Unfinished Business: The Story of TMNT Volume 4, so far (TMNT comics)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
- In this video, we take a look back at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return in the early 2000s with the release of Volume 4. Peter Laird, co-creator of the TMNT franchise, was inspired to create a new series after meeting three young women who shared their love for the turtles. This resulted in a successful first issue, but unfortunately, the run remains unfinished to this day. We dive into the artistic side of the series and discuss some of the changes that Laird made to the franchise, including correcting Michelangelo's name. Join us as we explore the world of the turtles and the legacy of Volume 4, a run that may never be completed.
WRITTEN AND EDITED BY
Javier S. Montano
NARRATED BY
Spencer Mayo
Fiverr: www.fiverr.com/spencermayovo
Unfinished Business: The Story of TMNT Volume 4, so far (TMNT comics)
00:00 How TMNT volume 4 started
02:38 Before Volume 4
04:19 The Utrom Visitors
11:15 The Nanobot Crisis
18:39 Leonardo's Journey into the Battle Nexus
26:20 Donatello goes small
30:38 Raphael's transformation
35:25 Michelangelo at war
43:54 Turtles' allies
52:12 Forgotten plot
53:10 Professor Obligado
54:55 After Volume 4
56:28 Behind the scenes (and why it's incomplete)
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Thanks for watching all of that!
I love this run, but I have to admit that getting copies of these issues was hard. My comic-book guy managed to import some of them, but when it started going digital first, it disappeared from his radar. So it took me a while to read the whole story.
What are your memories of this run?
Thanks so much for Volume 4!!! When do we get to the Odyssey?!
@@lucasgibbs4050 I need some palate cleansers. Right now it looks like Odyssey could come out in July.
Did you find the missing story from that book?
@@TheTurtleNexus Are you talking about the one where Michelangelo kills Splinter, then no. I have had no such luck, if you do, do you mind sending the source?
@@lucasgibbs4050 No I don't have it.
Later? Don’t you mean earlier?
A ending to all of these is something tmnt fans want but Peter told me in 2019 he just didn't have any ideas or was really tired 😢
Not to mention those a$$holes harassing him in the letter pages, seriously I get that it's a free country but some people should just not be so harsh and offer more constructive criticism and if all they have is vitriol to spew, then they should just shut up.
Weird that he didn't just write the entire script for it before hand. That's how you usually do comics.
I really enjoyed vol. 4, even with the decompressed pacing issues. I enjoy the street level stories, but most enjoy the wacky sci-fi stories that were done, and vol. 4 has some great gems.
It wasn't easy or cheap to put my vol. 4 collection together, but it was worth it. I even bought my #29 from Steve Lavigne himself (and his wife) when Shellback was closing up.
The April o Neil reveal I swear. “Passing the trauma to you” thanks lmao. It’s so bizarre I do love that it’s a nod to the Donatello one shot but roach and then drawing april I genuinely hope this idea never rears its head again.
The later era of Mirage is freaking weird i'll just stick with Vol. 1
@@papyrus8691I can see both. Personally I’m content with just volume one
City at War seemed like a pretty definitive ending for these turtles anyway
I loved vol 4. It was so weird and wonderful - and importantly independent. Stupid fans letter writing people probably ruined all the fun for Peter!
Oh well…
I hope it gets finished cause shit was going down I really wanna know what happens next
I will admit I am not a fan of Jim Lawsons Tmnt artwork after City at War in the 90s. But he deserved better feedback. I think he can still draw awesome turtles it’s the humans that just look a bit odd to me.
His female characters got the short stick from his style changes. Male characters were OK (as part of his overall style). While he is not my favorite turtle artist, his style is very recognizable, and the way he draws the turtles gives them that indie comic look that I find charming.
