My quest

[jenna]

Hey all

I've given up feeling sorry for myself because I don't have the tmnt comics and am embarking on a quest to acquire some. However, I don't think buying every single comic I could get my hands on would be very constructive, either for my obsessive tendencies or my bank account!!

So.... I need your advice.

Anyone who knows me here will know that my favourite turtle is Raphael by a long way. So, I've devided to start my quest by looking for Raph-centric comics or any that contain important moments for Raph.

Please could you tell me what comics I should look out for? (as there are pretty comprehensive synopses on ninjaturtles.com of vols 1-4, perhaps you could tell me the Tales comics that would apply).

Thanks in advance.

Jenna

[Roseangelo]

Ok, as I'm not even close to the world's biggest Raph fan, I won't be able to just rattle these off the top of my head, but a few things do come to mind.

Vol. 1 doesn't have much in terms of solo stories. There's a lot of key reading that involves all four Turtles. 1-11 + the four Micro Series books are the guts of the foundation of the Turtles. The other important group stories are Return to New York (19-21) and City at War (50-62, but issues 48 & 49 lead into this story and are kinda key, too). In between those the Raph fan would enjoy The River (24-26), although this story is said to not be canon. There's also issue #44, although that's also not marked for canon. My other favorite group story from Vol. 1 is #43 (currently not marked for canon, grrr). #17 is a Mike story, but it's very different from everything else and also one of my favorites. And the Michaelangelo Christmas Special (which is the second printing of the Mike Micro Series book) has a back-up Raphael story that is very good.

Tales Vol. 1 is all group stories, but they're all excellent. All of these books are being reprinted into a TPB this fall and it's well worth getting.

Tales Vol. 2 is really where they've been focusing on solo stories. Here's what my Raph picks would be:

#7 & #12 - The upcoming "Raphael - Bad Moon Rising" series is a follow-up to #7. Both stories deal with Raph and teenage Shadow. It's a really neat dynamic that makes these two of my favorite Tales stories.

#8 - A good Raph and Leatherhead story.

#26 - This is a Raph/Don/Casey story. No extreme character development, but I like this one because it has no sci-fi in it.

#28 - Raph and Cha Ocho. Basically it's a big alien bar fight.

That's all I got right now. Someone can feel free to add.

[TristanHuwJones]

While not necessarily Raphcentric, #36 will be out in a couple of weeks I believe, and Raph certainly has some very cool moments in it! :D

[Duke]

Tales Vol. 1 is all group stories, but they're all excellent. All of these books are being reprinted into a TPB this fall and it's well worth getting.Do you have any other information on this? I knew about the original Collected Tales of TMNT Book back in 1989 but I didn't know they were re-issuing it.

[Roseangelo]

Do you have any other information on this? I knew about the original Collected Tales of TMNT Book back in 1989 but I didn't know they were re-issuing it.

Murphy made mention of it in a recent Tales issue (#34, I think). There's no info about it online yet.

[jenna]

Ok, as I'm not even close to the world's biggest Raph fan, I won't be able to just rattle these off the top of my head, but a few things do come to mind.

Vol. 1 doesn't have much in terms of solo stories. There's a lot of key reading that involves all four Turtles. 1-11 + the four Micro Series books are the guts of the foundation of the Turtles. The other important group stories are Return to New York (19-21) and City at War (50-62, but issues 48 & 49 lead into this story and are kinda key, too). In between those the Raph fan would enjoy The River (24-26), although this story is said to not be canon. There's also issue #44, although that's also not marked for canon. My other favorite group story from Vol. 1 is #43 (currently not marked for canon, grrr). #17 is a Mike story, but it's very different from everything else and also one of my favorites. And the Michaelangelo Christmas Special (which is the second printing of the Mike Micro Series book) has a back-up Raphael story that is very good.

Tales Vol. 1 is all group stories, but they're all excellent. All of these books are being reprinted into a TPB this fall and it's well worth getting.

Tales Vol. 2 is really where they've been focusing on solo stories. Here's what my Raph picks would be:

#7 & #12 - The upcoming "Raphael - Bad Moon Rising" series is a follow-up to #7. Both stories deal with Raph and teenage Shadow. It's a really neat dynamic that makes these two of my favorite Tales stories.

#8 - A good Raph and Leatherhead story.

#26 - This is a Raph/Don/Casey story. No extreme character development, but I like this one because it has no sci-fi in it.

#28 - Raph and Cha Ocho. Basically it's a big alien bar fight.

That's all I got right now. Someone can feel free to add.

OMG you are a star.

Thanks :)

I've already managed to obtain Return to New York and The River collected books which makes me really happy.

Any other suggestions, please add. I am now compililing my list :D. Now just got to find the things.

[Scandia]

Roseangelo- thank you so much for letting me know which comic books are absolutely essential. I just went on a small spree on Ebay and got 10, 11, and 19.

Also, is Volume 1 Number 8 canon?

