I've always been a big fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles both for its indisputable achievement as the most successful independent American comic book ever and as a thoughtful and cohesive saga that is far more poignant and emotional than anyone familiar with the more popular incarnations of the characters would think.
It's this narrative strength and the collaborative kismet of Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and the artists of Mirage Studios from issue #1 through the "Return To New York" that make TMNT a franchise with incredible endurance and malleability to this very day (so sad to see the Nickelodeon show end recently)...
I've been experiencing a renaissance (pardon the pun) of interest in the Turtles as of late thanks to the wonderful "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minute" podcast which just finished up its chronicling the 1990 film one minute at a time. Great job to Scott, Rachel, Adam, & Chris.
As a capper to the podcast and as an exercise in putting my own spin one of my favorite moments here's Leo Vs Shredder as well as some of my favorite spoiler-free choice moments from the finale of "Return to New York" (TMNT #21).
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James Robinson, Tony Harris, & Peter Snejbjerg's "Starman" is probably my favorite mainline DC title of the 1990s. The triumphant story of a Gen X'er reluctantly thrust into the family business of being a superhero and an exploration of legacy as it pertains to DC Comics' rich fictional history and comic book publishing history from the Golden Age up to its contemporary time, this generational epic gripped me as I tracked down each issue and dusty collected edition.
I grew close to Jack, Ted, Mikaal, The Shade, The O'Dares, heck, even Will Payton over the course of reading the series. I love how Robinson was able to weave the Starman Mythos and all of its disparate characters into a cohesive long form narrative with a beginning, middle, and end starting from the turn of the century until the 1990s . And I'll be the contrarian who prefers the somber and soulful visuals of Snejbjerg's 2nd half to Harris' more bombastic and design-heavy opening stretch, somebody has to be...
DC forced my hand to make my own collected editions with their decision to cancel the TPB Starman omniboos with Vol 2 (pictured below). This gem remains OOP to this day.
I've always been interested in Geoff John's run on JSA but the combination of DC's collected editions being the mess they were in the early to mid 2000s and the daunting vastness of JSA content accumulated by the time my interest was piqued always scared me away. Luckily, the giant JSA omniboos have run their course and it's on to the chunky TPBs...
Had only someone told me that this is where to end with Starman: Jack Knight and begin with Stargirl: Courtney Whitmore I'd have read this years ago. This is really uplifting stuff and I'm excited for Book 2 and beyond...
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