Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 3

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection

by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Eric Talbot (Illustrator)

A thorough look back at the TMNT's comic book origins with their first stories plus insightful annotations from co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

Rediscover the underground roots of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , with this special collection of Mirage Studios' issues #12, 14, 15, 17, and 19-21 including the stories "Survivalists," "The Unmentionables," "Dome Doom," and the multi-part "Return to New York." With over 280 pages of mutated-martial arts action along with annotations following each issue, this volume is perfect for fans to relive the glorious days of the Turtles' origins as well as an excellent place for new readers to see where the TMNT phenomenon began.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes

292 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 2012

About the author

Kevin B. Eastman is an American comic book artist, co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Reviews

[A.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third of these Ultimate Collections definitely has the highest highs and the lowest lows of this series so far. Eastman & Laird weren’t working together on issues at this point in the series’ run, instead opting to alternate issues between the two, as well as give guest issues to their friends when they started getting busier, hence why this collection seems to skip issues. Not a big deal though, as most of these guest issues aren’t considered canon anymore, so they aren’t necessary to enjoying this, so don’t worry about those unless you are a completionist, and if you are, they can be found in the “Classics” run that IDW published recently.

Back to this volumes contents though, Laird takes the first issue, Eastman takes the next one, and that repeats until Issue 18, where the duo thankfully reunite for the critically acclaimed “Return to New York” story. It deserves all the acclaim, because it is honestly so strong it’s worth getting this volume justf or it. “Return to New York” is the first “real” arc for TMNT, and it’s the best work of eithers career at this point. The action scenes and layouts are incredible, and the conclusion is one of my favorite TMNT showdowns ever. Eastman & Laird’s annotations for it are also my favorite for this Ultimate Collection series so far, with Laird being given the most room to talk this time around. Some of his annotations are pretty fun too, epescially for Eastman’s solo efforts, since he gives some brutally honest takes on them.

The aforementioned solo issues that Eastman & Laird attempt are honestly pretty lame, with Eastman doing more grounded, street level stories, while Laird does more fantastical ones. There’s nothing inherintely bad about them, but they lose most of the charm the first 11 issues had, and they aren’t nearly as strong as the “Return to New York” story, so they really just standout as the weak links.

This collection is still well worth any Ninja Turtles fans time though, even if Eastman and Laird’s solo efforts aren’t exactly the best this series has to offer. “Return to New York” is a genuinely awesome story that has my hopes up for the upcoming “City at War”. Excited to see how the rest of this will play out.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these oversized collections that really blow up the art. At this point Eastman and Laird were no longer working together, alternating issues. Some are really good. Some are goofy. The Turtles are still in Northampton where Mirage Studios was located. The star of the book is the 3 part Return to New York story. Eastman and Laird collaborated together for this arc and wouldn't do it again for another 30 issues. The fight choreography is amazing. It's obviously influenced by Frank Miller. I love how it goes on for pages and pages as the boys infiltrate the Foot Clan and go after Shredder. It's well worth checking out.

[Doh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's true the "Return to New York" story is really the saving grace in this collection.

The stories before have pretty good art but they feel pretty pointless. Other than to have a feel of rehabilitation in Northampton before...... Returning to New York.

The pacing of Return to New York is fast and action packed. It made me wonder if the car escape scene at the end of Metal Gear Solid took any influence from this scene.

Not sure if I'll bother with the following volumes as this era seemed to be the beginning of the end for Eastman and Laird's creative team up.

[Black Tea Lady ☕️📚 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome and a must have classic for all TMNT fans everywhere. Thumbs up!

[Nico · Rating 4 out of 5]

in this volume, we get to see the result of eastman and laird's sort of "falling out", as the first 4 issues (out of the 7) are no longer co-written by the both of them, but rather each issue is alternated. one issue is laird, one issue is eastman, like divorced parents getting custody of their kids every other week.
and it really makes you realize that the true greatness of tmnt... really is just greater than the sum of it's parts
which isnt to say the "divorce" issues are bad... well, i'll get to them, but rather, as a team, their issues on tmnt end up enhancing their strengths, cancelling out their weaknesses (mostly) and letting their influences shine into creating something wholly unique, that's the magic of the first 11 issues of tmnt (plus the micro series's)
individually, well let me go over each issue

