CCSE 2021: Updates For ‘Drawing Blood’ And ‘The Last Ronin’ From Kevin Eastman Studios
by Gary Catig
Renowned comic creator, Kevin Eastman, is a special guest for this year’s Comic-Con Special Edition. In addition to having a spotlight panel, he also held one talking about his current projects at Kevin Eastman Studios. Eastman was joined by David Avallone, Ben Bishop, and Tom Waltz.
They spoke about the series, Drawing Blood, which is a fictional story about a fictional character but is inspired by the comics real world. The main character is a hot mess and follows his journey after a great fall following early success in the business. Eastman discussed how the story is semi-autobiographical and it is a loving parody of all things Turtles. Co-creator Avallone updated the status of the title. He has finished writing the next arc, which consists of four issues, and the art is 3/4 completed. Also, Avallone always saw Drawing Blood being twelve issues so the third arc will be its last.
Part of the reason Drawing Blood has had a large break after the first arc was because the artist, Bishop, was doing work on another Eastman book, The Last Ronin. Waltz reminisced with Eastman about their prior work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He shared a story about how Jennika was initially a throwaway one-off character when she was first developed but she eventually became the first female ninja turtle. He wanted her journey to be an organic and natural process and first began playing with the idea of a female ninja turtle when a young girl had questioned why there weren’t any at a panel. Ironically, that panel also took place at SDCC.
Both Waltz and Eastman expressed their appreciation for the fans’ patience. The fifth issue of The Last Ronin is a little behind. Hopefully it will be worth the wait because you won’t expect what’s coming in issue #5. The whole process of the series has been evolving and they are thinking of where to take it next. As the panel ended, Waltz had two teases for the future of TMNT. First, he mentioned the word Roninverse, perhaps meaning the world of The Last Ronin may be expanding. Then, he also claimed that 2022 will be the biggest year for the Turtles at IDW.
