Dreamwave comics
 

Why did these http://www.ninjaturtles.com/comics/d.../dreamwave.htm sell bad? I have heard it was because they followed the 2003 cartoon, but it was only the first issues, just like the Archie comics did with the 1987 cartoon. Then it developed new stories. It could have been a great TMNT universe, we don't know. It can also be good for fan fiction if you like the 2003 cartoon, but want a human Shredder since his origins don't seem to be told and he looks human.

I think it was a great series. It's a shame it didn't last longer. The art was great.

I always liked the covers. I think it just didn't last long enough to gain interest in the story lines because they were so closely related to what we have seen before in the show

Archie comics
 

I can only imagine what could have happened. Having the first issues the same as the 2003 cartoon is good to introduce the major characters. Did the Archie comics sell bad in the USA? The Archie comics were great (some consider the Archie comics the best TMNT work ever written). I think the best thing with the Archie comics was how the TMNT explored people, cultures and countries (the world is bigger than a sewer), and not just the same "Stay in New York City and stop Krang, Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady from breaking into a power plant and get energy for the Technodrome" that was used many times in the 1987 cartoon.

Well, it was more than just the first issue. The first three, I think, were adaptations of episodes of the TV show, albeit from an alternate perspective.

I honestly think that the reason they didn't catch wasn't so much due to content (though I, personally, really didn't like the series) but more because kids, the target audience of the 2003 TMNT line, just don't read comic books anymore.

Today, the comics medium is primarily geared at young adults and older. You won't find very many kids in comic shops anymore, and even worse, you may have a hard time finding comic shops period (the comic book industry is dying an albeit slow, but still painful death).

Outside of Archie Double Digests, you won't find single issue comic books in grocery stores or on news stands. In order for kids to get into the Dreamwave TMNT comic, they'd have to have had a comic shop in their area, been aware the comic existed and convinced their parent to take them there.

Then, after all that falls into place, they'd have to actually like the comic enough to want to pick it up every month. The fact that, after 7 issues, the TMNT still hadn't met the Shredder, probably didn't help maintain the attention spans of 8 year-olds. Kids aren't especially interested in the traumatic childhood of Baxter Stockman or a psycho-analysis of April O'Neil. They want to see the TMNT fight the Shredder. And the Dreamwave comic refused to deliver.

As to why young adults and adults didn't get into the book and keep it afloat (like they do IDW's Transformers titles), it's probably because, since it was modeled after a kid's show, they likely figured it was a "kid's book" and paid it no mind. my comic shop put new issues up in the "children's corner" alongside Looney Tunes and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (the children's corner also happens to be the most unpopular portion of the store, as there are very few kids who frequent the business).


Comic shops are dying. These days, kids get their comics in graphic novel packages from Borders or other bookstores. And even then, American comics aren't as popular with kids as Japanese comics. Go into any borders and look at the amount of shelf space dedicated to American comics and then look at the amount dedicated to manga. Kids care more about the continuing adventures of Luffy and Naruto than they do Superman and Batman.

The Dreamwave TMNT book didn't have the appeal for children but seemed too kiddy for adults. It's demise was no surprise.

And at any rate, even if it had continued, Dreamwave's bankruptcy would have canceled it, anyway.

I would have loved if it continued.

Just think, the Dreamwave series could have been to the new show what the Archie series was to the original cartoon.

Its a shame the DW series never got to expand into its own universe, remember it took awhile for the Archie series to truly gear up as well. I think it could have been a good series if it continued.

The funny part is it was canceled just as new stories, not related with TV were going to be published.
I liked the series but tbh not a big fan.
I do not like when there is a comic which exacly tells the same thing of a cartoon.
That's why i do not like cine-manga or ani-manga or what different ppl call them. They all look like screenshots put on pages. This is not a way to make a comic, it looks so weird and lame imo.
I had started to collect the the new Transformers Animated comic books but they were the same as show ( also really bad blurry screenshots so sold the first 3 book i bought back ). Tho i bought Transformers Animated - Arrival, which tells of a different story than the Tv series... drawn and colored by real ppl, not lamey screenshots. ( Yay for Dario Brizuela! )

Dreamwave's series used to be different from that screenshot thing ofc, it was a comic on itself, just the plot was from the TV.
But as mentioned before even it was not canceled, there was not much time left for it either, since DW went down the mountain...

A lot of DW comics series got canned. Some of them being Mini-series that never got finished. They made too many comics to fast and tanked. The Devil May Cry comic was the only other thing they were doing I was interested in and they canned it before the last issue came out which pissed me off. They even had a trade planned.

The turtles series was boring. I had all the issues but one and since I didn't like the series I've never bothered getting it.

Ppl feel different about DW. Yeah there is a fact that most ppl loved DW but there is a horde of ppl hated them.
For me, the comics of DW were smelling too much digital coloring which i am not very fond of.
Thay kept transformers alive yeah... a good thing. When i used to play WoW there was a huge Transformers fan in my guild.( really die-hard fan ) and he said he hated DW Trasnformers cause of Pat Lee ( an artist i do not like much either, his humanoid drawings seem ugly to me, robots not too bad but still not enough in my opinion )
He used to love Marvel and IDW TF as me.

