Tales of the TMNT 55
 

Midtown comics is listing this as coming out Wednesday Feb 4th:

Verrrry vague description there... I hope it turns out well!

Is this more Tiny Turtles?

We've seen the Turtles during their daily lives often enough. Alot, in fact.

If it's a young Turtles story, I'm doubly skeptical.

Not quite, this is more "just before vol.1 #1".

Of the Pre-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles era, like in the Hattori issue?

Time to Sticky this Thread!
 

Got mine today!

I was hoping for a light action story, but I was still impressed with this as a characterization story. I think it fits the tone of what the pre-Vol. #1 Turtles should think and act like. The Mikey/Raph love/hate relationship seems to be a good grounding for the early events of Raphael #1, especially Mikey's line to Raph: "sometimes you just can't help yourself." Also, the Leo/Raph head-butting sets up the later conflict in "Return to New York."

It's strange, but I read this issue with the Mako-voiced Master Splinter and the 2k3 Turtle voices in mind. Just shows how the various universes amalgamate in the character lore.

Also, what a surprisingly sad ending! Poor old Raph.

And the biggest shocker of the issue for me:

Midtown shipped mine today, but I have the cheap shipping so I have no clue when it'll get to me.

Wow. I really liked this one.

Every now and again, it is truly refreshing to have a story of just the characters doing something absolutely mundane; their daily routine. It sounds like it would be boring, but it delivers a lot of insight and character-driven entertainment.

But what really sealed the deal for me was the ending. Definately didn't see the Future Raph thing coming. And his words seem to solidify the idea that Future Mike is either dead or missing.

Some good stuff. And next issue is Tristin and Harmon again! Sweeeeet.

Woot!!!:thyper::thyper::thyper:

Also, I like Jim's art when it's just the Turtles and Splinter. He usually does very good backgrounds and really makes me feel like I'm a fly on the sewer wall. Good writing by Berger really makes this issue work.

I can't speak higher of this one... it's basically TMNT Vol. 1 #0. Fantastic script from Dan Berger, and I daresay Jim Lawson even stepped it up a bit in this one... and he didn't even have a seperate inker.

This issue has a whole hell of a lot of heart.

I won't be able to get this one for a bit, although it will definately be part of my next batch. Can somone fill me in on the future Raph part?

It's Raph in the far flung future. Could be the swamp future, as the world is flooded. Not a huge deal. More of an epilogue. It basically tells us that the Turtles did indeed go separate ways and that they really don't have much of a clue as to what the other is doing.

Man, I really dig that kind of stuff. Will get.

And apparently the whole issue is about the day before they face Shredder? That's pretty eerie and really cool.

That depends on how you read it. I would say the closest it gets is a couple of nights prior to the Shredder ultimatum. There's nothing that clearly defines how old they are at the time, but it would have to be fairly close.

I must admit, I'd love to see some more stories set in the Raph-eyepatch era (even have a stab myself :lol:).

Er, not really. It could be several years before their encounter with Shredder (I put it before Tales Vol. 2 #1 in the timeline, personally). It ties into TMNT Vol. 1 #1 in that it features Splinter giving the Turtles a lecture on waiting for the right moment to strike rather than letting anger cloud your judgment and taking revenge at an inopertune time.

Future Raph on the bayou was pretty much the basis of my entire pitch for Tales.

whell I love The cover of tales 55..and yeah future raph kicks ass
eye patch, cuting foot soldiers heads...but I wanna see aa future mike

I liked this story. But I wish the way the turtles were drawn we're more youthful somehow or something. They just look like they way they are now. And do they always have to be in their headbands? Its as bad as Batman that they aren't outside anywhere and they still have their headbands on. I don't see these young TMNT as in just before they meet Shredder. I think its still awhile away, based on how the turtles are written IMO.
Also the way Jim has drawn Splinter these last few years, he seems to have this long large white moustache. He didn't draw Splinter in the early days. There should've been some way to make him look more like he the way he was in TMNT V.1 #1.
The future Raph thing was cool and to see the story end like that, that it was being told by Rapheal was just icing on the cake. It made it cool and makes me wish we could see more of the future TMNT. I still think TMNT V3 Image series when Raph has the eye patch. Great issue.

OOPs I meant Jim didn't draw Splinter like that before TMNT Vol. 4 with a moustache. Thats what I meant to say.

Yeah, I kind of wish Lawson would have tried to go out of his comfort zone a bit more and tried to make the Turtles more youthful, or more reminiscent of how they look in TMNT Vol. 1 #1. But it seems like Lawson took a page from Berger in his "style" this issue, in some ways, in many places. Which was kind of refreshing and cool.

