Finally!!! Super stoked to share with you our DeadlyMike x The Collective B-boy Variant MetalHead version for TMNT/MMPR II #1
I got a story to tell about this cover, so please bear with me or scroll the bottom for links
If you don’t already know, a lot of my childhood was spent B-boying in the basement, going to jams to battle or any place we could find to break. It’s very close to the grind of comics in which your individual style is embraced and pretty much encouraged. It was a rule to be different, originality was key. It also required hours and hours of practice everyday, just like the comic art form and both art forms are self taught. Back in the day, my nickname was Deadlymike. I keep that name with me because everything I’ve learned comes from B-Boy culture from the grind to the passion. I wouldn’t be where I am without the lessons I learned from those days and it’s still in my heart; I just took it to another form. That’s why it’s such a dream to be able to marry all my passions into this one cover. From Saturday morning and after school cartoons to comics to b-boying and now back to comics, the cypher continues.
This cover has actually been in the works for a minute way back when Boom Studios did the first run of the TMNT/MMPR series. I was working on a cover for issue #5 of the series and I sent in a couple sketches. One of the sketches involved the Power Rangers and the Turtles in a B-Boy cypher in the sewers, rocking and just having fun.
To be honest, it was a filler concept sketch that cover artists send to editors to give them 3 options to choose from. It felt like something that made a lot of sense to me but I wasn’t sure if it made sense to anyone else. I felt like it was something that would happen if these two teams were hanging out in the Turtle Lair. I mean they’re teenagers doing teenager things like partying, eating pizza, dancing and hanging out. I would imagine them eventually having a B-Boy cipher and dancing on taped up cardboard pizza boxes and putting in Alpha-5 was the cherry on top. Drawing a robot doing the robot is a bit on the nose but it just works.
To my surprise, Boom actually loved it and gave me the choice to choose from the sketches. We ended up going for a different cover but my editor Dafna was kind enough to offer the b-boy cover in a future issue. A year later she hits me up and tells me that they’re doing a sequel to the TMNT/MMPR series with a new #1 and she wanted to use that cover as one of the variants to launch the series. ‘90s me was literally jumping for joy, with that same feeling of when I first landed a proper windmill.
How did we get to do a Metalhead cover? While working on the Alpha 5 cover, Dafna suggested to add Metalhead somewhere on the cover since he would be showing up in the book. TMNT is my childhood so Metalhead would be HUGE. The more I worked on the cover, it really felt like a part of me. It had to be my own variant. I put out the idea that maybe we replace Alpha 5 with Metalhead and that could be my variant. The planets aligned and Boom was on board once again.
While finishing up the covers I thought I needed to get “Heist” involved. Heist is one of my close friends and fellow B-Boy compadre (we used to destroy crews back when, haha). Heist & “Ninja” are the proud owners of The Collective, the biggest Graffiti / Collectible shop in Toronto. It just felt right to bring us back to where we come from and what made us who we are now. I couldn’t share it with anyone else. I’m really proud of what we’ve done and this cover is more than just a cover but a love letter to the dance form. A dedication to the B-boy.
Tonight at midnight we will open the pre-order but because you subscribe to this newsletter, you’ll get first crack at ordering