Vol 4 issue #21
 

Hey guys... mark your calendars for the 20th because according to a very reliable source that's when issue 21 of Vol 4 will be out! :D

Oh awesome! What sites do you guys check for shipping dates? I check Diamound comics but they almost never have TMNT listed....or Darkstalkers....or Castlevania. Hey all the comics I buy

comic release
 

you can check Earthworldcomics.com or Midtowncomics.com. you can also have them sent to you as they are released, the $ comes out of your checking account! I ordered from Midtown last week and recieved all of the comics I ordered today! pretty sweet if u ask me. :tgrumble:

just got it. interesting read. i love peter lairds responce to the whole.. "the story is going so slow" stuff. and i love his advice to the people who dont like his writing style.

I agree, Laird once more tells the biased complainers where to truly stick it, it's not his fault the gormless muppets want more style and less substance

Anyway, back on topic, the characters seem to be reunitning now, Mikey will stumble on Donatello after he rescues Regenta from her captors, Leo and Raph are together again (with Raph hinting at a new form of the Sai since he can't currently use the originals) , and Donatello was shrunk

A shame Leo's story has stalled, "Book of Karai" was developing very well, but I guess April needs to have her story told at the momet and Laird needed to sacrifice one of two stories for now to include it.

Well what PL says is true though.. why read it if you don't like it?

Of course I don't have the issue for another week or so, but If Laird is referring to the "complaining" on this board, very few have said they don't like vol. 4, they have said they don't like it as much as vol.1/2 and why that is. Can't wait to see his reply though, but judging from the past it does seem he doesn't take critique all that well.

oh no no no.. he isnt complaining about the people on this board. just the people who constantly write to him complaining.

Ok. But in the past he has commented on some things talked about here, so you never know who's watching... :o

Actually, he was replying to some typo-ridden fan in the letters collum who was impaitent with the comics' direction, and who chose to insult him fairly badly, get his facts wrong, accused him of hating the original cartoon which put the franchise on the map (Pete disliked the presentation, not what the show did for him and Kevin) and hoped that Eastman came back.

Laird has been known to have dealt with forum members here, mostly the ones who criticise him are given a choice: Like it or leave it, it seems with less discussion in here more than ever on Volume Four, the bandwagon consensus has been "leave it"

Allright. That cleared it up. Like I said before it does seem Laird takes critique quite badly. But it's his book, and he takes it in the direction he wants, without trying to please fans. And he can do that, it's not like he needs to make a lot of money with the book anyway.

omg holy crap lol don't ever use the word muppet in such a negative way again foorrrrr shammmeee :o

If Wonder Showzen can use muppets for sex change operations, nothing is sacred

Finally got around to reading it today.

Nice to see a little more focus on one story (Don's) rather than an equal amount of pages per story (which made them each way too short). Don's moved along quite nicely, I guess. I suppose the next issue is going to feature the battle with the raptors, though no telling what good tiny Don will do.

And much to the chagrin of many a Raph-fan, it looks like we're going to be stuck with Super Mutant Raph for a while. It's fine by me, to be honest. I've had regular Raph for so long a little change doesn't bother me. I'm sure he'll be back to normal eventually.

April and Casey's story is going to pick up next issue (supposedly with no turtles!), so I can't wait for that.

And, as usual, Mike's segment was the dullest. He wakes up in a jail cell. The end. Ah well, it's bound to pick up sooner or later.

Anyway, the issue felt like more of the same. The next issue's going to be completely dedicated to April's story, so we might see some real development there.

Yeah, that's an understatement. I'll be the first to admit that I feel the story is progressing too slowly (especially Leo's which I was SO into a few issues back) but I'm a TMNT lifer and I'm convinced that Laird won't dissappoint. I just hope he moves away from his 5 stories in one issue style and moves onto a style that evolves more rapidly.

I think I'll pick up the book tomorrow and let you know my thoughts.

I don't think the real issue is that the story is moving too slow, it's that it seems slower than it is because issues are only out every 2 months. That's what it is for me at least, the stories aren't too slow, I'm just left wanting more of all of them every time.

Definitely lookng forward to this issue though(I probably won't get a chance to go and get until sometime next week), and especially the next one since we'll probably find out what's going on with April.

I belive the biggest proble lies here as well. Some months back I read issues 1-15 in one evening, and I noticed it works much better that way. And like Rat King said, they are trying to move along too many stories in one issue, and that combined to the 2 month wait between issues, makes the story seem to go very slowly.

Well they made Tales Bi-monthly*Probly because a different team works on each issue* but still maybe theres hope this will hit bi-monthly. The comics are pretty long and there are no ads. So if you look at it that way it is longer then a normal comic. If they split each issue in half they would have 2 comics porobly

Spitfite666xxx is correct imo, we get sometimes 40 page issues or at least 32, I believe most comics have 22 pages and another 10 pages with adds... although I could be wrong I believe I counted them before as the TMNT book is normally a longer read then ASM, USM or any of the other books I read.