The author of the TMNT comic was Peter David, a guy i really like ( Go X-Factor! )... Too bad we could not see his own original storytelling at the series.

You're missing the point guys. The new stories were boring. I don't think many kids cared about the Turtles helpin kids in da hood. They (or rather I) wanted to see the Turtles face the Shredder, the Foot, Baxter and the Triceratons. That wasn't too much to ask. Ironically the story they had set up before the comic as cancelled (the whole T4) was gonna feature Baxter, the Mousers and the Turtlebot. Had they gone with that story right away without wasting time on Djeerag or whatever his name was, the comic could have continued today. They could have kept the more... down-to-earth Turtles helping the community type stories, but they should have spaced them out in between issues of good ol' fashioned Foot Ninja fightin action.

I liked DreamWave's TMNT. In My opinion, it's WAYYYYY BETTER than Mirage's current volume of TMNT. ( I'm sorry, but there's no way in Hell that Jim Lawson can compete with the combined might of Peter David's writing and Lesean Thomas' artwork........let the hating begin.) I think the mistake was adapting the firts couple of issues directly from the tv series, instead of just going into new ones. The artwork was FANTASTIC !!! It was like reading animation, instead of just a regular comic, and I loved the fact the turtles interacted with different minorities in an Urban setting. I mean, c'mon the turtle live in New York, which is a melting pot, so it's good for them to hang out with people of different cultures. I was hoping the series would be big, and be like the Archie Adventures for the 21st century ( I've always thought Archie's TMNT told better stories than Mirage's, and to tell you the truth, I grit my teeth every time I buy the current Mirage TMNT with all of the aliens, werewolves, and super heroes, but hey I'm a diehard turtles fan,so I have to support the franchise). Say what you want about Dreamwave, but you can't beat their versions of the Transformers and TMNT, ( well in my opinion anyway).

Well....yeah... like I said, the stories were ok.. but they should have been done in between stories involving the Foot and Baxter and whatnot.

Drawings
 

I think they should have used ordinary drawings, like the Archie comics. Older readers, who grew up with the TMNT in the late 1980's and early 1990's with the 1987 cartoon and the Archie comics, would think: -"Wow, a new TMNT comic book like the Archie comics".

That would still leave the same audience though. If you are talking Archie I think we are just all holding out for The Forever Wars :P

Yeah, but hasn't that been done to death already ?

Sorry, but I disagree. Archie's TMNT Adventures in the begining,used artwork that looked like the cartoon at the time because it was based on that toon. In this day and age of manga and anime, I'm sure the publishers would not only like to appeal to older fans, but newer ones as well, and like it was said earlier, kids like anime, and I don't think drawing in the original Archie style would work, or make any sense. When I said make it the Archie Adventures for 2000, I meant make it an alternative read to Mirage's TMNT, and introduce new characters and tell original stories like Archie did back in the 90's.

The Dreamwave comic might've grown into something unique. For it's run though, you were basically reading comic book adaptations...of comic book adaptations. Talk about redundancy. The art was flashy, but not a style I really cared for.

However you feel about his artwork, Jim Lawson wrote City At War. Dig it.

Yeah, man! What the hell are these aliens doing in my Turtles comics? TMNT and aliens have nothing to do with each other and have not been connected in anyway since the beginning of the franchise! Outrage!

I prefer Mirage and Marvel. (And yes, I am a Transformers fan.)

Okaaayyy, I wasn't talking about Jim's writing, I was talking about his wack-a** wiggle vision artwork. And I know Aliens have been a staple in the turtles universe since the begining ( DUH !), but they've always been unkown to the public. If I want to see aliens and superheroes walking around in public, I'll pick up a DC or Marvel comic. And I also like Mirage and Marvel, but I also liked Dreamwave.

I am happy with the extra elements like aliens or superheroes in Mirage run. As Peter expresses in most of places TMNT is really really affected by Jack Kirby era and those were really superhero times. If all those alien / superhero / paranormal stuff was taken to a really maximum level, i dunno, maybe i can have a few complaints, but i really really like the current situation of the book. I mean, you buy an issue and see a lovecraftian tale in it...I am in love with that.
That makes the universe rich. Over the top ninja action may be cool but i am mostly happy when i see a turtle sitting in the living room with a remote control in hand and a slimy creature comes from the bath tube to unleash chaos... I think TMNT would not survive to this day if they had only used street thugs, street fights, old foes , treacheries, etc ,etc

TMNT survives
 

TMNT survives since it can be about almost everything from local New York City street gangs to alien invasions from Dimension X.

And in a very well designed harmony.. kinda like x-men meets savage dragon meets hellboy meets sin city meets cthulhu... and so on...
wow...