Legend of an Urban Mirage...

Cowabunga dudes, I give you the first Turtles poster... because I decided so and to celebrate the fact that IDW finally collected and finished my favorite section that involves the OG Turtles. Of course, I would be lying if I told you this was made for Mirage Turtles purists (It sure as fuck is not and the boys' pose is an implicit middle finger to that idea). This was made to honor what I found thoroughly delightful after rereading the OG Storyline and  after watching that Razorfist video (with which yours truly only halfway agrees, Secret of the Ooze is awesome and the 87 show is much less dumb than people let on...).

My opinion on the did not change much though...

What the initial Mirage Volume really has going for it are the first 11 issues, Return to New York, The River (I don't give a shit if Laird decided to uncanonize it, Rick Veitch knocked this shit outta the park ! Bloodsucker rules !) and City at War. Interestingly, while the turtles do develop different traits, only Leonardo really sticks out for the important storylines. Hell the first time I've read the Eastman/Laird run, I've found Splinter and Casey Jones to get a meatier and more compelling characterization than the boys ! Mikey, Raph and Donnie were just kinda there. But for the most part, it's a good read.

Mirage Volume 2 errr, is kinda sorta fillery and would not feel out of place in the 2003 show if you remove the gore and crank up the excitement. And not foolishly waste Nobody the cop... The best thing about it is cyborg Baxter Stockman but afterwards there is this whole government facility with aliens they infiltrate and it's fairly run-of-the-mill at best.

Image Volume 3 now, is my fucking jam and feels like an actual next level to Volume 1! Sure, the cavalier attitude of the Turtles and emotional reactions can be initially odd, but Gary Carlson corrects this fairly quickly. The boys get even focus and it just pushes the right buttons with me !
The turtles' lair is destroyed on their 18th birthday ! Raph gets Harvey Dented and then SHREDDERED AND IT IS GLORIOUS ! Donnie is shot then falls from a helicopter and becomes a cyborg after fusing with an intelligent armor ! Splinter is kidnapped by warlord Komodo and mutated into a crazy rabid contagious bat! Leo loses a hand down the line ! The Mafia kidnaps Casey's daughter, Shadow, due to her biological deadbeat father being the son of the Don ! MIKEY BECOMES A WRITER ! A WRITER ! THE FIEND !
All in all, I've reread it and with the new Gary Carlson conclusion (the fan-made one was good enough though), your truly can happily close the book of the OG Turtles as they get a tubular happy ending. Bodacious !
DJ, spin that shit www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqkMsX…

Hmmm ? What ? The fourth one that Razorfist praised in his video ? Honestly, I have no fucking idea why. Mirage Volume 4 is to this day one of the most boring things I've ever read. It is just Peter Laird throwing whatever he felt like on the table and without a resolution in sight. Not that there could be a tantalizing one as it is. Hell, only Splinter's death and viking burial actually felt touching so it has that going for it. But Gamera-Raph and shrunk Donnie ? Meh. April being revealed to be a drawing all along and having mated with cockroaches while she was in the form of a cockroach.... yeah, I remember now why I ditched this shit.

See ya for the next poster and a future TMNT one... after all, you know it's not all I can do for my beloved chelonians and some pieces are missing www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjwCW9…