@@TheTurtleNexus I remember when the early Archie books would switch from Ken Mitchroney to Lawson I dreaded his issues but I think thats down to his style not fitting the more 87 toon look, particularly Krang looks odd, but again love how Return to New York looked in contrast. And I felt Karai looked fine in City at War, but I don't recognize her in Volume 4. It is undeniable after Eastman & Laird he is one of the most prolific and iconic TMNT artists along with Michael Dooney for me.
@@andagean Lawson in the Archie comics was like a seed for the more indie stuff. He is no Mitchroney, but he gave the book a style that to me, felt like the turtles as well... and I am saying this, because one of my favorite turtlethings around the time was the packaging of the toys. So anything that made the turtles look like that was just awesome to me. And Lawson was closer to that style than Mitchroney. But of course this is a very subjective thing :p
Ive been reading vol 4 as of late and its just plain weird. It feels like too many events going on at once
Laird needs Eastman to curb that and going overboard with weird sci fi stuff.
So happy to see this vid. I would love for IDW to do with this volume what they did with the Image run. Get Peter involved and reprint and finish the run. I think I have about 20 of the original run. It is a pretty weird volume but I freaking love it. Keep the vids coming and keep up the good work. #TMNT #TMNT4LIFE
I remember buying issues of the comic whenever I could during my college days back in the early 2000's. I let one of my younger cousins read them and he sent in a letter criticizing the story. I don't remember why he did.
I was never able to get much of the run, though I wish I did. But maybe Peter Laird will one day decide to finish it. And hopefully find an audience that's actually receptive to his stories.
It kinda sounds like a good chunk of this run was written with emotions that were much stronger then than they are now (not that they've entirely disappeared, of course). It would be interesting to see if Laird would continue/finish this run and have to either force himself into the mindset he was in back then for consistency or risk the story feeling much different because times have changed since then. I'm sure Laird could manage either option if he still had the spirit to write, but the tale of writing these comics sounds like it would be just as dicey as the adventures going on within them and that seems like it'd make things interesting for the readers too...Even if not always for good reasons.
The utrom arrival to earth and the manhattan malita is most likely reused as the swat in idw mutant town arch with the cloned evil turtles in pre Armageddon game venus debut
Thank you for this breakdown! Your content is amazing! Keep up the great work!
Great video. I love Vol. 4 and really hope it comes back.
I like how Jim Lawson tried to be bit like Kevin O'Neill in Volume 4 weather on accident or purpose
Just reread vol 4 and it works best when read all at once and with key issues from tales. Even unfinished I would love to see this collected.
Great informative piece.
Been so long since I've read vol 4 that I forgot about half of this.
The video I been waiting for by you
Amazing video
Excellent video! I know a lot of people say vol 4 is really weird but I honestly find it really interesting and engaging. I hope someday Peter Laird finds the motivation to wrap up vol 4 and (wishful thinking on my part) maybe him and Kevin Eastman can get back together to do a short vol 5 to give a definitive ending to the mirage turtles.
I also hope vol 4 gets collected someday, I know they’re currently releasing the compendiums at idw (vol 2 comes out later this year) so I hope they go beyond vol 1 and also collect vol 2/4. Although given that idw seems to be in hot water at the moment that probably won’t come to pass, a shame really. If idw does go under where do you think Turtles will find a new home, perhaps boom studios?
I believe the artists are still freelance, so this could mostly affect editors and in-house staff. Still, it wouldn't be the first time a book continues under a different publisher if it needs to. They could always move to Archie, LOL
The TMNT comics have always been a reflection of the state of their creators. Since Peter Laird was much older when volume 4 started, his views and creative priorities changed too. Volume 4 has this vibe of trying to move on from the reputation of the earlier volumes. It's relatively less over the top in terms of violence and edginess, and some of the elements created in other incarnations snuck their way in like Donatello being more heavily into science and Michelangelo being more laid back. It definitely feels like a different beast, and I can understand why some took umbrage at the time, but I also see fans come around in recent years for trying different things that would later influence future projects.
... Man, Donnie just can't keep himself out of robot bodies, can he?
