A look back at Image Comics' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT comics)

For a long time, it was an unfinished, non-canon run. Since then, the story had two endings. Join us on this TMNT comics trip, from the reasons why the Turtles went to Image, to the way it finally got an official ending.
NARRATED BY
Don (Licensed via Descript)
Check Out how it works here: www.descript.com/overdub?lmre...
Read why I used Descript here: / @theturtlenexus
WRITTEN AND EDITED BY
Javier S. Montano
A look back at Image Comics' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT comics)
00:00 Why Image?
02:23 Conception
04:07 First arc (Dragonlord)
06:21 Second arc (Puzorelli)
06:59 Third arc (Deathwatch/Shredder)
08:10 Fourth arc (Triceratons)
08:49 Final issues (Lady Shredder)
09:43 Becoming non-canon
10:37 Fan-made project
12:56 Urban Legends
14:35 Comparisons
Support this channel by joining to our membership
/ @theturtlenexus
You can get our latest merchandise here
theturtlenexus.myspreadshop.com
And don't forget to SUBSCRIBE!

[@RetconMedia]

I actually worked pretty close with Gary on Urban Legends #24-26. Some of the original stuff in the scripts wouldn't have worked with Vol. 4 at all (one big thing in particular), but we were able to get everything on the right tracks.

[@eduardoneves3070]

So crazy. So 90s. It is almost like the writter was doing a satirical comedy of the turtles. But sure there are some creative decisions to find here

[@tannerprice2018]

Anyone else think Donnie nearly dying, having his carapace shattered and being rebuilt into a cyborg in this series was an inspiration for IDW? When Donnie got his shell busted by Bebop & Rocksteady and nearly died, so he got an artificial shell to replace the destroyed one?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

If it was, they never said it. (I recently did research on that story).

[@beardupbeerdown7355]

And he's a soft shell turtle in Rise 😅

[@batmenace15]

IDW handled the idea of Donnie (mostly) dying and coming back as a robot/cyborg better than Image

[@jonathanjoestar6365]

They put him in metalhead until his body healed in idw, in image his body was slowly healing and needed less and less of the armor

[@MiggsFigs]

Man imagine if this comic was your first foray into the world of tmnt …

[@vicvic889]

It was for me actually. I was born 1987

[@side1981]

Raph being shredder was the best idea in that run

[@tannerprice2018]

Honestly, I could totally see either Raph or Leo becoming the Shredder at some point. Like, if it were years after the death, or at least defeat, of Oroku Saki, and the Turtles & Splinter needed to make a truce between the Foot and Hamato Clans, so one of the Turtles decided to join the Foot Clan, ride through the ranks, and eventually take up the mantle of the new Shredder.

[@Kaden10]

Maybe then they could turn things around for both clans and they work to make the world a better place from the shadows.@@tannerprice2018

[@tyronleung5276]

Big bang #10 with gallahad was a crossover explaining why the turtles wear the red mask

[@eduardoneves3070]

I prefer the second ending published on idw, even with a lot of plot holes. Tang amaya is so convoluted and never mentioned in the original run, so the armor don makes more sense and natural to the story. We never saw what happened to leatherhead. Why leo and donny recovered his bodied, but the scarface and lost eye of ralph remains. I dont miss the strange romance between mike and sara i believe. Puzoreli never doing a final coup to recover shadow. Nevertheless a fun and crazy run. Thanks for this video, very nostalgic

[@disneyboy3030]

I wonder what a combination of both endings would be like.

[@richborn6700]

As a teen in the mid 2000s I grew up an animated Turtles fan and wanted to check out the series. The omnibus mirage content wasn't out and I would read about the insanity of the Image run. Sadly my comic shop only had Tales of TMNT and I had to settle for one shot random ass stories in it until IDW came around. By then I was almost in my 20s and couldn't afford issue to issue reading.

