TMNT Vol III

The Image Comics TMNT series is something that I heard a lot about and was tempted to read by morbid curiosity... For the little story, Laird and Eastman loaned the reptiles to Erik Larsen (creator of Savage Dragon) who hired Gary Carlson to write and Frank Fosco to draw.  

OPENING THEME : Take the Power Back (Rage against the Machine )  www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqkMsX…
ENDING THEME : The End of Part 3 (JoJo ASB - OST )  www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BlzwA…



You have to know that it is grim, dark and violent. The Turtles are 19 years old here, colder and more cynical though , unlike a fuckton of 00's comics, they still have honorable qualities and are willing to fight for their friends and survival.
 AND Yes, as you can see here , 3 of them suffered injuries:
- Donatello will have to share his body with sentient machinery
- Raphael gets burnt Harvey Dent Style
- Leonardo gets his left arm eaten by the villainous King Komodo.

Now, the book was unfinished originally and stopped at issue 23. Recently, we had access to the last 2 issues (actually story-wrappers) MUCH MUCH later.
AND DAMN was it AWESOME !
I am not even kidding. This run is for me the perfect conclusion to the original Volume 1 of Mirage and one of the best comics I've read, Turtles or otherwise. Let's see why:

+ It shook up the status quo of the franchise in a more respectful way than what people give credit for. Carlson DID his homework and now, the Turtles will have to face new challenges. The very first page  opens with Donatello getting shot pointblank by a laser cannon and bleeding , and that same first issue ends up  with Raphael disfigured ! And honestly... this was more than plausible to happen . I mean we're talking about the Grim iteration of the TMNT, so it'd surprise me if they remained unscathed the whole time.
+ Warlord Komodo is easily one of the most ferocious baddies they'll ever face, having control over reptiles and the same appetite as said Varanus komodoensis.
+ It has also a nice "slice of life"/ family side to it with Shadow, Casey and April. It's pretty heartwarming to see the Turtles as uncles to Shadow.
+ Splinter's plotline (him being turned into a bat ) will lead to an emotional rescue mission by his boys through the Astral plane.
+ While Leonardo does not change much ( well he does not need to at this point. He does come off as harsher at times, but seeing how dire the situations they find themselves into are, it is understandable... ) aside from losing a hand , his brothers DO :
 * Michaelangelo becomes a writer and develops a romance with the dim alien Sara (though to be fair, Mikey always struck as the more sociable one of the bunch...). He's still fun-loving but more mild-mannered than the outright party-dude we knew back in the day.
 * Donatello will fucking STRUGGLE through the whole ordeal ! Not only will he have to adapt to a body that is new to him but there are times where his brothers (especially Leo) will not exactly know if it is still their brother inside the armor or not and whether he passed away or not. ( No worries, he gets a better control of it and proves once again his ingeniosity...)
 * Raphael eventually becomes the Shredder. And it is ABSOLUTE GENIUS !It was perfectly IN-character and it thankfully avoids the whole "hero becomes villain" cliche that a lot of people seem to botch all too easily. This is genius because he does NOT become a villain , he is STILL Raphael but Grown-up and allowed to take chances and risks by leading what used to be their worst enemies to HELP his family and friends. THIS is a prime example of how to do new things with an established character!
+ And more importantly , the exact same way I praised the 90's X-men comics for ditching the whole "Cyclops VS Wolverine rivalry" BS and allow Scott and Logan's characterizations to grow the fuck up (I'll say this again ; 90's "has-beens" >>>>> current cunts ), we have finally put an end to the whole Raph VS Leo feud with easily one of the best discussions between them at the end of the final issue! Thank God !
+ Pimiko. What started out as "Sexy ninja henchwoman #54893457" ends up being the most sympathetic and tragic TMNT characters: the daughter of Oroku Saki himself.
+ The Lady Shredder the Turtles and Pimiko will face in the 3 last issues is the last remnant of Oroku Saki's legacy. Both her backstory and the ultimate battle MAKE this volume !

My only pet peeve is that they will eventually heal from those injuries and scars by the end (a side-effect of the mutagen and their reptilian nature ...). I felt that it was a bit too convenient !
I also have to address one thing : A lot of people said that Carlson is not great at writing emotional or show us the Turtles really caring for each other at the start. I did not see it that way. Granted , a lot of their speech is inappropriate at times BUT I never felt that they did not care about each other. I 'd say it is more in-tun with the fact that they have to live through a lot of horrid stuff and are pretty much doomed to never have a regular life. And Carlson's writing improves as the story advances !
Once again, when people defend odious shit like this d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/… ed208.files.wordpress.com/2013… www.scifinow.co.uk/wp-content/… , they can shut the fuck up when it comes to "super-heroes", likability and nuanced characterizations.

I guess this is one the very rare "Image Turtles" fanarts you'll ever find find on the web , so ENJOY !