Darkest TMNT incarnation?
 

I'd say Mirage by far.

None of them are really dark. Even the darkest Mirage issues are more about psychological themes than actual violence.

Mirage, mostly because of all the blood.

Mirage, hands down. Even if physical violence is mute (which I don't think it is) think of the fridge horror.

Image, not Mirage. C'mon, get the hell outta here. Donny gets his shell crushed, Leo gets his hand chopped off, Raphael is shot in the face, Mikey starts banging a dinosaur. Raph goes to titty bars with Savage Dragon. They're killing people left & right. It's way darker than Mirage on a whole.

Too Bad the Image comics sucked BIG TIME

Too bad your opinions aren't facts & are of no value. YOU sir suck big time.

Yeah I would agree with Powder, definitely TMNT vol. 3 from Image comics + the Bodycount mini. I would say that was the darkest version by far, we saw the turtles all get pretty banged up physically in that volume & the tone is definitely much more mature.

The Image volume is a little different, but its also freaking awesome!

Let Me Elaborate, The Image comics while darker than the Mirage ones, went OVERBOARD With trying to make it darker and as a result it takes you out of the experience.:x

Not your taste, that's fine, that just mean they don't appeal to YOU. That doesn't mean they suck. They're still enjoyable comics, and this poll isn't on "what series you enjoyed most," its what is the darkest.

If they were such good comics, Why did Peter Laird WRITE them OUT OF CONTINUITY when he published Volume 4?

Darkest as in "dark 'n' gritty"? Image's run, by far.

Darkest as in depressing/bittersweet? Mirage.

Because he wanted to write a personally enjoyable story unfettered by having to write around another creator's volume that he probably wasn't all that familiar with? He's been pretty open about that.

That, and while the Image series had a lot of great concepts and character work, let's not pretend it's slave to anything other than a whole lotta problematic '90s tropes. There's no way to talk about how good it is or isn't without taking it in context of its time period.

Now why the **** are you arguing about it like you have something to prove?

Coming Out of Their Shells tour ; )

i don't know.:

My money's on Image. I couldnt believe some of the things in there the first time I read though it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Raph's face alone is enough to get my vote.

PL wrote a lot of issues of Vol 1 out of continuity. It doesn't matter.

Image wasn't written out because of how it was, PL just wanted to continue Mirage the way he saw it.

I haven't actually read any Image yet, but ie read about this stuff happening. So yeah Image.

Ok, I'm not familair with the Image comic- when did it come out?

This actually makes me wanna buy some Image issues. Up until now I've only seen pictures of it, however never actually read a complete issue. I guess I'll have to make up leeway.:tgrin:

I'm going to have to say Image is darker because of the sheer violent and almost rated R nature. In terms of being buried in 'tropes the entire 90's was a huge effin' 'trope.

In terms of intelligence and psychological horror the Mirage comics really pack a punch. It just does a better job making me reflect on the issues that I read.

I'm surprised some of you don't know this, it came out in 1997 and ended in 1999. Back then it was the only TMNT comic being put out.

In terms of all out violence Image wins hands down. The way it was presented though wasn't as dark and doomy gloomy as it was in Mirage.
The entirety of Mirage wins out in terms of the dark themes and the way a lot of it was handled over Image in my opinion. City At War was waaay darker in terms of tone than the entire Image run. Splinter resorting to Cannibalism to survive was pretty damn extreme. Donnie shooting down Baxter after preserving him just to see if his life was redeemable is pretty trippy.
Image might have been pushing the envelope, but Mirage was more of a mindf*ck overall, some issues being straight up unsettling. No amount of blown faces, cut off hands, Cyborg Turtles or Dino-ass could take that away from Mirage.
Whoever chose 2k3 needs a lesson in TMNT. Seriously it's a damn kids show.

No way dude, it's A Very Turtle Christmas! Duh! That was so dark it makes image look like a kitten.

Only show to KILL 3 of the 4 turtles.

At the time, noone really knew there was TMNT anything anymore, except maybe the New Mutation. I honestly never heard of New Mutation and Red Sky til years later. Where I lived CBS cancelled the Turtles around the time Sonic started.

Mirage remains the only version where the series is still referred to as "Teenage" Mutant Ninja Turtles since in Volume 4, the Turtles are said to be in their early thirties, for all those who worry that the Nick show won't last more than five years. But in Volume 4, the Turtles started to feel more free as opposed to hiding around. Volume 3 right before represents the climax of the Turtles' darkest moment, and it remains the only version in which a Turtle actually took the role of the Shredder, and that alone gets my vote for Image!

Image's Volume 3 is most likely high up there with their mutilation of the turtles and the usual Image 90's flare.

Mirage as a whole isn't dark or gritty as many people (often barely read any just heard about the comic) claim. it is as dark as your usual Marvel/DC superhero comics, like Daredevil.

Now, the truly darkest version of the TMNT is not any of the comics, nor any of the TV shows. Not movies either.

It is the pen and paper role-playing game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness using palladium's Megaversal System.

Rooted in the early history of the Volume 1 comics, the story goes its own separate way to goofy, but also dark ways. not only is the story set in the hands on whoever is the Game Master, but the earlier supplement books After the Bomb sets TMNT into a Post-apocalyptic world filled with hideous monsters and 75% of the human population wiped out.

So the RPG wins, because it is not censored by any editor or concerned parents, it is entirely in your hands to create what game you wanna do.