That April O'Neil cover
 

Y'all dig?

https://i.ibb.co/mSbncdJ/s-l1600.jpg

Also, Ethan Van Sciver just talked about it a little bit. Skip to about 8:50.

Ew. No. Modern comic artists really hate feminine beauty, don’t they?

I mean...its the same art as the rest of the "best of" series so I cant get mad

There's more covers like that?

All of the best of series have that simple art sort of cover. There are 8 or so of them out?

Here is the sales page

I like some of them and I dont like some of them depending on the character. They are usually a Mirage, a Archie and a IDW comic (if possible) that has the character somewhat importantly displayed in that issue. I mostly pick them up just to get the feel for the older comics as I just came in on the IDW comics.

Jennikas was complete BS that I didnt pick up because she does not have the history in the series to justify her having an issue.

She looks like she is ready to ask for the manager.

:lol::lol::lol:

I thought it was going to be about the "Arpil" typo.

Ha, I still remember that!

Remind me of Campbell always give Karai a giant honkin’ nose.

These "best of" comics sucked

July's 'Best of Karai' will be the 14th edition.

Also worth pointing out that the collected editions have slightly different artwork on the covers and April does look better there.

Isn't Campbell the one who wanted to make April to look like a greasy fat ugly hipster?

Yeah, I mean seriously, what do they consist of? Best of April alone is:

1. Mirage #2
2. Micro
3. IDW #118

I mean seriously, I get #2 and the Micro (first appearance and a dedicated solo story) even if they aren't necessarily "the best" in a traditional sense, but IDW #118? A Mutant Town issue about her getting chased by eels and isn't really about her other than technically being on more pages than the other characters? There wasn't a single dedicated Tales issue or something they could have picked? Or if they had to pick a story that wasn't mostly about her, could they at least have picked something... Memorable?

As for the Rest...
Leonardo:

1. Mirage Micro
2. IDW Micro
3. Macro

Donatello:

1. Mirage Micro
2. IDW Micro
3. Macro

Michelangelo:

1. Mirage Micro
2. IDW Micro
3. Macro

Raphael:

1. Mirage Micro
2. IDW Micro
3. Macro

Which, again, not necessarily the best in a strict sense but at least clearly dedicated to them. Still, no Tales issues which would be better?

Then...
Splinter:

1. Archie #45
2. Tales V2 #2
3. IDW #5
4. Micro

Which is better but I'd probably just omit Archie's attempt to combine the Mirage and FW origins and just replace it with some Tales issue or the origin pages from Mirage #1.

Shredder:

1. Mirage #1
2. Micro
3. In Hell #1

Which... Sure but once again, not strictly "the best", just his initial appearance and two dedicated issues to him. Not to mention how In Hell #1 does not work as a standalone story.

Casey Jones:

1. Mirage #14
2. Mirage #48
3. Micro

Which is likely the one best collection as to what may be considered the best rather than just "whatever the hell happens to be dedicated to him". Don't personally like #14 but plenty of people do.

Leatherhead:

1. Tales #6
2. Mirage #45
3. IDW #56

More problems like the others. A first appearance, literally the second time he was in Mirage at all I think and the first time he was in IDW properly, the last one there also make no sense as a standalone story. Sad thing is that IDW has reprinted enough Mirage Leatherhead material to make a complete enough storyline...

Then there is Krang but... Ugh... Krang sucks and the better Krang focused comics are from IDW themselves. But even with the general lack of decent comics about this terrible character, what the hell did they pick? The conclusion to a (ught) David Wise story, the Micro, another IDW issue which doesn't really function as a standalone story and... A bonus story from a 2012 cartoon tie-in, you know, the cartoon in which Krang is changed to be a faction of the Utroms rather than a character in his own right?

Then I am aware of what's in the Jennika collection but let's be honest, does anyone care what the "best" Jennika issues are? In case you have to know, one is from an issue from when she was still human but the story isn't really about her, the second is a collection of the Universe back-ups in which she was still human, the third is the first issue of her second mini which does not work as a standalone story, the fourth is #114 which also does not work as a standalone story and the fifth (yes, really, fifth) is another one about when she was still human. I don't know why they even bothered, the collection almost admits the character (as boring as she always were) still worked better as a human being...

I don't quite know what the contents of Baxter and Rat King are, but I know the Baxter one has an issue of the Dreamwave book in there and... That's regarded as being one of the worst TMNT books ever.

