It may have something to do with the fact that they’re shell-ebrating their 40th anniversary this year but I have been on quite the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kick recently. Also of note, IDW has been publishing TMNT comics since 2011, which is astounding.
Since IDW has been in the Turtles game we’ve seen THREE iterations of animated Turtles and two live action movies (but I feel like we’ve collectively memory-holed those). For a franchise that’s has been in a constant state of mutation and evolution, IDW has remained a constant for over a decade.
Back when IDW began publishing the current TMNT book I was picking them up as often as I could, but for some reason or another, I couldn’t stick with it and now the book is creeping up on one hundred and fifty issues, which has to bee some kind of record for the Turtles.
I know that the current run is a favorite for a lot of people, but for a relative outsider like myself it’s fairly impenetrable. Fortunately for me something caught my eye at the comic shop on Wednesday.
Here’s the blurb:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Sourcebook #1
IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics synthesize and remix 40 years of Turtles lore and transform it into a single, sprawling epic! This sourcebook collects and catalogs every character, every location, and every notable event and serves as a comprehensive companion to that epic into four issues by writer Patrick Ehlers. Issue #1 tracks the complete story of the friendship and rivalry of Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi, from friends to foes, from past to present, from astral plane to solid ground. Where the immortal Shredder builds an army of criminals, ninjas, and beasts, the resurrected Splinter and his Turtle sons grow their influence through family and fellowship. These are the humans and mutants caught up in this life span defying war for control of the Foot Clan.
I absolutely adore a good sourcebook. Handbook of the Marvel Universe? Love it. Marvel’s Transformers Universe series? Yes, please. DC’s Secret Files/Secret Origins? Give them to me. It’s probably a good thing Wikipedia didn’t exist when I was a kid or I’d have lost my formative years to reading it. I already wasted enough time with the Star Trek Encyclopedia.
My point being, the TMNT Sourcebook is great reading for someone such as myself that missed out on this epoch of the Turtles. I found it super easy to pick up and skim which is kind of the point of the thing. Who knows, maybe I’ll pick up some of the trades and finally get into the book?
