Mirage Comic question before reading.
 

Hello.

I don't post here often but i read daily, i love the Ninja Turtles since i was around 5 years old back in the 80's, loved everything about them.
And with that comes two questions.
I want to read the Mirage comic because i've never read it before.

My questions:

1-

2- How is the character interaction? Do they laugh together and have fun like in Archie or is it nothing but brooding seriousness? Do they interact with fun new characters like in Archie and IDW?

Thank you.

This is less a Mirage question than it is an Image one.
Image books are...a product of their time. They're not 100% GrimDark, but they're not a fanciful romp either.

1. This regards "Volume 3" which was a run of comics produced by a team at Image comics. They were intended to be canon, a direct continuation of Mirage's work (leaving off with their own Volume 2). However when Pete created Vol. 4 he didn't acknowledge the events of those issues, instead making his stories take place a number of years later, so none of what occurred really effects the big picture.

For some, Volume 3 is held in high esteem, because of how gritty it is. I personally would highly reccommend seeing it through (it's only 25 issues or so, after all), if only for how it rounds out Casey & Michelangelo. But technically speaking, you could skip it altogether & not miss a beat.

2. There is tons of fun. They've gone to alien bars, costume parties, zombie hot rod races, traveled time, etc. The first few issues are a bit more serious, & others scattered throughout are as well, but the turtles crack jokes here & there & definitely have the brotherly vibe going on.

The first film faithfully adapted sizeable chunks of the earliest issues, so if you hold that movie near & dear, you'll like what you see.

1. That's part of a non-canon 20-something issue series, so don't worry about it, it's never referenced again in the 100+ issues released afterwards.
2. There are lighter stories and they so meet "fun" characters, Renet for example.

Overall, it's not nearly as dark or serious as some people might make you think. It's just more violent than it's adaptations, it's still fairly goofy when you get right down to brass tax. The actual "dark" stuff is more like weirdly depressing stuff.

As someone who read and enjoyed nearly all the Mirage stuff, vol 3 fits nicely in the middle and once read, does not disappoint.... as long as younread the fan finale issues 24 & 25. These fan issues tie everything mostly up nice & neat just in time to kinda of tie in to where the Turtles are for volume four.

Like someone else above said, if you like the 1990 movie, the first 11 or so issues were the loose script/idea behind it.

There are some lighter stories, some time travel, the hot rodding stuff and some trippy stuff and then some really hard to read goofball stuff... Best way to read volume one is the 6 hardcover Eastman & Laird collected editions from IDW. Frkm there, also get the Zulli hardcover collection (I think its Zulli...) Soul's Trilogy I think its titled.

Vol 2 and the rest has not been collected as of yet.

If you are looking for any random issues from any of it, I have a halfway decent selection of books that fills out at least one issue of each volume. (Follow the link in my signature...)

The old stuff may not be considered "the best" but I find it far superior to the trade writing that is done with almost all of todays comics... knowing that a collection is coming has slowed things down too much and sometimes rushes it as well...

Sorry for the double posting....

I also originally skipped volume 3, but then happened to get a couple issues for about cover price, read them and its not nearly as dark and grungy as some will say it is... the first four or so issues the creators working on the book are really trying to identify and get a feel for the brothers. The art is a bit off and sometimes distracting but they get into a groove and suddenly the series is over... its really too bad and I wish IDW would work on getting those guys back and allowing them to do a proper ending for v3.

Seeing as others above me have answered your questions better than I probably could, I'll just give you some advice before you decide to jump into Mirage: this stuff can get expensive and hard to track down. The aforementioned Image series in particular can be expensive to collect, due to it's popularity and the print runs. People want it and won't let it go cheap. Same goes for Mirage; vol 4 issues are things people don't really want to part with and with the rarity of some of these issues can be expensive on the open market. And then there's the fact that a lot of these issues have never been rereleased or made into collections, leaving you to try to hunt down the original flopies to get the whole story.

I'm not trying to scare you off of Mirage or anything, just giving you a heads up. It might be a hassle getting into Mirage, but it's definitely worth it. :)

Thanks for the answers! :)

I love the 1990 movie a lot and it has one of my favourite Shredder and Splinter in it, and seeing the Turtles being teenagers but at the same time adult is really nice aswell.
Infact i watched the 1990 movie with my girlfriend 3 days ago :lol:

And i don't mind the darker stuff of comics, like with IDW it has some very dark stories and serious tones and i enjoy that a lot, but i just didn't like seeing my favourite characters get mutilated like what happend to Raphael's face... that is beyond horrible and i grew up with these characters so it wasn't a nice sight at all.

