Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Black White Green #1 - Leonardo saved by Donatello, Raphael & Michelangelo

Jesse Lonergan was another artist that I was able to add multiple pieces from this year after fully realizing the beauty found in his work. It’s also a great example of how watching CAF Collector interviews can sometimes cost me money. Steve M highlighted a Jesse Lonergan page from his collection and mentioned who Jesse was repped by. I immediately checked out The Artist Bullpen website and discovered this beautiful page!

This is from the recent anthology series TMNT Black White & Green, one of those limited color palette series that are becoming more and more common. This 8 page story is titled “The Brutal Sword of Leonardo” and finds Leonardo transported to an alternate sword & sandal type dimension & he becomes a Conan type character who raises an army of rebels to take on an evil army of lizard people. It’s the type of story that instantly reminded me of my favored TMNT video game from the 90’s “Turtles in Time.”

I was instantly drawn to this page because it features all four turtles and it also features some of Jesse’s measured visual chaos on the lower third that sees the turtles and Leonardo’s rebels in a fight against the lizards.

There is so much to take in in this page and that is a testament to Jesse’s ability’s to convey movement & depth. That portal opening up which brings Mikey, Donnie. & Raph is just brilliant! I love Jesse’s panel layouts, his use of lines to show the flow of the fight here. Just masterful work that needs to have more eyes on it!

Jesse is one that, even thought I bought two pieces from this year, I already find myself wanting more. It’s that damn good!