Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: A Quarter Century Celebration [Paperback]

Kevin Eastman (Illustrator), Peter Laird (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Heavy Metal Magazine (June 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193535115X
• ISBN-13: 978-1935351153
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,066,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1 of 2 Must Haves For TMNT Fans, July 29, 2009

By 

Brookslyn (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: A Quarter Century Celebration (Paperback)

This is the softcover version of the limited edition hardcover (numbered to 500) available at the Heavy Metal Booth during the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. It is 1 of 2 must haves for TMNT fans celebrating 25 years of TMNT. This book is a compilation of Kevin Eastman's short list of favorite TMNT stories (given more time he would have found more favorites!). The book is published under Kevin's publishing company Heavy Metal (with permission from Mirage) and is in a format I believe is larger than the original material (a bonus!). In addition to a short introduction by Kevin, the artwork for some stories has been cleaned up and even colored. The contents are as follows:

Me Myself and I [In Color!!!!] Eastman/Laird with colors by Justin Norman

Complete Carnage and Radical [B&W] Eastman/Lawson

You Had To Be There [Color] Eastman/Corben

Fun With Guns [Color!!!!] Eastman with colors by Blond

Shell of the Dragon [B&W] Bode/Eastman/Talbot

49th Street Stompers [Color] Eastman

The Unmentionables [Duo Tone, yes!] Eastman/Talbot

Turtles Take Time [Color] Strand/Corben

The other book, TMNT Collected Volume 1, which is not available via Amazon.com as of this writing, is a collection of the first 11 issues of TMNT + the 4 individual turtle micro-series comics. It is being published under Mirage (affiliated with the other TMNT Co-Creator Peter Laird), in a standard comic book size soft cover, clocking in at over 600 pages in black and white.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good-Looking Book with Pretty Good Stuff Inside, Too, January 1, 2010

By 

Christopher D. Applegate (MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: A Quarter Century Celebration (Paperback)

This is 180 pages of Kevin Eastman's favorite Turtles stories--at least, the favorites he was able to fit within 180 pages. The book is oversized, even bigger than the First Publishing volumes; the paper is glossy and white; and some of the stories have been colored. The cover may look familiar--the artwork on the front is identical to that on First Publishing's Book IV, and I think the back is one of the covers used on the first film adaptation (complete with colored masks). The back cover also has a quote from TMNT Volume I #1, which is not included in this issue. I guess it was Eastman's favorite two-line quote. The book does not include the covers of the original issues.

Enough about the covers, what's between them? Eastman has selected a lot of Raph and Casey, and a lot of humor. Several of the stories included have been reprinted in earlier collections. (But note that Complete Carnage and Radical is *not* the Complete Carnage 'n' Radical collected in Tales.) There's a bit of fantasy, too. The only real misstep is the inclusion of The Shell of the Dragon. It seems to take up at least a quarter of the book, it's already reprinted in a fairly common trade paperback, and it is probably the worst TMNT story I have ever read.

I'm probably spoiled by the wealth of Archives, Omnibuses, and Absolute Editions coming out of DC, but I would have liked to see more "bonus material." We get a one page introduction by Eastman, and that's it. Where is the commentary? Where are the sketches? The cover art? Cheesy author photo? Maybe some of that made it into the Artobiography, maybe not. It just doesn't feel like a "Celebration" to me. Celebrations are communal activities, and there should be more dialogue between the writer/artist and the reader. On the other hand, Eastman did fill practically every page available with a Turtle stories, and that's probably the best choice he could've made.

Minor gripes aside, it's nice to see what Eastman liked of the Turtles, especially after several years of Peter Laird being the sole creative stakeholder in the property. There are no aliens, vendettas, or pinteresque, angsty silences here--just fun and a whole lotta fightin'. Three and a half stars, rounded up to four otherwise Casey would hurt me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage indie comics, August 28, 2009

By 

Chongo (planet earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: A Quarter Century Celebration (Paperback)

In conjunction w/ their 25th anniversary, Heavy Metal Magazine & co creator Kevin Eastman w/ permission from Mirage Studios comes this nifty compilation of classic TMNT tales. What really makes this collection great is the oversize format which enlarges the material from the original single comic issues. Some of the panel's & art have been cleaned up or colored which is another bonus for fans. Mirage Studios' TMNT comics arguably jump started the whole black & white indie comic boom of the 1980's & the stories were exciting & a fresh new alternative to some of the bigger more mainsteam comic titles at the time. Because the turtles were never really super heroes in the traditional sense, it was cleverly innovative & daring.