I wish I could obtain even more Tales Volume 2. But some of the ones I am really interested in (like Tales 2 Volume 10) NEVER seem to show up. I did get all the Leo centered ones (Loops, Blind Faith and the Blind Sight Miniseries) and various Donnie ones in a big lot. But I want Kaddish. And of course, 25, but I ordered it from Mirage.

[Roseangelo]

Roseangelo- thank you so much for letting me know which comic books are absolutely essential. I just went on a small spree on Ebay and got 10, 11, and 19.

Try to get Leonardo #1 if you haven't already. It's the first part to the story that continued in #s 10 & 11. Those three books combined are my all-time favorite TMNT story (Kevin Eastman's too, BTW).

Also, is Volume 1 Number 8 canon?

Tricky thing, #8. I would say that it HAS to be canon, given it's the first appearance of several key characters. But the whole Cerebus thing is messy, since Peter's removing him from the story. I would personally treat it as canon.

I wish I could obtain even more Tales Volume 2. But some of the ones I am really interested in (like Tales 2 Volume 10) NEVER seem to show up. I did get all the Leo centered ones (Loops, Blind Faith and the Blind Sight Miniseries) and various Donnie ones in a big lot. But I want Kaddish. And of course, 25, but I ordered it from Mirage.

Yeah, I've noticed that it's not a good idea to put off buying the new Tales issues. If you don't get them when they're first published, it's not easy to track them down. However, the TPBs are easy to acquire and you can collect some of the hard to find issues that way. Collected Book 1 (http://www.ninjaturtles.com/comics/mirage/talesvol2/collected/01/01.htm) includes Tales #10 - You can buy it here (http://www.paneltopanel.net/store/productview/107151//TALES_OF_THE_TMNT:_THE_COLLECTED_BOOKS_VOLUME_1:_D ONATELLO_(w/EXCLUSIVE_SIGNED_TIPPED-IN_BOOKPLATE)) with a nifty tipped-in bookplate signed by Peter Laird.

Edit: Nevermind, it's out of stock at Panel to Panel... and at Mirage. Ok, so that one may not be easy to track down - Rats!

[TristanHuwJones]

If you're a real Raph fan, you might want to check out Bodycount and the Image TMNT run. They aren't canon, but they do have some interesting/controversial Raph moments in there...

[Time Mistress]

You've got to love Rose. she's just an encyclopedia of knowledge. I'm a big Raph fan, but she already beat me to everything I was going to mention almost.

If you enjoy The River, Rick Veitch also wrote Vol. 1 issue 30 and Raph has a decent part in that.

The Challenges TPB by Mike Dooley also have a story featuring each Turlte, Raph's story got adapted in the ep Touch and Go. Raph also has a decent part in Splinter's story where he starts acting up just to see if Splinter still has his moves after all these years.

Turtle Soup #1 of 4 has a short story that features Lucindra again from Vol. 1 #44.

Turtle Soup #3 or 4 has a short story called "Crack in a Hard Heart" that is one of my favorite Raph stories ever where Mike finds Raph contemplating what life will be like after Splinter is gone someday.

Tales of TMNT #30 features a back up short story (the main story features Mike) that is another of my favorite Raph stories called "The Mother of All Anger" where you get Raph's feelings on the TMNT not knowing their original turtle birth mom, April has a very sweet part in this.

So if you like gushy Raph stuff like me I highly recommend those last two, as well as definately everything Rose mentioned.

And I agree that Leo #1, Vol 1 #10 & 11 would be my favorite TMNT comics story too. Aka Shredder Strikes Back from 2k3.

[Roseangelo]

Oh yes, Time Mistress brought up two of my other favorites. As I have mentioned in previous threads, Challenges is a must-own book for all TMNT fans, whether or not you read the comics.

And "Crack in a Hard Heart" is also another favorite. Anything by Farley is masterful. This story is only four pages long; I won't tell anyone if you take a read of it here: Page 1 (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/353424290_a10fbe1e95_o.jpg) | Page 2 (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/353424751_f505ca23cf_o.jpg) | Page 3 (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/353503528_6695fe0570_o.jpg) | Page 4 (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/31/353425255_483cd3f16a_o.jpg)

[Scandia]

"Crack on a Hard Heart" is in Turtle Soup 3. Yeppers, I just looked it up.

Is "Challenges" hard to come by on Ebay?

[junkboy]

Collecting old issues by e-bay is really tough work.
So a TPB for Tales vol.1 coming... hmm. that's great.
Are there any other plans for other series? I would really be happy about that...
Collected Books for Tales 2 are nice but i want trade books to collect issues in order. as 1-5 in book 1, 6-10 in book 2 and such.

I cannot find even new Collected Books even on Amazon. To tell the truth i am not very ebay friendly, so is there any other website, selling books (old and new ) and shipping internationally ( since i live in Turkey )

[Roseangelo]

"Crack on a Hard Heart" is in Turtle Soup 3. Yeppers, I just looked it up.

