The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

December 2, 2009

Interview with Tigerfog on the amazing fan art creation....

Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden!

(Click on the images below to visit the site!)

I had a nice, super in depth chat with Tigerfog today about this great comic. It's technically fan art, but it's soooooo much more. Tigerfog has really expanded on the Mirage Universe, and further developed the turtles beyond their teenage-hood. So you're sure to enjoy that. (The author states on the comic, it isn't appropriate for readers under age 15 due to violence.) Enjoy...

THE XCENTRIKZ: Tell any new readers out there about your comic, “Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden”, won’t you?

Hi! Thanks for having me over! Mutant Ninja Turtles is a webcomic about the TMNTs in their mid-thirties. It's a mix of old and new as it takes elements from the Mirage VOL.1 TMNT comics while introducing new characters and an alternate future of the TMNT universe where Splinter died early on due a terrible incident involving all four TMNTs and a curse. MNT Gaiden is a project I started in 2004 and it now has more than 600 pages worth of story and character development.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How did you get started in drawing? Have you been doing Ninja Turtles in fan art for a long time, or?

I started drawing random things when I was in kindergarten. My first attempt at a long comic was when I was in 7th grade. As for TMNT fanarts, I started drawing them in 2004. Before that, I only drew Sonic fanarts.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How and when did you decide to make a Ninja Turtle themed web comic?

I drew a very fast hypothetical art back in 2004 called "TMNT if..." which is basically what TMNT would be like if they were older and had a 5th turtle ally. Then, just for the fun of it, I planned to do a 20 pages prologue along with a first chapter that happens after that. In the end, I scrapped that first chapter to redo it later and the prologue turned out to be over 80 pages long. That was how Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden became what it is today.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Cool. What usually inspires the stories and situations you put the characters in?

I get most inspirations from storyline-heavy games with good character development. I find that they are good examples of how to handle character-driven storylines where characters evolve constantly as the story goes on. To list a few:

-Silent Hill 2
-Persona 2: Innocent Sin
And, of course, I get some ideas from the original TMNT comics, mainly the Mirage VOL.1 stories. I mainly insert references to the past of the TMNT to remind readers that this happens in the TMNT universe.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Good to know. So there’s a few new characters you invented… Tell us about those. What inspired your original characters?

-The most prominent original character I created for this story is Renoir, who is the "5th turtle" in this universe. Since Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden happens in the future, Renoir is the teen of the group while all the other TMNT are in their mid-thirties. I was careful not to turn Renoir into a Mary-Sue archetypical character when I created him. That's why he never gets or tries to get the attention of the old TMNT, doesn't stand out as a particularly talented person and is whiny and reluctant to be with the other TMNT. When I created Renoir, I took some aspects of Eikichi Mishima, a narcissistic and flirty young guitar player from Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Ryo Saeba, a perverted hitman from City Hunter.

-Shadow Jones, Casey's daughter, is basically an official TMNT character, but I made her a lot more impulsive and expressive to the point where readers of the Mirage comics will not recognize her. When I recreated Shadow, I borrowed the impulsiveness of Lisa Silverman from "Persona 2 Innocent Sin" and the down-to-earth logic of Lulu from Final Fantasy X.

-Another important new character is Davianna Wallace, who is a Japanese immigrant adopted by an American family in New York. For the moment, she is simply a vulnerable damsel in distress who is almost as helpless as Renoir, but there is a lot more in store for her at a later point of the story. When I created her, I drew inspiration from just about any female anime character that overuses the word "promise". As you can see, my characters are mostly inspired by stories from different kinds of media. There are other original characters, but presenting all of them would take me forever or reveal spoilers about the story!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Awesome, thanks. What reactions did the comic get early on? Were viewers generally excited, critical, something else…?

Since the story started with a prologue that only included official TMNT characters, it was well received for being dark and dramatic. After that, I think people were a bit divided. Generally, people happy about the fast forward 17 years in the future and the inclusion of new characters were vocal about it. People whose interest dropped at that point probably did not express themselves as much as the latter.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How have you gotten the word out to new readers about MNTG?

Back then, I still didn’t have my own site, so I was posting my art mostly through Deviantart and sometimes on a TMNT fan forum called “The Technodrome”. I already had a few people who looked at my Sonic artwork on Deviantart so, that’s where it all started for MNTG. After having done a certain amount of pages, I turned to The Technodrome to try to spread the word about MNTG.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What’s something that really challenges you in doing the comic?