the first issue in this collection is one by peter laird. the it starts out with the turtles on a picnic, acting somewhat out of character for them. they feel closer to their cartoon counterparts, and it all just feels so off, and then suddenly a very poorly drawn man runs out of the bushes and falls on their picnic, panicking and screaming. naturally, the turtles are jerks to him for daring to disturb their picnic. he reveals that he's a grad student that was kidnapped by right wing nutjobs and forced to make a nuclear bomb (because grad students can just make nukes in a shack in the woods) so they can like end the cold war or something, the grad student gets sniped (but lives), turtles get hunted and decide to hunt back. casey and april take the grad student to a hospital, but really thats just an excuse to get them out of the story so it can become TMNT's predator, complete with the hunter becoming the hunted and blowing himself up in the end. so, weak plot, weak art, characters feel ooc, the comic must suck right? well, not exactly. once it becomes predator, it's rather fun. not the best tmnt book, certainly weaker than the last 3 issues of the previous volume, but we get to see the turtles use their ninja skills in rather unique ways to hunt down these rednecks. theres a cool moment where leo and raph are hiding in plain sight as stepping stones in the water, and get to ambush the nuts that step on them. mikey had some cool moments, first ambushing a guy in a very spider-man-like way, who then pulls nunchucks on mikey, that was a funny moment. and one thing i'll give laird is, he knows how to end on the right note. often in these classic mirage books by eastman and laird, there will be one page epilogues at the end of each book, and they'll often end on bittersweet, somber, melancholic, but also uplifting notes. it's a good thing to end on. the epilogue of this issue ultimately has don be understanding of the man, wishing there was a better way, even if he could never agree with his beliefs. after all, who doesn't want to survive?
it was a weak issue for early tmnt standards, but overall it had its moments.

now then this is the first collection in the series to skip books, as these trades only collect the eastman and laird issues, skipping any guest issues. frankly it doesn't seem like we're missing much
but in the next (collected) issue, i think this might be the best of the solo titles. this one is done by eastman after he just watched the untouchables. it's a fun noir styled story starring my personal favorite character of the title, casey jones, as he patrols the streets with his inner monologue, sporting a trench coat, a fedora, a turtleneck and of course his hockey mask. he's walking down his old neighborhood and sees that a bronze cow at the top of a store had gone missing, his hat even flies off as he yells "ITS GONE!", i love that. one thing about eastman is that he seems to have a much better grasp on tone and humor than laird. so, the plot of this issue is the search for the great cow, and what a misadventure it ends up being. april, who's working at a diner at this point, overhears about the cow at her job, she and casey end up trailing the perps to a hotel. april ends up getting kidnapped (can you tell this came out after the cartoon?) leaving the turtles to ditch casey and chase them. casey keeps following his own lead and having to call a taxi. meanwhile the turtles get some action scenes with the kidnappers, and lure the crooks that want to buy the cow over to them. meanwhile casey ends up following the wrong lead and instead finds a farmers prized cow and runs back to the taxi, as the driver threatens him. it's genuinely funny. the turtles try to do a sting operation on the buyers, but the kidnappers end up driving out of there, leading to a nice but short car chase where everyone's after the cow, casey even manages to catch up to them in the taxi, and ends up leaping on the the truck holding the cow, yelling cowabunga, and then freaking out the driver by climbing to the car window, causing the car to crash, and casey is standing alone in the snow about how theyre all under arrest. and then the real cops come in to arrest everyone because one of the buyers goons was an undercover cop and casey, april and the rest nearly screwed everything up for them. the story is goofy, but action packed, humorous and fun, and often cool, with much better art than last issue. this is the kind of filler issue i love.

this next issue however, might be the weakest so far. it's a laird issue. raph, mikey and casey are all just at a comic book store when it gets attacked by robots belonging to some villain named dr dome. turns out the owner of the shop was a former superhero stainless steve, because of his... metal spot on his head. so he calls the justice force, a bunch of retired heroes that feel like the kind of parody characters that would die gruesomely 2 pages into a garth ennis comic, but here we just have to deal with them for 40 pages. and the art isn't doing them any favors either, they all look hideous. the heroes. they fight some robots, then the daughter of one of the deceased heroes pops up to save the day by telling the bad guy that her mother, the woman dr dome loved died years ago, so he decides to stop being evil, the end. i'm gonna be honest, this issue was painful, i cringed nearly every page. the only highlight was that last page epilogue with laird doing the one thing he excels at. giving a final note. in this case, it's one of the turtles, either mikey or raph saying "time heals all wounds..." and then a zoom out of the house, followed by "right...?"