But since Vol.03 is nothing but "filler" and Vol.04 forgets about anything Vol.03 did then that is good enough for me, no more Turtles losing limbs and eyes and stuff, that's disturbing :x :tcry:

Again thank you for the answers.
Sorry i can't reply to each of you individually because that will take a little too much time :lol:

I wouldn't skip v3 because the Turtles get banged up...

Price/cost to track it all down is a decent reason to not get into it, but don't let battle scars stop you from reading it if you can spare the funds to find them all. Image is a really great run. Its not filler at all and Laird only said its NOT cannon after the fact... like buyers regret when you pay too much for a book that you already had or sellers regret for selling off a book because you needed some cash... lol.

actually Vol 2 was collected in the final volumes of Tmnt classics series.

https://www.comixology.com/Teenage-M...al-comic/95063

https://www.comixology.com/Teenage-M...l-comic/176488

https://www.comixology.com/Teenage-M...l-comic/235876

as far as getting into Ninja Turtle comics...

if you've never read them before, i'd say start with the classic early mirage stories.

https://www.comixology.com/Teenage-M...cs-series/7951

^ they are pretty easily available in digital

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1613770073/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

https://www.amazon.com/dp/161377088X/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

https://www.amazon.com/dp/161377138X/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1613774966/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1613775539/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

^as well as print, (though much more affordable in digital)

but it's always best to look to where the Tmnt all first started. :)

Thanks again! :)

I really want to get into the Mirage comic because that started it all and i've been a huge fan of the Ninja Turtles since i was a kid (i'm now 30 years old).
Read the Archie comics (and doing so again now), played the video games, watched the 90's trilogy, watched the 80's/90's cartoon.
My girlfriend even got me a Raphael figure this year :D

Can't wait to start reading the Mirage ones.
I'll look into it.

Oh wow, thats cool. I hadn't seen that. Thanks.

you're very welcome! :)

i picked up all the classics volumes during the last comixology digital sale, and was pleasantly surprised to find Mirage Vol. 2 hiding in there. :)


you're welcome!

the early Mirage comics are definitely a 'MUST check out' !!!

i love the IDW collected hardcovers as it has all the Eastman Laird issues, as well as containing foot notes from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird after each issue. that's in both the digital and Hardcover copy.
the colorized 'Works' collection doesn't include this.

which Raph figure did your Girlfriend get you?

I will deffinitly check it out, can't wait to start reading it but first i want to finish all of the Archie ones.

And she bought me the Classic 1990 movie Raphael figure.

http://www.toysrus.com/buy/movies-tv...91080-34158896

This one :)

Edit: While we're on the subject, does anyone know a good Ninja Turtle merchandise site that ships to the Netherlands?

let me know what you think about it when you do! :)
always curious to hear others thoughts on the original comics.

AHHHH! very nice!!!
came close to almost buying a set of those guy a few times!!
and now they released the Neca movie turtles!!!!
i'll just have to keep pretending i never saw them :lol:

I'll let you know when i read some issues, i'll post it on this topic.

Yeah the figure is really nice, i really enjoy seeing that figure.
She was asking me which Turtle was my favourite and i said Raphael and she then bought it :D

I'm also quite fond of the Funko ones, and there's this one Shredder figure from Gokin that looks amazing!

Also a question about the Mirage comic: Are there story arcs like in Archie and IDW or is it just a big storyline without arcs?
Not sure if they even did arcs back then :lol:

there are actually some story-arcs within the original Mirage series, and it does have an overflowing continuity.

the first three issues are stand-alone stories, though the epilogue of issue #3 sets up their first continuing story arc.

after that they go back into some self contained single issue stories, then in the Leonardo Micro-Series sets up one of my all-time favorite Mirage arcs.

i won't go into heavy detail, but it's something i'm sure you'll really enjoy! :D

For the record, Volume 3 isn't filler at all. Just because you can skip it without losing future plot point references, doesn't mean its filler.

Its version of Michelangelo is the single best one, hands down. It delivers on violence. The visual style is very noir-like at times.

^ i really do have to agree with Powder on this.

i only wish Michelangelo could be written in the current IDW Tmnt comics as he was in the Image run.

also with the image run, i loved seeing Leonardo Astral Project his spirit searching for Donatello in the first story arc.