By far, it was the inclusion of a 5th turtle in the story. I know that the concept of a 5th turtle as an original character is something that is generally shunned by old school TMNT fans, so I had to be really careful about how his character is played off. I mostly got good feedback about Renoir, so I guess I somehow succeeded… but the challenge is far from over, as the story’s not finished yet and Renoir won’t be written off anytime soon!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Great. In your opinion, what’s one of the coolest things about MNTG?

I’d say it’s TMNT, but older, darker and more violent and psychotic than ever… and it has character development!

THE XCENTRIKZ: What are some of the negative comments people make about MNTG? Did you think the comments were realistic, or not?

I think the most negative things I heard about MNTG were that the original characters were unnecessary and the older TMNTs’ behaviors were unrealistic and annoying. For the critique about the original characters, I could understand since a person’s acceptance of unofficial characters is completely subjective. I can’t do much about it since they are essential to the story and the universe, but since I tend to hear good things about them as well, I think it’s all a matter of opinion.

However, for the critiques about the older TMNTs, the reason behind their new behaviors was thoroughly explained and justified with the prologue and all the character development they get during the main story, so I have a harder time taking those comments in to improve MNTG’s story.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How about some fun personal questions… If you had a super sci-fi gadget for one day, what would it be, and what would you do with it?

I want a time machine so I can freeze time and take all the time I need to draw! If not, then I want a cloning machine so I can make copies of myself! Several people drawing means more pages done in less time!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Hehe, nice one. Okay. How would you describe yourself in five words?

Cautious, patient, distracted, passive, receptive.

THE XCENTRIKZ: If you were suddenly placed in the Mirage Universe… What kind of character would you like to be?

I want to be a simple foot ninja. That way, I won’t need to speak, just do menial jobs in the name of a clan based in Japan and be happy about fulfilling my objectives. If I get sent to a mission to hunt down TMNTs... I'll just pretend I need to perfect my ninjutsu skills or something.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Cool. What were you like in highschool? Did you like comics back then, too?

I was in Health Science. I wasn’t interested at all in my classes though, so I drew most of the time instead of taking notes! And yeah, back then I was already a big fan of comics and mangas, just like all my friends.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Do you consider yourself part of a sub-culture? Geek, hippy, goth, gamer, something else…?

I’m a huge fan of JRPGs, I know most of the internet memes related to games, I sometimes finish games I really like within a week after I buy it (finished Demon’s Souls in 30 hours in a week), I import JRPGs from Japan… So, yeah, I’m pretty much a gamer!

THE XCENTRIKZ: How do you feel about life as a web-comic creator? What makes it worth it to you, at the end of the day?

Life as a web-comic creator can be a bit frustrating sometimes. Time is a big issue to me. A page can take more than four hours to draw from beginning to end, so needless to say, it takes a huge chunk out of my free time. However, seeing my pages completed and linking to each other seamlessly gives me a feeling of self-accomplishment that nothing else can give me.

Every day, I need to draw, even just a bit, in order to feel like I’ve fulfilled my artistic needs. Part of me just is just itching to draw whenever I’m sitting in the office or when I’m away from home! The pros of doing a web-comic are that I keep drawing and practicing my ability to convey emotions through sequential images. I’ve been able to understand what storytelling technique is more appropriate to my style thanks to all the feedback I got from the readers. Also, it’s a fan project about characters I like, so it’s fun!

The main problem I have with this project is that I don’t see this project going anywhere else than on the net, as a fan webcomic: I can’t make any profit out of this project since it’s not my intellectual property, but it’s not like my life depended on it, as I have a very stable job right, so I don’t worry about it too much. Plus, I feel like MNTG is more filling the shoes of a darker TMNT story that some TMNT fans wish to read! That alone helps me overcome most of the hardships I encounter in this project.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Awesome. Anything else to share? How about a clue as to what’ll happen next in MNTG?

Yes. The next story ark in MNTG will be about Leo – expect more conflicts within the Hamato brotherhood! After that, it will be Donatello’s story ark and that’s when everything will get messed up. I mean it!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Yay! Alright, thanks Tigerfog. Have fun.

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