TMNT Adventures Vol 8 Cover Art
 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/163...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Not too bad! I like the dragon, ninjas, and the power plant. No Ninjara, but there's plenty of time for that. Edit: I see a shadowy Ninjara dead center! I like how these covers give an overall feeling to what's inside.

Looks like its back to 4 issues for this one, which means it will include #28-31.

I sure hope the next volume (9) will include 5 issues to include Tatoo, 2 issues with the 4-armed tiger, and the two issues. That could then provide a clean break for the next next volume (10) which, at 5 issues, could include the Wrestling issue, 3-part Horsemen (to include Mutanimals single issue), and the 1492 story. (Of course, this begs the question if the standard Mutanimals series will be included somewhere like the miniseries was. If so, will it be a standalone volume or mixed in with the next few volumes, thereby extending/dragging out the next few storylines. Hmmm.)

In any case, these are fun stories and I'm glad for these :) The covers aren't Chris Allan yet, but they are nicely done.

With each release I am becoming ever more hopeful that they will make it to the end of the Archie run. Thanks for sharing. I seen this last night on Amazon myself :)

Sweet, another cover inked by Pete! :D

I love the layout, but I'm not sure what to think of why Donatello is the only Turtle showing pupils in his eyes. The fact that he's turned around practically breaking the 4th wall by looking at the viewer kinda reminds me of the turtle stance from the TMNT2 port on the NES.

Yeah, the blatant posing in that with Don looking at "the camera" while Splinter and Mikey point at the focus of the action is just... awkward.

I'm surprised they're back to four issues for this one... that's too bad.

I don't understand the handling of the Archie trades myself. So little issues are collected and I can't imagine these are selling that well to the general public who has never read this series before.

Another weird thing I just noticed about this cover image. Donatello and Splinter almost seem to be occupying the same space simultaneously. Splinter looks to be slightly closer to the forefront of the page, but his arm and tail are clearly behind Donatello. It's just... weird.

What the?! Three prominent female characters in this story, and none of them make the cover, except as obscured background details? I realize this isn't exactly new--none of the TMNT Adventures collection covers have featured their respective stories' female characters--but it's getting much harder to see this exclusion as coincidental.

That's right, this arc is where Oyuki shows up too. I love how this version of April learns to kick ass and gets her own sidekick.

So who did the cover art?

I am surprised we've yet to see April featured on any of the covers. She starts to play a less prominent role in the ongoing main narrative once Ninjara enters the picture, but maybe they'll give O'Neil some respect if they start collecting the April mini-series and the back up features.

I really wsh IDW would release a more encompassing collection of Adventures!

I love the adventures series and want to have it all in some sort of collected form, but honestly..$12-15 a book for 4-5 issues..not exactly printed the best isnt the way I want to collect it.. way too expensive for what it is.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a more expansive collection.. maybe $20-30 for 12-20 issues at a time

If you are suggesting the females are purposely being excluded for sexist reasons, that's probably Not the case.

Same. I might start picking these trades up around the "Terracide" storyline because there's still a healthy chunk of issues after that I never got to read. But as much as I'd love to have this book collected, I can't justify buying these early collections when I have all the singles in my comic box.

Agreed, for all we know corporate stipulated they wanted the covers to focus on well known characters so it's friendly to newcomers with nostalgia for the OT or something. Who knows. I doubt it's because IDW hates girls. :p

Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait.

Are you suggesting that Chien Khan, Mondo Gecko, Scul and Bean, Jagwar and Dreadmon, Wyrm, and the ever-loving Cryin' Houn' are all more popular than April O'Neil? I...I don't even know what to say to that.

April is more prominent in volumes 4 and 5 than any of the other non-turtles characters who are included are. She's more popular and well-known than 90% of the other characters. She stars in the back-ups strips all throughout volume 7, and even if including her wouldn't have been consistent with the scene depicted, neither were the covers for volumes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. She's as much part of the gang as Splinter is in volume 8. What possible reason is there to exclude her from all of those? The argument that she's not visually interesting enough amidst all the mutants is made bunk by the fact that the cover for volume 8 does its best to obscure Ninjara.

The exclusion of female characters doesn't need to be codified as policy in order to be sexist.

