UK Hero Turtles comics

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Did anyone have those? I had some accompanying the Archie comics in Sweden. I also bought some extra pockets who used to come out before Christmas and summer.

[oldmanwinters]

http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=24769

I own most of them.
Eventually, DrSpengler plans to review all the original content on his TMNT Entity website.

[DrSpengler]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=24769

I own most of them.
Eventually, DrSpengler plans to review all the original content on his TMNT Entity website.

Or as many as I can find, anyway!

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

Or as many as I can find, anyway!

My collection is currently short only #66 of the ongoing original content and the four "Poster Mag" volumes. Maybe some kind collector of all things international can help fill those gaps!

[HeroTurtlesFan]

Yes, I had (and still have!) most of them.

Lots of fond memories of picking them up at the newsagents when I was 10/11 years old.

What I later found interesting (when finally picking up the US originals) was just how much dialogue had been edited/amended for the UK. Not so much on grounds of taste/offence etc, simply "UK-isms" and "US-isms" that might not translate.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by HeroTurtlesFan

Yes, I had (and still have!) most of them.

Lots of fond memories of picking them up at the newsagents when I was 10/11 years old.

What I later found interesting (when finally picking up the US originals) was just how much dialogue had been edited/amended for the UK. Not so much on grounds of taste/offence etc, simply "UK-isms" and "US-isms" that might not translate.

Oh, so the Archie reprints featured some dialogue changes? I'll have to go back through those and pay more attention! I do like the larger page format and the colors tend to be more vivid than the current IDW reprints.

Also, do you have issue #66 and would you be willing to share scans?

[HeroTurtlesFan]

I don't think I have #66... my collection finishes around #50.

I only went through the first several issues, but yes, a fair few dialogue amendments (including changing spelling like 'honor' to honour' etc).

I agree with you about the larger sized paper and the vividness of the colours. Frankly, I don't think the Archie series has looked better than in the Fleetway reprints.

[pferreira]

I have a couple. Wasn't a big collector since I was buying Marvel's The Real Ghostbusters comic every week. Great days. I believe that UK Hero Turtles comic did in fact have stories that weren't Archie. Not sure how long that went on for.

[Kingoji]

Originally Posted by pferreira

I have a couple. Wasn't a big collector since I was buying Marvel's The Real Ghostbusters comic every week. Great days. I believe that UK Hero Turtles comic did in fact have stories that weren't Archie. Not sure how long that went on for.

It was intermittent throughout the whole run. The mag began as a fortnightly publication, which meant it ran the risk of overtaking the monthly Archie title from which it was reprinting material. So UK originated material was commissioned to allow the US book to remain ahead.

Sadly, the UK original material was almost entirely garbage. all the Turtles had the same personality, Mike had to karate chop everything because we weren't allowed to create content featuring nunchucks (despite reprinting US nunchucks being absolutely fine), the villain's plots were uninspired nonsense that made the cartoon look bleak as f**k in comparison and the dialogue was almost entirely comprised of the "adults trying to sound cool after watching Bill and Ted" variety that we've only recently managed to shed from perceptions of the franchise.

Maybe I was just spoiled by the UK Transformers comic though, which pioneered the same template of US reprint > UK original > US > UK material as TMNT, only the UK Material was saved for between US arcs rather than inserted randomly wherever, and was designed to actually maintain and add to the canon of the US material as one cohesive whole universe.
The TMNT UK book didn't manage either of those, sticking garbage 'alt-U' stories literally between chapters of a single US arc. Imagine one issue ending with the cliffhanger of a possessed Warrior Dragon about to decimate a nuclear plant, and the next issue being about hypnotic Pizza or some ****. It was infuriating, even to an 11 year old.

[DrSpengler]

Originally Posted by pferreira

I have a couple. Wasn't a big collector since I was buying Marvel's The Real Ghostbusters comic every week. Great days. I believe that UK Hero Turtles comic did in fact have stories that weren't Archie. Not sure how long that went on for.

If it helps, I made an index that notates which issues are Archie reprints and which are original Fleetway material.

Still working on filling out the articles for each issue, though, but the index notations should at least make seeing which issues have original content easier.

[DevilSpooky]

Originally Posted by Kingoji

It was intermittent throughout the whole run. The mag began as a fortnightly publication, which meant it ran the risk of overtaking the monthly Archie title from which it was reprinting material. So UK originated material was commissioned to allow the US book to remain ahead.

Sadly, the UK original material was almost entirely garbage. all the Turtles had the same personality, Mike had to karate chop everything because we weren't allowed to create content featuring nunchucks (despite reprinting US nunchucks being absolutely fine), the villain's plots were uninspired nonsense that made the cartoon look bleak as f**k in comparison and the dialogue was almost entirely comprised of the "adults trying to sound cool after watching Bill and Ted" variety that we've only recently managed to shed from perceptions of the franchise.

Maybe I was just spoiled by the UK Transformers comic though, which pioneered the same template of US reprint > UK original > US > UK material as TMNT, only the UK Material was saved for between US arcs rather than inserted randomly wherever, and was designed to actually maintain and add to the canon of the US material as one cohesive whole universe.
The TMNT UK book didn't manage either of those, sticking garbage 'alt-U' stories literally between chapters of a single US arc. Imagine one issue ending with the cliffhanger of a possessed Warrior Dragon about to decimate a nuclear plant, and the next issue being about hypnotic Pizza or some ****. It was infuriating, even to an 11 year old.

