Duoshade issue in Ultimate Collection Volume 4
 

So I pointed out this duoshade issue with the old reprint of Mirage's #5 a few weeks back in this thread.

http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=41901

Well, that exact shading problem is also in IDW's brand new Ultimate Collection Vol. 4. Check the images below:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps178f18d7.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps33506fa7.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...psa7ce8f16.jpg

I basically just picked three random pages from the three books that didn't have the duoshade on them, but its not just those pages. The entirety of issues 49, 53 and 54 have no shades on them. The rest of the books look fine. Can anyone explain this stuff? Bobby? Anyone?

My gut says to blame IDW, but since this happened in a previous Mirage book, could it be possible that Mirage provided IDW with the un-shaded scans of these books? This is getting weird.

Yikes, this might make me reconsider buying the collection.

Wow, this is disappointing. The duo shade is pretty important for these books.

It's cool to see them without the shades but that's not at all how it should be. What the hell...

All I know is that our files are what Nick got from Mirage.

That sounds sort of like I'm blaming Mirage. I'm not. But that's the origin of the files.

That's really strange... I wonder if they felt they would look better this way? Or are the tones missing/damaged? I guess I must be a noob because I had assumed everything was done on one particular piece of paper.

Well, Dan is usually the first to admit that Mirage's archives were never very great in the first place. So it's not incredibly surprising that this oversight exists, but it's still incredibly disappointing. And just weird. Hmm.

Could you post more photo comparisons of different pages?

Ah, that's not good, I had plans for buying the whole ultimate collection later, but this kinda dissapoints me... :ohwell:

Oh man, that's very very sad. You would have thought that IDW checked the actual issues before making their "ultimate" collections. I've only bought Volume 1 so far (regular edition, LBCC Exclusive and Black Label) and the quality of the scans is just awful. I was planning to get all the others later as a set, but it just keeps getting worse.

Bobby, I think most of us understand that the files you received are probably far from perfect, but you guys at IDW know how to produce high end books better that anyone else in the business today. Whenever something like this happens, I just feel like it's a missed opportunity. I appreciate all the hard work that goes into making this collections, and they're great, but this little things are very disappointing.

Volume 4 is even out? I haven't received mine from amazon yet...

Ouch, I'll pass.

Though it'd make one hell of a coloring book.

Well, at least we are gonna see how the inks look without the duoshade toning, for the first time. I could buy it just for that.

Yeah its a disappointing, but I still really dig the Ultimate Collections. I don't see any other quality problems with them and I totally believe that Nick dumped whatever they had on IDWs desk and basically said, "here, you figure it out." This is definitely not the most disappointing thing to come out of TMNT, and strangely enough works as a greater metaphor for Mirage's independent publishing history and practice more than anything.

We can hope that when IDW inevitably releases a dedicated City at War trade or hardcover, that this issue is fixed, but it would probably be more trouble than its worth.

The Foot Soldier fight is where the lack of duo shade looks disappointing the most.

Seems unlikely, but hopefully a recall could happen in the future to replace these if a more complete version is ever acquired and produced? I already purchased mine and I don't think I'll be returning it, but there is no question that this is disappointing for fans who are excited to have City At War collected for the first time only to have an incomplete reading experience when compared to the original issues. There's no denying how important that signature shading is for these black & white books. It's what makes all the difference between black & white art and art that just hasn't been colored.

Another thing which would be cool is City at War issues re-released as colored classics.
A nicely done coloring would be an okay replacement of the duo shades, in case Mirage actually lost the duo shaded originals.

I'd like to see that. If IDW actually noticed the lack of shading before they released this collection, then they should have gone with a colored classic collection instead of this.

The more I look at it, the flatter that foot soldier battle looks.

Given the lack of attention put into the Color Classics reprints, I wouldn't count on a nicely done coloring replacement.

Shredder still has an all blue bodysuit in the color reprints, see the #10 preview images.