Favorite Archie storylines
 

So I've been re-reading Archie over the last few days (up to issue #51 already), and I really like many of the stronger Archie plotlines. After you move on from some of the early issues, the series really takes off in terms of plotlines. Some of my favorites:

- Initial Malinga invasion of Earth. Not as good as later arcs, but it's a nice preview of things to come, along with Raph/Mondo Gecko sneaking aboard the ship. This is also the first time the Mutanimals team up with the Turtles.

- The Krang on Shredder's head story where he takes over his body, which also introduced Slash and Bellybomb, and brought back Bebop/Rocksteady.

- The Four Horseman storyarc, which had the Mutanimals team up with the Turtles against Null and the Four Horseman of the Apocaypse.

- The Future Shark arc, which of course made Armaggon a major villain, introduced the Future Turtles and their timeline, and had Shredder, Verminator-X and The Rat King all team up against them in an epic showdown.

- The Warrior Dragon (based on Hot Head) Chinatown story, which was a more mystical story where Chien Khan tries to resurrect a demon, and then this continued into the April O'Neil mini where they have a gang war arc. This arc also introduces Ninjara.

- The Black Hole trilogy, another epic space arc that brings Sarnath and the Turnstone and the gray Aliens back into play. Basically the Archie version of, "Turtles in Space."

- Megadeath/Malinga's last stand, etc. Malinga dies and burns into the sun, the Mutanimals are all dead, Slash sacrifices himself, Null transforms into a demon. This was all pretty shocking for what was a kids comics at the time.

- Turtles exposed and captured by the U.S. government. Similar to the Volume 2 storyline with Darpa, and this would later inspire Bishop's creation in the 4kids series.

- Cyber Turtles arc. 5 issue arc in the future with the Cyber Turtles, Verminator X is defeated and reformed

- Year of the Turtle, which was the last issues Archie put out. Basically turned out to be the final battle against Shredder.


They also had a lot of nice one-shot stories about Scumbug/Wyrm, the Middle Eastern arc, the Chameleon arc, the Turtle tots issues, and the ones Ninjara reunited with her fox people.

The one where Bebop and Rocksteady decided to get naked and disappear forever.

I've never liked Archie TMNT. Ever.

But I do like the story where Mike is captured by the U.S. government and tortured, and then after being rescued, Mike saves his captor from drowning or whatever it was.

That was good.

The stories I listed are all as good as the stories in any other TMNT comic series. There's no difference.

Archie TMNT is my childhood and my gateway drug to all things TMNT!

Hands down, the best arcs (at least for me) are the battle for the Turnstone in Dimension X, the return of Krang with Slash and Bellybomb in tow and the infamous "Krang's head on Shredder's body" thing, and the arc that introduced Ninjara. The art on that last one was top notch for the run.

Honorable mentions to Leatherhead's introduction and the first Scumbug vs Wyrm.

You're cute when you're autistic. :trazz:

OMG, I can't believe Cubed is actually defending the Archie TMNT comics. This feels like some weird out-of-body experience here.

I, uh... Look, I know you like just about anything TMNT as long as it's not without some redeeming qualities but do you really feel the Archie holds up that well? Does the storyline where Krang uses Shredder's head as a buttplug really stack up to City at War?

Yeah, I don't get what Cylon is implying. The actual arcs and stories in Archie are very similar to IDW's writing style (especially with all the mutants), just with various changes here and there. Swap some of the mutant characters around, swap Alopex for Ninjara, etc. and it's similar writing style and develop.

In fact nearly all the Archie plotlines would fit right at home in the IDW universe, again just with some minor changes here and there for some character discrepencies.

That one was just fanservice fun, but the idea of Krang being able to control bodies was nice.

I'm talking about the ones involving Armaggon, the Future Turtles, the space arcs, the Chinatown gang war stories, the Malinga invasion issues, the Null arcs, and the various fun one-shot stories they did.

You know one thing I always loved about the Archie series was how it didn't veer from delving into some serious social commentary, and not just about global warming or saving the Earth. There was a story in one of the specials about a young boy with special mental powers who went crazy because his mom would lose her temper and verbally abuse him, causing all sorts of weird monsters to appear. Now that I think about it, that could count as one of my all time favorite stories.

There's also the one where Splinter's sensei went blind from seeing the Atom Bomb in 1945. Then I liked how the Middle Eastern arc taught kids about religions and lifestyles, the whole arc about reincarnation with the Charlie Llama.

Yea, me too. Of course the stinkin Jesus freak parents of America had to go and put a damper on that whole thing.
"How dare you put this kind of stuff in a children's comic; read your bible!!!", which is funny because there was even a page in Mighty Mutanimals that depicted the iconic Garden of Eden story.

It's funny how violent and adult the Archie comic gets as it progresses too. The first 25 or so issues are fairly kid-oriented and friendly, then after that it really picks up with better storylines, actual death and violence, and more serious situations.

And of course, this infamous moment, which I en-captured in a very amusing meme:

Yeah, never understood the reputation Archie gets as the "kiddie" TMNT book, makes me think people didn't read pass the first 25 issues or so.

Around the 30-40 issue mark and onward it's just like any TMNT comic series for teens/adults.

You gotta keep in mind, it started out as a comic book adaptation of the original cartoon, which was always geared at youngsters.

Which is how it started, but after issue 25 it gets more and more serious and action oriented. It's kind of funny, issue 25 also wraps up Shredder/Krang/Bebop/Rocksteady, so that seemed like the "turning point" of moving away from the Fred Wolf show.

Shredder himself also stops being goofy and becomes more of a competent villain in his later appearances too.

Yea, though I'm still a little confused on his involvement with Armaggon in the future. At one point they establish that he jumped through a time slip right after the events of issue 4 (the comic book adaptation of "Incredible Shrinking Turtles") It's possible at some point between that scene and issue 5 he returned to present day, otherwise how would he have recollected the time Krang took control over his body? That being the case though, he would've been aware of future events the entire time and have been able to manipulate the past ala Biff Tannen!!!

The difference is that the IDW has more build-up and doesn't take sharp, unexpeted turns nearly as often.

Not hard to answer, Donatello is a character more people care about.