Walking the Labyrinth; The Superhero’s Journey

by Ami Mehta

The Call to Adventure

• Help! Pikachu is in trouble.

• He has been locked up in the tree house in the center of the labyrinth.

• Rumor has it that one of the Digimonsters has technically malfunctioned and needs to be stopped!

help me… help me...

The Message of Fate

• Guide you I will, listen, learn and concentrate and save Pikuchu you will…

• Inventive you must be, clues along the way will help you...

• Write you MUST, everything, in your journal.

Embarking on the Journey

• Hello, in order to ensure your successful journey, I want to teach you a trick that will come in handy later -- it’s called visualization.

• My x-ray vision has helped me to get really good at this! Try it!

Embarking on the Journey

• Get comfortable, close your eyes, go into your mind and invent your own superhero.– How does your superhero look in

general?

– Where does your character live?

– What is your superhero’s costume?

– Is your superhero male or female?

– What is your superhero’s name?

Live Look

Name

Costume Male/Female

Recognizing Your Power

• I am a beautiful, passionate, heroine -- I am the "denmother" of all mutants.

• My greatest power is that I can read people’s mind.

• I can teach you this power it’s called mind mapping, then you will be able to rescue us.

Recognizing Your Power

• Think about your superhero’s power and write that in the middle circle. – In the two larger boxes write two

details describing the superpower.

– Write two more details about the detail in the top box.

– Great work!!!

Superpower

Detail 1

Detail 2

Detail 1a Detail 1b

Warrior Tactics

• Hello there, how are you doing? You’ve almost reached the center!

• We have one more trick to teach you and after this you’ll be unstoppable!

• It’s called sketching, we use it all the time with each other when we’re practicing our stunts.

Warrior Tactics

• Go to a fresh page in your journal and start to draw pictures of your superhero. Think about his or her greatest weakness.

• What is she/he afraid of?

• What kinds of things make him or her weak? Like superman’s weakness is kryptonite.

• What would your weakness look like if you could sketch it?

Weakness

Passing the Threshold Guardian

• Hellooooo… I didn’t think you would make it across the bridge!

• I guess I underestimated your powers.

• You may be able to rescue Pikachu, but you will never save the other superheroes!

• Ha…Ha…Ha… Ha...

The Sacred Grove at the CenterCongratulations!

• You have made it to the center of the labyrinth.

• Your efforts will not go unrecognized young jedis.

• You must continue up the ladder and into the tree house to free Pikachu.

• Once the tree house door opens, a magical weapon will appear just for you!

• This weapon will help you get back to the mouth of the labyrinth and free us all!

• May the force be with you...

The First Victory

• You are a true warrior!• I have been asked to

grant you this magic weapon which will make your return journey be much easier.

• Thank you again!

Pikachu…Pikachu…I knew you’d make it!!!

The Magic Weapon

• Invent, you will, your own superhero story to fight the evil digimonster.

• Remember, you must, the pen is mightier than the sword!

• Know, I do, that you will be successful in your journey.

Fighting Back• Hello young warrior,

you have almost made it through the labyrinth.

• You have one more big challenge left.

• You must pull together all of your clues into my Spidy web.

Fighting Back

• Because of your magic weapon the title has appeared automatically. – Next write the topic sentence for

your story.

– Don’t forget to include your superhero’s name and description. That’s the clue that Superman gave you.

– After you get done writing, draw a simple picture of the sentence.

The End of the Evil Digimonster

Picture

Topic Sentence:

Using Action to Combat Evil • Wow, this labyrinth is steep.

I can’t wait to get out of here.

• You are very brave and courageous.

• Remember, you must include action words in your story to ensure we get rid of the Digimonster once and for all!

• Every good story has action!• Remember the clues that Phoenix and the

Ninja Turtles helped you with by building your superhero’s strength and weakness into the supporting sentences.

• Also think about the following questions:– What will happen next?– How will your Superhero fight the evil

Digimonster?– How does your Superhero feel?

• After you get done writing, draw a simple picture of the sentence.

The End of the Evil Digimonster

Picture

Supporting Sentences:

Using Action to Combat Evil

The Rescue

• Hello there, I don’t know if you recognize your power yet?

• I know that it took me a while to understand mine.

• Anyway, you have one, final threshold to pass through. You must write the ending to your story.

• Then we will have a party in your honor!

• How does the story end!• Use all of the clues the Superheroes in the

labyrinth have given you up until now. Each clue should be summed up in the ending sentence.

• Just remember these things:– The story should end when the problem is

solved.– There’s only two ways the story could end.

Either your Superhero is able to conquer the Digimonster with his or her powers or not.

– Which one will it be?

• After you get done writing, draw a simple picture of the sentence.

The End of the Evil Digimonster

Picture

Ending Sentences:

The Rescue

The Final Victory Celebration

Hip, Hip, Hooray! We’re finally free!

