION: I felt terrible about having to push him, but I knew the turtles would be fine.

CAPTION: “They’ll just roll with the punches!”, I thought, in my best “Dad” impression.

Panel 4

Description: The blind man and the red-headed boy are  laying down flat on the street, uninjured but shocked. A truck has veered off the street and a green glowing material is splashed all over the scene, particularly in the red-headed boy’s face, but also down a drain on the side of the street. It is there where the remnants of a fish tank lay destroyed, as the other boy cries and points at the drain. The mother tries to console him as she crouches next to him.

CAPTION: What came next is history. “Son of heavyweight champion saves blind man from certain doom!”, as the newspapers succinctly put it.

CAPTION: I know everything that happened that day. I’ve pieced it all back together since then, from the reports, except for one little thing.

CAPTION: I never found out what happened to those poor turtles I knocked out of that boy’s hands. I wonder whatever happened to them.

The End.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Escapology - Sime McDonald

Going for an action-oriented script this week after several months of exposition-heavy, dialogue laden ones. Here we go!

PANEL ONE

The largest panel on the page. 

The quartet of Ninja Turtles is running towards us, away from the threat behind them, a towering robot that has crashed its foot down on the asphalt, cracking the terrain. The robot should be reminiscent of Shredder; spikes, similar color palette, etc.

SFX

THOOM!

MICHELANGELO (1)

Aren't we meant to be - -

MICHELANGELO (2)

WHOA!

MICHELANGELO (3)

- - master combatants?

PANEL TWO

Michelangelo, leaping over the fractured asphalt as the robot gives chase.

MICHELANGELO

Not feeling so masterful!

PANEL THREE

Raphael, somersaulting over an upturned car. 

RAPHAEL (1)

Oh, I don't know, there's a - -

RAPHAEL 

(2)

HUTT!

RAPHAEL 

(3)

- - certain artistry to this!

PANEL FOUR

Michelangelo and Leonardo dive out of the way as the foot crashes down again.

SFX

THOOM!

MICHELANGELO

This - - ?

PANEL FIVE

On Donatello, grinning slyly.

DONATELLO

Escapology.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Put Away Childish Things - Rol Hirst

Panel One.

Carl, a young man in his early 30s stands alone in a room surrounded by TMNT memorabilia. Comics, toys, VHS videos, posters, T-shirts, mugs, caps, lunchboxes, old fast food cartons (with Turtles promotions), video games, replica costumes and weapons – the complete Turtles collection. He’s slowly, wistfully, packing them away into huge cardboard boxes.

Standing to one side of Carl is Janine, his girlfriend. She’s not actually present, except in Carl’s mind, so she should appear ghostly, immaterial, a nagging thought…

JANINE: If we decide to have a child, you’re gonna have to face up to certain responsibilities, Carl…

Panel Two.

The room is bare. All the Turtles stuff is packed away in boxes. Carl carries one of the boxes out of the room, his face full of sadness. Janine is not present in this panel.

CAP (Janine): We’ll need the room, we’ll also need the money. You’re always going on about how much that collection is worth…

Panel Three.

Carl loads the boxes into a beaten up old car. He lives in a rundown neighbourhood. It’s late in the afternoon, kids are coming home from school. Carl is being harangued by the ghost-form of his father, Frank, a memory from his childhood. Frank is not much older than Carl himself in the memory. He’s angry, gesticulating, shouting at his unseen wife / Carl’s mother.

FRANK: Sick an’ tired of working my ass off to support this ungrateful shmuck. From now on, Sharon, you’re on your own with him. See how you like wasting your money on all his stupid comics and girly dolls and… turtles…

Panel Four.

Driving his car (stacked high in the back with boxes), Carl pulls up outside the comic shop. A sign in the window reads “Cash-Money Paid For Big Collections!” Carl’s father is not in this panel.

CAP (Frank): Freakin’ turtles…!

Panel Five.

Inside the car, Carl finds himself joined now by his four childhood heroes. Leonardo is in the front seat, next to Carl. In the back, replacing the boxes of toys and memorabilia, the other three Turtles are jostling to be heard.

LEONARDO: We’re with you whatever you decide, Carl.

RAPHAEL: I say, ‘drive!’, man – and don’t look back!

DONATELLO: You should give this more consideration, Carl. Your whole life depends on it.

MICHELANGELO: What the shell, dude – let’s go bowling!

Panel Six.

Carl drives away. The Turtles are still with him.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Phrase That Pays - Maxy Barnard

The Premise: Cowabunga. Word with a weird origin (that being Chief Thunderthud on The Howdy Doody Show, long, LONG ago). So I guess I decided to see if I could take that origin and tie it into a fun one page script.

The alternative to this was to make a horror comic. Prove I made the wrong choice.

---------------------------------------------

#.1
We open on the turtles, all sat around a table, eating pizza and relaxing. All eyes are on Michelangelo, who is looking back at them with a mouth overflowing with cheesy goodness.

Leonardo: So, Mikey... Where *does* your catchphrase come from anyway?

Michelangelo: 'ashfrashe?

Raphael: That stupid 'Cowabunga' thing you won't quit yelling.


#.2

Close-up on Michelangelo as he swallows his mess of pizza.

Michelangelo: MMM! ->gulp<-


#.3

The other turtles all do spit-takes as Michelangelo explains his catchphrase to them.

Michelangelo: I got that from my sensei!

