TMNT #106 Preview and Discussion

[Enscripture]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

Look at their face! It's 100% moray

I was just going by yellow skin on the covers. But its obviously an eel. Still it could've been a past mutant instead of random new mutant

[Leo656]

Aqua: For me, every version has at least One Thing that keeps it from being "definitive TMNT", except for the first film.

For FW, it's the general tone and "zaniness". Archie? No Casey Jones, can't be "definitive" (although for me it's Way Up There). Nick 2012, it's lots of things, including Everything About April and Donnie The Stalker, but plenty more. With Rise, it's absolutely everything about it. For the BayTurtles, it's their ability to make me vomit at any given moment. IDW, it's a wonky origin, Way Too Many Mutants and a whole lotta Fan Wank-y kinda stuff that seems to get in the way of things even if it's somewhat "necessary". With Mirage, it's that they killed off the best villain immediately due to a lack of foresight. I do like that he remains a spectral sort of "presence" over the remainder of the book's events for a long time, but you know for a fact that if they knew they were gonna print more than one issue, they would NOT have killed Shredder off right away like that. Total misfire that the entire rest of the series paid the price for, as the series entirely lacked direction for large chunks of time. It's cute that they went all "meta" with it by making that part of the story - "We killed our Big Bad Guy, so now what's our purpose?" - but still, that was just them making the best of a situation they'd accidentally created for themselves, and nothing more. Also, April being a stupid drawing and All The Sh*t that went along with that dumb story. So even the original series that everything sprung from, to me still has some big flaws that keep it from being the "true" version of TMNT.

2K3 comes the closest besides Archie, for me, except for Utrom Shredder. And I don't even HATE it, it's just not something I ever really cared to see. They did fine for what it was, but we all know that the "real" Shredder's just some Japanese guy and not an alien, that's silly. Like IDW's reincarnation origin, or Nick's Teen Magical April, or Mirage's Magic Sketch April, Utrom Shredder in 2K3 is an idea that is "fine" within its own universe but I wouldn't want it to cross over into another one, and like all of those other things, one can strongly argue that it wasn't even necessary. Every one of those things jumps out as being like the answer to a question no one ever bothered to ask.

So that leaves the 1990 film. Unless a person NEEDS Bebop and Rocksteady, I don't think how it gets any more "definitive" than that right there. I mean, yeah, Turtles needed more screen time, whoooo, it's a movie with 12 central rotating characters, time management is an issue. Their world, though, their personalities, the whole story itself, the look and the "feel" and even the way they talk... that's TMNT, right there. I mean, that's it. They'd literally have to breed mutant turtles and film it to get any closer to What It Ought To Be. It's not a perfect movie, but it IS "perfect" TMNT. Nothing's ever come any closer to the pure "essence" and I don't think anything ever will.

Everybody can claim whatever version they want as "definitive", obviously, but I kinda feel like that's just plain crazy talk. They'd be welcome to explain how it trumps the first movie by way of being "definitive" but it would be an uphill battle for them, for sure. Not that I'm immune to changing my mind, it's just very, very difficult.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by TomWaltz

Technically, we didn't talk about reincarnation until issue #5 (second arc) and Shredder's return wasn't revealed until the very end of issue #9, and his identity as a resurrected Oroku Saki in issue #10. But who's counting?

That said, I sincerely appreciate your honest opinions/critiques. In the end, I wrote the story I wanted to tell for this particular run alongside Kevin and Bobby... the TMNT tale that made me happy and excited enough to continue for nearly 10 years and 100+ months straight. Otherwise, I'd have been faking it, and then nobody would've liked it, including me. There's no way to please everyone -- it's impossible and, frankly, the least of my worries. Some folks dug it, and some, like you, didn't... and that's okay. The TMNT is bigger than me, bigger than Sophie, bigger than our great team at IDW, bigger than Nickelodeon... even bigger than Kevin and Peter at this point. We'll all be long gone before TMNT stories ever stop being told, and there will always be new fans and old fans and satisfied fans and disgruntled fans.

But most importantly, there will always be Turtles... forever.

Talk soon...

Tom W.

P.S. And I'm not yet done disappointing some fans. Keep watching...

Ah, hey there. I had no idea, it's been forever since I read it and at the time I wasn't committing the creative names to memory, so no offense, the name wouldn't have rung a bell with me.

Thanks for clarification on the details; as I said, this was off the cuff and from memory of several years ago. I couldn't even tell you which issues I own and thus have read without grabbing my checklist, just that it was "most of the first 12-15 minus one or two". So obviously I was gonna whiff a few. I mean I knew the entire thing didn't "literally" happen or all unfold in Issue #1 but it felt easier than saying "over the first several issues" repeatedly. I figured or hoped that most people would still get the gist of what I meant. But anyway yeah, That's When It Happened, I forgot.

At the end of the day, people can say what they want; ultimately, you got paid to write it and everyone else heckles from the cheap seats for free. "Ain't That America." I will say, even though I don't pay much attention (again, no offense, I just don't often recognize people by name until/unless they address me directly), that you come off as pretty gracious and polite in dealing with people, even when they flat out don't have a lot of nice things to say, and that's admirable.

Thanks for the time and the effort. I promise, I'll get around to giving it a proper spin one day. That's always been the plan, generally. In case I haven't been clear, even though there's a lot of things I don't care for in what I've seen, and I can go on about those things quite a bit, that doesn't mean I outright hate it. Pretty sure that's understood, but y'know... some people make a person wonder, sometimes. You know how it is.

Anyways, thanks for the heads up.

[hypered1]

Originally Posted by Leo656

it's a movie with 12 central rotating characters

I'm curious as to who you are counting to get to 12?
I can only think of 11: the turtles, Splinter, Shredder, April, Casey, Tatsu, Danny and Charles. Or were you just rounding up?

[Leo656]

Ballpark figure, pal. No counting at all, just pitched a random number because it was more colorful than saying "a lot of characters", that's all.

Pretty funny it was kinda close, though. Although that kinda ruins the hyperbole by being Almost Accurate.

[Shinigami]

It doesn?t do it for me the same without Sophie?s art. I know she can?t write and draw every issue, but I guess I had gotten spoiled and hopeful she was somehow gonna do it monthly? Nelson Daniel isn?t bad at all, but his style is not my personal taste and reminds me of some of the guest Mirage artists that I did not enjoy for their lack of grit. Although Sophie has removed most of her grit in the turtles too, I am just a fan girl I guess.

[Jazzfox]

106... I have to say, it was a little jarring moving from 105 to this issue, simply because it does make me suddenly appreciate 105 all the more

It felt very different, a bit closer to earlier issues of the turtles and maybe I've spoiled myself a little on Sophie's 101-105 how the dialogue went and how much went into the art there

Nelson and Ronda's work on art and script aren't bad, but, maybe this one just didn't hit me in the right areas... now, issue 107 HOWEVER? Well, maybe that's the luck in hindsight and being able to come back and comment on these like way later~

As for the issue itself? Well, I'm a sucker for seeing characters pop back up in the Mutant Town folk, and seeing Mrs Gonzalez show up again after issue 1 of the Jennika micro was a very welcome treat

Nelson also does some really nice expression work on the turtles, I do love Lita's 'haunted' look as she describes the story of the Slithery in particular, but there are plenty other expressions to pick from!

Welp, at least now I can jump straight over to 107 with my thoughts there!