IDW's Turtle Influences

[Matches Malone]

Tom and IDW has stated that they will be drawing inspiration for all incarnations and Bobby's last post about going obscure was particularly encouraging. I thought it would interesting to see what particular elements/characters/moments people enjoyed and would like to see adapted in some way from the past versions of TMNT, and perhaps Tom might even be inspired to actually incorporate some! Hopefully this isn't taken as a list of "demands", but more of reflecting on my favorite aspects of TMNT, if nothing else. Here's my list (mostly from Vol 1!):

Mirage Vol 1
-#2: Mousers (pretty safe bet there considering Dan's character models of Baxter contain some cool Ridley Scott-esque looking mousers)
-#3: Entire issue dedicated to action and not really progressing the plot. E&L were visual storytellers and some of their best moments was simply keeping what was happening exciting with minimal dialogue and not always worrying about advancing the plot with twists.
-Raphael #1: Raph and Casey relating on their ongoing anger issues. One putting the other into perspective.
-#4-7: Triceraton/Fugitoid/Utrom epic.
-Leonardo #1: Shredder ambush while Leo trains. Not sure how this can be adapted, but it's one of the best moments in TMNT history, again with minimal dialogue and just ONE plot twist: Shredder's return. Even if it's a rather straight forward retelling like in the 2003 show, it's good enough to revisit!
-#20: Triceraton as a turtle ally is one of the coolest things ever. Though TMNT has had many allies, none really seem to stick around besides Casey and April. I would love to see allies as more permanently part of the "clan."
-#21: Shredder worm clones. Cool sci-fi twist that is just believable enough to work. Similar to what Alan Moore did with his amazing reboot of Swamp Thing.
-#28; #50-62, Vol. 2: Where real introspection of the turtles begins. When done in moderation, really gives the characters real dimension and depth. Raphael's struggles with his anger and acceptance by the outside world. Leo's struggles with leading. The turtles' collective loss of a purpose or path. So much potential here! I think they made Casey a little too soft though...
-#50-62: City At War... not much needed to be said here.

Tales Vol 1
-#4; #6: Leatherhead and Rat King. Especially Rat King.

Mirage Vol 4
-The turtles' chance to experience being accepted by the world. Whether on an alien planet or something similar to Volume 4, though I wouldn't make it a permanent thing...
-#3: Turtles finally begin to have a reliable "cool" vehicle, April's van notwithstanding, of course. Too bad it never seemed to really see much action. With a sci-fi slant, I've always hoped they would turtles would acquire some hover craft (like the Neutrinos' from the 87 cartoon). Ninja Turtles in a hovercraft? Yes.

Tales Vol 2
-#13: Shows us a time travel story can work with serious TMNT (no offense to Mark Martin fans). Maybe include some Turtles In Time influences?
-#19: Extended back story on Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi.

Fred Wolf Cartoon
-I'm down with Bebop & Rocksteady if they do them seriously and do a good take on them. I like the idea of someone like Krang breeding mutants specifically for their own purposes, though don't want to overdo it because, as Billy stated, the more there is of something makes them less special (i.e. mutants). But maybe that take on Bebop & Rocksteady is better suited for...
-SLASH. The most badass turtle doppelganger.
-I also loved those robot designs who captures the warthog and rhino in episode 3 of the initial 5 episode miniseries. That's all.
-Metalhead (or Turtlebot from 2k3 cartoon). Classic archetype that is timeless. Especially the aspect where the turtles must switch weapons to outsmart technology. Robots are just cool... and both had great designs.
-Technodrome. Enough said.

That's all for now... Please forgive my lack of Stephen Murphy (Archie) and Tristan Jones as I haven't read any of their turtles work yet!

[Venom]

Originally Posted by Matches Malone

Mirage Vol 4
-#3: Turtles finally begin to have a reliable "cool" vehicle...Ninja Turtles in a hovercraft? Yes.

Tales Vol 2
-#19: Extended back story on Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi.

Actually those two points would fit better as influenced from the Image series as it had both of those things, along with adding Michelangelo's depth of character finally being realized (touched upon in Volume 1 but not as much as in Vol. 3!).

[Matches Malone]

Originally Posted by Venom

Actually those two points would fit better as influenced from the Image series as it had both of those things, along with adding Michelangelo's depth of character finally being realized (touched upon in Volume 1 but not as much as in Vol. 3!).

Still need to reads me some Vol. 3.Thanks for the motivation!

[junkboy]

Originally Posted by Matches Malone

That's all for now... Please forgive my lack of Stephen Murphy (Archie) and Tristan Jones as I haven't read any of their turtles work yet!

For me Tristan had the effect like Frank Miller did on Daredevil or Batman during those good old years. Since Tales was an indy comic this effect was much smaller, but still i think the same thing. Since the guy has good relations with IDW, i hope he writes some issues in the future.( it would be great if it was again with Paul Harmon as artist ) At least some mini series or such.

[Keldor1578]

I just hope they import characters from the 4Kids cartoon in IDW comics.

[Tuxedo Moroboshi]

Originally Posted by Matches Malone

I'm down with Bebop & Rocksteady if they do them seriously and do a good take on them. I like the idea of someone like Krang breeding mutants specifically for their own purposes, though don't want to overdo it because, as Billy stated, the more there is of something makes them less special (i.e. mutants). But maybe that take on Bebop & Rocksteady is better suited for...

While I don't think there should be a crapton of mutants running around, I do agree that we should have a more serious take on Bebop and Rocksteady in the comic. That would be amazing.

Originally Posted by Matches Malone

SLASH. The most badass turtle doppelganger.

Well... he wasn't the least bit badass in the 1987 cartoon, that I can remember. Quite the opposite, in fact. Now, the Archie Slash, on the other hand... that seems to be what everyone thinks of when they think of Slash. I guess there really wasn't much need for me mention any of that outside of correcting you... and apologies for that, if it's found to be annoying, heh. But, ya, I'm totally down for a badass Slash!

Also, to add on to this list, and to incorporate something from the 2k3 series... Bishop. Freakin' Bishop. He is such a badass villain, and I can only imagine the potential he can have in this comic book, if he had less restrictions on his character like he did in a cartoon aimed at children.

[Matches Malone]

Originally Posted by Venom

Actually those two points would fit better as influenced from the Image series as it had both of those things, along with adding Michelangelo's depth of character finally being realized (touched upon in Volume 1 but not as much as in Vol. 3!).

Got around to reading volume 3 and I definitely enjoyed it. Wasn't too impressed with Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi's backstory stuff, but I loved the aircar and cemetery HQ!!

[Matches Malone]

Originally Posted by Clown Prince of Crime

Well... he wasn't the least bit badass in the 1987 cartoon, that I can remember. Quite the opposite, in fact. Now, the Archie Slash, on the other hand... that seems to be what everyone thinks of when they think of Slash. I guess there really wasn't much need for me mention any of that outside of correcting you... and apologies for that, if it's found to be annoying, heh. But, ya, I'm totally down for a badass Slash!

Also, to add on to this list, and to incorporate something from the 2k3 series... Bishop. Freakin' Bishop. He is such a badass villain, and I can only imagine the potential he can have in this comic book, if he had less restrictions on his character like he did in a cartoon aimed at children.

Yeah, I know Slash's potential hasn't been fully tapped so I guess I was referring more to his toy/Archie design and concept.

Bishop is definitely a solid character with potential. I just felt he was played/designed a little generically sometimes. But he could definitely work into this series really well!