SFX (spit-take): SPWOOOOSHHH


#.4
A dim flashback panel, with Michelangelo kneeling before the shadowy form of Chief Thunderthud. Note: All captions, to better frame who each person is, have the face of the speaker at the edge of each box.

Leonardo(caption): Master Splinter?

Michelangelo(caption): Naw dude, my OTHER sensei. I went to him alone, whenever you guys just thought I was slacking off.

Donnatello(caption): So you WEREN'T just sneaking off for more pizza?

Raphael(caption): Just tell us who your sensei is, already!


#.5
We view this flashback from the other side, with Michelangelo kneeling in front of a large, muscular version of Chief Thunderthud, a tomahawk in each hand, and a large luxuriant moustache.

Michelangelo(caption): Don't have a cow, Raph.

Michelangelo: Howdy, dude- I mean... Sensei.

Chief Thunderthud: Cowabunga, Turtle-Face. Shall we begin?

Michelangelo(caption): He was CHIEF THUNDERTHUD, the only Indian to have a moustache, and he taught me EVERYTHING.

TMNT - Eventually - Ryan K Lindsay & Danial Carroll

TMNT in Eventually

Words by Ryan K Lindsay

Art by Danial Carroll
- - - Click for larger view - - -

My script for TMNT this week, titled 'Eventually', is a love song to Donatello. He was always my favourite and he earned this place because of his brains. Who wouldn't want to be the smartest person in the room? This brainiac also got a bo staff - easily replicated with a broom handle. I WAS Donatello, man.

I wanted to mix that love for Donatello with a slightly ninja-noir vibe. Think Brubaker's run on Daredevil, if you will.

Then Danial filled my email with some very cool art and the cycle was complete. It's always interesting to see your works trasferred to the visual and this is definitely a treat. I'd love to keep Danial on retainer to draw all my scripts. Maybe one day, for now we can all enjoy his new webcomic, (in)sanity. Check it out, it's Lovecraft goodness.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Eventually – Ryan K Lindsay

1. Raphael stands with Leonardo dead at his feet. He holds his sai ready but you can see he’s weary.

Raphael: Why?

2. Donatello sits in a throne, his bo staff in one hand on the side of the chair. The room is a cavernous hall, candles line the walls.

Donatello: Please, why not?
Donatello: A genius was stuck with a buffoon, a brainless do-gooder, and a whiner. I’m baffled as to why we haven’t danced to this tune already.
Donatello: Eventually this was going to happen.

3. Donatello stands, like a weary soldier.

Donatello: I don’t expect you to understand but please know that I’m not betraying you…

4. Donatello growls his last line.

Donatello: I’m solving you.

TMNT - 1987 - Ben Rosenthal

The following takes place in the middle of a story. There are pages both before and after it.



1. Splinter sits at a round table, crossed legged and addressing his sons – Leonardo, sitting patiently and attentively. Donatello is fiddling with a portable electronic device of some description. Raphael is sitting back, relaxed and Michelangelo is looking suspiciously at a slice of pizza as he holds it up to his eye.

SPLINTER
They seek to deliver a final blow.

LEONARDO
A blow, Sensei?

RAPHAEL
Yeah Leo, just like your leadership.

2. A shot of Splinter with a stern face.

SPLINTER
Raphael. 200 push ups.

RAPHAEL
But I was only....

SPLINTER
Raphael!

3. Back to the look of Panel 1, however Raphael is now visible doing push ups, and Michelangelo is looking very frustrated with his slice of pizza.

RAPHAEL (in a very small font)
Three....four....five...

SPLINTER
It is time, my sons that you are to learn a teaching of my Master. A technique I had hoped to spare you the burden of. The ancient way of the...

MICHELANGELO
ANCHOVIES! Why are there anchovies on my...

4. Splinter looking sternly at Michelangelo, almost the exact same look he gave Raphael when he interrupted.


5. Same as Panel 3, however both Raphael and Michelangelo are now doing push ups, facing each other. Their banter is not the focus of the panel. It is done in a small font, as they do not wish Splinter to hear them. It is not angry banter, more the kind of ribbing two brothers would partake in – they’re trying to one-up each other. Leonardo looks alert, as though he has heard something in the distance. Donatello has looked up from his tinkering with a similar look. Splinter remains calm.

RAPHAEL
Thirty Seven....Thirty Eight...

MICHELANGELO
Three...four....five

RAPHAEL
Mikey, count quieter, eh.

MICHELANGELO
You count quieter, Bonehead.

RAPHAEL
Call me Bonehead again and you’ll be counting stars.....


LEONARDO
Sensei, did you hear that?

SPLINTER
Yes, my son.

Why Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

Why? Because they’re awesome, that’s why. Any person whom grew up in the 90’s loves the heroes in a half shell. Fact.

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo were the epidemic of cool when I was a youngster. A hot cartoon series, a plethora of successful toys and three movies made the four mutated pets the hottest property on the planet. But why would I choose them for this week’s characters?

Two reasons – the first being the many incarnations of the turtles the tenured writers (and you kids whom play at home) have to choose from. Will we focus on the original graphic novel turtles, full of grime and grit? Shall we write a script taking place in the world of the 90’s cartoon, where Shredder has an English accent and weapons are seldom used for anything but to eat pizza from? Or will we venture to the movie universe? A weird amalgamation of the previous two worlds, but with much more Vanilla Ice.

The second reason simply being this – I will find any opportunity to relive my childhood. Any.

I suggest you do the same.