The Eyes of Sarnath (spoilery)

[GordonUniverse]

I just read Adventures #47, "The Eyes of Sarnath" from Archie, and it was a home run.

What's so great about it is that it takes a throwaway plot device from "The Incredible Shrinking Turtles," and fleshes it out and gives it a backstory, which ends up adding to the mythology of the Turtles Universe (Archie, anyway) and provides deeper context to what was before just a shallow "you must find the sacred blah blah" death bed scene.

Granted, the backstory in 47 isn't the most original science fiction idea to come down the pike, but it nevertheless manages to breathe so much life into the scenes from "The Incredible Shrinking Turtles" and it just made my day.

It's these sorts of unexpected and presumably unplanned new spins on old stories that I really love, and would really love to see more of in the Tales series... and essentially what they've given us with the Tale series.

I think it's great that Laird and Lawson purposely throw things into the present world TMNT just to see who can come up with a story for it, but at the same time, its so much more gratifying when a writer picks up on something that wasn't really planned on being expanded upon and ends up obsessing over some minor detail and a story blossoms out of that. I can just imagine Chris Allen and Dean Clarrain pouring over past issues and asking "what the shell is up with this 'Eye of Sarnath' nonsense?" and then laughing about it, but then over the course of a few weeks they can't stop thinking about it and then they've got a solid backstory idea and...

well, I'm ramblin'. I guess my point is I just love continuity... and fresh ideas and new angles.

Also, I like pancakes.

[Jon]

Glad you liked that. It was an interesting continuation of the "Eye of Sarnath" story.

The Archie series has alot of great storylines through it's run. A couple others I'll note for now would be "Future Shark Trilogy" (issues 42 to 44), and "Terracide" (issues 55 to 57).

[GordonUniverse]

I read The Future Shark Trilogy yesterday all the way through after finally picking up issue 43. It was obvious that I would have enjoyed it more had I read 35 and 36, but my Archie collection is slow-growing (what, did they only print 300 of the last 15 issues? jeez) and I don't want to wait to read.

Enjoyed it all the same, though, and I'll definitely be rereading once more gaps are filled.

[Roseangelo]

<3 Archie.

Really, starting with the Future Shark Trilogy and going through to the end... pure awesome. Those are the kind of TMNT stories I miss.

[Jon]

Dunno on the print-run for issues. But again, great you're enjoying them.

I started getting the series around Issue 20, and had gotten them as they came out since then. For the ones I had to back-track on though, I found Issues 15 and 18 to be the hardest finds.

[gobo]

12 is no longer an impossible to find issue? O_o Granted, I haven't been looking recently, but I never was able to find that one back in the day...

[Roseangelo]

12 is no longer an impossible to find issue? O_o Granted, I haven't been looking recently, but I never was able to find that one back in the day...

Dude, Mirage sells #12 (and #15 & #18 ). :D

[gobo]

O_O They sell Archie books too?? I feel faint... @_@

[Jon]

12 is no longer an impossible to find issue? O_o Granted, I haven't been looking recently, but I never was able to find that one back in the day...


Well, I was back-tracking around that time (I started) as well. And I found alot of the previous issues of the main series in a Kay-Bee Toys, strangely enough. Then found the beginning mini-series in a comic shop's back issue boxes. But for a while was lacking issues 15 and 18 (until finally got them).

[Roseangelo]

And I found alot of the previous issues of the main series in a Kay-Bee Toys, strangely enough.

Haha, I got a bunch of the early issues from them, too.

[Jon]

Haha, I got a bunch of the early issues from them, too.


Nice to see another had that 'odd luck' with the series.

Funny the store had some of them back then. But great too (so could get them, since - as noted above - I had started almost 2-dozen issues late with the series).

[VaughnMichael]

Yeah I got a few at kb & @ 7-11 as well thats what got me into turtle comics as a kid. Then I found my first comic shop thanks to my uncle and he got me into Mirage.

[darthsmozers]

I found the Stump Asteroid issue (#37 or so?) at a 7-11 on a pit stop when our summer camp van stopped for beverages and snacks. I read it as soon as I got back in the van. I was such a dork! haha, fond memories.

[DrSpengler]

Good to know they tie up that loose end later on in the series.

I just started reading my collection (got it 95% complete) from the ground up. I was disapointed that when they switched from episode adaptations to new stories there was a total break in continuity. One issue the Turtles are hunting for the Eye of Sarnath, Shredder has been banished to Earth with no support and has teamed up with Baxter Stockman...and the next Shredder is in a submarine with Bebop and Rocksteady, Stockman is nowhere to be found and nobody gives a crap about the Eye of Sarnath anymore or even so much as mentions it.

Good to hear they address that issue since it ws really bugging me. I'm up to about the early 20s right now (just finished the first Slash arc), so it won't be much longer before I get to the story in question.

[Jon]

Good to know they tie up that loose end later on in the series.

I just started reading my collection (got it 95% complete) from the ground up. I was disapointed that when they switched from episode adaptations to new stories there was a total break in continuity. One issue the Turtles are hunting for the Eye of Sarnath, Shredder has been banished to Earth with no support and has teamed up with Baxter Stockman...and the next Shredder is in a submarine with Bebop and Rocksteady, Stockman is nowhere to be found and nobody gives a crap about the Eye of Sarnath anymore or even so much as mentions it.

Good to hear they address that issue since it ws really bugging me. I'm up to about the early 20s right now (just finished the first Slash arc), so it won't be much longer before I get to the story in question.



Nice, a new Archie TMNT reader. Good to hear you're enjoying it.

Have alot of stories to get through, as you note being in the 20s; and it's lots of great stuff too. :)

[a_big_apple]

<3 Archie.

Really, starting with the Future Shark Trilogy and going through to the end... pure awesome. Those are the kind of TMNT stories I miss.

DITTO. I'm so psyched for the Forever War in '09, I hope it actually happens.