[@Rose_Bride]

_Yikes._ I have no experience with the Image comic run, but listening to this makes me feel like Image made the story so (unnecessarily) _convoluted._ And with a lot of loose ends that never got resolved. It also feels SO quintessentially 90's; i.e. dark for no other reason than to be "edgy." Don't get me wrong... I LOVE a good dark, mature story. But _this_ story sounded ALL OVER the place. These Turtles just seem like they could _never get a break._ They're either disfigured, depressed, or (in Donnie's case) walking corpses. A little unrelated, but what stands out to me here is that the creators went into this Image comic agreement with the goal of steering The Turtles AWAY from the kid friendly, pizza obsessed teens the 1987 series had pigeon-holed them into. So Laird's later decision to sell the rights of the _TMNT_ franchise to Viacom/Nickelodeon is just... REALLY bizarre to me. And disappointing. If they wanted to bring The Turtles back to their "darker" roots, WHY sell them to a media conglomerate that deals mostly in child friendly, G - PG rated programing? It seems like The Turtles just can't escape that 1987 type-casting, and I REALLY wish they could since they have some AMAZING stories to tell that probably will never be adapted due to being "too dark" for Nickelodeon.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Peter Laird wanted to retire (it was just too much work). So that is why he decided to sell the franchise. He did his best at doing more mature stuff, with the 2003 show and the 2007 movie, but either the toy company was against it, or the critics found them too dark. So I guess probably felt like he couldn't win anyway. This story is SUPER 90s, in every aspect. It's an acquired taste really. Once you get past the initial arc, things get a little better (except for all the Image comics cameos). But it's not for everyone. It is easier to read in color (in my opinion), so if you ever want to give it a try, you can read TMNT: Urban Legends.

[@hissignaturestudios6869]

Idk if I agee with that. The 2003 and 2012 cartoons for me adapted stories (mostly) pretty faithfully, and the 2012 series had the perfect balance (imo) of cheesey 80's series comedy and dark comic book story telling, especially when you keep in mind the limitations of being on a kids network as you pointed out.

[@kinglycrimson]

And then nick made last ronin

[@hissignaturestudios6869]

Hmm. Interesting. I didn't realize both endings kinda make the image run both canon and non-canon to the mirage universe (canon in that it could still sort of feasibly fit between vol. 2 and 4, but still sort of non-canon in the fact there are a few continuity errors and vol. 4 doesn't acknowledge anything from the image run. I also didn't know there were 2 endings, a fanmade one and an official one. I only knew about the official one from idw. I don't know, I kinda like the official one better, but they both sound great.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Thanks for watching! Do you prefer videos this length, shorter or longer?

[@IWonder....]

I prefer the longer videos, but it doesn't really matter. Good content tho. I'm a big TMNT fan so when I seen another TMNT channel I subscribed immediately. I gotta support my Bros.

[@alleycattandy2235]

Your voice sounds extremely familiar?

[@ARKHAM9558]

Yo who was lady shredder

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@ARKHAM9558 Some artificial intelligence from the Image Universe.

[@lucasgibbs4050]

I actually met Frank Fosco in person at Knoxville Fanboy Expo. He gave me a TMNT Urban Legends comic, which he himself autographed.

[@thekiddencore9094]

I love this run

[@lucasgibbs4050]

My Life As A Turtle Robot

[@BenDaresAll]

Gary Carlson was an engaging writer actually. It was a good read. I like the less depressing double death ending.

[@TMNTTHECONTINUITY]

They must do a series with this univerce first do these comics in animated form (Urban Legends only) and then do other things

[@shadow-gr4iw]

Nahh they just need to fix this

[@santiagotello8747]

Que buenos videos 👍

[@ssss.wappled2418]

4:44

[@tyronleung5276]

I wish the original ending would be reprinted

[@thekiddencore9094]

I really loved this story (the urben legends) sense the original one was for the mirage comics But sense it's not Canon to the mirage comics I think it could be Canon to the 2012 show sence I totally could see those turtles go thought something like this or whst it's actually the truth it's in its own world

[@TheTurtleNexus]

It wouldn't fit with 2012 (Splinter being alive, Karai being older and having a daughter). But it definitely made sense with the Mirage continuity at the time.

