TMNT comic suggestions?
 

So the new TMNT comic series peaked my interest again in tmnt and I am now obsessed once again. I am old (25) and like many of you have not forgotten the undeniable draw of these green bastards. Besides the original Mirage series (I ordered the ultimate collection 1 already) which series do you guys love or find to be a must read? The archie series, tales, etc? What should I start collecting? Why?

Depends what your tastes are. For the original TMNT...

TMNT Vol. 1 http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=157031
TMNT Vol. 2 http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=157051
TMNT Vol. 3 http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=157071
TMNT Vol. 4 http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=386471

Tales of the TMNT Vol. 1 http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=156471
Tales of the TMNT Vol. 2 http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=495621

And if you are into more of a comic book version of the Fred Wolf cartoon TMNT that's actually pretty good, yes:

TMNT Adventures http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=157121

Though they're all arguably amazing, what works for you in part depends on taste. If you're new to the comics, I would advise against starting with Tales as each issue takes place in a different random frame of time across the 25+ years of comics. It would be super confusing to jump into considering one issue will take place in 1985, the next in 2099. The archie run is superb, but it really doesn't kick into high gear until a little bit before halfway in, when a lot of it's cartoon tone drifts into something more mature (not like blood/violence but rather the storylines tone/depth). Even so, the early stuff is great if you like the original show or toyline. Mirage as I'm sure you'll soon learn has plenty of great content, so I can of course give you a thumbs up in following along with that. There's a 7 issue run based on the 2k3 cartoon that Dreamwave printed but it's more or less adaptions of the show, & the episodes of that show were more or less adaptions of the Mirage comics. So unless that greatly interests you, don't sweat it. What I always recommend to others, as it's my favorite series, is the book Image did in the mid 90's. 23 issues that "somewhat" take place after the Mirage run of that time, but they fit in their own existing continuity as well. You don't need to know all of the old characters/stories to follow along. I suggest it as the art is beyond sharp, the pacing is nice, there's plenty of action, a darker tone, and there are radical changes made to the turtles and co. that really add to the experience. For example Don becomes a cyborg. It's a little harder to collect, if only for the sake of a few issues being sort of expensive on ebay, but 23 issues isn't much to chase down for a rad series contained story.

Thanks sir, what is volume one like after Laird and Eastman stopped working on it? Never read anything after "Return to New York". Also volume 3 does look awesome. I was a big fan of Spawn and Image in the 90's. Plus the darker the better, plus raph as shredder? Does not get much cooler than that.

After RTNY is in large a big hit or miss sequence. Lot's of stuff with arguable canon status, but with awesome art and stories nonetheless. There's some real goofball sh*t thrown in, but if you enjoy both the toon & the regular comics it's nothing you wouldn't at least slightly enjoy. The majority of it is good stuff, and not far off tone-wise. The turtles go on spiritual quests, fight supernatural beings, have family matters, nights out in the city, & so on. When E&L stepped back in for the City At War saga alongside the pen of Jim Lawson, things are kicked right back into high gear with a 12(?) issue tale full of butt kickin' action & Shredderdom, much like RTNY on steroids. Worth reading.

Vol. 2 is in the same vein, E&L with Lawson, it's short (13 issues) & a little underrated but still totally enjoyable.

Vol. 3 is to most the Image series I mentioned above, it's more or less up to the reader to decide if they want it to follow previous works as Pete denounced its canon status, though many fans refuse to accept that. As you said, the Raph as Shredder thing, it's as awesome as you would imagine it to be. 100% bad ass. And you mention Spawn, there is actually a very brief crossover between he & the turtles in it's canon. Someone here will likely post a link to it after having read my comments.

Vol. 4 is the turtles as before Vol. 3, but without Kevin Eastman aboard (which in short means there's virtually no real "grit"). It's basically all outer space stuff, with a bit of spiritual exploration and growing up thrown in. More text heavy than anything else, not too much action. I'd say fans have a love/hate thing going on for it, especially when taking the fact it was never given an ending into consideration.