Before IDW I would have said Mirage Vol 4 was my favorite TMNT run
This is one of the best tmnt channels next to axltar old turtle den and my ninja turtles channel
thank god diomnond no longer has a monopoly on the market
That abandoned armored truck was a scrapped and reused concept from the kids wb tmnt show that was used in the 2003 show as the battle shell
Yes, it was weird that the plot didn't go that way, it almost feels intentional.
Peter Laird MUST FINISH the Mirage comics turtles
Keyboard warriors are insane I love peters work I hope he finishes
You probably weren’t there when it was happening, and have the benefit of hindsight in advance; I read these as they came out, and while I was nowhere near as livid as some of the other readers, it was disappointing, as it felt like he was simply throwing shit at the wall, pitifully and desperately trying to change the status quo. What’s more, the image comics made similar changes and additions, albeit far more quickly, and peter hated; here he comes and does much if the same thing but in a longler span. You have to also understand how all of this looked to us as well. Eastman and Laird have attempted to palm off the creative duties of the turtles on multiple occasions, and then complained when they didn’t get the result they would have liked. Just whining while cashing in on the property.
It genuinely bums me out to hear about the letters pages for volume 4. Great video but it frames Peter selling Tmnt in a different light. What stings more is thinking some of these same disgruntled fans also hate the post by out Tmnt too. Nothing can replace the magic of volume 1 but I do wish we could have seen the true end of volume 4. Personally I see Volume 3, Volume 4 and “something like” Last Robin as the three possible endings to the mirage turtles post volume 2.
I feel so bad for him😢
Poor Leo😢💔💙🐢😖😫😭 18:10
How do you get the Peter laird corrected versions of the og run?
You may find it online as a PBBZ edition
Raptar was used in the 2003 show
Yeah, plus in that same show, Donetello gets turned into a monster for three episodes, the deign of monster Donny is very similar to Raphels monster design from volume 4.
In my opinion Peter was just burnt out at that point in time and probably wanted to work on something else for a while.
❤❤❤❤❤
DONATELLO GOES SMALL
Me: Not as small as Peter Griffin!!!
Where did you get the volume 4 colored images? Was it ever printed in color or was it fan-colored?
I colored them for this video (to break the monotony of black and white).
Sooner or later Vol.4 will be finished. Part of me wishes that Eastman and Laird still own TMNT. What happened if Laird completed Volume 4. Would it continue with other volumes? Would it be a possible build up to The Last Ronin? Maybe to other future stories. Who knows?
The way Volume 4 was designed, it would have gone on forever. But technically speaking, nothing is stopping Eastman and Laird from doing TMNT. I hope they get to do at least one more story together before retirement.
@@TheTurtleNexus Agreed
Agreed
In my opinion the last ronin is not a good comic, and not a TMNT comic. The art is alright; the inking is a highlight for me, but the villains are generic, the deaths of the turtles are by and large out of character especially leonardo. What’s more, Michelangelo is a generic melancholic failed knight, and plays the entire bit completely flat, which then fails to differentiate him from say, Leonardo. There are also no mirage characters, so there’s no possibility of it tying the continuities together.
@@elmatasesues3630 You don't like The Last Ronin, ok that your opinion, that's fine. It's its own story, which means that it doesn't connect to any continuity Of TMNT at all. Look up Marvel "The End" comics. Those comics are also not in continuity because it's supposed to be the end. Similar to The Last Ronin which is a what if TMNT had a ending, Eastman and Liard give us just that.
Damn mikey was a player in the comics
where do these in color panels come from?
I colored some panels/pages to break the monotony of black and white in such a long video.
If april and Casey were 20-22 around 1984 they would be 37-39 years old in 2001
Possibly... but it's hard to tell what year 1984 was in this universe and what year is the beginning of volume 4 (as it is supposed to take place in the near future of 2001).