I wish they would have done duotones, if only just for this issue. That would have really cinched it for me here.

Excellent issue. Loved it! Been a while.

More Future Raph please.

I absolutely loved this issue. The bit with Mikey banging on Raph's door actually made me laugh out loud. Really great issue, the art was superb also. (And yeah, it also reminded me a bit on Berger's - twas the part where Leo and Raph were nose to nose...)

And a very bittersweet ending - after such a great, funny, sweet story, to throw us an end like that... totally unexpected, actually knocked me back a bit.

So yeah, this one is up there for me, absolutely loved it.

*Misses Paperback Bazaar even more*

I've seen pics on the official site about this, and I'd Love to get my hands on it, but... is this going to be available on Wowio? We have a comic shop in the next time over, but I can never get there in time... :(

You can order it straight from Mirage, or grahamcrackers.com (which I've found to be one of the better online retailers).

Yeah, they look practically the same as in Vol 4. Then again, in last month's issue's backup story Donny tells April that turtles don't age the way mammals do. So who knows?

I thought this was an excellent story. Great heart, great humor (11.30am water break; 11.35am time out :lol:). The ending threw me for a loop...despite knowing Future Raph was going to be in the issue.

Can't wait for next month's! Jones & Harmon FTW! :tthumbsu:

wow, can't wait to go grab my copy. sounds like a great book.

In the case of red-earred sliders, though (which the TMNT are), they age even worse than humans. Even outside of captivity, they don't live longer than 30 years.

Ah, but for a mammal of that size living thirty years would be an unusually impressive lifespan. Most rodents and similarly sized animals don't live more than 5.

But would there be a discernable difference in their appearance at age 15 as opposed to age 30? That's more what I was getting at, rather than life span. (My personal opinion re: life span is that the mutagen made things go all kerflooey with them, so they could very well live longer than a normal RES. Only time, or Peter [or Dan, or Tristan, or whomever is writing] will tell.)

If Tales goes into next year (fingers crossed, make sure you buy up this year people!) I'll be taking a stab at this. The mutagen is capable of a number of things I'm sure. Just look at what it did to the vampire infection in Vol.4. I kinda look at it like, if it could turn four small turtles into the TMNT, imagine what would be going on internally. I also tend to attribute it to the Utroms having to develop organic skins here on Earth for their exosuits.

Yes. They never really stop growing.

Yes, my thinking as well. The waste or byproduct from the skins grown for the exosuits + Transmat waste = TCRI mutagen. The way I see it.

Just picked it up yesterday, good stuff. I actually like issues like this once in a while, something a bit slower and more character-driven.

Glad I'm not the only one who got a kick out of "April" in her OT outfit. Snicker.

I've got the tales of the TMNT 55 today it's so cool Raph got a teddy bear aw that's so cute

I got this one earlier this week in the mail. I've already read it about a billion times. The intro page was amazing and the "day in the life" kind of story was also a really fun read. I really like this kind of stuff. I got a real kick out of Captain Awesome and Major Bummer. Drawing stuff like that is exactly the kind of thing I did as a kid if I wasn't with my friends.

I enjoyed this issue just like everyone else and my complaints are about the same as those already said so I won't get into it besides the fact that i wish they'd have given them the pre-tmnt look with the full head band instead of just around the eyes.
The story was great though, I was taken a bit by suprise by the way Leo acted and the way Splinter talked to him.
Mikey doing the comic thing made me think of his writting in the image series, I have to wonder why he stopped.
The end was pretty sad in my eyes, Tristan you say it wasn't important but to me it was the most important part of the comic.
It's odd though we've known for years that at some point they're going to go their differnt ways but no matter how many times I see a hint of it, it always makes me sad and tear up a bit and I don't even know why.

Raph should have been battling giant robots...or dragons...or vampires...or...Giant Robot Dragon Vampires.

Hey trist! Lets do a comic about Giant Robot Dragon Vampires, k?

VM, I didn't say it was unimportant, as it is, but it just wasn't a huge part of the story -- I didn't want people thinking there was a massive section of the book set in the far flung future (as to avoid spoilers, people were just loosely saying "loved the future Raph part" without really saying what it entailed). So when it wasn't a "huge deal" it was just a couple of pages as opposed to half a book.

Archon, so long as there are rainbows, or pirates, or dinosaurs in that mix, then it's a deal... or rainbow pirate dinosaurs...

Mike wrote in Mirage Vol. 1. You don't remember the issue where Mike was writing a story about him rescuing a maiden and fighting a tyrant in Feudal Japan, then it ends and we see Mike at a typewriter?