Hey thanks buddy, great synopsis on the volumes. I think I'll steer clear of volume 4 for a while lol. I'll for sure check out the Image series. I didn't even know e&l were really involved with Volume 2. Sorry, noob here. Been a long time. I'm talking like...1993.

I would definitely recommend the "City at War" storyline. It is easily my favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story, so far.

The very first tmnt film trails it by a few inches...

that makes up issues 50-62 of volume 1 right? I'll pick them up when I can, or hopefully they put them in one of the ultimate tmnt collections that are coming out.

Correct, but 48 and 49 make up what I consider to be an essential prologue to that whole story.

Way too much to read :D What is generally your guys least favorite series, or the fans least favorite? Volume 4?

Due to the sales so far of the first volume of the ultimate collection, Bobby Curnow, the editor of IDW, has stated that it is looking very likely to collect all of Eastman & Laird's collaborative works, including Return To New York and City At War. If you've read Return To New York, I would highly recommend City At War, as it deals with the direct repercussions of those events, namely the demise of the Shredder and dissolution of The Foot. It also explores introspection into the characters never seen up to that point. Amazing! Though I would probably go crazy if I had followed it issue to issue, as the pacing was definitely slower than the current IDW series, in my opinion.

Agreed. And they stand alone perfectly as well.

Awesomeeee. Also nice Cloud Strife Pic. I am currently getting my sleeve filled in of Vincent and Red :)

I didn't follow Volume 4 as it came out, I read it all at once, and it still crawled... It had a promising start but there were no story arcs, for the most part. Every issue brought an inch of progression to the plot with no real goal in mind, it felt like. It had its moments, but they were certainly few and far between, in my opinion. While Jim Lawson's artwork had become overstylized at that point, I still enjoyed it.

I feel like I was just in your place! I recently got back into the turtles when I purchased the Mirage Collected Book from the '09 Comic Con and became obsessed and read virtually every series listed in this thread. Good stuff all around, but I tend to just reread #1-11, Return To New York, and City At War over and over since it's so good. I like the Image series quite a bit, especially the artwork, but I felt like some of the characterizations were off, and the superhero crossovers kind of gave it a goofy feel at times.

Hey thanks! I've been toying with the idea of getting a buster sword tattoo... And still figuring out what TMNT image to use for a tattoo as well. When I get it, we will have a TMNT tattoo thread!

I'm surprised there isint a tattoo thread already. I have always toyed with the idea of a black and grey raph tattoo, something a little realistic looking. Also, I agree. Return to NY is amazing, and crossovers seem to always come off as contrived.

I'd suggest you check out the ''Challenges'' mini graphic novel by Michael Dooney. One of my fave's. It's pretty much a collection of the 4 turtles and Master Splinter solo stories.

Last suggestion is that the second volume of Tales of the TMNT was really good. It definitely jumped around, so it can get a bit confusing if you're not at least peripherally aware of the stories in Volume 1, 2, and 4, but most of the time they have an introduction that helps frame the story so it's not too disorienting. It's also nice to have a self-contained story in every issue too, so the pacing is nice and quick. If nothing else, read Tristan Jones' work, which is the best Tales has to offer in my opinion, and they all tie together for the most part, into a gritty follow-up to City At War. Think Gotham Central with TMNT.

Dude, Volume 2 is awesome! You have the Turtles thwarting a Triceraton invasion, getting caught up in a web of government intrigue, and the freaking Baxter-Bot!

Okay, with that said...try to go somewhat chronologically. It'll help the overall flow of the narrative go smoother.

Yeah, Venom's got the right idea. However, if you insist on skipping around (Volume 1 had some pretty ridiculous issues that I just didn't care for), I utilized the helpful synopses in the "Back Issues Bin" section of miragelicensing.com to figure out what I wanted to check out next. May contain spoilers though, so be careful. Every issue you can think of, minus IDW series of course.