Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends, Vol. 1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends #1-13

by Gary Carlson, Frank Fosco (Illustrator)

This is it, fans! You demanded it--the entire Image Comics TMNT run (a.k.a. TMNT Volume 3 ) reproduced for the first time ever in full, four-color glory!

Join creators Gary Carlson and Frank Fosco as they take the Heroes in a Half-Shell on some of their most amazing, dangerous, and bizarre adventures ever... culminating in three brand-new issues by Carlson and Fosco to properly close out this long-beloved storyline at last! To kick off this action-packed series, the TMNT are attacked in their lair by a group of cyborgs led by a mysterious female ninja named Pimiko. When the smoke clears, the villains escape with Master Splinter and Donatello as their captives. Can Raph, Leo, and Mikey save the day?

Long out of print and incomplete, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 3 is one of comics' lost treasures, now uncovered at last and completed by the original creators.

Collects issues #1-13 of the 26-issue series.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2019

About the author

Gary S. Carlson is an American comic book writer, editor and publisher, known for his work on his creator-owned comics, such as the 1980s anthology Megaton and Big Bang Comics. He has also worked on books for Image Comics, such as Vanguard, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Supreme, and on titles for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, such as Aquaman and Nova, respectively.

Reviews

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty cool series that I honestly never even knew existed. TMNT Urban Legends reprints Volume 3 of Mirage’s TMNT run a.k.a. the Image era, when the Turtles were at Image Comics for a bit. This era isn’t technically canon anymore, since Peter Laird ignored it when he started Volume 4, but I still think it’s a worthwhile turtle story for any fans of this property. I will say though, this book can be a bit much at times. It’s very 90’s, with lots of exaggerated art, crazy-looking cyborgs, and some insane gore that would even shock those who have read the original runs. Like the turtles get fucked up in the first 6 issues alone. That doesn’t mean it’s bad by any means, but it also doesn’t make this amazing either. At the end of the day, Gary Carlson and Frank Fosco made something that is undeniably unique, while also never managing to be any better than just good.

This volume contains the first 13 issues of this series, all colored for the first time, which I think helps the series a lot. I looked at the original B&W issues that Image released, and the color helps the pages look like they aren’t completely messy. They just aren’t great to look at as they were, and I usually don’t like it when the Mirage stuff gets reprinted in color, but this was the one time where I feel like it genuinely helped the book.

The first couple of issues of this book are extremely fast-paced, it feels like a million things are happening at once and you are just thrown into this insane story with 0 warning, but it sadly starts to screech to a halt around the 10th issue. I assume it’ll start picking up some more steam in the second half, but the last couple of issues in here were not nearly as fun to read as the first half. I enjoyed the chaotic train ride those first issues were, that I really couldn’t put the book down for a bit there.

I recommend it to anyone who likes TMNT or absurd comics.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the 90's the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles moved to Image for a darker version of the Turtles that get put through the ringer. They lose an eye, get turned into a cyborg, and a giant bat. It's a much darker, testosterone tale like all the early 90's Image comics. Savage Dragon and Vanguard do make appearances as well.

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could like this more. The Turtles are awesome since I was a kid and there is some really interesting and creative development happening here.

Unfortunately there are some glaring editorial errors (like typos in the lettering, speech bubbles that aren't sized to fit the dialogue, and at least one instance where the wrong turtles had the opposite lines of dialogue attributed to them). While Donatello and Raphael get radical surface developments, all of the Turtles only have minimal and temporary bits of their own characterization and voice (more of than not they all just sound the same - which is a weird mix of immature fascination with how hot women are and crass middle aged attitudes).

Wish is was better.

[Tomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating look at a very different time in comics history, and a very different TMNT.

This book starts off with a bang. Literally. The authors clearly wanted to make a statement that this series was going to be something different. Following directly on the heels of Jim Lawson's poorly received TMNT Vol. 2, this series want to be big, daring, and bold. And it's so 90s that it hurts.