I believe he said he hoped one day that the book could turn a profit, theres a good chance he is actually loosing money doing the book. I know there are two comic book shops in my city and the more popular one that I shop at to get my new comics; the owner said only 2 people buy the book me and another guy. They are not that popular, take note my citys population is about 115,000 people, although they carry the book at the other store I cant imagine it would be to much more popular there either...

I like the way he has done the book although being bi monthly is the biggest reason it seems to progress slowly, we get 6 issues a year so when you compare it to one where you get it every month or some times 2 times a month (USM) it would seem like a slow progression of story. I think its moving along there are loose ends but they will all conclud eventually while bringing new storys to light...

Also telling 4-5 story's in a book there is only so much room, so they are small doses now it looks like Raph and Leos story may merge... maybe Raph will fight some of those ninjas with leo should be cool to see Super Raph lay the beats to one of them :lol:; although I hope he gets turned back to normal but according to Fugitoid it wont be for a while.

It was stated in the Turtle Tracks of Issue 18 or 19 that Issue 22 would delve into April's true origin. I for one really wanna see this.

As for 21:
Raph and Leo: Well uh.. Raph has a belt... goody...and Fugitoid says he's gonna look like Gamera for a bit more... fooey... ah well.. at least he's been reunited with Leo :P

Don: If they were able to shrink him how come the machine conks out just as the Tepui Utroms were about to unshrink him? The excuse about his unique dna or whatever is stupid... But hey...at least Don figured out a way for the Tepui Utroms to monitor the Dino things.

Mike: He's in a royal jail with Triceratons, Styracotons(?) and weird looking Scorpion things! :o The Triceraton said they were just bugs.... bugs with 2 stingers??? Kinda reminds me of a Scorpion Fly.

Poor Mikey...what has he gotten himself into now.


Raph...I dunno, I know they're just comic book characters but it just hurt me to see him pick up his sai and he couldn't even use it. I mean for me it's heartwrenching. If I can draw it I've got an image I need to get down on paper, really depressing pic.
It almost feels like he doesnt care if he wants to be back to normal...and I hope he does get to kick those vamps booties. Let him go insane on them...

Donnie's story...personally I think there'll be some thing with Raph's dino look and those cute intelligent dinos....look how close the are. Maybe he'll have something to do with them.
Poor Donnie! He's a living action figure! HAHAH!!


As for the next issue...April's story is kinda I dunno...I respect Mister Laird alot, but her story is a l'il corny. Why can't someone stay NORMAL in the series?

hey guyz *waves*
i love the TMNT comics but the best one i have ever read is by ra (she is in the drome) it has me in it :D with the unforgetable acamie mulet ask her about it spread the word i really want everyone to see her talent

I almost had this comic yesterday but the only copy they had was in somones subscripition box....and I only read 3 comics. You need 5 at that store to get a box. Errrr that's so lame that people get to do that it's not fair <_<

I don't mind a slow pace. It's a nice change from the other books I read. But I feel there needs to be a bit more character development, at the moment all the turtles seem to be chucked about is all.

You know Raph's only being kept like that so dino-obsessed Laird can drool over yet more dinosaur (looking) creatures. :p

- Don's story = some Gollum-like dinosaurs
- Mikey's story = steracadons (or whatever it was)
- Raph's story = Raph looks like a big dinosaur turtle thing
- Leo's story = joined with Raph...but I'm sure dinosaurs will come in some time :p

Finally got it. I think it was a solid issue. Hopefully we see Raph getting back to the vampires soon.

Okay I found it finially, along with Darkstalkers #5. I havnt read it yet but I now know what comic shop Im going to from now on to get everything I need

I'm glad Leo and Raph are back together. I like Raph's new look and I can't wait to see him and Leo kick some vampire ass! Even more important I REALLY want to know what's up with those alternate future Eunuch warriors! I fear that this is another storyline that may go by the wasteside in Volume 4 :cry: .

As for April's situation, I'm a little upset to see that she has a "special" origin. Can't she just be a normal human?

Mikey's in quite a predicament it seems. I'm interested to see where it goes.

The Donny storyline is just not doing it for me, sorry. The dinosaurs are cool but the fact that they can just be zapped and shrunk kind of takes the danger out of it doesn't it?

Aww this was a great comic....too bad I gota wait 4 months to see what happens next :x

Next issue has no turtles in it at all. It's all about April's past and what Renet showed her

Well, hopefully it's interesting but not TOO farfetched. I kind of like the idea of April being a human

Yeah I kinda read it all out of order. Okay so April sets off an alarm at the Uthrom base because she has Baxters Nano-machines in her. The Uthroms call in her sister and find out she isnt related to her. I dont remember if they told he rthat or not I dont think they did though. So April finds her Dad's old sketch book and a film reel. She watches it and sees her father drawing a picture of her when she was a baby. Her sister is in the video and she is only 3. her sister is 4 years older then her so how is that possible? Renet before this had taken her on a trip through time to see the truth.
Okay if I got all that right I would just guess April is adopted and her family never told her. But that would be kinda basic so I hope they do something better

I can see him being returned to normal within a year or so, but it would be interesting to see the process happen gradually over time. By this December it would be nice to see Raph's head revert back to the way it looked in the earlier stage of the monster mutation.