Comics are Awesome II

[Dominic]

"Captain America" is too mired in "magic reset" for me to even consider it.


Dom
--might 2012 be the year I drop comics?

[138 Scourge]

Amazing Spider-Man's got the worst magic reset ever going against it, and it's still been an amazing read lately. Hell, it's got "magic reset" and "event story" going against it right now, and it's still been one of the books I look forward to the most.

Read Cap & Bucky, then. It all takes place in Bucky's early days, so it's before any of the gimmick stories happened.

[Sparky Prime]

You're not reading the right Marvel stuff.

The Childrens Crusade has been really good, which is why it's the only Marvel title I'm still getting. Although the most recent issue I would have to say I found disappointing having Scarlet Witch's behavior in HoM and Disassembled so easily explained away, and how strangely some of it seems to mirror some events from Green Lantern.

Ah! I've seen Doom's white suit in the FF comics. Wondered what was up with that. Hey, Selene the Black Queen already recruited dead mutants into an army to attack their former friends.

That's interesting... Was Doom wearing his mask? Because this issue has him use the power to fix his face as well.

[138 Scourge]

Ah! I've seen Doom's white suit in the FF comics. Wondered what was up with that. Hey, Selene the Black Queen already recruited dead mutants into an army to attack their former friends.

That's interesting... Was Doom wearing his mask? Because this issue has him use the power to fix his face as well.

Yeah, still masked. He was brain-damaged at the beginning of the series, as well. One of the first things the FF had to do was restore Doom's mind (it makes more sense in context). Maybe it's like every story that has Two-Face get his face fixed, and it's be horribly scarred again right afterwards?

[Onslaught Six]

I promised a review, so here it is, IDW's TMNT #2.

A little backstory--I didn't manage to get the first issue because it 'sold out.' I ended up downloading it, but I talked to the comic store guys to make sure I got future issues on a pull list so I could make sure I got it.

The first issue covers several of the basics. The Turtles open up fighting a gang led by a mutant cat with one eye named Old Hob. These two first issues (and possibly the ones following) are interwoven with a flashback origin story. In the first issue, we learn that Splinter and the Turtles are lab pets in an experimental facility and they're doing some kind of genetic research or other on them. April is an intern there and actually names the Turtles this time around. Baxter Stockman is in charge of the facility and is working for a General Krang who we only see in shadows. We see in the present day that only Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello are present; Raphael isn't with them for some reason. He turns up at the end of the issue, though, breaking down a door into a house where a young Casey Jones is being beaten by his drunk dad, and that's where it ends.

This one picks right back off, with Raph beating the hell out of Casey's dad, who drives off in his truck. (I think it's a truck! Seems like a drunk redneck dad would have a truck, don't you think?) Raph reveals he doesn't know where he's from, why he is what he is, or even what his name is. Through some flashbacks, we see that April's lab was attacked by ninjas (!!!) who she thinks are some of her friends playing a prank at first. (April seems like she's really dumb so far, which is a shame, since I always prefer Intelligent April.) The ninjas kidnap the Turtles and stuff them in a bag but Splinter goes after them and bites the ninja carrying them. They fall to the ground and end up covered in the trademark mysterious ooze. (I only read the issue once but I think it's implied the canister was also snatched from the facility.) Then a cat grabs one of the baby Turtles (obviously Raphael) and wanders off with him. (It's obvious now that the cat becomes Old Hob.) It's revealed that the Turtles are only fifteen months "old" so I dunno if they can strictly be called teenagers. Mikey says that he misses Raph--they all do--but they've been looking for him for a year and maybe they'd be better off fighting Old Hob and stopping crime or something. Splinter explains that, no, their fighting should only be done as a necessity and that they shouldn't abuse their power like that. The issue ends with Raph and Casey finding Casey's house has no food, so they agree to go out and get some--and Casey appears with his baseball bats and hockey mask, saying they might as well have some fun on the way.

It's a very interesting and much different tale they're weaving here--seperating Raph from the outset rather than having him choose to leave as in most adaptations is very very different, and the introduction of "General" Krang as the possibly-main antagonist is interesting, especially if he's running Stockman's facility--there's two ways I can see this going; either "General Krang" is The Shredder, or Oroku Saki/Shredder is actually an enemy of Krang's and the two will actually end up fighting each other (or joining forces against the Turtles?); the latter also leaving entirely open possibilities for the Shredder being a different Utrom from Krang (assuming Krang is explicitly an Utrom).

The masks are all red like in all of the (non-Archie) comics but all the turtles have slightly different skintones setting them apart. The art is done in a slightly gritty, sketchy style but it's never unclear what's going on. Kevin Eastman is doing the basic plot and layouts for this first arc (possibly more?) in his return to the series since at least the early 90s. Peter Laird was formerly the only owner of the franchise and sold it off last year or so because he'd had a lifestyle change or something like that; Viacom owns it now, gave IDW the license, and IDW called Eastman up and said, "Hey, want to work on this?" (Apparently they also asked Laird, who politely declined because, hey, if he wanted to work on it he wouldn't have sold the franchise.)

I'm very excited to see more of this; the first issue apparently sold out (which doesn't happen often for IDW) and I guess outsold most of DC's new 52 that week so it's got a lot of eyes on it. I really want to see how this different take on the story is going to play out and just how much of the TMNT universe we're going to see (Fugitoid? Leatherhead? Rat King? Bebop and Rocksteady oh please God please Bebop and Rocksteady) and how they're going to deal with certain things (To kill Shredder or not to kill Shredder?)

