World Famous Comics: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1
By: Peter David, LeSean Publisher: Dreamwave Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Format: Illustrated Label: Dreamwave Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 104 Publication Date: December 02, 2003 Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Product Description: Dust off those nunchuks and start sharpening your katanas, because the boys in green are back in four-color glory! This volume plunges the Turtles back into their dark and mysterious ninja roots. April O'Neil, the Foot Clan, and of course the deadly Shredder all return to mix it up martial-arts style. Contains sketches, covers and more!
If you can't get your hands on the first four DW issues.... ...then this is definitely a wonderful buy. As a huge TMNT fan, I have to say that the Dreamwave comics are my second favorite incarnation of our guys in green, right up there with Eastman and Laird's original black-and-white comics. The first four DW issues revisit the first four episodes of the 2003 cartoon series...with a twist. Rather than show us events from the Turtles' point of view, we see from the eyes of characters too often pushed to the side: the rookie cop, April O'Neil (whose vignettes include a charming allusion to the old 80s cartoon convention of her as a reporter), Baxter Stockman, and Casey Jones. In addition to the AMAZING art by LeSean, which manages to be dark and polished and, oddly enough, somewhat creepy, I love the writing produced by Peter David for this comic. It reads less like a traditional comic book and more like a stream of consciousness narrative. The dialogue is realistic, and the situations the characters are put in are poignant...and sometimes heartbreaking. All in all, I highly recommend this compilation to any Turtle fan, and to any other comic lover with good taste. I promise you won't be disappointed!
Very disappointing This trade paperback contains the first 4 issues of the now defunct TMNT comic book series by Dreamwave Productions.
The worst aspect of these comics is that they are adaptations of the first 4 episodes of the new TMNT cartoon which debuted in February 2003. This was a really bad idea since most of the people buying these comics have already seen those episodes, and would prefer new stories.
The comics are written by Peter David, and whatever his merits as a writer may be, he was definitely the wrong writer for this series. He just doesn't get the TMNT. David adapts the episodes and also includes new background material, featuring new characters he created. Some of it isn't bad, but for the most part, these characters are not interesting and serve no purpose to the TMNT.
The only good thing about these comics is the art by Lesean. He is a really impressive artist with a cool style. Sadly, he is totally wasted by David. On a series called Arkanium (which no one read), Lesean drew some great, very kinetic action scenes that would've been perfect for the TMNT. Unfortunately, David writes so few action scenes that Lesean is left with little to do.
As a huge TMNT fan, I was very disappointed in this series. It had such potential, but it fails miserably.
Dreamwave's TMNT was cancelled by issue 7. Read this and you'll know why.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
