TMNT Volume 5?

[Jester]

"Friends" of Jim Lawson might have read this recent posting on his Facebook about a commission he recently completed, "The Last Scene of TMNT Vol 4."

In the posting he said this about the piece:

Originally Posted by Jim Lawson

THE LAST SCENE OF TMNT VOLUME 4.
That’s what this is- it represents what possibly the last page of the Mirage Turtle comic would look like, had it been finished. The idea for this sprung from a request for a commission that I received.

In the beginning, I was very hesitant to take this on- and honestly I rejected doing it at first. After all, the Turtles aren’t mine and it’s not really my place to conjecture what would happen to them if things were different. But- it’s just a drawing and an idea and not really meant to be anything more than that. I agreed to do it.
A funny thing happened when I began to rough pencil it though- I got sucked in. For me, there was something very compelling about this image and I couldn’t stop thinking about it and the story behind it. Maybe without knowing I did, I needed this- I hungered for some kind of resolution to the story that never got wrapped up.
So here it is.

Michelangelo absolutely has experienced the most changes of all his brothers. No longer under the influence of the Triceratons, and united with his 3 children, he has returned home. Still, he is haunted and burdened by his actions in the Triceraton/ Styracodon war and as a consequence of this, is prone to fits of temper and angry outbursts. He’s aware of it and struggling to control his emotions but it’s a PTSD type thing. One manifestation is, these days he is rarely seen without carrying some kind of firearm.

Despite this, Mike knows that he must return to space- to try to repair the damage that he has personally caused the Styracodon race, as well as to stay in contact with the children’s mother. His kids (2 boys and a girl) are wild and mischievous. The oldest boy, since arriving on Earth, has watched all the Star Wars movies and now wants to be a jedi.

Splinter has returned and is glad to be reunited with his sons, plus now he is a grandfather. His face is now deeply lined with age, yet his eyes remain bright. He is in the twilight of his years and he knows that the mantle of master must now be passed on to Leonardo. In preparation for this, and with the urging of Splinter, Leo must go into the woods alone and develop the skills that he will need to journey in and out of the astral plane and the spirit world. It will be a difficult and dangerous task.

Raph and Don will return to New York along with Splinter. Don has taken one of the evil Guardifriends and reprogrammed/ retrofitted the robot for the purpose of it being a protector and companion to his niece and nephews. The mechanoid will join Mike and his family when they return to space.

Raphael stands above it all. He has never been a fan of goodbyes, yet he realizes that he and his brothers are 4 individuals and that they must each follow their own paths. Uncomfortable with the emotions of the situation, he looks away off into the distance, to the farmhouse and Mike’s waiting ship.

Also watching from a distance, stands Casey and April. Or--- is that Karai? They’re so far away it’s sort of hard to tell…
There you have it.

Please keep in mind that this is totally MY vision about how I see volume 4 ending. Still, it was a really fun thing to think about and it just makes me want to come up with some stories for volume 5.

So, what do you all think? Do you like these ideas for character development at the end of Vol 4. What would you like to see happen in a hypothetical Vol 5? Do you think it's be interesting to see Lawson work with Eastman on Vol 5, much like Vol 4 was Jim and Peter's project?