Some of the art was gorgeous though, specially April, had a huge crush on her, don't know who the artist was though, have to go back to my parent's and se if I can find them to bring them home with me.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by DevilSpooky

Some of the art was gorgeous though, specially April, had a huge crush on her, don't know who the artist was though, have to go back to my parent's and se if I can find them to bring them home with me.

I agree on the artwork. I know the detailed colors probably weren't everyone's preference, but I liked the way the characters looked in them. The Turtles often looked inflatable or something, but April, Shredder, Rocksteady, and Bebop always looked pretty good. I think my favorite artist was probably Sandy James, who seemed to put a lot of work into April's facial expressions, especially.

Now I'll admit, if I was having to read the comic as it came out as my exclusive TMNT comic option, it would have been awful to get those stories in the midst of the more ambitious Archie story arcs, but as a retrospective, I like having the original content as a different look at what a Fred Wolf toon comic might have been... not great but interesting and entertaining at times. I'm more disappointed the original content didn't explore the TMNT rogues gallery or supporting cast beyond the characters that appeared in the pilot season. It seems to me that the Fleetway writers/artists were simply handed Mike Dooney's "Heroes in a Half Shell" arc and told to copy the style as best they could. Thus, we never got to see Baxter Stockman as a fly, Leatherhead, Rat King, the Channel Six crew, the Punk Frogs, etc. but we got lots of Foot Soldiers, Mousers, and Krang in the silver-colored android body.

[DevilSpooky]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I agree on the artwork. I know the detailed colors probably weren't everyone's preference, but I liked the way the characters looked in them. The Turtles often looked inflatable or something, but April, Shredder, Rocksteady, and Bebop always looked pretty good. I think my favorite artist was probably Sandy James, who seemed to put a lot of work into April's facial expressions, especially.

Now I'll admit, if I was having to read the comic as it came out as my exclusive TMNT comic option, it would have been awful to get those stories in the midst of the more ambitious Archie story arcs, but as a retrospective, I like having the original content as a different look at what a Fred Wolf toon comic might have been... not great but interesting and entertaining at times. I'm more disappointed the original content didn't explore the TMNT rogues gallery or supporting cast beyond the characters that appeared in the pilot season. It seems to me that the Fleetway writers/artists were simply handed Mike Dooney's "Heroes in a Half Shell" arc and told to copy the style as best they could. Thus, we never got to see Baxter Stockman as a fly, Leatherhead, Rat King, the Channel Six crew, the Punk Frogs, etc. but we got lots of Foot Soldiers, Mousers, and Krang in the silver-colored android body.

From what I could gather the one I was thinking about was Mick Austin's April, I just love her face, but yeah, I do love Sandy's colors, they're vibrant and clean, and the art really pops up.

Someone should scan every single one of these issues and share with the rest of us (hey if the current magazine issues can be shared why can't these be as well right?), I have a couple of them from when I was a kid but they're translated into Portuguese and unfortunetly I'm missing a few issues.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by DevilSpooky

From what I could gather the one I was thinking about was Mick Austin's April, I just love her face, but yeah, I do love Sandy's colors, they're vibrant and clean, and the art really pops up.

Someone should scan every single one of these issues and share with the rest of us (hey if the current magazine issues can be shared why can't these be as well right?), I have a couple of them from when I was a kid but they're translated into Portuguese and unfortunetly I'm missing a few issues.

I like Mick Austin's work too! I think his turtles and Splinter look pretty good. And he does cool action scenes of characters in motion from what I remember.

I think discordiatookie started a Hero Turtles scans blog a few years back but maybe gave up?
http://heroturtleukcomic.blogspot.com/

I'm helping DrSpengler with scans for review. Maybe after I get a whole bunch of them done, we can figure out a good place for their historical appreciation.

[DevilSpooky]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I like Mick Austin's work too! I think his turtles and Splinter look pretty good. And he does cool action scenes of characters in motion from what I remember.

I think discordiatookie started a Hero Turtles scans blog a few years back but maybe gave up?
http://heroturtleukcomic.blogspot.com/

I'm helping DrSpengler with scans for review. Maybe after I get a whole bunch of them done, we can figure out a good place for their historical appreciation.

Yeah, I came across those before, unfortunetelly it appears he did give up, also sadly only one of the ones he posted was new for me, I already own the others. A shame IDW can't release these in a HC (I've become addicted to those thanks to them), would love to add that to my collection, heck, what I wouldn't give for HC collections of every TMNT comic ever released

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by DevilSpooky

Yeah, I came across those before, unfortunetelly it appears he did give up, also sadly only one of the ones he posted was new for me, I already own the others. A shame IDW can't release these in a HC (I've become addicted to those thanks to them), would love to add that to my collection, heck, what I wouldn't give for HC collections of every TMNT comic ever released

Ha, maybe I need to send an email to the editors and see if they've got any interest in some scans!

[DevilSpooky]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Ha, maybe I need to send an email to the editors and see if they've got any interest in some scans!

But rights would prevent them from releasing those right?

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by DevilSpooky

But rights would prevent them from releasing those right?

It's a good question. Is the Fleetway company still around or did someone buy their backcatalog rights?

[Enscripture]

I can provide some scans too. I'd have to rescan for raws

[DevilSpooky]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

It's a good question. Is the Fleetway company still around or did someone buy their backcatalog rights?

It appears that Rebellion Developments bought their library last year, don't know what that means for Turtles though.