TURTLE FANS | Suggestions on which comic series to read?
 

1. Ideally, i'm looking for adult style comics as i'm in my 20s now. Can anyone advise me on which are the "darkest" TMNT comics? And i mean quality dark as in serious/adultlike in tone (like graphic novles)? I've never read any of the "serious" comics from TMNT (are there any?), but i'd like to. I used to buy the UK Hero Turtle comics back in 1990-91 but they were spins off from our "Hero" turtle show and in retrospect were quite light and frothy.

2. Apart from dark toned TMNT, what else do you consider MUST reads in the TMNT comic domain - and WHY?

3. Do Turtle comics come in compilation volumes so a whole series would be in one big "graphic novel" style book? Or do i have to buy each comic individually?

I really want to start getting into these comics. Thanks.

Bodycount series is uber-violent, I hear. :)

Image has serious tones-the turtles are mutilated, Raph leads the Foot, and they even deal with the Mafia.

BWAHA, I got in the stereotypical answers first!

Which ones are the Bodycount series on this page? http://www.ninjaturtles.com/html/comic.htm
They don't seem to be listed.. ? But i am intrigued.

Casey Jones and Raphael #1 is actually the first, original, intended part of the Bodycount run, but this series was canned by Mirage publishing for an unknown reason. Eastman had it published under the BC name thanks to Image comics.

Wait for Karpo to come along. The resident Mirage TMNT expert. He'll help you out.

Yep, Mirage volume 1 is the series you want to pick up. You can actually reed the first issue on the official site..

mirage volume 1
-the first 11 or 13 issues
-the river
-shades of grey
-city at war
-return to NY

Just more detail for the interested party . . .

mirage volume 1
-the first 11 or 13 issues
-the river (issues 24-25)
-shades of grey (48,49)
-city at war (50-62)
-return to NY (19-21)
Plus you'd probably like issues 31,35,36 by Mike Zulli. They take place outside of the real continuity but they're super serious and dark.

And you should pick up the current series as it comes out, too.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I notice that Episodes 1-11 are available in "TMNT Collected Book Volume 1"
And The River is available in "TMNT Collected Book volume 6".
There don't seem to be collected book volumes yet of the others though? Maybe they'll come later.

Which current series are you referring to? The Mirage Volume 4?

Are "Tales of the TMNT" pretty dark? And what about the Dreamweave comics? I actually really like the coloured art in that. Is it just comic book adaptations of the new TV series or are they all new adventures like the early Archie comics?

OK, all the answers in no particular order:

there's seven volumes of the collected books (as well as the collected tales). Of course, seeing Book 6 probably should hint that there are volumes 2-5, eh?

The colelcted books DO NOT cover the entire series (only up to #29, and vol 7 is something of a rarity) so if you're really wanting to get every ish you'll have to buy them separately.

don't hold your breath waiting for more collected books. It will probably eventually happen but who knows when.

read all the Mirage stuff regardless of what the title of the book may be.

Bodycount (Image) is the most violent, personally I think it's uber lame.

The Turtles Soup books are collected stories, some of which are very dark.

Tales (Vol 1) is not so dark, mostly adventure type stories. Exception being introduction of Rat King.

The DW series is based on the show but branched out a little before getting canned.

i have all 4 body count its good vol one is all in all good but i think the best is issue 50 - 62 vol one. city at war is just the best

it's a shame there's no compilation of Image's Volume 3, cos that's the series i most want to check out as i'm a sucker for the artwork and the whole alternate universe thing. God if only there was a collected book!!!!!!!!

Can anyone advise me on the darkest "TMNT Volume 4" issues so far?

Yeha, woud suggest reading TMNT Volume #1 first off, then just kinda going up the ladder to Vol #2 then Image's Volume #3, then Vol 4.

no actually there is a collected book of Vol 3, but it only covers the first 5 issues.

Really? I've been searching around and can't find any collected books from Volume 3. Might you have a link or two handy? I'd like to get it if there is.

Anyone? :cry:

read vol 4

ga-ga-ga-google, ga-ga-ga-google oh yeah

then there'e always eBay, milehighcomics, and mycomicshop


and of course your local comics store (you'll probably have to ask)

I've been searching for hours on the net and milehigh comics and i don't believe there's such a thing as a Vol 3 collection. As for ebay.. GAH no thanks!

I'm sort of in the same boat as you, or at least I was recently in that I just started to get into the TMNT comics.

It took lots of research but I have a pretty good understanding of which series are which and what each is generally like (although I'm not familiar with this "Body Count" title.

I can't really advise you want to read cause I haven't read anything yet. However, I made the decision to start at the beginning with Mirage Vol. 1 and go from there. I've just recently put a bunch of orders in to like 3 or 4 different places and I think I have secured all of the important or "canon" issues from Vol. 1 either in loose book form or collected book form. I even got a pretty good deal on all these issues, although it did add up. However, i don't have a ton of money so I needed to be reasonable. Here is a list of what I've found recently--

TMNT Collected Books (full color) published by First Comics 1-4
TMNT Collected Book (black and white) by Mirage 2-7
TMNT back issues Vol. 1 45-49 and 52-62
TMNT back issues Vol 1 50-51
All 4 Microseries (Leo, Mike, Raph, Don)
Challenges TPB

This seems to cover the so called "canon" or main storyarc from Vol. 1 plus the Challenges book. If I dig this stuff, which I probably will I'll move on to
Mirage Vol. 2 and go from there.

I will say that the TMNT Collected Book 1 that collects issues 1-11 and the 4 microseries seems VERY rare. A lot of people on this board seem to have it but I have not found one anywhere. I'd love to find it too. Also the Collected Tales of the TMNT book is something I'd love to find, and the Shell Shock collection. But both seem rare.