Official Image TMNT conclusion at IDW is HAPPENING -- "TMNT: Urban Legends"

[Galactus]

Vol. 3 didn't really carry any of the continuity from Vol. 2 and I'm guessing from comments Erik Larsen and Gary Carlson have made that when they started their run they hadn't read anything beyond the initial Eastman & Laird material (although it looks like they caught up towards the end) and the 'feel' is of both books is miles apart so I can't say it seems like one is picking up the baton from the other.

That being said I really like the colours IDW are doing with Image series. A few nitpicks here and there but most of it is really well done and wish the Color Classics had this level of quality. I appreciate the attempt made in these later issues to compensate for the fact that by this stage in the run Fosco's art had adjusted to being stark black and white and never intended for colour.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Vol. 3 didn't really carry any of the continuity from Vol. 2

Not out of the gate, but it did bring in stuff from the end of Vol. 1 (which, by consequence, Vol. 2 was dealing with as well). And Klunk.

At the time I kind of wished at some point they would have released some kind of a #0, that would have provided a "handshake" between the end of Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, but it really wasn't necessary.

and I'm guessing from comments Erik Larsen and Gary Carlson have made that when they started their run they hadn't read anything beyond the initial Eastman & Laird material (although it looks like they caught up towards the end) and the 'feel' is of both books is miles apart so I can't say it seems like one is picking up the baton from the other.

Erik wasn't ever up to speed (though he didn't really need to be... he wasn't writing anything), not Gary. Gary brought himself up to speed quick, I believe he said early on.

[AquaParade]

I’m pretty much okay considering Volume 3 an “elseworld” take. The characters all felt radically different to me, and while this is a common symptom of comic books, it went a little too far for me here. That, alongside Volume 4 essentially ignoring it, makes it comfortable for me to view it as an alternate universe.

I definitely enjoy it though. And if they ever decide to build off of it, this route would benefit them.

[Peter Palmer]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Does anyone else think it's pretty cool to see Volume 3 in color, as that kind of carries the baton smoother from Volume 2 (which was also in color)?

I tend to agree with Galactus and Aquaparade. The Image run is too much of a departure from Volumes 1&2 that I'm not sure I'll ever consider it as taking place in the same universe. Image will forever be an elseworlds, ultimate, parallel (or whatever you'd like to call it) universe completely separate from the main story in the Mirage comics.

To me, Image TMNT is akin to some of the guest issues from volume 1 like Zulli's "Soul" trilogy of issues; but instead of only 3 issues, it's 20+ issues. Zulli's take on the Turtles has a drastically different style and doesn't connect to anything in the main continuity. The same could be said about the Image TMNT, though admittedly it is much closer in feel to the original Mirage books than Zulli's take is.

However, I do appreciate the color in the new run. The original Mirage comics were in Black and White but had copious toning work done, which helped the art significantly. The high contrast and busy linework in Image TMNT made some panels and pages tough to really see what was going on and it was really begging for color. I think coloring these reprints was a good move.

And just so it's clear, I love Zulli's TMNT story.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Peter Palmer

completely separate from the main story in the Mirage comics.

I'm curious, what -- to you -- even is the "main story" of the Mirage comics? If you're to look at Vol. 1, #1-62, Vol. 2, #1-13, and Vol. 4, #1-32... what would you say is the "main story"? Like, one thread in particular? Something else? Because it strikes me that Vol. 3 is as much of a departure as anything else, particularly a lot of the material in Vol. 4.

[Peter Palmer]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I'm curious, what -- to you -- even is the "main story" of the Mirage comics? If you're to look at Vol. 1, #1-62, Vol. 2, #1-13, and Vol. 4, #1-32... what would you say is the "main story"? Like, one thread in particular? Something else? Because it strikes me that Vol. 3 is as much of a departure as anything else, particularly a lot of the material in Vol. 4.

As it happens, I've put a fair amount of thought into this lately as I'm sending a few stacks of TMNT books to be bound into a book for much easier perusal (a project I'm VERY excited about).

For me, the "Main Story" told in Mirage comics volume 1 includes the Raphael and Leonardo Microseries issues and issues 1-7, 10-11, 19-21, then 48-62. As far as Volume 1 goes, these issues cover the main story arc that starts with all the usual beats that casual fans know from the movies and such and continues it through to the end of the volume. These issues will make up the first 2 bound books I'm making.

I also count Fugitoid issue, but the size prohibits it from being in the book and it also doesn't feature the TMNT.

The next two books are all stories that I consider canon or in-universe, but they don't have much to do with the Main story. In these books, you'll find Tales of the TMNT volume 1 #1-7, The Donnie and Mikey Microseries issues, and Volume 1 #8-9, 12-15, 17, 24-28, 31, 35, 36, 33, 42-47. Again, I think the stories in these all happened in the main continuity, but they don't contribute directly to the main narrative.

As you know, Volume 1 is all over the map with all the guest issues and such. The above outlines my personal thoughts on the canon from the comics.

And just to be thorough, Volume 2 and Volume 4 both flow much more logically than Volume 1 and thus are easier to manage. I consider both to be in the main continuity with a big time skip between Volumes 2 and 4.

T

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Peter Palmer

As it happens, I've put a fair amount of thought into this lately as I'm sending a few stacks of TMNT books to be bound into a book for much easier perusal (a project I'm VERY excited about).

For me, the "Main Story" told in Mirage comics volume 1 includes the Raphael and Leonardo Microseries issues and issues 1-7, 10-11, 19-21, then 48-62. As far as Volume 1 goes, these issues cover the main story arc that starts with all the usual beats that casual fans know from the movies and such and continues it through to the end of the volume. These issues will make up the first 2 bound books I'm making.

