Ryan Brown is a
comic book artistComic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...
best known for his work on
Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesThe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...
.
Career
Brown began inking the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1985 and continued until 1988, when he and partner
Steve LavigneSteve Lavigne is an American comic book illustrator best known for his lettering and coloring on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title for Mirage Studios. He is the creator of Cudley the Cowlick, Sgt...
began producing artwork for licensed TMNT products. Brown worked primarily as
inkerThe inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
over Lavigne's pencils.
As a
Mirage StudiosMirage Studios is an independent American comic book company founded in 1983 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, based in Northampton, Massachusetts and best known for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series.-History:...
staff artist, Brown designed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure Farmer Michelangelo for
Playmates ToysPlaymates Toys is a Costa Mesa, California toy manufacturer and a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Playmates Holdings Ltd , which was founded in 1966.-Proprietary brands:*Amazing Dolls*Amazing Pets*Kinder-Garden Babies*R.E.V.s*Waterbabies*WOW Pals...
. According to credit included on the back of turtles action figures Brown also created Hothead, Scratch, Monty Moose, King Lionheart, Half Court, Wyrm, Scumbug,
LeatherheadLeatherhead is a fictional character in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. He was created in 1987 by Mirage Studios artist Ryan Brown, who also went on to create the Saturday morning cartoon series Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa for the ABC television network...
, Dr. El, Wingnut, Ray Fillet, Sand Storm, Mondo Gecko and Rock'n'Roll Mondo Gecko. Brown's comic book series, The Selected is populated with his old unused TMNT toy designs.
Scratch and Farmer Michelangelo are un-credited on the back of the toy packaging, but Brown has confirmed at different convention appearances that he did create the cat burglar as well as designed Farmer Mike. He also notes that the stool pigeon included with the Scratch figure was created by long-time friend
Dan BergerDan Berger is an American comic book artist best known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.Berger began his career working on the TMNT Adventures series published by Archie Comics and officially began working on TMNT in August 1989...
.
In the late 1980s, Brown, with partner Stephen Murphy, revamped the Archie
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles AdventuresTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures was a comic book series published from August 1988 to October 1995 by Archie Comics. It is mainly based on the stories of the mutant turtles Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael, and their rat sensei Splinter...
title for
Mirage StudiosMirage Studios is an independent American comic book company founded in 1983 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, based in Northampton, Massachusetts and best known for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series.-History:...
. The team of Brown and Murphy created the Mighty Mutanimals as a
spin-offIn media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of the Adventures title. Brown inked over 80 covers for the Archie
TMNT Adventures title.
His character Motorhead appeared in an issue of
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Magazine.
Brown created his concept the Hallowieners in 1984. Mirage Studios published a comic book about the giant mutant monster Halloween hot dogs in 1989.
Brown was a participant in the drafting of the
Creator's Bill of RightsThe Creator's Bill of Rights was a document drafted in November 1988 by a number of independent comic book artists and writers, designed to protect their rights as creators and aid against their exploitation by corporate work for hire practices...
.
Brown also created the
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Saturday morning animated television series
Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo MesaWild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa is an American animated television series created by comic book artist Ryan Brown, known for his work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The show was produced by King World and ABC's Greengrass Productions and animated by Gunther-Wahl Productions for its first season...
, and helped with development on its corresponding video game for the
arcadeAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
by
Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
. The game itself easily compared to Konami's own
WesternThe Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
game
Sunset Ridersis a side-scrolling run-and-gun style shoot-'em-up released by Konami as a coin-operated video game in . The game is set during the American Old West, where the player takes control of a bounty hunter who is seeking the rewards offered for various criminals. The coin-op version was released in two...
.