Wasn't volume 4 completed years ago on Peter Laird's blog, AFTER it had been on hiatus for many years? I've never read the comics, but knew more than the average "normie" about the franchise, and was sure that was the case/
You are probably thinking about issue 31. Volume 4 remains unfinished.
It was wierd raph turned into a dinosaur based on the scrapped raptor raph second mutation
Im guessing the guayana highlands in venezuela and aztec warriors hunting down the foot story was used for the plot of the 2007 imagi studios tmnt film plot with the jungle ghost piece having leonardo traveling to latin america for wild goose chase training to become a better leader or looking for an amulet according to the crappie ubisoft tie in game for no reason that went nowhere but to set up completely brand new villains to replace shredder who has no development in the mirage source material or the films other than being a cartoonish villain and they erased his comic book motive cause it was too dark for kids but was in the promotional material comic novel and storybook and the foot introducing a random immortal white guy max winters who hires karai who should've been introduced in the live action films instead of deviating what the first film set mayan stone warriors being in peru or mexico somewhere with metallurgy armor on par as bronze age tech and a lame 13 monster mcguffin that was not needed and to give april a different occupation than being a computer programmer shes an archeologist museum curator like the 87 cartoon deviated from the source and made her a field reporter than chohesivley adapting a mirage story line like the utroms which secret of the ooze failed to do the triceraton saga or baxter stockman or actually bring in renet or savanti romero charaters that should've been in tmnt 3
😢 39:11
Battle nexus splinter was splinter the one that died was a clone
Even so, how was THAT a peaceful death.
@@cheteyaliyanage8721 in splinters prolonged life yeah its as peaceful as it could get cause he shouldn'tve lived that long in rat years from the 60s to early 2000s
The talking dinosaurs in venezuela was probably reused in tmnt 2 battle nexus video game ice planet enemies were ch'rell utrom shredder was sent to as his prison sentence
Is volume four going to continue?
@Papyrus i really want volume four to finish it's been to long since issue 32.
From the wonderful interviews he’s been doing recently with Kevin Eastman on Cartoonist Kayfabe, I’m hopeful he’ll find the motivation to finish volume 4 in the not too distant future. As I recall from the editorial/letters pages in volume 4, he became disheartened with all the negative feedback it was getting and gradually lost interest in continuing. I think he’d reached burnout with all things TMNT by that point too, but hopefully enough time has passed now that he might find a renewed energy to wrap it up.
More than that though, I would dearly love to see Kevin and Peter reunite again for one last TMNT project to conclude the Mirage continuity and come full circle. I know Last Ronin has already been done, but I’m sure they could create a really satisfying definitive ending to the saga.
@@kodoyama i would like for Peter and Kevin to finish volume four.
@@johnboling7426 I would too, but I have a feeling Peter would want to finish it with Jim Lawson. There’s still scope for another Eastman & Laird collaboration though!
So this is like the Forever wars where it also failed to complete the grand finale
April and casey being in their 30s at this time makes no sense cause they weren't teens april most likely was in her 20s coming out of college working under contract for baxter in computer A.I. programming coding and engineering helping baxter with the construction of the mouser robot units when she met the turtles cause the turtles are 13 years old when they killed shredder met april lost splinter for a couple of months went on an outer space adventure came back befriended a probably 20 something casey the turtles became 14 years old months after that Michaelangelo Christmas special and a whole year went by on a Christmas when leonardo was ambushed by the resurrected shredder and the hoards of foot so they spent months training and healing in Massachusetts on the farm and they were 15 by the time of return to new york to kill shredder again the city at war was a year later so 16 when they fought with the foot again so by the time vol 2 happens they're 18 years old so by the time the non canon vol 3 happens the turtles are in their 20s and april and casey are 30 when vol4 happens casey and april supposed to be in their 40s
So that’s why you’ve been cold for so long…😂
Tmnt origin crowd funded book you have to do to please
We'll see where the Odyssey video takes me. A while ago I asked the audience if they were interested in fan fiction and most didn't care. I am kind of making an exception for Odyssey.
