taffer

With the new TMNT movie out, my interest in the Turtles has been revitalized. I never read the original Mirage comics, and I would like to go back and read them. Does anyone know if they are available in trade paperback collections?

J.J.A. Sabadoz

They've been collected a few times before, but they're all out of print now. you can see the first few issues on ninjaturtles.com (the official site).

Appaerently, Peter Laird (on of the creators) is fixing up the original series, which will then be published in a series of trades. There's some controversy about this as he is changing some of the dialogue, taking toning out of the art, and dropping or cutting issues in order to create an official cannon (though the last is pretty neccessary since the original series was handed off to a series of guest writers when the cartoon got popular, and none of them seemed familiar with the turtle universe).

It's make great sense to just toss the old run as is into a cheap omnibus to ride the movie's wave, but that wasn't done. I get the impression, looking at the mirage site, that the comics are justa casual hobby for Laird, now that he's super rich. They don't even have online ordering, and they aren't well distributed.

ytrez

That's interesting stuff. I've NOT followed the goings on of Eastman & Laird for many years but I believe that Laird is the only one of the two still involved in the comics. I recall Eastman starting Tundra Press, buying Heavy Metal magazine, and marrying Julie Strain. I'm pretty sure he had a hand in the second Heavy Metal movie and then dropped off of my radar. I got the impression he was the super rich one but I guess Laird would have gotten the same $ as Eastman as co-creator. But at least he showed some devotion to the Turtles by sticking around at Mirage to oversee the comics. Ah, who knows? Maybe I'm way off base. I am interested in pulling out those old comics and taking a read through them. I'd welcome a nice b&w omnibus to save me the time of tracking them down.

J.J.A. Sabadoz

Laird bought out Eastman's share of the turtles (or at least a controlling interest), and he's been writing the new issues (volume four, which has been put on hold while they've been working on the movie). There's also a 'tales of the tmnt' series that's running monthly with different writers/artists each issue.

As far as I know, Eastman still does Heavy Metal. And interesting side note, just a week or two ago, Eastman was trying to sell the original art of ninja turtles issue one on e-bay. I don't know if it sold, as it had gotten into the thousands, and not met the reserve.

fumanstan

Interesting, I was wondering the same thing about possibly purchasing the original comics too. I'm a bit dissapointed that they didn't just put out the originals for the movie's release. I bet Sin City, 300, and what not all had a big jump in comic sales.

fujishig

I always wondered why the original series pretty much disappeared, especially with the trade market booming like never before. I loved those in-color trades. I figured the rights were probably messed up after the whole Image version came out.

Supermallet

A lot of people still don't know that TMNT is based on a comic. Most people think of the movies or the cartoon. Sin City and 300 are better known as movies based off comics.

taffer

Actually I don't think the average joe knows 300 is based on a comic book either. I have heard many complain about historically inaccurate it is.