Blog on!

Well, here I am, doing a blog. I've been thinking about it for a while, watching what my wife does with hers and friends like Steve Murphy does with his "5th Turtle" blog, and finally concluded that it's time for me to get my feet wet.

I suppose this blog will have a significant percentage of content related to the Teenage Mutant NInja Turtles, but I'll probably be going off on other tangents as well.

What put me over the edge and pushed me to start this thing was something that happened at the recent signing we (me, Mike Dooney, Jim Lawson, and Dan Berger) did at the "That's Entertainment!" comics and collectibles store in Worcester, MA last Saturday. We were there from 11AM to 5PM, signing, sketching and chatting with fans. It was a good signing, much like the others we'd done at that shop (I think this was either our third or fourth time there). About half an hour before the end of our signing day, a young couple came up to our tables and started asking us questions. They were really nice folks (the kind of fans we love to meet, articulate and excited) and actually came up with some interesting questions.

I found them both charming, and gave them a couple of head sketches I had drawn on some paper plates (left over -- unused -- from our pizza lunch). Then, just as we were packing up to leave, I also gave them one of the sets of the NYCC TMNT toys from NECA that I had brought with me, which they seemed happy to receive.

As we were driving back to Northampton, though, I kicked myself for (a) not asking their names, and (b) not getting their permission to possibly use the photo I had taken of them posing with their paper plates, maybe on the ninjaturtles.com site or Murph's "5th Turtle" blog. So I was pleased a few days ago to get an email forwarded to me via webmaster Dan Berger -- it was from that couple, and it read as follows:


"Hi guys!

This is Michael and Rajuli, from the Worcester 'Thats
Entertainment'. We came in for free comics day on May 3rd, and we
were the two that hung around near the end and kept asking all the
questions.

We just wanted to say thank you so much for your time! We both
loved talking with you and asking all the questions we never
thought we'd have answered. You were so gracious and patient, and
extremely fun (and funny) to talk with as well.

Peter, thank you so much for the sketches on the paper plates, and the turtles toy set. You really made our day (week, and year!) and put a smile on our face, and gave us memories to last a long time!

And of course, I can't write this without thanking you for the
creation of the Ninja Turtles in itself! You guys really made my
childhood what it was...I had as many of the Turtles toys as I
could get (remember the turtles blimp?!), and it even inspired me
into taking martial arts classes.

It's great to know that your creation brought to joy to so many, and that you guys are still out there, patiently answering questions
from fans like ourselves.

Once again, we wanted to thank you for both your time and generosity!

-Michael and Rajuli"















So how about that? Problem solved. I wrote back to them and asked for permission to use the email and the photo, and they graciously gave it. Nice people.

-- PL

P.S. You might be wondering why I decided to call this blog "PALBlog". It's pretty simple, really -- it's my initials plus "blog". (I was having trouble coming up with a cool name, so I went with the basics.) But I also like it because it kind of reminds me of "Peblak", the name I came up with for the city in which the initial "Fugitoid" adventure was set. And -- for those who, like me, enjoy such trivia -- did you know that "Peblak" is an anagram of my and Kevin Eastman's initials?