Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Captain Canuck

The poster formerly known as captaincanuck65
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Have any of you guys read any of the old TMNT stuff? I watched a documentary online about how they took the world by storm in the late 80s/early 90s and it piqued my interest. I grew up on the first cartoon and the toys, and to a lesser extent, the movies. But I had never read any of the original comics.

Some of them are pretty good, but then there are the others. And the continuity is a mess. DIB would have a heart attack.

But overall, the main series is pretty great in a zany 80s indie comic kind of way (at least the issues inthat are still considered canon and are collected in the ultimate collection hardcovers are).

I'm a huge TMNT fan, you talking about just the Mirage comics?

At this point, yes. I read the first issue of the new, IDW series (free on comixology) and it looks interesting too, but thus far, I'm really only reading the old Mirage stuff.

I think I gave them a try a while ago after hearing that they were nothing like the old cartoon and didn't get very far with them.

The IDW stuff is incredible, but where are you in Mirage? I don't want to ask something and risk spoiling you.

There was also a comic published by Archie comics that was very similar to the show. In fact, it originally was just a comic version of the episodes.



I've read up through issue #8 (team up with Cerebus) and a few of the Usagi Yojimbo crossovers. I've also read the whole series of Tales of the TMNT vol 1 b/c I found them first and there were only 7 issues.

I know sort of the basic premise of the next little bit. Shredder comes back to life, they have to leave the city and they go to Northampton (pretty much like the movie). Then comes the "guest writer era" that mostly isn't in official continuity. Then they go back to the city for a bit. Then back to Northampton again, then they go back to the city for the city at war story. Then it goes into volume 2, which I know nothing about. Then there is the out of official continuity Image volume 3, then volume 4 which takes place a long time after volume 2, with some of the details for what happened in between filled in by the Tales of the TMNT vol 2 series.

I really REALLY like the two part return of Shredder story in the Leonardo micro and TMNT #10, as well as #11 where April is keeping a journal on the farm in Northampton. I can see why the movie adapted those issues so closely. They were amazing.

The exile in Northampton stuff was mostly pretty bland, and the Return to New York three-parter was a bit weird. The Shredder Clones...

So I'm up to the guest era, which I think I'll mostly skip for now. I'm really interested in reading the City At War epic. In my opinion, the turtles are much better suited for gritty, urban, ninja stuff than they are for wacky scifi/mystical/timetravel/crossover adventures.

So my foray into the TMNT has led me into Usagi Yojimbo too. I'm reading some of the old comics from the 80s. It's really good. It's fun and simple, yet has an epic feeling to it. Sakai also did a great job of developing interesting characters.

Usagi Yojimbo is the best.


Hey, I'm really into this book now. I figured
I'd start a thread for it. I wonder if one of the mods can transport the posts about TMNT from the "All about comics" thread into this one. Thanks.

I just read Rick Veitch's three-parter "The River". That first issue was one of the creepiest things I've ever read. It's too bad that Eastman considers it non-canon, because it it's quite a good story and it actually introduces Casey & April's romantic relationship.

It's also too bad that legal issues over the rights prevent it from being reprinted.
 
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Sorry, Canuck, I'm still trying to find my copies. They're probably at my parents house. That's the one with the aliens and the old man right?
 
Sorry, Canuck, I'm still trying to find my copies. They're probably at my parents house. That's the one with the aliens and the old man right?

No, the river is the one where the other turtles find out Raph is afraid of leeches so they pin him down and let one attach to his foot. The next day they go swimming and see a giant leech attack a snapping turtle, so they try to kill it but they don't have their weapons so they trap it in a cave, using Raph's shell to seal it in, while the others get their weapons. But the leech was able to suck Raph's blood through his shell and is now really really big and has arms and legs. So they freak out and kill it and chop it into pieces. Then Raph starts devolving and they realize that the leech sucked the mutagen out of Raphs' blood, which is why it was so big and now Raph is turning back into a pet turtle and it's their fault. So they got to try and find the pieces of this dead leech, hoping they will be able to use it to re mutate Raph. Except the mutant leech some how reformed and is now fully humanoid and intelligent and dressed like a park ranger is going around draining humans dry.

It was horrifying.
 
Yeah, Bloodsucker. The old man helps them. Idk why I remember Bloodsucker being an alien though.
 
Well, looks like I'm in need for a reading when I find them.

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Make sure you read the Leonardo microseries, followed by #10 & 11 as well. That's my favourite arc so far. The River is second and completely different.
 
So the IDW ongoing Ninja Turtles series is fantastic. I really didn't like the whole reincarnation origin at first, but they have used it so well and built up a whole mythology around it. It's amazingly well done. They have taken all the best parts of the original Mirage comics and the cartoons, and reworked them into an even better story. If you haven't read this, you need to do it.
 
So the IDW ongoing Ninja Turtles series is fantastic. I really didn't like the whole reincarnation origin at first, but they have used it so well and built up a whole mythology around it. It's amazingly well done. They have taken all the best parts of the original Mirage comics and the cartoons, and reworked them into an even better story. If you haven't read this, you need to do it.

Yeah, it's really an Ultimate Marvel take on the universe. I love it. I also just found my TMNT long box. Going to read some this weekend if I have time, if not then on Monday.
 
April is a drawing come to life?! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

Plus she found this out by going back in time and becoming a cockroach for several months, during which time she mated with other cockroaches. What the crap.
TMNT Vol. 4 #22 is the worst Ninja Turtle comic I've read yet.
 
I just caught up on all but two issues of the IDW stuff. The Ghostbusters crossover was fun and Mutanimals was surprisingly fun and emotional. April and Casey was really bad. The Vengeance arc though, man that was a depressing ending. Such a hollow victory.
 
I just caught up on all but two issues of the IDW stuff.
Me too, up through the tpbs that have been released. I haven't read the Leatherhead issues yet, or Bebop and Rocksteady Destroy Everything.

I read it all in 9 days...
April and Casey was really bad.
Yeah... Just pointless really. Nothing happened.

The Vengeance arc though, man that was a depressing ending. Such a hollow victory.
Why depressing and hollow? I thought it was fantastic. Sad to be sure, but they managed to make it poignant and meaningful rather than just one more time the Turtles killed the Shredder on a rooftop.
 
Me too, up through the tpbs that have been released. I haven't read the Leatherhead issues yet, or Bebop and Rocksteady Destroy Everything.

Bebop and Rocksteady is a freaking blast! It's so pointlessly over complicated, it's part of it's humor, and a ton of fun.

Why depressing and hollow? I thought it was fantastic. Sad to be sure, but they managed to make it poignant and meaningful rather than just one more time the Turtles killed the Shredder on a rooftop.

I meant for the heroes, it was a great read, but Splinter took no joy in killing Shredder, they become what they fought against, and then Mikey quit. It was like reading a Spider-Man comic, even when they won they still lost.
 
Just saw they started releasing TMNT Heroclix, with sets comprised of different iterations of the characters including original Mirage comic, 1987 animated series, Archie comic series, 2003 animated series, IDW comic series, and current animated series.

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I've just started collecting them, specifically the 1987 animated series version for nostalgia factor.

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Plus, there's a con exclusive turtle van:

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I was a big collector of Marvel (and some DC and Indy) Heroclix way back when, but lost interest. However, Ninja Turtles is a perfect property to adapt to Heroclix form and should hopefully make for some fun games. The sculpts are certainly impressive.
 
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