again an issue is skipped, but i dont think we're missing much. i skimmed issue 16 online, i wouldn't want to read it.
the real next issue is one by kevin eastman and eric talbot, and boy, this one much more leans into the "ninja" aspect of teenage mutant ninja turtles. or, perhaps samurai would be more accurate. this one stars mikey in a much more serious role, in japan in the search for his brothers. specifically feudal japan. each issue of tmnt has some specific influence for the story, and in this case it's samurai manga such as lone wolf and cub, and thats even reflected in the art. mikey meets some wandering family in the woods, when horses approach. the woman gets kidnapped so she can be married, mikey has to go save the day and fight samurai, and even a monster. simple story, but well executed. in the end, does mikey find his family? well no, it turns out he was making a comic, and thats what we were just reading. bit of a copout ending, but not a terrible one. it would be nice to get something of a followup.

thankfully, next issue is another eastman book where they go to japan, and it's a sort of bruce lee memorial issue too, i actually had this issue growing up so it-
oh, it's not collected. why? it was co-written by eastman! oh well, maybe it'll be included in volume 7, i know volume 6 was a bunch of short stories they did that they couldnt organically fit in the first 5 volumes.
anyway, the next issue is the one where eastman and laird finally begin working as one again, after so long, it's finally time to follow up on what happened last volume, in the 3 part story arc, return to new york. and this is where we see that eastman and laird truly are greater than the sum of their parts. the simple yet effective storytelling, the intense paneling, the raw emotion of it all, and the gorgeous art. this comic just FEELS cinematic! theres this certain energy to it all, the characters, the layouts, the pacing that i can't begin to describe. these 3 issues, they largely feel like an end to mirage TMNT, as everything has just all been building up to this
i dont even want to describe it, it's just a fun ride from start to finish and while not my favorite 3 issues of tmnt, it saves this volume greatly and i highly recommend it

[Steven "Steve" · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the fact that the two creators were no longer working together during these issues, their alternating-issue approach resulted in some of their best work to date in the original series. In addition, the art style varied between different pencillers and inkers but that seems to add to the atmosphere more than anything else making this a gorgeous and ever-changing book. The choreography of the different fight sequences was absolutely spot on during these issues, and the return of a character from a previous issue has a glorious and satisfying finale. Turtles at their best here.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

We run out of First Graphic Novels at this point, so I switched over to IDW’s Ultimate Collection, which collect the Color Classics reissues of the original Mirage Comics just like the First Graphic Novels used to. It’s actually pretty appropriate that this is where I ended up switching over, because the last issue of Book IV (#11) was the last issue that Eastman and Laird exclusively did all of the art and writing on together. I’ll talk about this a bit more when we get to the next volume, but Eastman and Laird were starting to get too busy managing the larger phenomenon that Ninja Turtles had become to be as involved in the day-to-day production of the comic as they were up until that point.

The first bunch of issues collected here were all written by either Eastman or Laird, but never both.[1] And the quality of these issues was, in this reviewer’s opinion at least… uneven? Not that a shared Eastman and Laird writing credit was without fail always a guarantee of quality, mind you,[2] but it seemed to work out more often than not.

The last three issues in this volume, the “Return to New York” arc were the only in this volume that were written by both Eastman and Laird, and neither had an art credit on any of the three. This arc was noticeably better than the rest of the collection. Though I do have two fairly major complaints about even this arc.

Even though I knew it was coming, I was pretty disappointed with the whole weird worm clone explanation for Shredder's return. Like, he can just be back, guys! Also, the Leo/Raph conflict at the beginning of this arc… I gotta say, I think this has been handled better by nearly every screen adaptation.[3] And the resolution was just kind of… they completely ignored it when Leo, Donnie, and Mikey arrived in New York and kept going like it never happened? Just really not great character writing here, in my opinion. Still, this three-issue arc is easily the best part of this collection. The fights were great, and the Turtles' (especially Leonardo's) grim determination to defeat the returned Shredder was great.

