Image Volume 3 or Mirage Volume 4?
 

Disclaimer: I'm not doing this poll to start angry ranting and division.

I recently reread the entire runs of Image Volume 3 and Mirage Volume 4, and found that I really absolutely prefer Volume 3 as a whole to Volume 4. Now, first and foremost, that's probably because I hate non-endings. Even though Volume 3 didn't get a chance to wrap up all of its plotlines (before Andrew Modeen happened, of course :tgrin:) at Issue #23, it still felt like a somewhat satisfactory conclusion. Volume 4 just stops. No ending.

I still don't care for much of Donny's handling in Volume 3 and personally think he was reduced to plot device more often than not (or just walking talking tank), and the emotion is lacking whenever the Turtles think Donny is dead. And all those damn Image crossovers, but honestly, the Mirage superhero hospital and Justice Force bother me just as much.

Volume 4 has the cockroach orgy, of course, but a lot of its stuff is great. Mikey, Donny, Leo... April as a whole is interesting, and it's somewhat well written even if turning her into a magic pencil drawing undercuts EVERYTHING about her. But by the end of the 32 issue, it just feels SO RANDOM with so many open plot threads:

The mysterious abduction, the strange alien who was attacking Shadow, the genderless warriors, the Foot Clan's evil book, what's up with Karai, what's up with Splinter, what's up with Rage Mikey, will Donny get his size back... whew, that's just off the top of my head.

So yeah, Volume 3 all the way for me. Which do you prefer? 3 or 4?

I make it pretty well known the Image run is my favorite, so yeah, there goes my vote.

Oof. For me, it's a little bit like trying to decide if I want to insert a vegetable peeler up my nose and turn it counter-clockwise, OR, snip that tiny piece of skin that connects my lower lip to my gums.

I guess Image, by a hair. Basically, when I look back on Image, stuff at least seemed to happen, even if I didn't like a lot of it. Mirage Vol. 4, I'm aware things happened, but darn it, other than the stuff I hated, like the April sh*t, none of it stands out. I'unno if it's the lack of any payoffs or what, but the fact that everything moved at a snail's pace and there were zero resolutions was infuriating.

Vol. 4 did the unthinkable, and made TMNT goddamn boring... how is that even possible?

So what's your feeling on Volume 4? I don't recall ever hearing your opinion on that run of stories...

:tlol: Let the hate flow through you! So what did you not like about Image?

Felt like a ton of shock value for its own sake, for starters, although points for trying something different, I guess. And the art was bad. Lots of it looked like a coloring book.

Eh, I just didn't like it. To be fair, I'm generally very anti-Image, and especially back then, so there's a good chance I wouldn't have liked what they did with it regardless.

The Image run was pretty good:

- Shredder's daughter Pimiko (which is where every Karai afterwards was based on)

- Mob bosses trying to get Shadow back from Casey

- Raphael becoming Shredder and leading the Foot Clan (is this what inspired IDW to make Splinter take over the Foot?)

- Leatherhead returning and being unstable with an Utrom Dr. X (this continues in Tales)

- Triceratons teleporting to Earth.

- Don becoming a cyborg (which is where IDW's Don might have been inspired by)

- Foot Clan war where they take the mantle back from Raphael and Pimiko helps the Turtles.


It also added a new mutant, Komodo.

Shameful admission time; I couldn't even bring myself to read it in full. Bores me to death. I love Jim's art in it, though. There are a lot of decent ideas that could've been better executed, & there are also some things I just can't get into at all, like the vampires, for example. It's bogged down by a slow pace, excessive dialogue, & a lack of eventfulness, overall. I love the 'winding down' concept, that things aren't always gonna be high-octane or mysterious necessarily, but I don't think it was done in an interesting way.

I voted for vol 3 but I have to admit it's only because I own all of it and due to Andrew's conclusion. When I first started collecting all volumes of tmnt I had initially decide not to go for v3 due to the lack of ending and I hadn't yet heard v4 didn't have any ending either. I love it all. But with v4, I don't think Peter Laird will ever get around to finishing it. God I hope I am wrong there....

I've read through Volume 4 multiple times, especially the early issues because I was a young teen and excited TMNT had new comics.

Its not that bad when you can read all the issues back to back. The pacing problems are nowhere as awful, although they still exist obviously.

I had no idea the hate for Volume 4 was so universal. Would really love to hear the opinions of those who prefer it...

People really liked Volume 4 when it first started, all the beginning issues leading up to Splinter's funeral were great. It was around the time the Turtles all split up to go on their separate adventures which went on for 20+ issues and still never ended that the book fell apart.

Well, yeah, I know why people like it. I like it just fine myself, for what it is... the run up to Splinter's funeral is great, and the solo adventures are pretty good, but the long tedious writing style is excruciating and Laird adds way too many ongoing open plot threads without resolving hardly ANY of them.

I prefer Volume 4 hands down, not that I don't like Image. Jim Lawson's style really complements Laird's writing style, and overall the book is extremely ambitious, daring, and so much fun to read. The Image series seemed too concerned with having a shock value, and at times it really is nothing more than another Savage Dragon series orvwhat not with the turtles shoe-horned in-- it should be or is it's own alternate reality, whereas there isn't really anything in Volume 4 that contradicts what came before it, in my opinion.

