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*DrSpengler* · 12-24-2017, 02:57 PM

Well, imagine if all the IDW TMNT miniseries prior to universe had all been part of a numbered ongoing rather than isolated, and you'ce essentially got what Universe is. I enjoyed a bunch of those minis (Secret History of the Foot Clan, Mutanimals, the Microseries), felt lukewarm about some others (Turtles in Time, Utrom Empire) and only outright disliked one of them (Casey & April).

So Universe is gonna get the same reaction. Better to view it as a collection of miniseries and one-shots rather than a consistent ongoing and judge each story arc by its own merits. I mean, I really dug The War to Come and Metalhead 2.0, and I've REALLY REALLY dug some of the one-shots (The Rot in the Shell) but other arcs have left me feeling mixed (Toad Baron's Ball, Karai's Path).

I think one aspect of Universe that is unique from the previous isolated miniseries and does deserve some criticism is the back-ups. While they've all had story elements that tie into the ongoing narrative, none of them have been very appealing to me and are sometimes strung out way too long in comparison to the substance they're trying to say. If the book has to cost $5, I'd much rather the page space be given to the main story and the back-ups eliminated entirely. They did that with They Jersey Devil and that one-shot benefited tremendously from the extra elbow room.

So in regards to the question as to whether or not it gets better, that is sort of subjective, since I already admitted to liking some of the arcs you didn't. But you can expect some variety and just like the minis, the story arcs and creative teams don't stick around for long, so if you don't like something then you might like what comes after it.

12-24-2017, 02:57 PM	#2
DrSpengler Foot Elite Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 4,830	Well, imagine if all the IDW TMNT miniseries prior to universe had all been part of a numbered ongoing rather than isolated, and you'ce essentially got what Universe is. I enjoyed a bunch of those minis (Secret History of the Foot Clan, Mutanimals, the Microseries), felt lukewarm about some others (Turtles in Time, Utrom Empire) and only outright disliked one of them (Casey & April). So Universe is gonna get the same reaction. Better to view it as a collection of miniseries and one-shots rather than a consistent ongoing and judge each story arc by its own merits. I mean, I really dug The War to Come and Metalhead 2.0, and I've REALLY REALLY dug some of the one-shots (The Rot in the Shell) but other arcs have left me feeling mixed (Toad Baron's Ball, Karai's Path). I think one aspect of Universe that is unique from the previous isolated miniseries and does deserve some criticism is the back-ups. While they've all had story elements that tie into the ongoing narrative, none of them have been very appealing to me and are sometimes strung out way too long in comparison to the substance they're trying to say. If the book has to cost $5, I'd much rather the page space be given to the main story and the back-ups eliminated entirely. They did that with They Jersey Devil and that one-shot benefited tremendously from the extra elbow room. So in regards to the question as to whether or not it gets better, that is sort of subjective, since I already admitted to liking some of the arcs you didn't. But you can expect some variety and just like the minis, the story arcs and creative teams don't stick around for long, so if you don't like something then you might like what comes after it.