The turtles layer is invaded by a bunch of cybernetic mercenaries on steroids who all look like knockoffs of Cable from the X-Force, and a ninja who is basically Psyloch without the mutant powers. The whole book exudes this over the top 90s aesthetic. Everyone is hyper muscular, the women lithe and scantily clad, and the dialogue is 200% testosterone. And sometimes this works really well.

However the opening gives hints to the problems. I won't spoil the specifics, but they do some hefty physical and mental damage to the Turtles quite quickly, and seem to be in a rush to show that they are willing to shake things up. The problem with this is that you don't get any time to settle in with the characters before shit happens to them. Game of Thrones was smart enough to wait most of a season before it's first surprise killing. This helped give the tragedy some meaning and heightened the emotions, and I really wish that this series had shown a little of that restraint. Because when this book works, it's a really engaging story, however it tends to get lost in itself at times and can become a bit tedious.

This is most notable when the Turtles travel to meet up with Savage Dragon (from the Image comics Savage Dragon. This is a series I know nothing about, and the Turtles just hang out like they're all old friends. It feels like a radical departure from the more interesting story (which has to pause so they can have their adventure) and you just bounce around a lot. I can't say if I like how it all turns out because that happens in the next volume, but I did end up enjoying it enough to want to finish the ride.

All in all this is really only for big fan of the Ninja Turtles. It's the first time this series has ever been reprinted, so it's a very cool project from a historical perspective. And while it may not be the greatest thing the Turtles have been in, if you're a fan it's an interesting look into what the series could have been if it hadn't been cancelled (and yes, the next volume has a proper ending).

[Daniel Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big TMNT fan. This is a wild chapter in their history. There's a lot of controversy and general conversation about this run of TMNT because of some of the liberties and left turns taken with the characters. Given the history of the Turtles, it's not all that out of character for TMNT comics - the original series is full of oddball crossovers and weird story decisions anytime the core team wasn't working on the title.
This full color update to the original b/w series is pretty solid. I'm re-reading the series side by side with the b/w for this read through and there's some panels that are really enhanced in the full color, and some that feel better in the original format. Not much of the content has changed - I've caught 2 or 3 errors from the og print that were fixed in the remaster (like correcting who's speaking in a panel, or making something plural that was overlooked in editing), and some atmospheric art additions are sprinkled in (like adding haze to a night scene).
I think this series overall had a weakness in that it became a vehicle for other Carlson work, like Knight Watchman and Vanguard. Right when this collection gets going, they deviate into these crossovers that kinda drop the series momentum for me.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a fairly rabid TMNT fan, it actually takes quite a lot for me to genuinely dislike a bit of TMNT content; as long as the brothers personalities are on point I'm pretty easily pleased. Unfortunately, this run of super extreme comics fails spectacularly in getting any of the boys right, which just makes it largely a disaster from start to finish, rather ruining any of the potentially interesting aspects from the get go. I absolutely cannot accept a version of the Turtles whose response to Raph getting half his face melted off is "you ain't gonna be winning any beauty pageants, mate".

[Audie Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gory, brave, with real consequences. This story changes the turtles forever and not only in emotional way. Characters die, characters are dismembered, and characters are completely traumatized.

Having an author with full control of the characters they write is refreshing. It is interesting, and impressive that the author doesn’t ruin characters in the process.

[Laura Eppinger]

Ahhh the era when all four Turtles wore red bandannas and were hard to tell apart! It's WILD to have Leonardo say things like "You've shot your last wad!" to bad guys. Lots of gore and hardcore sexism. NOT a G-rated kids book!

[Brent Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ‘90’s Ninja Turtles comic series is BONKERS. Just finished the first half and can’t wait to see how much further they take this series.

I’ve heard this run gets a lot of hate but I really enjoyed it, this series just really goes for it.

[Kenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my Turtles

I wanted to give this a fair shake but it was just too weird for me.
I wasn’t impressed with the angle or direction of the story.

[Dean Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different than other Turtles comics but enjoying it 😀