Modern IDW

[MrAustin]

It's obviously fair to love or hate (or anything in between) modern IDW, but I do find it a bit silly how many Turtles fans seem to dislike a direction totally unique in this series' history; there are so many versions of the characters that focus on the 'ninja' part of their name that I feel as though a break from that action, with lovely character positivity is so nice.

[mrmaczaps]

Originally Posted by MrAustin

It's obviously fair to love or hate (or anything in between) modern IDW, but I do find it a bit silly how many Turtles fans seem to dislike a direction totally unique in this series' history; there are so many versions of the characters that focus on the 'ninja' part of their name that I feel as though a break from that action, with lovely character positivity is so nice.

Sure, thats fine for an issue or two but its been 15 f¤cking issues and its mind numbingly boring.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by mrmaczaps

Sure, thats fine for an issue or two but its been 15 f¤cking issues and its mind numbingly boring.

This. I'll be honest and say I wouldn't mind nearly as much, or even at all, if all this Mutant Town stuff had been interspersed with other plot threads in sore need of addressing instead of being presented as a marathon. And I expect most detractors of Campbell's run will agree with me.

[neatoman]

Yeah... It really has been going on for so long now it's kind of mind numbing. And it's not like this wasn't possible without cramming the characters into a walled off slum. I can easily imagine a "Dimension X vacation" story that would have a similar tone, which would also be a story where we also don't have to see the turtles "be normal and have fun" at the expense of people having their lives ruined.

I should also point out here that the characters introduced here aren't especially great. Those weasels have very little personality and only seem to exist to be cute, alongside Lita who also doesn't seem to serve much more purpse than to be cute. Pepperoni already existed to be the cute little mascot character, I really don't understand why we need five characters who do very little and just hang around to be cute. TMNT isn't exactly Teletubbies, I don't think we need a bunch of Teletubbies-like characters running around.

[Leo656]

Why have them be ninjas, if they are not going to be doing Ninja Things?

It's the same sh*t when people say that their favorite thing about super-hero comics isn't when they do Super-Hero things, it's when they're cracking jokes over Starbucks coffee or standing in line at the bank. "Just like us!" Because most people totally, totally wanna read about THAT stuff in a comic where things like alien invasions, cross-dimensional chaos and people who bench-press planets and shoot eye-lasers are a reality. Let's do NONE of that, and have lots and lots of panels of them doing laundry and taking their pets to the vet. That Sells.

Likewise, TMNT has so many fantastical elements that it seems like a waste to not lean into them, while instead focusing entirely on the mundane.

You can absolutely do "slice of life" and when done well, it enriches the more fantastical elements rather than working against them. But this doesn't even feel like "TMNT" anymore. It's like they're just guest stars in a story that wasn't written about them and has no idea what to actually do with them.

There's a germ of a good idea in all of what's been done. I just think the execution hasn't been great and it seems like most people agree. If it were more of an action story and less of a "cutesy" drama/comedy with crammed-in Real-Life political overtones, I think it would be more well-received.

As I've said elsewhere, it's like why Mirage Vol. 4 failed. Not inherently a "bad" story, but absolutely not at ALL what a TMNT comic "should have" been if it actually wanted to grab people by the throat and make them read it.

[AquaParade]

I haven't read the book in months, so I can't really comment on the current quality.

That said, when the execution is done right, I love the "slice of life" aspect. I think the balance between that, action, and mythology is what makes the Mirage comics so special.

[CyberCubed]

I imagine the current direction was a result of wanting to slow things down a bit after the Turtles were in constant conflict one after the other from like issue 70 onward.

[FrederikWolferson]

Mutant Town arc is just boring and has run for waaaay too long,IMO. I wouldn't really mind it as much if we still had TMNT Universe to give us some different stories,but as is,this is just keeping us away from Burnow island,Shredder,LeatherKrang and other stuff we actually care about.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by Leo656

It's the same sh*t when people say that their favorite thing about super-hero comics isn't when they do Super-Hero things, it's when they're cracking jokes over Starbucks coffee or standing in line at the bank. "Just like us!" Because most people totally, totally wanna read about THAT stuff in a comic where things like alien invasions, cross-dimensional chaos and people who bench-press planets and shoot eye-lasers are a reality. Let's do NONE of that, and have lots and lots of panels of them doing laundry and taking their pets to the vet. That Sells.

