Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Vol. 2
 

Well, Volume 2 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics is out at comic shops (still waiting for my volume 1 to come in, since the copy the shop got of it was damaged). I got it on Saturday, and just got around to finishing it. It's a color collection of issues 16, 22, and 23 of TMNT vol 1, collecting an arc by Mark Martin involving Time Travel...This was certainly an interesting read coming off of my read of Volume 3 of the Ultimate Collection (Going from Return to New York to this is...jarring, to say the least). I think I might need to sleep on this one to decide how I feel about it. What did you guys think of it? And did anyone else get this collection?

I think it was awful then, and it is awful now.

I think it's a fun story.

I think I've actually come to see most of the logic in those Mark Martin stories over the years. Or maybe that just means I'm slowly going insane...

#16 was actually quite fun for a stand-alone story. I think it could have even fit into Mirage continuity. Its #22 and #23 that are awful, bringing in the "Fannywacker," and turns nonsensical.

I can only imagine the Mirage readers in the late 80's going from the super-gritty "Return to New York" watching Leo decapitate the Shredder to Mark Martin's silly parody issues and saying, "What the hell happened?"

Just imagine how many people dropped the Mirage comics at that point. Which they did, as that's when sales of the series started declining. Fandom history does not lie.

PL hates those issues, I am sure Kevin Eastman thinks they're great however.

I'll never forget that time I went to the comic store that week. No clue Eastman & Laird would vanish again and hoping for more TMNT good comics then I saw that cover with Splinter in a butler suit, or was that not him? Was that Whacker? Donny in the shower and with purple bandana?! Another friend at the time was also reading TMNT and he too had the same reaction. This is Turtles?! After the RTNY story? What was also surprising was you didn't get one issue you got TMNT #22 & #23 in the same week. It really was such a bummer. I eventually left TMNT not long after. I ceased with issue #28, which was actually really a great story. The "The River" #24-26 was good, #27 was OK. I didn't come back to TMNT until guess again, Eastman & Laird returned with 1992's "City at War" arc, which I actually started back with #48 "Shades of Grey". Only cause an interview from E&L stating that would be the starting point of their subplots. So it definitely had an effect on us readers back then. I stayed thru Vol. 2 series. Eventually got Vol. 3 after it just ended. Came back with the Vol. 4 run. Now IDW.

I like #16 a hell of a lot. The other two, I'm less decided on. They did have some killer front and back covers as individual issues, but that's about it.

Either way, looking forward to picking this one up. I can see how it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, though. In general, I really enjoy the "guest artist" era.

The only problem is casuals who buy this book may be turned off from the rest of the collections. They really should have skipped these 3 and the upcoming TomMcweeny trilogy and saved them for last or something.

I can only hope the rest of Volume 1 is collected and we get Volume 2 and Image collections at the least.

The good news is after Vol. 1's 62 issues are done we should blast through them, as both Volume 2 and Image are so short.

Here's a preview if you want to check it out.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...eview&id=13430

I have to admit that I'd LOVE to see Martin's crazy work in (hopefully) vivid color.

Say what one will about Mark Martin's storytelling, but the man sure can draw!

I liked #23 much better than #22. I think it's just more fun, slightly more logical (no turtle brains getting transferred into house appliances), and features some very great Splinter artwork. These issues showcase some of my favorite pages and panels in all of TMNT comic book history:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...Racer_crop.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...Canon_crop.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...rtles_crop.jpg

Here ya go, bud. I think the quote is great.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...acker_crop.jpg
Everytime I open a box of fresh, out-of-the-oven pizza that same description goes through my head.

they're so stupid....but they are fun. The art is enjoyable at the very least

I took a peek at this TPB today but didn't buy it. While I LOVED seeing these issues in color, it was just clear that they were meant to be B&W books and don't lend themselves to simple color jobs. Mark Martin's shading details just don't look quite as good when they are colorized, and it really gives the issues an identity crisis. It's not always especially noticeable, but if I had some scans I could illustrate my point more clearly.