The Image run of the turtles was a fun read and we loved it. A big thanks to Gary Carlson who did a great job writing the title. Gary is the nicest person in comics. Honest. And he knows his craft. When we collaborated via phone on the Leatherhead/Dr. X storyline that ran through issues 17 -21, I had such a great time.
I want to thank Frank Fosco for the wonderful gift I received in the mail...these two original pages! Wow! I just love it when Casey whacks Leatherhead with his bat , breaking it in half, while Leatherhead doesn't feel a thing. The Triceraton getting his throat torn out by Leatherhead is priceless also! I sure appreciate the pages Frank, thanks so much!
And while we're on the subject, do you fans care to comment on the Image run ? Up for some hearty discussion?
16 comments:
I've been recently gathering all the Image comics, and they're AWESOME! I love the art, and even though all sorts of weird stuff happens, it's not really as sudden or crazy as I'd heard. Image rocks my socks almost as much as Mirage does. :)
I owe these books a healthy reread, but in general I enjoyed them. There were a few things that irked me, but I would read them over Vol. 4 any day.
I also really enjoy Frank's art; it suffered a bit at the end when he was forced to ink it too, but that's not something I put blame on him for.
I've never read them all the way-- and I guess I should not comment.
But from what I read at Mirage (in the synops things) it sounds to ME like something that I would have liked parts of and HATED a lot of-- especially the parts that seemed to be a destruction of the turtles.
Plus-- NO one should mess with Splintie.
I loved the mutated Splinter Bat, it gave Splinter something to do. Plus, there is no drama if all the characters stay the same, but all of a sudden having three turtles get seriously injured when they've been fine for 20 years? I found that a tad hard too swallow.
But I loved Cyborg Don, as it fit the character. Same goes for ShredderRaph.
But from what I remember, it is a bit more of a fun read than Volume 4 was. Too bad 4 ended right around when it started too get interesting, with the Battle Nexus introduction.
-->> ..i think Cyn needs to catch up on summin' pretty special and hardcore !!
Splinter reverted to his more natural state after the bat thing ..
..the book lost it's life far to soon.
>v<
Well, I guess I'll be the party pooper. I was not a big fan of the Image run. I was relieved when it finally got cancelled. Everything that happened in that book was an out-of-left-field plot twist, and each of them severely tested my suspension of disbelief.
Let's recap: Pimiko comes out of nowhere as Shredder's long lost daughter. Leo loses his hand. Don becomes a cyborg. Raph loses an eye. Splinter turns into a giant bat. Shadow turns out to be a Mafia princess. Raph takes on the Shredder identity.
The one thing I really liked was that Michelangelo got a girlfriend. Given that many of us define our teenage years by those first awkward and trepidatious attempts at love, I'm amazed that more writers haven't tried to incorporate some sort of romantic subplot into the series.
Oh, and Erik Larsen's cover art totally rocked.
Those are all valid comments, Wild Goose. Like I said, there were several elements of the Image run that irked me, and you hit on some of them. The other good element you missed was Mike establishing himself as a writer.
But, after Vol. 4, I will never ever complain about Vol. 3.
Let's rundown Vol. 4:
Aliens land on Earth and the Turtles are "outed." As a result, you might as well remove "ninja" from the title.
The Turtles suddenly need "tattoos" for others to be able to tell them apart.
A 40-page issue soliciting "a death in the family" spends 35 pages with April and nanobots (which is so straight out of Star Trek Voyager) and about five pages on Splinter, the character who actually does the dying.
Splinter dies reaching for milk.
Beyond the funeral, no one cares that Splinter is dead.
One issue after Splinter's funeral, everyone splits up and Raph turns into a dinosaur vampire.
Don gets shrunk to the size of an action figure. And stays that way.
Mike has sex with an alien dinosaur.
The alien dinosaur immediately lays eggs and Mike is sent to a prison ship for (supposedly) being the father where, among other things, he gets his teeth knocked out.
And the ultimate: APRIL IS A FREAKIN' DRAWING!