We would like to grant you the Hero’s Medal

of Honor.

The RescueREAL NAME: Ororo Munroe

HEIGHT: 5' 11”

WEIGHT: 127 lbs.

PLACE OF BIRTH: New York City, New York

DNA ANALYSIS:Possesses the mutant power to create lightning, rain, wind, and other weather effects.

PROFILE:When I was a young man visiting Cairo, my pocket was picked by a most remarkable child: an orphan girl, clearly a mutant, living free and loving every minute of it. Little did I know that my pick-pocket would become Storm, a woman whose strength of will and character would make her leader of the X-MEN'S Gold Team! Yet for all the changes she's seen, her love of life and liberty remains as strong today as it was in that child.--Xavier

The Rescue• Character Description

• Real Name: William Baker

• Other Current Aliases: None

• Former Aliases: Flint Marko, Sylvester Mann

• Dual Identity: Publicly Known

• Current Occupation: Professional Criminal

• Former Occupation: Agent of Silver Sable International, reserve member of the Avengers

• Citizenship: United States of America

• Legal Status: Criminal record in the U.S., pardoned

• Place of Birth: Queens, New York

• Marital Status: Divorced

• Known Relatives: Mrs. Baker (mother)

• Known Confidants: The Thing

• Known allies: The Thing, Spider-Man, Silver Sable, the Outlaws, Le Peregrine, the Avengers, (former): The Sinister Six I, the Enforcers, the Frightful Four, Blastaar, the Mandarin, Baron Brimstone, Hydro-Man

• Major Enemies: Hydro-Man, the Sinister Syndicate, the Enforcers, Sinister Six II, the Wizard, the Trapster; (former): Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk

• Usual Base of Operations: New York area

• Former Base of Operations: Moblie

• Current Group Membership: None

• Former Group Membership: The Outlaws, operative for Silver Sable, The Avengers (reserves), the Sinister Six, the Frightful Four, leader of the Enforcers

• Extent of Education: Unrevealed

Wall-Crawling

Author: Spider-Man

Date: 6/15/2000

"I`ll never forget the first time I ever clung to a wall. I had just been bitten by that radioactive spider, and was walking home from the science expo. I was feeling a little woozy, so I didn`t notice a car coming right at me! At the last second, I jumped out of the way...and found myself sticking to the side of a building! I discovered the spider`s bite had given me the power to adhere to

almost any surface! I`ve been climbing the walls ever since!"

Spider-Sense

Author: Spider-Man

Date: 6/15/2000

"My spider-sense has saved my life more times than I can remember! Whenever danger approaches, it acts as an early-warning device, allowing me to instinctively dodge an unseen bullet, block an enemy`s attack or avoid a hidden trap door! Unfortunately, I can`t always figure out what set it off, so I`ve spent many a sleepless night wondering what I over looked - and when it will strike again!!"

In the years since the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello have become a classically comical part of Americana.

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the creators of the Turtles, started the black and white comic book with just $1,200 in 1984. With tons of work and a plethora of good fortunes, they've seen the Turtles go from an underground hit to a world-wide phenomenon. It's been a wild and crazy ride, to say the least!

After a long day of work way back in 1983, Kevin and Peter were relaxing at Peter's house watching television and sketching. "We got real punchy!" Peter explains, and they started drawing cartoons to amuse themselves. At the time Peter was doing editorial illustration and advertising art with some success while Kevin was working as a short-order cook and drawing comics in his spare time. As the evening evolved, Kevin eventually drew a bipedal turtle with nunchuks strapped to his arms and called it a "Ninja Turtle". Peter, aware of a nifty idea when he saw one, asked "Why not a teenage mutant ninja turtle?" and thus the legend was born.

Eastman and Laird liked the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle idea too much to let it remain idle in their sketchbooks. The creative duo wrote an origin story that parodied Frank Miller's Daredevil and Ronin series, comics that Kevin and Peter held in high esteem. The lone TMNT became a group of 4 turtles who had a ninjitsu sensei, a mutated rat named Splinter. Kevin and Peter experimented with drastically different looks for each Turtle, but finally settled upon a singular outfit that they all would wear. Each Ninja Turtle was named after a renown Renaissance artist. "We had all the Japanese fighting methods, but we didn't want to make up Japanese names because we thought they'd seem too strange to American readers. So we decided to go in the opposite direction and used distinctly European names. We both had studied art history, so we picked Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo and Michelangelo." Back in those days, neither Kevin nor Peter owned a computer with a spell-checker, so Michelangelo was misspelled as "Michaelangelo", fortunately everyone seems to get the point regardless of the additional letter "a".