[@TMNTTHECONTINUITY]

I'm the kiddencore I also have a TMNT Chanel but I haven't done any videos for it yet

[@disneyboy3030]

I wonder what would happen if someone did an expanded ending that combined both versions of the ending.

[@jacobproper1]

Image likes to license alternative comic books and also what do you get when you cross Batman and splinter into bat 🦇 splinter

[@DanJackson1977]

Is that an AI version of Jon Bailey the Honest Trailers guy? Or is it really him.. cause if its him.. something is off... the reading is disconnected.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

It's complicated. But it is not Jon Bailey.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@Freakazoid12345 I am sorry, but you have a link to the software where it says it is done with consent. It's in the description. Please don't go accusing people of things, just because you couldn't be bothered.

[@Douche85]

It sounds so bad

[@Hail2daking]

What's with the a.i honest trailer voice?

[@thebombsquadtv6151]

where can I find the fan ending?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Here www.thegreenlanterncorps.com/tmnt/vol3.html

[@iceonthesun8880]

So, basically Donatello became Cyborg from JL

[@Drixenol86]

Image Ninja Turtles was unintentionally a big mess.

[@palmeno8245]

What was the music use in this video?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

It seems like I messed up the project file of this video, so I cannot tell you exactly which songs those are right now. I can recognize the first one: One Time, by Jeremy Black If you have one other song in the video you want to know, send me the timestamp.

[@palmeno8245]

⁠@@TheTurtleNexusthanks it unfortunate for other songs can’t be found but that’s ok it’s just the first one I was interested in,also maybe you should put the music in the end of your videos or something like that but besides that thanks p.s:I’m also subscribed and this video is what let me to your channel see ya 😉

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@palmeno8245 Thanks, I started adding the song names into the credits of the videos a few months ago. The credits themselves are mostly at the beginning part of the video, and for a while they were at the end.

[@Officiallydubs]

Holy hell

[@maximillianlylat1589]

Probably the dumbest line of the comics i read in this franchise minus some guest related stuff in both the mirage or archie runs from but i got some enjoyment out of it. Plus it got me into savage dragon

[@dsprks75]

Je. Sus. Christ….

[@tyronleung5276]

Yo you gotta do a video on tmnt odyssey and tmnt origin

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I will talk about Odyssey in a future video. But I don't think I ever read Origin (I don't have a copy).

[@tyronleung5276]

@@TheTurtleNexus I got a copy

[@lucasgibbs4050]

@@tyronleung5276 Do you mind doing a video on it? You know like all you see are the pages?

[@tyronleung5276]

@The Turtle Nexus whats your email I can send it to you

[@tyronleung5276]

@@lucasgibbs4050 I can send you an email of a digital copy if you'd like to read it

[@Homey104]

Just wondering, is this the same narrator who does those "Honest Trailers" segments?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Nope, just similar voice.

[@sustelsuk]

Am I crazy or did they use an ai narrator since it can’t say karai name right

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Check out the recent community posts, I explained how this happened.

[@martianmanfrommars8428]

You lost me at Komodo Dragons

[@vicvic889]

Bro who In the heck is talking?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Back then I was using text-to-speech. Check the description.

[@MrBlack-wt5er]

Image made great comics and the stories and writing are all there and I think is good but the TMNT are (ugly asf) and I hate that they all wore the same bandana and some of the writing and injuries the turtles faced sort of made them even more (ugly asf) and that's what I'm not liking about what I'm seeing! If they faced those injuries then make the healing power take away scars at least and give them all their distinguishable bandanas and don't make splinter a disgusting ugly bat, I hated that part too!

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Well, it was a continuation of the Mirage comics, so they had to wear the same color on all bandanas (Which didn't really matter because it was in black and white). But I get what you are saying about the art, I actually had problems figuring out what was going on in every page, so when IDW added color to those pages, that became my go-to version of volume 3.

[@autobotproductions1244]

@@TheTurtleNexuspersonally I prefer the multi colored headbands. Maybe not very ninja, but it makes them stand out more

[@silvypetrisor6979]

The art is so bad