Is "Challenges" hard to come by on Ebay?

I think I saw one on eBay within the last day or so. But I also believe that Mirage still sells it. I also think they've still got that Turtle Soup book.

Are there any other plans for other series? I would really be happy about that...

A lot of people would be happy with that, but I wouldn't hold your breath. All indication is that Peter Laird won't allow for Vol. 1 to be reprinted until he's had the chance to retone/reletter the whole thing. How close he is to completing that remains unknown.

Collected Books for Tales 2 are nice but i want trade books to collect issues in order. as 1-5 in book 1, 6-10 in book 2 and such.

While I understand the reasoning for not collecting them in chronological order, I have to admit it does annoy me slightly. It makes it hard to keep track of which issues are in which books.

I cannot find even new Collected Books even on Amazon.

Yeah, that's because the Collected Books aren't made available to bookstores (so I guess they're only available through Diamond, and thus limited to comic shops). Mirage doesn't have enough staff to be able to deal with the returns that happen when you sell books in bookstores.

To tell the truth i am not very ebay friendly, so is there any other website, selling books (old and new ) and shipping internationally ( since i live in Turkey )

I don't know what Panel to Panel's international shipping policy is, but Mirage will ship internationally.

[junkboy]

Ok tnx a lot.
Well at least i am able to get ongoing Tales vol 2 issues on time nowadays. tnx to my comic vendor catching each issue as soon as it is out.

And btw, what is the process for ordering from Mirage internationally?
I looked at the site and there is a form-like thing to fill in. But a bit weird :)
I could not find any online order section or maybe i am dumb.
And how do you pay? PayPal or such?

[jenna]

Oh yes, Time Mistress brought up two of my other favorites. As I have mentioned in previous threads, Challenges is a must-own book for all TMNT fans, whether or not you read the comics.

And "Crack in a Hard Heart" is also another favorite. Anything by Farley is masterful. This story is only four pages long; I won't tell anyone if you take a read of it here: Page 1 (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/353424290_a10fbe1e95_o.jpg) | Page 2 (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/353424751_f505ca23cf_o.jpg) | Page 3 (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/353503528_6695fe0570_o.jpg) | Page 4 (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/31/353425255_483cd3f16a_o.jpg)

:cry: So sad.

[jenna]

My quest has begun:

I now own: Mirage Vol 1 collected books 1-6!!!!, Tales Collected book 2, movie collected book, Tales vol 2 33, 34 & 35

Yipppeee doodah!

:D :D :D

Liking them a lot and will have Tales collected book 3 and 36 when it's out.

So happy.

[junkboy]

Oh you are indeed lucky to own Mirage 1-6... so nice.

I just ordered Soul's Winter and Collected Book 3 from Panel to Panel.
Now have to find Collected book 1 and 2. What a pity out of stock at panel to panel.

Also Collected book 4 is coming by fall i think right?... nice.
And then old school Tales 1 TPB... Those recent months are nice for TMNT comic collectors.

But seriously i need to find Collected books 1 and 2.

[Raph's Girl]

Among volume 1 there IS a Raphael only solo.... Vol 1 issues 38 - 40 is a Raphael only solo. It's a bit of a spoof and is rather hilarious all the cameos that appear (Capt. Kirk, Superman, Capt America, Wonder Woman, Pres. Bush sr, Minnie Mouse..). Plus, where else would you get to see Raphael run around in a dress?? :lol: Or see what Splinter dreams about (naughty thoughts about Minnie Mouse aside... :lol: ).

[jenna]

where else would you get to see Raphael run around in a dress?? :lol: Or see what Splinter dreams about (naughty thoughts about Minnie Mouse aside... :lol: ).

OMG please tell me you are kidding! Raph in a dress??? Splinter with erotic thoughts? That's like realising for the first time that your parents have sex.

[VaughnMichael]

OMG please tell me you are kidding! Raph in a dress??? Splinter with erotic thoughts? That's like realising for the first time that your parents have sex.
Yes but what Raph's girl forgets to mention is that the turtles and that splinter have differnt names splinters name is "Match Stick" I believe.

[Raph's Girl]

OMG please tell me you are kidding! Raph in a dress??? Splinter with erotic thoughts? That's like realising for the first time that your parents have sex.

Leo, Mike, and Don also have a dirty dream about this female turtle stripping but Splinter's astral form catches em, doing a bit of a 4th wall break exclaiming that kids are reading the comic, then he has HIS way with the female turtle! :lol:

As for the turtles and splinter having different names...uh.. u must be thinking of something else.

[VaughnMichael]

Leo, Mike, and Don also have a dirty dream about this female turtle stripping but Splinter's astral form catches em, doing a bit of a 4th wall break exclaiming that kids are reading the comic, then he has HIS way with the female turtle! :lol:

As for the turtles and splinter having different names...uh.. u must be thinking of something else.
actully thats my bad haha sorry raph's girl I thought you where talking about all those silly spounge suishie tmnt storys lol:lol: