I hate to begin the year on a bittersweet note, but I felt that the passing of actor James Avery on New Year's Eve deserved acknowledgement, as he was a part of something strongly linked to this very comic.

While many may know him as Uncle Phil from the tv show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, true blue - or rather, true green - Ninja Turtle fans recognize him as being the voice of the Shredder in the original cartoon. James Avery's version of the Shredder was significantly more comedic than most other incarnations of the Turtles' archenemy, to the point at which many fans considered Shredder and Krang's interactions - which have frequently been likened to those of an old married couple - to be the funniest part of the show.

The Turtles were my favorite childhood heroes, and the original show remains my favorite cartoon to this day. Every character helped to make that cartoon as amusing and amazing as it was, and that includes the villains. It's no surprise that this animated series heavily influenced the tone I wanted to set for The Heroes of C.R.A.S.H., balancing action with character-driven comedy (And the occasional fourth-wall break). To lose a man who helped to make that show is like losing a piece of history, and by extent, a piece of my comic's history.

If you are interested in the quotes I selected for today's filler, be sure to check out YouTube. You can find James Avery's interview there. Webtoon animator Christopher "Kirbopher" Niosi - the guy behind the TOME webtoon series - waxes poetic on Avery's "immortality" quote on his own YouTube page as well.

(P.S.: I've heard different sources say that Avery's age was either 65 or 67; for the above tribute filler, I used the birthdate supplied by his IMDB page)