You've just watched the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, haven't you?

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I imagine the current direction was a result of wanting to slow things down a bit after the Turtles were in constant conflict one after the other from like issue 70 onward.

There are better ways of doing that. Take everything that happened between City Fall and Attack on Technodrome, or immediately following Vengeance.

Originally Posted by FrederikWolferson

Mutant Town arc is just boring and has run for waaaay too long,IMO. I wouldn't really mind it as much if we still had TMNT Universe to give us some different stories,but as is,this is just keeping us away from Burnow island,Shredder,LeatherKrang and other stuff we actually care about.

This.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

You've just watched the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, haven't you?

No, I don't watch Marvel stuff. I know that sounds impossible, I just don't. I've seen clips here and there, like anyone else. I just don't care for their material in general.

Last thing from them I watched A-to-Z was "Age of Ultron", in the theater. I liked it fine, but I also decided that if this was what they were all going to be like then I'd seen enough. Everything I've seen and read since tells me that, for myself, it was a wise decision.

[mrmaczaps]

There is also the fact that both Jennika series deal with this "slice of life" sh¡t while still being more action packed than the ongoing and, as much as I hate to admit, better written than the ongoing. But really not by much.

They don't really seem to fit in anywhere either. Continuity wise anyways.

[FrederikWolferson]

Slice of life works in small doses. "A day in the life" is a great issue,but it's a single issue. And we spent some 15 issues watching Turtles chase after kids,go to a punk concert and Mona trying to depose Old Hob. And I honestly couldn't care less about politics of Mutant Town.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by MrAustin

It's obviously fair to love or hate (or anything in between) modern IDW, but I do find it a bit silly how many Turtles fans seem to dislike a direction totally unique in this series' history; there are so many versions of the characters that focus on the 'ninja' part of their name that I feel as though a break from that action, with lovely character positivity is so nice.

That's what I love about the current run. All the nice character development and so on. Sophie Campbell is doing an awesome job with the comics.

[Leo656]

"Character development" for characters who are 1. Not the TMNT, 2. "Arguably" don't belong in a TMNT book (since they were made up specifically to tell This Story and not because they add anything to the TMNT mythos), and 3. Get way more attention paid to them than the TMNT, who are ostensibly the stars of the book.

I think most people would be fine with "character development" if it had more to do with the TMNT themselves, and not Everyone BUT Them. There's a little bit of development for the Turtles, yeah... but they're still very clearly "guest stars". The story isn't ABOUT them anymore and it really ought to be.

[Powder]

Your dislike of people's justified criticism warranted it's own thread, where said criticism will follow, if not spitefully, then born of the natural flow of conversation? OK.

& if you think the slice of life element is what people are really taking issue with, then clearly your biases are getting in the way. TMNT was built on slice of life, done right, it's great.

[Allio]

Love or hate post 100 issues, been re-reading the series and I have to give idw credit for going nearly 200 issues being consistent with only like 1 or 2 stories being bad.

Most comic books can’t like more than 10 being going to ****

[Diorm]

Originally Posted by MrAustin

there are so many versions of the characters that focus on the 'ninja' part of their name that I feel as though a break from that action, with lovely character positivity is so nice.

Weird. From my point of view, a lot of media are focusing too much on the Mutant part of the name. In that there are too many of them. There is definitely not enough ninja stuff.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by Allio

Love or hate post 100 issues, been re-reading the series and I have to give idw credit for going nearly 200 issues being consistent with only like 1 or 2 stories being bad.

Most comic books can’t like more than 10 being going to ****

Overall, it is the most consistent books in comics. And it ain't half bad. I just wish I liked it.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by MrAustin

there are so many versions of the characters that focus on the 'ninja' part of their name

You mean a grand total of 1?

[Allio]

That’s going to be the problem with consistent titles like Usagi or One Piece. Either you love it from chapter 1 or you ain’t ever going to like it. It’s a good thing for the long time readers but bad thing for people that couldn’t get into it