pudu2
02-19-2006, 01:59 PM
Hello fellow turtle fans…I’ve been lurking in this forum for a while and I thought it was time to introduce myself.
First of all I want to address some of the more popular topics here. And try to deliver a straight forward practical point of view.
TMNT Vol 3 (Image)
A lot of people don’t like it because of its extreme/over the top storylines. I enjoyed it for those reasons. You have to consider the fact that Eastman/Laird handed the turtles over to Erik Larsen to coexist in his establish universe. So the attitude of the series was more similar to that of Savage Dragon or Superpatriot. So it was violent and dark and the turtles were disfigured but the storyline had a focused direction and was well paced. In my opinion a series that repeatedly returns to the status quo has no direction or sense of drama. Savage Dragon received most of its popularity for these reasons and Larsen was applying his formula to the turtles. Larsen didn’t do this for egotistical reasons; he just wanted to make a successful series the only way he knew how. And I agree with his methods. A good dramatic story (no matter whether it has a happy ending) will see its characters hit rock bottom or suffer hardships through the course of the story. There many have been future stories planned to “heal” the turtles before the series was cancelled.
Vol3 vs Vol4 continuity
Is vol3 part of the continuing mirage continuity? No, but possibly it will be integrated in the future. The events of image vol3 cannot be referenced in the mirage vol4 because they contained characters from Larsen’s universe. Laird does not have permission to use savage dragon, vanguard, freakforce, and the vicious circle and therefore can’t reference these stories. This maybe one factor in Laird’s decision to set vol4 so many years after vol2 to have no immediate conflicts in continuity. Sure anything could have happened in those missing years maybe even all the events of vol3. But as of now that is not the case. In the future Laird might collaborate with Larsen to make a miniseries that explains the gap between vol3 and vol4 and why the turtles do not remember meeting any of Larsen’s characters. Perhaps some sort of time travel/other dimensional situation. But does that really matter? Enjoy vol3 for what it was. I personally would love for vol3 to continue separate from the mirage series. Most people accepted when the turtles had separate mirage/archie continuities.
Is the direction/style of Vol4 poor?
I like vol4. Sure the pacing is a tad slow but it reflects the new turtles age and maturity. Jim Lawson’s art could be better (my fav is his issue of tales vol1 staring Rat King) but his current style is by choice and is endorsed by Laird.
Laird is making the new series his way. He already has had mega success with the tmnt. The turtles have existed in many forms (cartoons, movies) which were successful but were heavily changed from his personal vision by outside influence. He agreed to these terms to generate more popularity/money/success and a turtle cross media empire. So he knows how to tailor his creation to reach target audiences (some might say sellout) and that’s just smart business. But now he has made his money and is doing what he wants to do. Be glad there even is a new series. Consider this: if Laird could not have the opportunity to experiment with the turtles in this fashion, he might not have been interested in doing the new series. Its his own personal indulgence and we are along for the ride.
If some of the new revelations in vol4 upset you (April’s origin) that’s good. Its drama some characters will have hardships. If you are upset Lairds has gotten an emotional response from you and that comes from good writing. I hope even more hardships befall the turtles to keep me guessing as to what happens next and how they could possible resolve their problems.
Why wasn’t the original cartoon a good as the archie comic?
First of all both existed (originally) to advertise the playmates toyline. The cartoon did not show many the action figure characters because many of the seasons were in the process of being animated before the toys were finalized. The timeframe of the cartoons developmental stage did not coincide with the development of the toyline.
For example Transformers the movie was made between transformers season 2 and 3 but the only pre-existing characters in it were from season 1 because the development of the movie started before season 2 and before many of the later series of toys were made.
The archie comic had a much quicker rate of development and could incorporate much of the toy line as needed.
For example the g.i. joe marvel comic feature nearly all of the toyline while the sunbow/Dic cartoon series featured far less.
That said, I love the archie series very much and it remains my favorite tmnt series. I only wish I could track down the issues I’m missing…
:D Does this forum allow sharing of TMNT comic scans? I am currently working of scanning a nearly complete collection of turtle comics in chronological order. Any help would be appreciated and of course shared with all in this forum. If not I’ll never mention it again.
