What do you think the next Mirage trade from IDW will be?
 

So as we know Ultimate Collection #5 finishes off City at War and the end of Eastman/Laird of Volume 1.

Simultaneously TMNT Classics V. 7 collects issues #45-48 of the Mirage run, which were the Leatherhead issue and the two-part Masks story in ancient Japan with Chote. That of course were the last 3 Mirage issues before Shades of Gray which were in the Ultimate Collections.

The only Volume 1 stories now that they never collected are the 4 Rick Veitch issues (Sky Highway and The River 3-parter), and issue #41 "Turtle Dreams" which they sadly don't have the rights to reprint. And of course "Souls Winter" trilogy from Michael Zulli.

I assume, or rather hope, that "Classic V. 8" collects the 3 "Soul's Winter" issues of Zulli and thus all of Mirage Volume 1 will be reprinted aside from the 5 issues they don't have the rights for. I find it odd they skipped Soul's Winter until now but hope they don't forget about it and collect it.

So after that...we're onto Volume 2. How do you think Volume 2 will be collected? Will they simply be part of the "Classics" line and be Volume 9 of that series? Or will they get Ultimate Collection treatment?

Your question on the IDW forum prompted me to inquire about the Zulli stuff, Cubed. It is on the slate for 2nd half of 2014, I believe.

I think normal, non-Ultimate treatment for Vol. 2, but I could be mistaken.

That's good to hear. I was worried those Zulli issues would be forgotten.

Also since Volume 2 was only 13 issues, that should be collected rather quickly. Can't wait to see how Image (Volume 3) is done after that.

I'm glad we still have some great things to look forward to! Souls Winter is my all time favorite incarnation of the turtles. I would absolutely love to see it get the limited treatment too.

The Zulli stuff is great but I wouldn't really miss it if it weren't reprinted (again), to be honest. It's probably the best of the alternate universe Mirage pieces, but it's still just that -- alternate universe Mirage pieces. Better we get all the "real" stuff before worrying about that stuff, would be my vote.

They already collected the Mark Martin trilogy and the Tom Mcweeny trilogy which were out of canon wacky stories. If those were reprinted I'm sure everyone wants Soul's winter reprinted.

As said the only stuff they didn't reprint was Veitch's stuff.

The issues from volume 1 that they haven't reprinted......are they a lost cause? I sold my entire comic collection and am just collecting the trades now. Should I just buy those few single issues or is there a slim chance of them being collected down the line? Also will #18 ever be collected in a trade?

IDW has to pay Veitch royalties before they can reprint his comics and they don't want to do that. So that accounts to The river trilogy and Sky highway.

Issue #41 Turtle Dreams also can't be reprinted because of the artist/writer royalties too.

I wish IDW would just share the profits with these guys to see the material reprinted but apparently it's not the way business works.

(where do these stories get started?) We'd be delighted to pay royalities— we've offered to do so. The issue is ownership of the stories, which is a matter between Veitch and Viacom, which we don't have any say over.

In other words, let's back off of IDW. They're doing an awesome job. Put the pressure on Viacom and Veitch instead.

I'll grab my pitchforks and you grab the torches!

It begins and ends with "CyberCubed".

Show me your warface!

Ok here goes....ahem

:x

It'll be included in this hardcover coming to comic shops next week.

What else does this collect exactly?

Why is #18 reprinted in the 25th collection yet they skipped it over in the regular Mirage classics collections?

Makes no sense.

Really. Hopefully the task it on volume 8.

"The River" trilogy is one of my favorite stories from the original comics, so if something can be worked out for those issues to be reprinted, I think it'd be amazing.

Well, it depends on where you stand with creator rights. I emailed Veitch and he confirmed that Viacom offered him cash for his TMNT stories, but they wanted to own the rights to the stories themselves, not just the right to re-print them. This would effectively cut Veitch out of any future royalties that he would otherwise be entitled to should Viacom make money on those stories. Veitch was not willing to do that, and Viacom didn't do a counter offer. This is probably the case Turtles Dreams too.

So if you ask me, point your pitchforks at Viacom.

I don't understand why Veitch cares so much. He literally wrote these comics 20 years ago, why can't he just like Viacom have the rights? Especially if they're willing to pay him to reprint them the first time around?

I would understand if we were in the 90's and his comics were relatively recent, but we're in 2014 practically....why does this still matter?

Because it's his business, not yours, mine or anybody else's.

Are we to infer that the only way Viacom will allow any of its licensors (IDW) to reprint the Veitch stories is if Veitch agrees to sign a new agreement that waives all rights and claims to the material? I don't claim to be super knowledgeable in such matters but I have to wonder... why?

I mean, we're just talking about a couple of stories here. Would it kill Viacom to have a couple of stories reprinted in the here and now with a few supporting characters they don't own? What would be the worry? That after republication they might find and spark new popularity/fan demand and Viacom would have to kowtow to Veitch to do anything new with his characters in order to ride the wave? If not that, then what?

There's gotta be a way to broker something.

Raphael (microseries) #1
“Complete Carnage an’ Radical”
“You Had To Be There”
“Fun With Guns”
“49th Street Stompers”
TMNT (Vol. 1) #14
TMNT (Vol. 1) #33

I think this edition might have the bonus art gallery from the 2nd Heavy Metal edition, too? (the one with all the variant covers)

I have the first edition which only included the comics, personally.

You know what would be great?

A volume featuring all of the "future" Mirage stories ("Old Times," the Tales reprint frontispieces, Tales Vol. 2 #13, 14, 40, 41, 45, 55, 69, and a few other shorts).