@Papyrus I am under the impression that you won't like my review that much 😄
@Papyrus yes it was but also sad Michaelangelo went to the dark side
While there is a lot of interesting moments and ideas in this volume. On the whole it isn't that great in my opinion. Peter did a hell of a lot of weird stuff here. The April thing specifically isn't for me, I have no clue why he wrote that revelation in. Also countless other things I just can't go with. That being said it's a shame Peter will probably never complete it for the fans that actually had enjoyed it.
You show far more empathy than that douchebag that wrote to Peter laird, “it’s fine if people like vol 4 but please discontinue it!” Like who says crap like that, he’s basically saying “I respect their opinion, but please don’t give them a proper continuation, and cater to my wishes for it to be canceled, even though I don’t have to read it!” Like who talks like that? I also think this dude is lying when he claims “nobody he knows likes it” he probably just said that to get under lairds skin.
The Utroms aren't that great if you think about it
Don’t you mean eaten off-panel?
That would be true in most cases, but in this case, they were watching a recording of him :)
Peter laird was interesting. He was too conservative way too focused on cannon. I feel like the Viacom buyout was the best thing to happen to tmnt. Still waiting for something to happen the conservative sonic franchise...
I mean it makes sense coming off the turtle mania era they lost track of how big the franchise got. And I think the case of 2003 animated series this was a nice change of pace. Though I am relatively glad the buyout did bring back 87 nostalgia. I like a good blend of mirage as the backbone and 87 for flavor. The biggest thing I miss from the laird era is the colorful cast of mutants bebop rocksteady and the mighty mutanimals.
I mean, I don’t feel like you can be too focused on canon. After the Image run, he wanted to streamline the continuity and write it his way. If he just did whatever, it would make the stories less meaningful and impactful in the long run. Besides, Tales Vol. 2 had plenty of random non canon stories to be different. If he hadn’t been focused on canon, I feel like the meaning of the Turtles would have been lost. Just my thoughts though.
@@daltonhead4572 let's just all agree that tmnt is the best and sonic is dogshit!
Both are awesome lol.
@@daltonhead4572 no.
I wish we got a mirage tmnt continuity remake like spectacular spiderman is to amazing spiderman
Not my style.
Baxter has been a pathetic character in every single cartoon continuity, but okay, chief.
Uhm. Is that turtle diq?? 😱
Welp, if the Internet has taught me anything... sometimes it's better to keep out of Politics. I run a blog, and I get plenty of flack for some of the discussions we've had.
People will always try to use Cancel Culture to control what they want.
Not discussing it here would have felt incomplete.
Whenever I can, I try to keep the content welcoming to anyone, but you know, the writers were actually referencing real life events, especially in the letters. So keeping the context out (in such an expensive video), would have been a failure.
@@TheTurtleNexus Certainly that is true, but, even in the context of trying to sell a comic book... discussing current events INSTEAD of the comic was a bad move on their part.
@@MimebladeGMail Welcome to indie comics
@@TheTurtleNexus I'm having flashbacks to Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (by Jhonen Vasquez)
God, save us from TH-camrs attempting political commentary. Here's an idea Skippy: stick with your talking Turtle funny-books and leave politics to the grown-ups . . . or at least the ability to form opinions not given to them in OTHER TH-cam videos.
Do you know the difference between constructive and non-constructive criticism?
Your comment is not something people can learn from, it's bullying.
What are you talking about? The politics spoke about in this video are only informed by the "funny books". Its a interpretation of the body of work. The video never once said that they got their information from a youtuber or anything, did you even pay attention to the video before jumping down in the comments and spitting a bunch of shit. By the way, if you are frustrated by artist using politics then you don't understand art, ALL ART is created out of a point of view to the outside world, art is inherently political, idiot. Keep your anger and frustration to yourself. Keyboard warrior, dumbass.