Also I’m finally starting to see why everyone always says the comics are so much darker and more adult. The previous volume was trending that way, though given that parts of it were directly adapted by the first feature film it’s hard to say it was that much of a departure, but from here on out things do get a bit grittier for sure.

NOTES
1. Many of these issues were drawn by whichever of the two wrote them, but a few of them were drawn with credited help due to Eastman and Laird’s increasingly unmanageable schedules. There were even a few issues that weren’t written by either one of them, which this volume has skipped and I believe are largely considered not canon.
2. Just refer back to my review of Book III of the First Graphic Novels for an example.
3. Except for The Next Mutation. I mean, yikes.

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Check out my compilation review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on my blog, 24,000 Miles to the Moon! https://24000milestothemoon.com/2022/...

[Paolo Musto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il volume inizia con una coppia di storie un po' scarse. Viene impreziosito dalla presenza del numero 17 e dalla bellissima saga di "Ritorno a New York". Si conclude con il grande ritorno di Shredder, la fine di una importante epoca per le TMNT in bianco e nero.

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mejor que La Regenta.

[Lucian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some incredible art in this volume.

[Evan Schuster · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first two volumes are the same issues I read when my big brother bought them. Not much to say about those, except that the notes at the end from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird provide some neat insights into the stories they wanted to tell.

In this collection, we branch out into the comics they wrote when the media juggernaut the turtles were going to become was taking off. The pressure of managing the new merchandising empire would cause friction between the two creators, and force them to adapt. The first eleven issues were drawn and written by them together. As time went on, they started bringing in other artists to work for them, and working on entire issues separately. The results are interesting.

The first issue centers on a right wing militia group that has kidnapped a college student and forced him to build an atomic bomb. They hope to escalate the Cold War. The student barely escapes from the group, only to get shot when he stumbles into the turtles. Our four heroes take it upon themselves to stop the militia before the bomb goes off.

This issue was done by Laird, and shows that he's not afraid to get more contemplative with the story. Donatello is able to prevent a nuclear catastrophe, but only by removing the plutonium core. The leader of the group still blows himself up. Don can't help but feel a little angsty about how it ends, claiming that however insane the man was, his worries about survival were understandable. It might seem strange now, and modern readers might disagree, but this series was still being written at a time when nuclear war between the US and Russia was a very real possibility, and it's not hard to see where Don is coming from.

Next up is The Unmentionables. Kevin Eastman liked paying homage to other stories that inspired him, and this one is The Untouchables, but with the Ninja Turtles thrown into the mix. A cow statue is stolen from a local diner, and Casey Jones takes it upon himself to investigate. The turtles and April tag along. It's not a deep story, but it's fun.

Laird then introduces the turtles to a group of superheroes. A horde of robots attacks a comic book shop the turtles are visiting, and during the fight, they discover that two of the employees working at the shop are former members of a team known as the Justice Force. The attack prompts the aging heroes to summon their old allies. They're all older now, but still willing to fight whatever comes their way. The issue actually ends rather atypically for a superhero story. They offer the villain a chance to stay with them for a while and try to patch things up, and he accepts their offer. Once again, Laird shows off some deeper characterization by having Mikey repeat the Justice Force leader's parting words, "Time heals all wounds." Raph isn't so sure, but Mikey presses him on the issue. But it's never resolved.

Up next is a story about Michelangelo traveling through feudal Japan, only to be sidetracked by a feudal lord and his daughter, both of whom are being hunted down by a rival lord. The daughter, who was betrothed to the rival's son, is kidnapped, and Mikey sets out to save her. If it sounds a little weird that one of the turtles would be roaming around in a time period set long before he would even be born, that's because he isn't really. The end of the issue reveals that the whole story is a comic within a comic being written by Michelangelo himself. This artistic side of the character hasn't made it into too many other adaptations, which is a real shame. It could be interesting to see.

Finally, Eastman and Laird come together again for the big three-parter: Return to New York. The turtles have spent all of this time in North Hampton after Shredder and the Foot ambushed them in New York and forced them to retreat. After years of recovery, Raphael is getting restless. He wants to go back and take revenge. After a brief fight with Leo, he does precisely that. The others follow him, and find out that New York has changed in their absence. Shredder has built up a new criminal empire, and they have their work cut out for them if they want to take it down. All three parts are an action-packed thrill to read and it ends on a high note.