Back when the contents got revealed, I made my breakdown of better candidates for a Best of Arpil… er, April collection:
https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sh...postcount=1359

Frankly for the third story I would have put in that one Tales Vol 2 issue about her trying to find herself after dealing with the fact that she's a drawing. It featured the return to one of the Archie artists for her design and Splnter's.

It makes you wonder who's job this was, because they put no effort into this whatsoever. Just the bear ****ing minimum. I'm also not sure why they used the Color Classic version for the Mirage issues.

It's a real shame they wasted making those trades which was just redundant material instead of making Vol. 4 trades or continuing the Tales V. 2 trades where they left off (I think they only collected about 25 issues of that before they stopped).

You know IDW is in financial trouble if they resort to reprinting old issues in hopes of making sales.

They've re-printing the Vol. 1 issues for the umpteenth time in new collections again.

I mean...we know IDW is hurting. Any sales are more dollars in pocket and if they can do it with pre-created materials that haven't been in print in years for minimal $$?

I cant really blame them for putting them together. Except for the collections of them...those are just reaching.

Right, except couldn't they be a bit more… Selective?

And reprints are just pure profit. It's not like if they reprint something they have to send a check to the writer/artist/letterer from 30 years ago.

This all seems so soulless to me, and that's what bothers me. You look at those lists of issues each one collects... these are not lists of issues that TMNT fans would come up with, certainly not for a "best of." Coupled with new cover "art" that looks to be drawn by someone who doesn't like the comic book industry. Like, who put these together, and who hired that cover artist? That's what I want to know. Whoever that person is, they're not someone who should be remotely close to TMNT.

The thing is why are they not putting out a Vol. 4 collection or the rest of Tales instead? They never collected those series yet, instead they're rehashing old series.

IDW collected all of Vol. 1 (besides the few guest issues they couldn't get the rights for like "The River" and such), all of Vol. 2, all of Image, all of Tales V. 1, Bodycount, and most of Archie.

Weirdly they never put out a Vol. 4 collection, and of Tales V. 2 they only collected the first 25 issues (out of a 70 issue run), so it's not like they ran out of Mirage issues to reprint.

Volume 4 would be odd since it has no conclusion and they can't just make one like they did with Volume 3.

Tales Volume 2, there is zero excuse.

Sales must have dropped out, and super bad -- that's the only explanation. Did they ever even get all the way through reprinting the Archies, too? If not, that's why there, too. It costs them nothing, just the cost of printing.

Too bad Dark Horse didn't get the license. We'd have great big, nice omnibuses made with quality by now and of everything.

Wow. Artwork and covers like that will definitely save IDW. I say they keep going for it....

Looks like something out of a state-sponsored anti-suicide pamphlet

Tales V. 2 collections not selling well is a shame, if they continued those we'd have all 70 issues collected as now they're fairly old and hard to come by.

Maybe it'll happen once IDW goes bankrupt.

Maybe. But Nick was only interested in a licensor who could also have material for little kids (hence the kids stuff at IDW beside the "main" book). I'm not sure that's Dark Horse.

Damn, have me thinking about what some nice omnibus versions of what some of the series could look like

True. It's ironic how once Laird sold the rights, the franchise became everything he hated. It's a shame he couldn't have sold them to someone better, but I guess he just wanted to go with whoever made him the highest offer.

I still hate seeing Nick's logo on everything TMNT related. I swear they label themselves on every damn side of it. Mirage never did that, and they were the original owner.

He knew exactly what would happen. Everybody has their price, I guess.

If he is tired of franchise, I can't blame him.
Though he could had trade for having a creative veto, just so we won't end up with **** like Bayturtles. Or at least not with those designs.

I think the fact that he did negotiate an agreement that allowed him to keep making his own comics (if he wanted to) was fairly impressive from a legal-point-of-view where a huge corporation and franchise IP rights are involved.

Not having to be creatively involved anymore is the reason he sold the Turtles in the first place.

Yeah man I have been clamoring for years for an Archie Omnibus set. They could get 3 volumes out of that....

I remember a few years back though one of the IDW guys said there were no plans for that somewhere in a thread....

Yah I always thought this aspect was pretty insane.

Imagine if George Lucas had said, “Disney you may own Star Wars but every 3 years I’m allowed to do a movie that has nothing to do with anything you all are doing.”

Than its kind of weird he brokered for making his own comic books about TMNT he doesn't want to be involved with.

Well to make Cybercubed happy.... at least she didn't have nostrils.