I also count Fugitoid issue, but the size prohibits it from being in the book and it also doesn't feature the TMNT.

The next two books are all stories that I consider canon or in-universe, but they don't have much to do with the Main story. In these books, you'll find Tales of the TMNT volume 1 #1-7, The Donnie and Mikey Microseries issues, and Volume 1 #8-9, 12-15, 17, 24-28, 31, 35, 36, 33, 42-47. Again, I think the stories in these all happened in the main continuity, but they don't contribute directly to the main narrative.

As you know, Volume 1 is all over the map with all the guest issues and such. The above outlines my personal thoughts on the canon from the comics.

And just to be thorough, Volume 2 and Volume 4 both flow much more logically than Volume 1 and thus are easier to manage. I consider both to be in the main continuity with a big time skip between Volumes 2 and 4.

T

That's fair. But Vol. 3 was dealing with direct leftover threads from 1... i.e., where the Foot Clan was left and in what standing and all, particularly in relation to the TMNT. Directly. And it even got into Shadow's parentage, which was a thing Vol. 1 touched on and left alone.

[Peter Palmer]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

That's fair. But Vol. 3 was dealing with direct leftover threads from 1... i.e., where the Foot Clan was left and in what standing and all, particularly in relation to the TMNT. Directly. And it even got into Shadow's parentage, which was a thing Vol. 1 touched on and left alone.

Perhaps the best corollary I can provide would be the 2003 Hulk movie and the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie.

The 2003 movie was an origin story produced by Marvel Enterprises (pre-Marvel Studios) and Universal and helmed by Ang Lee.

The 2008 movie was a loose continuation produced by Marvel Studios and directed by Louis Leterrier. By "loose continuation", I mean the 2008 movie expects the audience to have seen the 2003 movie or at least be familiar with the general story or character history as it's not going to spend much time re-hashing these things. Bruce, Betty, and General Ross are present, though characterized differently and obviously portrayed by different actors and actresses.

The 2008 movie essentially says that Bruce and Betty had a relationship and Bruce was exposed to a Gamma Bomb that turned him into a big green rage monster. While these broad beats carry over, what we saw in 2003 wasn't in the same continuity as the 2008 movie. The 2008 movie leans on the history presented in the 2003 movie but isn't claiming that the events shown are in the same universe.

Another example of this would be the live action Batman movies. Batman and Batman Returns are clearly set in the same universe. Batman Forever leans on the general history of the previous 2 movies, but in my mind it's clearly set in another universe, which itself is in a different universe from the Nolan Trilogy, and different still from the DCEU. All lean on the same history, but they aren't all directly connected.

This is exactly how I feel about the Image books. The characters are all present. The book leans on the history of the stories told in the Mirage books, but I don't think they happened in the same universe. The Turtles mutated and eventually defeated Shredder (leaning on the lore), but I'm not led to believe that what we saw in the Mirage books is the exact history of the characters we meet in the Image books (different universe).

[CyberCubed]

Image is canon and I suspect the 3 new issues will make things fit into continuity.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Image is canon and I suspect the 3 new issues will make things fit into continuity.

Oh yes. It's being seen to.

[CyberCubed]

I wonder if the Turtles will get healed, and differently than you did it.

[Sharman]

I'm just happy the series will be concluded. There's nothing I hate more (well, maybe there is) than an unfinished plot ...

[CyberCubed]

Caught up to issue 17, the coloring is really good. I really like how they crammed so much story into these last 6 issues, and with only 22 page comics to boot. The pacing in the Image run was extremely good, it's hard to believe how much story material they covered in a measly 23 issue run. Modern comics could never do this.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Caught up to issue 17, the coloring is really good. I really like how they crammed so much story into these last 6 issues, and with only 22 page comics to boot. The pacing in the Image run was extremely good, it's hard to believe how much story material they covered in a measly 23 issue run. Modern comics could never do this.

Modern comics can, they just elect not to. Everything is "written for trade," no exceptions.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Modern comics can, they just elect not to. Everything is "written for trade," no exceptions.

There are exceptions, such as Ice Cream Man, but yeah, not so much at the Big Two.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Modern comics can, they just elect not to. Everything is "written for trade," no exceptions.

Could you explain this please? Interested to know what you mean.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Could you explain this please? Interested to know what you mean.

Most/all comics at the big two and even elsewhere nowadays design every story into 4-6 issue arcs, the idea being that it will end up as a 90+ page TPB. There isn't any focus on making the individual issues have beginnings, middles and ends anymore because they're not looked at as individual issues... they're looked at as just pages that will go in a TPB one day.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Most/all comics at the big two and even elsewhere nowadays design every story into 4-6 issue arcs, the idea being that it will end up as a 90+ page TPB. There isn't any focus on making the individual issues have beginnings, middles and ends anymore because they're not looked at as individual issues... they're looked at as just pages that will go in a TPB one day.

I mean... Are we going to act as if they're not just pages that will go into a trade? If you want to collect all of the Lee run on ASM, do you get the trades or track down the issues? It's not like back issues get reprinted more often than trades.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Most/all comics at the big two and even elsewhere nowadays design every story into 4-6 issue arcs, the idea being that it will end up as a 90+ page TPB. There isn't any focus on making the individual issues have beginnings, middles and ends anymore because they're not looked at as individual issues... they're looked at as just pages that will go in a TPB one day.

Ah so it's more a business decision when it comes to story telling. Yeah that's sad.

[Vegeta]

Finally the end is nigh, I fell off a while ago with buying these sadly, can't wait to buy the complete thing in a hardcover hopefully.