But it will have consequences down the line. That's where Volume 4 comes in...

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vol. 3 of the Ninja Turtles brings about some big changes for the turtles as well as for the guys behind the scenes.

In this volume of TMNT, the guys encounter crazed survivalists, cow thieves, and real-life superheroes. All while exploring their own writing interests and preparing for the impending encounter with the resurrected Shredder! Talk about a busy schedule!

Meanwhile, creators Eastman and Laird decide to part ways and take turns writing new issues of the comics instead of collaborating on each individual story. In many ways, this split is visible in the comics themselves. The art is very different for each author, and the subject matter of each issue definitely gives the reader a hint as to who wrote the story.

I was super excited for the Return to New York mini-series and the return of the Shredder! As I’ve said before, the Shredder has always been the ultimate TMNT bad guy to me, so I was super excited to see how the creators (who came together again for the three-issue RtNY series) would bring him back and use him in the plot! And I was definitely not disappointed.

I can barely wait to get started on Vol. 4!

[Ed Dougherty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Done with my TMNT reread and pretty sick of it. The first two volumes held up better than I expected and I really liked reading them. But this one is shit. Even return to New York, probably the story I remembered the best out of everything, was kind of a disappointment. But still waaaay better than the other issues included in this. I remember buying these when they came out, or shortly after. I remember I couldn’t even read issue 17. I still can’t! The other issues are like they had no idea what to do w the turtles and it’s only 12 issues in! But that being said one of my favorite things is the notes Eastman and Laird have at the end of each issue, and I love the story it tells, and it makes sense that post breakup these issues feel the way they do.

But so ready to get back to regular books tmw

[Rex Hurst · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume three collects issues 12, 14, 15, 17, 19-21 and also includes annotations by Kevin Eastman and Peter Liard. Silly me, I thought the "ultimate" collections would include all of the issues, but apparently it means only the ones worked on by the creators. I don't know if this is to the comic's detriment or benefit.
Before each story blended into the next and it seemed like well plotted tales, now each of the issues are throwaway bullshit tales that don't build the mythos or the world of the turtles in any respect. These stories weren't much fun and some we're quite a chore to get through. In fact issue 15, which deals with the return of some old time superheroes, has some of the worst art I've ever seen in a professional comic. I have xeroxed comics done by teenagers with better looking art.

[Ángel G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creo que es el número que más me ha gustado. Todas las historias son buenas, aunque hecho en falta más protagonismo de los secundarios.

Hay cosas super cinematográficas, con un narrativa muy buena y una composición excelente. Y luego te encuentras páginas que son incomprensibles. Confusas por oscuras y desordenadas.

Aquí vuelven a trabajar juntos Eastman y Laird en un arco argumental de tres números "Regreso a Nueva York", aunque el sistema de trabajo es distinto. Ellos componen y abocetan, mientras que tienen encargados para el dibujo y el entintado.

Páginas siempre llenas de guiños, que a menos que prestes atención, te las pierdes! Yo he tenido que revisar más de una página porque en las anotaciones contaba cosas que yo no había visto.

Un comic estupendo.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first volume to slump from the action adventure, playful zest that the first two volumes head. Of course the original authors are no longer working together on these issues and it shows. I'll stop my reading of the original run here then.

Though I am mildly interested in picking up some different eras and issues from the Turtles. There's a lot of different writers, and even the original writers come back years later, and I do think the turtles have some easy and fun chemistry that is ripe for popcorn stories.

Note: I read some of this collection in black & white, and some in color—I highly recommend reading these first collections in black and white, even when it gets confusing, because the color is quite crudely done, and I find it takes away from the overall style.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a bit of a soft spot for the issues where the Turtles are hanging out in Northhampton as a UMass grad (I was always sad a missed the Eastman-Laird days there), but I have to admit they're not great comics.. it was definitely the beginning of the commericalization of the property into the cartoon and action figure juggernaut it became.

