Imagine My Confusion...

[Powder]

So, there I was, a young child, maybe 5-6 years old, when my Dad comes home from work with a TMNT comic book. It was my first one, issue 22 from the Archie series. I loved it to death. Quite some time passes, I find myself in a comic book store where I would end up buying issue 23 from vol. 1 thinking it was the issue following my last read. While there, I also picked up issues 5-6 from vol. 3, unknowingly assuming these were all one series.

Shredder kidnaps Splinter, Vid Vicious (who's this guy?) is up to no good, Raph & Mondo Gecko show up to save the day. The end of the book suggests Krang, Slash & some other mysterious villain are to show up next. This is like the show but with cooler art! Awesome!

I open issue 23. Who is this little girl? Okay... the turtles are real turtles now? Wait, they just turned into the TMNT I know them to be... Why is Splinter working at a restaurant? Who's this other Rat? His Dad? Apes? Morbidly Obese Superman? WTF?! Where's Krang? Slash?

Okay, issues 5 & 6. Maybe these early books will shed some light on the situation. Who's the idiot that painted this cover? They've all got red masks on! Let's open it up... Cursing?! Blood?! Big tittied women on the back cover? I better not let my Mom see this. Donatello is a robot? Is that Leatherhead?! WTF, Casey Jones is a turtle here? WHY IS SPLINTER A BAT?

Imagine my confusion. Here I am knowing nothing more then a slapstick kiddie show, thinking this is all one connected storyline.

So, did this happen to any of you other younger TMNT fans as a little kid? Those of you who came into the turtles via the toon and nothing more...

[CyberCubed]

Well I used to get the Archie issues as I watched the old show, but the problem is I always missed so many issues that I could not keep up with the story.

I really had no idea what was going on. I think I started around the time Krang puts himself on Shredder's body and Slash appears, went from there to around #50, then stopped again until the Cyber Turtles story started, etc.

Of course I have all the issues now, but back then as a kid it was hard to keep up with a continuous storyline when missed so many of it.

I did however know there were other TMNT comics, where the Turtles all had red bandanas and it was black and white, and I knew this was different than the cartoon, in the same way the live-action movies were different than the cartoon.

[discordiatookie]

Only comics I had were the UK Hero Turtles comics, favourite being the first movie adaption. I had seen, a coupla times, red bandana'd turtles, and yeah - I too thought that it was just a dumb artist or whatever. I was all about the toys, and the cartoon. Had no idea of the Mirage comics until one day, I was in a second hand book shop and I came across the First Comics colour collections - all four books. After a brief flick through, I was like FUUUUUUUUUUU - best thing ever! I fell head over heels for the TMNT again, just in time for the 2k3 series to start, which was pretty awesome timing for a fandom to restart...

[oldmanwinters]

Boy, your childhood must have really been warped!

It took me a few years to realize that my First Graphic Novels weren't just adaptations of the first live-action movie!

[Luzmagica]

Originally Posted by Powder

So, did this happen to any of you other younger TMNT fans as a little kid? Those of you who came into the turtles via the toon and nothing more...

Not only as little kid! This happen to me just 2 years ago!!!!,....and Im 35 right now!!!
I didnt know the comics until lurking for internet!! I always started with toons and movies!!

[Candy Kappa]

not as a kid, I read vol1 issue 1 when I was 14 and had a more free Internet access on school. But I knew the cartoon and the archie comics was based off a different comic, after reading it on the notes who did who in the making of the comics.

I wish I had the original comics when I was younger.

[Bjarni]

I was under the impression that all the comics were in the same universe.

But I had only read the Archie series through out most of my childhood.
But then I started reading Volume 4, the only question I really asked was "wow, Leatherhead's alive, I saw him die back in the day", but I had been away from the books (because they were canceled but I didn't know that), so I just assumed I missed his resurrection.

You can see my letter in one of the Tales asking why it's not canon because I was still getting over the fact that The Archie and the newly discovered Volume 3 were, for some reason, not canon.

[Discogod]

The cartoon had just started, but I'd not seen it yet. I had a couple of issues of the UK Hero Turtles comic, and thought it was great. Then I saw the 1st collection of the colourized Mirage series and was blown away at the darkness and violence. It was love at first sight...

I carried on collecting the UK comics, and I started watching the show, but none of it could compare to the Mirage stuff...

[sdp]

I never saw any comics as a kid, however I had a few posters of artwork of the mirage covers. I didn't understand why they all had red bandannas but I think I just explained it as since its so dark or the lightning caused them to look red. I also remember recognizing the technodrome behind the turtles in one of them which I now know was not the technodrome I also think I didn't like them too much, well i did because they were turtles but you know what I mean. Not that I would have preferred if the posters to look like the OT, I always pictured the turtles as they were in the original toyline which look 'grittier' than the OT counterparts but definitely more cartoony than the mirage turtles.


I first found out about the Mirage comics from a nintendo magazine around 96-97 and they had a one page article about the turtles origins and how unlike the cartoon the comics where violent and described pretty much the Image run of the turtles only which was probably the current series and they explained how they decapitated shredder and all the turtles were pretty much maimed and it definitely turned me off from the comics as I thought that was stupid. They also described how the TMNT had an anime and I thought it was a full show not just two OVAs and thought anime april was so cute. but yeah "Leo gets his hand cut off, don goes crazy, his body is destroyed and rebuilds himself as cyber don and raph gets his face scarred and becomes the shredder after the original was decapitated" did not sound too appealing to me, that wasn't how the turtles were supposed to be and its not like violence scared me by that time I had already watched all of Saint Seiya and other violent anime, and its not that I wouldn't have liked a more serious take on the turtles, like I said to me when I played with the turtles they went on real adventures not goofy stuff like the OT. Its just not the best way to get someone into the comics by describing the stuff done for shock value during their image run as the "original comic" turtles.

[Bjarni]

Originally Posted by sdp

Its just not the best way to get someone into the comics by describing the stuff done for shock value during their image run as the "original comic" turtles.

Well, you have to keep in mind that at that time, Volume 3 was canon and was suppose to be set after Volume 1 and 2. So, that was what was going on with the "original comic" Turtles.