With the story written, Kevin and Peter began doing the artwork. Since the creative duo had similar styles, they were able to switch tasks back and forth. Some pages were penciled by Kevin and inked by Peter, some pages were penciled by Peter and inked by Kevin. Once the complete comic book was finished, they had to find a publisher for the work. The guys tried unsuccessfully to find someone willing to print the title, much to their dismay... and eventual good fortune!

Kevin had just gotten a $500 income tax refund check, so the artists decided to self-publish the comic. They borrowed an additional $700 from Kevin's uncle Quentin Eastman and used the money to print 3000 black and white copies of the first issue of the TMNT. They had enough money left over from the printing bill to take out a single one-page advertisement in a popular comic book newspaper entitled Comics Buyer's Guide. "We expected to sell them all as single copies through CBG," Peter said, "but we got calls from distributors instead and learned about the wonderful world of discounts." Distributors buy wholesale copies of a publisher's books, typically at a 60% discount, and then sell the comics directly to the retailers at discounts ranging between 40-58% off of cover price, depending on volume. With the new information in hand, the TMNT comic was made available to the comic book distributors, which in turn made it easier for the comic shops to order the book. Retail distribution also relieved Kevin and Peter from the arduous task of individually packing and shipping their comic!

The first issue of the TMNT went to the printer on April 1, 1984... no foolin'! The printer finished the job in time for Peter and Kevin to debut the title at a comic book convention in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on May 5. Oddly enough, the printer hadn't printed the Turtle comic in the usual comic book format. TMNT #1 was an over-sized book. "We'd gone to a printer (who knew nothing about printing comics) with a locally produced TV schedule giveaway," Kevin commented, "We told him, 'This is what we want: a colored stock cover and black and white newspaper inside.' We never thought to specify size, so he printed the issue in the same dimensions as the TV schedule giveaway we used as a sample!" Ah well... it all worked out in the end!

Kevin and Peter decided to name their new publishing company Mirage Studios; since there wasn't an actual studio (only kitchen tables and couches with lap boards), they thought that "Mirage" was a fitting moniker. Peter had experience working with newspapers, so the duo made up a four page press kit, with a story outline and artwork that they sent to 180 TV and radio stations. On a whim they sent the package to the Associated Press as well as the United Press International. This initiative proved highly valuable, as several local newspapers ran long stories on Mirage Studios and their creation, the TMNT. PBS radio also did a five minute story on the mutant terrapins, and perhaps most significantly, a reporter from the UPI wrote a story about the Turtles that was picked up on the national wire and ran in countless newspapers across the USA. This massive exposure created a demand for the interestingly titled comic that caught eveyone by surprise! All 3000 issues sold out quickly, much to Kevin and Peter's delight! A second printing of the comic went to the printers and sold out its print run of 15,000 copies, and was followed shortly by a third printing that sold out its run of 35,000 issues! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the starting gate at full speed!

The success of the TMNT comic book led to other projects. Palladium Books produced a full-blown role playing game featuring the Turtles, Dark Horse Minatures produced several sets of TMNT lead figures for the role playing gamers and collectors alike and First Comics producing full color reprint volumes of the original series. Kevin and Peter continued to produce Turtles comics as quickly as they could and their popularity grew.

"When we created the Turtles, we wanted to spoof the world of super hero characters and poke good natured fun at the heroic but not-so-funny characters that dominated the business." said Peter, "The Turtles are fun heroes with an attitude. Basically, they act and think like average teenagers."

"They're always willing to lend a helping hand, but are constantly on the alert for the funny side of life." added Kevin. It's a formula that has worked well!

As the popularity of the comic grew, attention outside of the comics industry flourished. As stated above, the first issue of the TMNT had an original printing of only 3,000 copies, but by the time Turtles' licensing agent Mark Freedman came aboard, the comic was selling over 125,000 copies (making it perhaps the most successful B&W comic in recent history in the USA.) Mark caught wind of the TMNT thanks to Palladium's TMNT RPG book and was excited by the look and attitude of the Turtles. Believing that he could expand upon the Turtles' success, Mark contacted Peter and Kevin.

Through much trial and tribulation, Mark connected the TMNT with a small toy company interested in breaking into the boys action figure market and willing to take a chance on a concept that all the major toy companies thought was too risky (be wary of the opinion of "experts")! Playmates Toys agreed to produce the action figures if a television deal could be struck, and Mark pulled it all together upon meeting with animation producers Murakami, Wolf, Swenson, Inc. A mini-series was produced for syndicated release, and within days of airing it was apparent that the TMNT would prove every bit as popular to the television audience as it already was with comic readers. From there, Mark's company, Surge Licensing, formed an unstoppable marketing powerhouse that set a new standard of excellence in the licensing and merchandising industries!

The TMNT have had truly unprecedented success and eveyone of us at Mirage Studios wish to extend our sincerest thanks to you for your continued support of the Turtles over the years! We couldn't do it

without you! With a little more luck, the best is yet to come! Cowabunga!