A person or persons don't have to be sexist to do sexist actions, just because there might be no intentional malice involved, doesn't make it any less bad.

Gosh, no one is sitting around saying "let's ignore April and all the females." For nostalgia And for attraction to young readers, a bunch of baddies, mutants, and turtles on the covers are likely more exciting than April (or any other human character for that matter). They also encapsulate characters that are known to be from this series specifically. Whereas April is all over the place in marketing of other TMNT series and merchandise. I agree she developed into a strong character, as did some of the other females in the book. I bet ninjara will grace covers sooner or later. But to look at these covers and cry sexism is likely to generate a :roll: from most.

And yet Maligna, who is a monster-type, visually interesting, a baddie, Archie-exclusive and a big bad has also been excluded. What's the excuse for her?

And it's volume 8. Is it really to cater to newcomers that haven't gotten the 7 other volumes?

They hate females. That's the answer you're looking for, right? Make a rant about it on your blog like you usually do.

Since April has been missing from every trade cover thus far, her exclusion just because "nobody in the presumably-male-dominated editorial staff thought about her" can be viewed as the patriarchy in action, even if her absence isn't actively malicious... and it's definitely one interpretation you could choose.

I haven't been paying much attention to these since I own all the singles from this early in TMNTA. Looking at the covers... frankly, now that I look Steven Lavigne's covers look all wrong to me, too action-figurey, but moving on... yeah, April's not on any of them. I'd think volumes 5 and 8 would have been the most logical places to include her thus far. It is pretty ridiculous Scul and Bean got a cover and Maligna didn't, but then Null didn't show up on that era's covers either.

Still. April's back-ups in the last volume lead into this volume's arc, and this arc is a fairly big turning point for her, and her first (good) miniseries is a sequel to this arc. So not having her on the cover is kind of ridiculous. It would be nice to see them include that first April miniseries in the collections at some point since it's a sequel to #28-30 and it sets up the April & Oyuki freelancer thing that comes up again in several TMNTA stories, but I won't hold my breath.

Also: TIL Maligna was inspired by Leona Helmsley, according to Ryan Brown

I think that you guys are crediting IDW with giving these covers far more thought than they actually have. It seems far more likely that they've simply approached the artists with an issue that represents the arc contained and just let them do what they want (and I suspect that what they wanted was to just bang something out in an evening).
Don't get me wrong, I'm phenomenally happy that these issues are being collected and I especially look forward to discovering material that never got reprinted in the UK (such as the first Mutanimals mini), but the actual quality of the reprints has been low and the covers have all been incredibly poor in general. It very much feels like the stamp of approval for these books has read "that'll do".

My thoughts exactly. Thank you for your cool-headed but honest logic, Kingoji.

I am often accused of both.

This seems likely. It doesn't make the absence of the female characters any less glaring or worthy of being called out, and arguably makes it more so. Because again, if you're choosing elements at random and consistently skip over the fifth most prominent character--who is made more so by being the only woman and non-mutant hanging out with the turtles--then something's up. If they've been doing it intentionally, they need to be called out. If they've been doing it without noticing, then they need to be told, because there's a greater possibility that it'll get fixed.

It's entirely possible they feel they're not that great at drawing women.

Like Jim Lawson? :lol:

Appreciate your honest thoughts. But honestly, the poster above is right on - probably little thought and a quick buck are put into the covers (rightfully so...its just a cover for a tpb of a kiddie comic - though we happen to love this kiddie comic!).

Nickelodeon ultimately has the final say as to what goes on the covers. I'm pretty sure they give the artist a guideline that they must follow. I don't think they have as much say into the design as you would think.

Yeah, this, basically. Which is about what I expect for this series as it's the "other" TMNT comic from the 90's. But I'm also with The Big Bad--sexism doesn't have to be (and often isn't) on purpose. April plays a huge role in the Archie universe.

Outside of Berger and Dooney, I never thought any of the old Mirage masters had much skill for rendering women in art.

:lol: true.
By the way, it's interesting to compare the 2 splinters in your sig and avatar.

To be honest the way they drew humans in general looked funky to me in a lot of the Mirage books.

Thanks so much!