So what do you think about that?
First of all I want to address some of the more popular topics here. And try to deliver a straight forward practical point of view.
TMNT Vol 3 (Image)
A lot of people don’t like it because of its extreme/over the top storylines. I enjoyed it for those reasons. You have to consider the fact that Eastman/Laird handed the turtles over to Erik Larsen to coexist in his establish universe. So the attitude of the series was more similar to that of Savage Dragon or Superpatriot. So it was violent and dark and the turtles were disfigured but the storyline had a focused direction and was well paced. In my opinion a series that repeatedly returns to the status quo has no direction or sense of drama. Savage Dragon received most of its popularity for these reasons and Larsen was applying his formula to the turtles. Larsen didn’t do this for egotistical reasons; he just wanted to make a successful series the only way he knew how. And I agree with his methods. A good dramatic story (no matter whether it has a happy ending) will see its characters hit rock bottom or suffer hardships through the course of the story. There many have been future stories planned to “heal” the turtles before the series was cancelled.
Vol3 vs Vol4 continuity
Is vol3 part of the continuing mirage continuity? No, but possibly it will be integrated in the future. The events of image vol3 cannot be referenced in the mirage vol4 because they contained characters from Larsen’s universe. Laird does not have permission to use savage dragon, vanguard, freakforce, and the vicious circle and therefore can’t reference these stories. This maybe one factor in Laird’s decision to set vol4 so many years after vol2 to have no immediate conflicts in continuity. Sure anything could have happened in those missing years maybe even all the events of vol3. But as of now that is not the case. In the future Laird might collaborate with Larsen to make a miniseries that explains the gap between vol3 and vol4 and why the turtles do not remember meeting any of Larsen’s characters. Perhaps some sort of time travel/other dimensional situation. But does that really matter? Enjoy vol3 for what it was. I personally would love for vol3 to continue separate from the mirage series. Most people accepted when the turtles had separate mirage/archie continuities.
Is the direction/style of Vol4 poor?
I like vol4. Sure the pacing is a tad slow but it reflects the new turtles age and maturity. Jim Lawson’s art could be better (my fav is his issue of tales vol1 staring Rat King) but his current style is by choice and is endorsed by Laird.
Laird is making the new series his way. He already has had mega success with the tmnt. The turtles have existed in many forms (cartoons, movies) which were successful but were heavily changed from his personal vision by outside influence. He agreed to these terms to generate more popularity/money/success and a turtle cross media empire. So he knows how to tailor his creation to reach target audiences (some might say sellout) and that’s just smart business. But now he has made his money and is doing what he wants to do. Be glad there even is a new series. Consider this: if Laird could not have the opportunity to experiment with the turtles in this fashion, he might not have been interested in doing the new series. Its his own personal indulgence and we are along for the ride.
If some of the new revelations in vol4 upset you (April’s origin) that’s good. Its drama some characters will have hardships. If you are upset Lairds has gotten an emotional response from you and that comes from good writing. I hope even more hardships befall the turtles to keep me guessing as to what happens next and how they could possible resolve their problems.
Why wasn’t the original cartoon a good as the archie comic?
First of all both existed (originally) to advertise the playmates toyline. The cartoon did not show many the action figure characters because many of the seasons were in the process of being animated before the toys were finalized. The timeframe of the cartoons developmental stage did not coincide with the development of the toyline.
For example Transformers the movie was made between transformers season 2 and 3 but the only pre-existing characters in it were from season 1 because the development of the movie started before season 2 and before many of the later series of toys were made.
The archie comic had a much quicker rate of development and could incorporate much of the toy line as needed.
For example the g.i. joe marvel comic feature nearly all of the toyline while the sunbow/Dic cartoon series featured far less.
That said, I love the archie series very much and it remains my favorite tmnt series. I only wish I could track down the issues I’m missing…
:D Does this forum allow sharing of TMNT comic scans? I am currently working of scanning a nearly complete collection of turtle comics in chronological order. Any help would be appreciated and of course shared with all in this forum. If not I’ll never mention it again.
So what do you think about that?