When Don "dies" and before he becomes CyborgDon, there is a very touching scene where the other three Turtles lay him to rest. I was too in shock at the stupidity of Splinter's death in Vol. 4 to be moved in any fashion. And it is now a running joke between me and a very good friend of mine. Splinter's death should not have running joke status.
Thus, I have very little to complain about when it comes to Vol. 3.
I loved them and wish they could have finished off.
I hate that unfinished business stuff that we got with this and the Archie series.
And Rose, Everything you say in your last post I agree about 100%
I do find it odd though in the recent issue of tales Dr. X is brought back..?
Yet Peter has made it very clear that nothing in the Image comics series would ever make it into Mirage tmnt.
I wonder how this one slipped past.
Hey Rose I loved the Image run!
The turtles all had wierd things happen to them?
Same thing happened in Vol.4- something weird happened to each turtle.
So the 2 series mirror each other.
Is the nanobots in April thing really a rip-off of Star Trek?
I have no problem with super mutated Raph. That was one thing about the shows 1995 season that was interesting enough too keep me watching..
The April plot line was shocking, but as I thought of it, it gave her more of a connection to the turtles in terms of strangeness.
I will agree with Splinters death being pointless. No explanation for that either as I recall. It just....happens and is soon forgotten.
I have no problem with aliens landing on Earth and the turtles getting too walk around. FF proves that there is no reason this would require the drop of 'Ninja'. Why we don't see any of it in the new book, who knows...
5thTurtleFan:
Kinda funny how the two series DO mirror each other after Peter went and erased everything that happened in Vol. 3, isn't it? And like Neil said, some of Vol. 4 even mirrors the original toon, another thing Peter strongly dislikes.
I was watching ST Voyager obsessively when the issue with Splinter's death came out. In the last few seasons, starting with whenever Seven of Nine joined the crew, EVERY single problem was solved with nanobots. Especially medical problems. That whole issue was full of Star Trek technobabble.
Neil:
You bring up a good point about how the TMNT get to walk around in the open in FF - this is also true of the Future TMNT in the Archie series. But the key difference for me is both of those things happen in the far future. Vol. 4 is set in the present and up until the point when aliens land on Earth, all of the events happen in OUR world. The moment those aliens land and the TMNT start riding the bus, etc., it removes all suspension of disbelief that hey, these characters *could* really be living in the New York underground. For me, the Mirage series always reflected the real world where all of the crazy stuff that happened did so out of the public eye. Vol. 4 just destroys that.
I like both Vol 3 & 4. Change is inevitable and shakes things up. We should embrace it.
Hey Splinter's Iroonna, Splinter was a bat in Tales #2.
kirbyisking'nuffsaid said...
I like both Vol 3 & 4. Change is inevitable and shakes things up. We should embrace it.
♦♦
-->> ..and such as life..obvious.
I like both volumes specifically for that.
Volume 3 played out like an action movie..
and Carlson has already stated that before his run was over he intended to bring the turtles back to some form or another before all thier accidents.
..people's complaints ..while some are valid and i'll respect them, some are fried and bored and moot.
Maybe Peter is slowly coming around ..past few years to accepting at least a tiny bit of V.3 .. like V said of Leatherhead's friend :: Dr.X .. >v<
The Doctor X story precedes the Image comics and goes way back to my Tales days, about 19 years ago. It was a plot I wrote that was never used.
That is, until Gary Carlson and I talked. He had wanted to bring Leatherhead in and he gave me a call after which he incorporated elements from my plot
into his story line.
I only own the first 4 or 5 issues of th Image series. I remember enjoying the artwork and would love to get rest of the series just to know what the hubbub is all about. As far as Vol 4 goes. I remember buying the books and as they came out I wasn't so excited about them but just recently I went back and reread the whole series from the beginning and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I think reading them back to back helps a lot. Especially considering there was less action and the storyline was a longer more drawn out approach. I'd love to have it in a collected edition. But yeah I really really liked Vol. 4 and strongly hope for it's return. (even though this was supposed to be about the Image run. sorry all)
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