Not that I'm not more anxious to get all of the material out there first, but some thematic collections like that would really make me happy.

That would be a very cool, very realistic approach to collecting that stuff, I think. The Puma Blues issue with Raph, Old Times, the Tales V2 treasury edition epilogue, and the issues you suggest. I don't think the frontispieces would make much sense out of context, though.

They're still a hell of an addition to the material, though. Even as a "bonus," I hate to think of them never being reprinted. And the epilogue almost doesn't work without them.

Sure, and they'll get to them all eventually.

The appeal, though, in having themed volumes for some of the more interesting material (other than the pleasure of reading them grouped together), is that it gives new readers something to look toward other than four issues in order of varying quality.

I really wish they'd do the same with "Return to New York" and "Shades of Grey/City at War" in a more affordable format as well. You know, like, how you can just walk into a store and pick up any major Batman story or a best-of collection in a single volume? I'd love to be able to point someone to a book like that and say, "This is why I enjoy this series."

How good would a Leonardo-centric, "Blind Faith" + "Scars" + "Loops" collection be? So good I would point people toward it like crazy.

They're collecting the Tales issues in order they came out, they'll probably continue that way. After they collected Tales #1-7 they went right on to Tales #1-4 of the second volume.

It's too bad they skipped, "Spinal Tapped" so the only way to get that is the 2007 Tales collection.

My sentiments exactly. Why not let Veitch keep the rights to Bloodsucker, Old Man River, etc.? Though the Casey Jones mini-series is trickier, since it was collaboration between Veitch and Eastman.


I actually told Brad Fuller (one of the producers at Platinum Dunes) about this whole issue on Tweeter. I guess we'll see if that ever pans out.

Oh yeah there's a way, Veitch isn't opposed to them being reprinted, but if Nick's "we much own every aspect of everything" policy is a strict one I don't see it ever happening.

Look at it from Viacom's point of view. Why broker a deal to print the book once when they can just buy all of the rights to the story, add it to the vault, and not have to worry about this again 10-15 years down the road when another licensee wants to print the stories?

I'm sure they are not looking to use it for a movie or to even to leverage the secondary characters, they just want everything under the same umbrella so it doesn't turn into a licensing nightmare down the line.

^^^^^^^^ It sucks but it makes sense. Well put.

Which makes a lot of sense. Its the same reason Nick bought the 4kids cartoon for $10 million so they could own everything. I'm willing to bet they tried to buy the original cartoon too but Lionsgate won't give up the rights.

With Lionsgate its not a big deal since the entire original cartoon was released on DVD, (and I honestly doubt Nick would bother with blu-ray sets for it), but I really wish they could own all the comics.

I would love to buy more hardcover collections from IDW.

Really bummed to hear that Mirage volume 2 isn't getting the Ultimate treatment, but I'm sure the sales have dipped a bit since volume 1 of the Ultimate Collection's, so it makes sense. Still, imagine volume 2 in the over-sized format with annotations from Lawson. I'd be up to see it in black and white, recolored, whatever. It'd be a truly beautiful book.

Edit!: Oh god! Imagine the new beautiful cover Lawson could do for it! It hurts!

I'd laugh if IDW did re-color Volume 2, because there's like...no point. The only reason they colored the trades in the first place is because black and white won't sell to the casual buyer. They took a gamble with the Ultimate Collections and even then they released Colored Classics trades.

Still its great to see almost all of Volume 1 completed. Classics #7 actually just came out today, the one with #45-47.

Does anyone know how they colored Chote? Is he brown/tan?

I have to say I am most excitied about a reprinting of volume 3. I hope you guys can keep those in black and white and I love the art in those the way they are, but they are a bit pricey to go back and buy. Having them in a nice b&w collection would be a day 1 purchase for me like the ultimate collections have been.

He's brown/tan, as in the original covers.

The coloring in this volume is pretty good all the way through. They used a darker palette for "Leatherhead, Too" than I would have imagined, but the whole book looks pretty nice. "Masks" looks great.

It's amazing to see almost all of Volume 1 completed. I really hope the Soul's Winter trade is colored well when it comes next year. Of course I'd prefer it being released in black and white to capture the somber feel of those issues, but I doubt they would do that.

I think the whole "future stories" stuff would be great in a solo collection(s). I think they shouldn't forget the Donatello story "Old Times" from the Plastron Cafe anthology series Mirage did. That was a future story wasn't it?
Yeah the Rick Veitch stuff needs to be resolved. Like doesn't he want to make some money off reprint royalties? Can't they structure a deal if his characters or story elements ever get used beyond comics he gets something in royalty profits/credits off merchandise/media? How long can he really do this? But of course we know large companies don't want lingering bits to ever become a legal nightmare down the road. It seems like others have pointed out and IDW themselves that its a matter of rights and how thats handled from a creator rights standpoint and technical, legal logistics. Which in the end sounds nasty a bit.
Can't believe theres another edition of TMNT 25th as a HC book. So now it'll include TMNT V1 #18 in color or not? I didn't know about the cover/art/pin ups gallery from the 2nd edition trade. Just can't see myself double dipping for some extras compared to the 1rst trade edition.
I'm curious about TMNT Vol.3 getting collected. What about all the Image characters that appear? Is it possible to reprint Vol. 3 series with them?

Pretty sure Image gave them the permission to reprint them. Erik Larson said that while he doesn't like another company reprinting Image comics, at the same time he doesn't own the Turtles, and it would be wrong of me not to let them reprint it.

In other words Erik Larson is doing what Rich Veitch isn't, he's not being bitter about another company reprinting comics and is happy for the TMNT fandom when they come.