Weekend Reading: Mo Willems, Bruce Timm, TMNT and Wally Wood

Another big week for people with money to throw around as Nickelodeon just bought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for $60 million. This is yet another reason why it’s great to hold onto your copyrights. If you’re just working on Batman And The Outsiders #128, you already know it’s a basically a boilerplate work-for-hire contract, but if you’ve created Dingo, Rescue Dog Of The Outback get that thing copyrighted in your name and hold onto it. Because it’s always better for you to have the control - and any related money - than it is to just give it away to a corporation. In the meantime, if you’re tired of reading about contract negotiations, take a look around the internet and discover what folks like Mo Willems, Alan Kupperburg, Bill Crider and Bruce Timm are up to. Here’s how you can fill up your weekend:

Alan Kupperburg: Steven Thompson over at Hooray for Wally Wood, has a nice interview with Alan talking about his days working for Wood. Great stuff. Here’s a taste: “So then he (Wood) asked me if I could pencil Cannon for him. I took the pages home and opened up my T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and copied out the appropriate panels and adapted them to the situation. And Woody flipped out. He said, ‘You’re hired.’ Within three weeks I was also writing Sally and Cannon.”

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Viacom Purchases Ninja Turtles For $60 Million

Someone break the pizza out—we’re having a party with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Media conglomerate Viacom (which owns Nickelodeon, MTV, Paramount) recently purchased the rights to the crime-fighting crew for a cool $60 million. Previously owned by Mirage Studios and 4Kids Networks, $10 million of the payment went to terminating the rights 4Kids currently has, which was set to naturally expire in 2012 (because Viacom doesn’t quite have the patience to wait three more years).

Inking the expensive deal comes 25 years after creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman (Mirage Studios) self-published the very first TMNT comic. Cowabunga!

To justify the price tag, Viacom plans for an upcoming 2012 film, as well as an accompanying CGI television series. Oh those businessmen—they’re so savvy.

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