The Image character crossovers are only in about 4 issues.

I like Volume 4 over 3. However, I don't think my vote carries that much weight since I've only read 1 issue of Volume 3 (way too hard/expensive to find). The art threw me off. I don't think the art is bad at all, I think it's suffering from what I like to call Eastman syndrome.

Volume 4 is what I like about Mirage TMNT. It puts reality into a comic book, and makes it feel very real. I should mention I never read the April roach orgy issue, so maybe that keeps me from dropping my vote down.



*great art, but when shrunk down to fit comic pages, looks less detailed

Dragon lord/Go Komodo, Pimiko, actual plot development.... Image, along with volume one up until the end of 'return to new york, is the very best of what Mirage has to offer- it sits in a place of honor right beside my idw collection on my turtle shelf.

April the magic drawing, Mikey and the dino gril babies.... Volume four stinks so bad I want ot give it to the neighbor dog to take out and bury it in the backyard. X_x

Gotta go with Image, by a smidge.

I mean, both runs did things with the guys and their crew that I didn't care for in the long run, but at least Image kept things a bit more..."compelling" throughout, I want to say? And well, as much as I love Mikey teaming up with the Trikeys to whup some Styracodon tail, it took so long to get there (and who knows when we'll see what happens next?).

On the notion of an Image run...it'd be amazing if a collected hardback happened and it incorporated Modeen's stuff, too.

Neither volume is my preferred form of storytelling, but I'll say 3 because I prefer the art overall.

Hmm, Vol 3 is good more action different shocking events and interesting stories. I liked Vol 4 as as well as Lawsons art with the Duo Shade before they switched over to digital not that I disliked the digital tho. I liked that we see the TMNT when they are a bit older and experience different stories it never wrapped up I don't think I have read the last 3-4 because I was hoping to read them if Peter ever wraps it up all together. I also love Michael Dooney's painted covers. I think I'd have to re read both its been a while especially for Vol 4.

That issue's great--really great art from Lawson and it actually benefits from Laird's languid, sprawling writing. It gets a bad rap. It's quite effectively disturbing.

Anyway, volume 3 handles its character-writing better, but volume 4's the more ambitious product overall, and a little more in-tune with the rest of the Mirage universe.

Also, like, go back and read the first few issues of Volume 4. Laird's wordy dialogue aside, they feel really good, if you know what kind of storytelling the Mirage universe goes for. Laird severely needed Lawson to step in on script duties (just the actual dialogue-writing) though.

i'm not surprised the Image run has more votes, but i figured it'd be a much larger spread?

Volume four is a great story. It's biggest hurdle is not being finished and some parts being very drawn out... in a modern comics kind of way.

it's just that it'll probably never see an official conclusion is the real big bug'a'boo!

Yeah. I really hope at some point Peter squeaks out a desire to at least write down where he wants things to go and passes it off to Jim & Steve to finish up.

that's the least that i've really been hoping for myself!

I've been hoping for that scenario too.

I don't know, if I1m in the proper thread, but I had a question to vol 3. and 4.

What do you think: will IDW publish them in the TMNT Classics TPB series? Perhaps colored?

Are there news or rumors on this?

If the plot threads that Vol 4 started ever finished, it'd probably be the best. At least let us know where the whole Leonardo in the Battle Nexus stuff is going, hopefully somewhere other than just "meeting a still living Splinter".

OK, I think even with the non-finished plots I still like 4 a little better, since it's still just good old weird **** happening, bittersweet at best life story TMNT. But damn, finish some stuff!!

So is there any word yet of wheter or not IDW has solved the problem of reprinting Image?

Was there a problem? There's no problem.

According to IDW, there were/are indeed problems.

Well at least there weren't plans last time I checked, I guess I just sort of assumed there was a problem since it's been about a year since they finished up vol 2 and there still aren't any plans.

Wonder what they could be. IDW wanted to and even reached out to Frank Fosco to draw up the cover what seems like eons ago. There was early concerns about, "Well, what about the characters exclusively owned by Gary Carlson and/or Erik Larsen?" but Erik Larsen and Gary Carlson were very enthusiastically saying they would give their permission if needed... so it can't be that. Maybe it's Nickelodeon who has some problem with the Image material?

I know, it shouldn't be this hard. Both IDW and Image are seemingly on board with it, so it must be Nick.

Dammit, Pimiko, your slutty BDSM-ninja costume is screwing ALL of us. :tlol:

I figured at some point he'll get the itch to complete Volume 4 but with every passing year, my feeling is edging toward "Not very likely." And I don't think he'd ever pass it off to anyone to complete in his stead, notes or not.

I mean, the man hasn't even written a single entry on his TMNT blog in a year.

Never. I gave up hope on Laird a year or two ago.

It's all on YOU, Andrew. :twink:

if and when IDW gets around to reprinting the Image TMNT vol 3, i'd actually prefer it in B&W.

personally i just think it better fits the dark mood of the stories!

plus the folks doing the color classics butchered City at War!!!

Unless they wanted to add in duotones, nah. Colorize it.

Hm, maybe Nickelodeon doesn't want to pay royalties or something?