[Gomess]

One thing I hate about TMNT's resurgence in popularity is that the rights holders (Eastman and Laird? No idea) are doing ALL they can to bury Bebop and Rocksteady, just because they were invented for the cartoon. It was bad enough when they replaced them with Tokka and Rahzar in the movies.

...though i did like tokka and rahzar in and of themselves

[Dominic]

Either Eastman or Laird, (cannot recall which), sold their share of the rights off. Bebop and Rocksteady might wall be lost due to licensing more than shame by the copyright holders.

Who is writing the current series?


As for IDW comics selling out, that probably has more to do with stores ordering in small quantities from Diamond than people buying large quantities off the shelves.


Dom
-can check around for issue one if O6 needs it.

[Onslaught Six]

One thing I hate about TMNT's resurgence in popularity is that the rights holders (Eastman and Laird? No idea) are doing ALL they can to bury Bebop and Rocksteady, just because they were invented for the cartoon. It was bad enough when they replaced them with Tokka and Rahzar in the movies.

...though i did like tokka and rahzar in and of themselves

Either Eastman or Laird, (cannot recall which), sold their share of the rights off. Bebop and Rocksteady might wall be lost due to licensing more than shame by the copyright holders.

Eastman sold off his share in the early 90s, deciding he wanted to do other stuff (primarily buying out and running Heavy Metal magazine, which he still owns IIRC) leaving Laird the sole owner. Laird sold off his share to Viacom (Nickeloden etc.) sometime early last year or something like that (it was definitely a while ago). The last thing involving Bebop & Rocksteady was Turtles Forever, so I'm assuming that Viacom has control over that element of the franchise too.

Laird had a particular disdain for some elements of the TMNT '88 cartoon. He was heavily (HEAVILY) involved with the 2003 series and actually regularly posts old emails regarding scripts and plots for those episodes on his blog, and in many of them you can see him outright cancel ideas or lines he deems too goofy because the fans of the '88 cartoon will like it. (The way I say it here makes it seem like Laird is being mean-spirited about it, which he really isn't. It's more like somebody going "We can't have any references to Beast Wars because those damn Beast Wars fans will go all over it," a viewpoint I'm sure we all might feel more comfortable with.)

As it is, though, Bebop & Rocksteady weren't actually exclusively developed 'for the cartoon' but rather 'for the toyline.' Playmates saw an opportunity in the TMNT for a toyline, and it was the 80s, so if there was a toyline there had to be a cartoon, because that was just how things were done. I can't source anything right now but both Eastman and Laird were very involved in developing the '88 toyline and specifically did design Bebop & Rocksteady, as well as most of the other mutants in the toyline--in fact, this was a big part of why the comics in the late 80s were no longer written and drawn by Eastman & Laird, because they were so busy doing Toyline And Cartoon Things that they simply didn't have time for it anymore--a fact which I'm surely largely led to Eastman getting burned out in the 90s and Laird just recently.

Given the presence of Old Hob in just the introduction episode, it seems like Eastman and IDW isn't directly opposed to the idea of other mutants showing up; I don't know his opinion on Bebop & Rocksteady specifically however. I read the letters column and the editor says they definitely intend to introduce many "beloved (and some not-so-beloved) characters" into this new universe, and either one of those could be twisted around to mean "Bebop & Rocksteady" so as it is we'll just have to wait and see. Given the fact that we haven't even seen Shredder yet and next month is issue 3, though, it's probably going to be a while before we see anything.

Who is writing the current series?

Story: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Layouts: Kevin Eastman
Art: Dan Duncan
Colours: Ronda Pattison
Editor: Scott Dunbier

Tom Waltz seems to be a semi-obscure writer who mostly works on licensed books. (Silent Hill and the recent IDW Duke Nukem comic seem to be the first things that come up upon a cursory Googling.) Given Eastman's credits on both "Story" and "Layouts," though, I get the feeling that Eastman sits around going "Then they fight and Raphael says something badass in this panel," and Waltz is tasked with coming up with something badass. (This is an example, nothing in the book is that bad besides April being a complete idiot.)

Incidentally, hey, Ronda Pattison is doing the colours! She colours Atomic Robo.

As for IDW comics selling out, that probably has more to do with stores ordering in small quantities from Diamond than people buying large quantities off the shelves.

Always the optimist, Dom...

-can check around for issue one if O6 needs it.

Nah, I've already read it and I'm planning on just selling off all these (or even giving them away) once I've got this in trades. Besides, IDW are reprinting it.

[Sparky Prime]

(The way I say it here makes it seem like Laird is being mean-spirited about it, which he really isn't. It's more like somebody going "We can't have any references to Beast Wars because those damn Beast Wars fans will go all over it," a viewpoint I'm sure we all might feel more comfortable with.)

I dunno about that... I watched Turtles Forever for the first time not that long ago, and I really got a mean-spirited vibe towards the '88 cartoon from it. I mean, that cartoon was cheesy and over the top at times, but Turtles Forever felt like it cranked it up to the point they were really just making fun of the old cartoon.

[Shockwave]

I've only ever played the video games and was never really into the fiction that much. It just seemed a little too over the top ridiculous for me.