'Back to New York' is fantastic, though... and a bit of a last hurrah really. I'm really enjoying the commentary in these, and of course having the art oversized is nice :). As long as you're not a competist and OK with them skipping the issues Kevin Eastman (I assume) doesn't care about, this is a great way to experience the original TMNT.

[Jacob A. Mirallegro · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's some legendary art throughout all of this, each issue miraculously brings a different feel to it. So much fun seeing Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman's artwork separated in standalone issues, and then again we see how they do layouts and inks different in the last 3 issues. The Return to NY trilogy was probably my favorite of this collection, really fun story and breathtaking action and detail, every two pages spread was ssoooo good. It really made me think how TMNT comics are at their best as a collaborative joint, a mixing of personal styles to make an end result that's the complete package.

[Clint the Cool Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's the Turtles

The art here is really, really good. I enjoyed just admiring it. 5 stars for the art. However, the stories are all over the map. There's no arc. It's just randomness. Some are decent. Most are not. 2 stars for the stories. This is a problem with the whole Mirage run, actually. As usual, this "ultimate" collection is missing a bunch of issues. That bothers me, but with the random nature of these stories, I doubt it matters. Still, I feel like I was missing something key in the return of Shredder story.

[Abe Something · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eastman and Laird lost the plot, huh?

Planning to keep pushing because it’s clear that these guys simply have too much going on in Turtle merchandise world to focus on the book that made them rich and famous—I trust they’ll get back to basics and keep churning out good issues soon. I hope anyways.

Too many of the stories in here are self contained and do little, if anything, to move the grand narrative of the turtles.

Also, I’m tired of Casey Jones already.

[Nathaniel Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last three issues in this collection, dubbed “Return to New York” really make this volume what it is. The issues before it are all decently fun, but you can tell that Eastman and Laird didn’t work together on the issues. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I feel like it just shows that when the duo work together they can make some great stuff. Because as of now, Return to New York is easily my favorite arc of the TMNT comics that I’ve read.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection book. The first two volumes were solid, but there were a few stories that were not very entertaining whereas in this volume each story was fantastic. I especially liked the one when the Turtles fight the survivalists. The artwork is still well done and a marvel to look at. A must read for TMNT fans or people looking to read a TMNT comic.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the seven classic volumes presented here, the first four are pleasant but slight— diversions from the main narrative, often lacking the urgency of the best TMNT stories. But then there’s the classic Return to New York three-parter, which has everything the Turtles comics do well: Action, adventure, vivid b&w art, iconic images, and relentless pacing. Worth it just for those final three.

[Gloria Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only read the Return to New York storyline (about half of this volume) so sue me for boosting my reading challenge numbers but I did it for Batman and Marvel last year. I think the storytelling and art style are a lot more ambitious and interesting than I remember the first volume being, but it still has the issues with less defined characters making the Turtles themselves less engaging.

[Cannon Qorson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heck yeah! These were great! Sure, some of the energy of the first 11 issues is gone, now that Eastman and Lairds partnership is over. But these are still great comics! The duel between Leonardo and Shredder at the end was so cool! Great art as well, especially Lawsons stuff in the Return to New York arc.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely outstanding! The issues that are solo ventures are both fun and somewhat frustrating; we see the difference in creativity between Mr Eastman and Mr Laird—but the jewel is the Return to New York arc that starts strong, crescendos for three issues, and ends full circle with sentiment, mood, payoff, and bittersweetness that things change. Remarkable collection!

[Johnathon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent collection of the original series that finds the turtles taking the fight to the Shredder and the Foot Clan. Great, gritty series that remains surprising considering how cartoony the franchise became in the mainstream, it remains a standout of independent comics. Great read all around.

[Ben Brackett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The one shots in this except for the one neither of them wrote are pretty terrible, but the art for the Return to New York arc is beyond incredible. The commentary also is interesting, Laird comes off as a huge prick.

[Jose Carmona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tercer tomo recopilatorio de las aventuras originales de las tortugas. Con algo más de baile en el apartado gráfico y alguna historia lenta, pero sigue siendo muy recomendable para aficionados y nostálgicos

[Gabriel Llagostera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un tomo raro. Tiene historias que parecen salir de la nada (tal vez esté afectado por la falta de números del tomo) y el cambio de dibujantes no siempre funciona. Lo mejor es el regreso a Nueva York y la batalla a muerte contra Shredder.