[Powder]

You're quite welcome. You can probably tell it's an iteration I am very passionate about, as well as an avid spokesman for, given it is the underdog wing of the franchise despite everything else being built from it's bricks.

Originally Posted by Monte Williams

The idea of a series of Ninja Turtles stories that tackle dark themes is almost counterintuitive to me, and yet it's the series that started it all, and so I am intrigued at the notion.

See, part of why it works so well, at least to me, is that it can be so unbelievably human & adult (in the mature sense, not the boobs & blood sense) for something based on a bunch of mutant animals with hardcore weapons. Unlike their animated counterparts, they don't go looking for things to fix, they don't consider themselves heroes, they're not big fans of humans. They're teenagers, they struggle with their place in the world, when to use words or fists, how to find happiness in a society they can never be a part of. These are things we can all relate to, but sometimes it just feels better coming from cool-ass creatures. In other universes, jokes are just jokes. They're there to make the viewer laugh. Mirage Humor, it's kinda like, these guys are making themselves laugh. Making light of the situation is the only way to get through it sometimes. I'm probably giving it a bit more credit than deserved, to be entirely fair, but there are some issues that make that quite clear, & you carry that insight with you as you ride along for other events.

Which just leaves the question of where to begin. I'd rather not start at the beginning, but instead with something commonly regarded as a high-water mark. (After making fun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for years despite having never seen it, I decided one night to watch an episode, expecting to laugh at it the entire time. The episode was "The Body". I was crying five minutes into it. That experience made me realize that context is meaningless; if a story is sufficiently stirring, the lack of context for plot and characters will do nothing to diminish the reader's or viewer's conviction that "this series is for me".)

A lot of people will surely suggest Return To New York, City At War, & The River, arguably the 3 most popular story arcs. Dramatic, dark, action-packed, heavily detailed art. If that sounds good to you, have at it! If you're specifically looking for issues with emotional impact, that's another thing. http://www.miragelicensing.com/html/comics.html You can read issue synopses here, if our suggestions aren't enough or you have curiosities, that'll be a helpful guide. Tales Of The TMNT Vol. 2 (70 issues total) was my main gateway into the Mirageverse, because many of the issues are standalone stories, but plenty of them pick up from random issues that are 10, 20 years old, so it can also be daunting depending on which you get. Maybe check out the descriptions on those & pick a few out. #20 made me cry the first time I read it, there's a short about an encounter with hunters that really tugs at the heart strings if you're an animal person.

Which volume or collection includes that story? I find the labyrinthine TMNT comics library a bit overwhelming.

I'll have to leave that to one of my well-read peers, I collected the individual issues before IDW ever got the license, so I'm unsure which works contain certain stories. The lone issue was Mirage Vol. 1 #28 though.

Originally Posted by Monte Williams

I worry on the one hand that this will prove to be the case for me, as well. On the other hand, the Ninja Turtle "universe" I carry around with me in my mind (and which I think about more frequently in a given day than I care to admit, heh-heh) is such a hodgepodge of Old Toon and 1990 live-action film and toy designs and original ideas of my own that I like to think I still might find things to love in the Mirage comics, even if the entire run doesn't wow me.

It might be, & that's alright. Giving it a fair shake is all anyone can ask of you. Though I do think all TMNT fans kinda owe it a chance, I personally think it's important people understand that that "their" TMNT, while the most iconic, are not "the" TMNT. But I realize I'm a bit of a turtle snob... At any rate, the first movie is almost entirely comprised of Mirage stories, actually! The only elements that weren't, were the inclusion of those new human characters, the foot being a youth group, & April's job. There are a few small changes, naturally, but the Casey encounter, all the Raph trouble, the farmhouse, roof-top scene, so much if it was directly lifted from the comics. It's so rad. If you like/love that movie, you should at least be able to appreciate Mirage, even if you don't necessarily want to read it all the time. Better still, 4kids adapted all sorts of stuff, so the same applies there if you watched that show.

See, while I can have a good chuckle at Krang's goofiness in the old cartoon, the utroms and kraang and the more cosmic, inter dimensional aspect of the property has never appealed to me much. I like my Turtles in an urban setting.

The Utroms play a very significant part in TMNT lore, but they're not too active across the series. Early volume 1 deals with them a bit, & they're around a lot more in volume 4 (as well as some Tales issues that take place during that part of the timeline) but they're hardly equal to Krang or even The Kraang in terms of involvement.

I respect the art I've seen, but it's not really my style. I'm not sure which artist was responsible for whichever issues and pinups and such I've studied, but I don't care much for the art style that I think of as "classic Mirage," and yet I flipped through some Mirage collection ten years or so ago and loved its artwork, which was less stylized and more lifelike and realistic.

The art is a big mixed bag. You'd probably be a Michael Dooney fan.

Originally Posted by Utrommaniac

Now that I think about it, my idea of "dark and gritty" is more psychological, and the tearing down of one's stability and integrity (again I say, Little Shop of Horrors.) Another example I can think of is the John Gardner's take on Grendel. It's still incredibly violent, but that's not the grit I was interested in. Yeah, it's got bloodlust and depravity, but that wasn't the part I was interested in. It was the psychology.

Being from younger generation, Mirage might just be best described as "tedious", and I'm not quite sure why. The AP English student in me wants something to dissect and analyze, and I'm sure Mirage has it, but something about it makes me not want to.

Word, I get that. I didn't think I was muddying the waters, but my mentioning the high-octane violence was not meant to imply that's it's main drive, in the context of being dark. The psychological side is very much prevalent. Like I said in my previous post, there's plenty of mental anguish & emotional turmoil.

While some people don't consider it canon, volume 3, done by Image, was written as a continuation in the Mirage universe, & I think it explored some of those themes better than anyone else. Donatello has serious issues with being brought back to life as a cyborg, bringing on an identity crisis stemming from being reborn to a metal body whose tech is self-aware & can act on your behalf, but not necessarily in your best interests. He reaches a point of putting a gun to his head in front of his brothers. That sh*t is heavy. Their master is captured & subsequently mutated a second time, losing his humanity in the form of a mindless beast. The turtles kinda fall apart; Mikey turns to writing, Raphael rebuilds the Foot Clan as their new leader, Casey has to accept that he's a father/husband & put aside the vigilantism. I'd highly recommend that run to any interested turtle fan.