Volume 3: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (1996) #1-23, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends” #24-26, “Bodycount” #1-4, “Savage Dragon” (Ongoing) #2, 22, “The Savage Dragon/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” #1, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/The Savage Dragon” #1, “CreeD/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” #1
Age rating: T+ for older teens to A for Adult. Seriously. These comics are gnarly visually, tonally, and thematically. Don’t start here unless you really like gritted teeth, excessive violence, and huge muscles and only care about robot arms replacing ripped off real arms.
Start here if: you HATE stories that lack MUSCLES and TEETH and GUNS and SICK ROBOTS and GOOOORRREEEEEE. EXTREEEEMMMMMEEEEEEE.
Who would’ve thought trying to figure out the Image era would be so frustrating? I, in my hubris, thought it was as simple as volume 2. I was so wrong. Now it’s not nearly as bad as “TMNT” (Vol. 1,) not by a long shot, but it’s a far cry from the “go from 1 to the end” that I initially thought it was. Part of the reason for this is that the “Image era” is really a loose collection of crossovers and the remnants of ventures Mirage had begun before the property was officially licensed out to Image.
Take for example “Bodycount.” The first, and only, story for 18+ readers, it was first published as “Casey Jones and Raphael” in 1994, during the time of Volume 2. However, it only got the one issue. Once Image had the license to the franchise, they resurrected the title, expanded the page count of the issues from 20 to 26 to accommodate the originally planned 5-issue length in 4, and renamed it “Bodycount.” This is one of the few series in this whole bunch that was originally published in color too!
Then you’ve got the “Savage Dragon” crossovers. Instead of happening in one issue of “Savage Dragon” and one in “TMNT” (vol. 2 or 3) or entirely in the pages of specials/a mini-series, these two, two-issue “crossovers” occur in one issue of “Savage Dragon,” published by Image, and then one special one-shot published by Mirage each. This infuriates me to no end. Why? Not only is the naming a pain in the neck – anytime they do the flipping of the titles to differentiate I lose my mind – but it also means that the Mirage issues have never been collected.
That’s right. Not in the pages of a “TMNT” trade nor in the pages of a “Savage Dragon” trade have they been reprinted, meaning half the story is easily accessible and the other half isn’t.
As for the main series, the one you’re actually here about, it was a continuation of the story from Volume 2 although this series goes to some dark, nasty places and has been subsequently written off from TMNT canon. Seriously, the whole endeavor was essentially disowned. You all know how I feel about the canon for these reading orders so that doesn’t phase me.
23 issues came out over the course of three years, clearly hitting delays along the way, and thanks to slipping sales, it was canceled much like its predecessor, though in this case before it had a chance to actually wrap up. So bad was this flop that they weren’t even collected, either by Image OR Mirage, though by that point it seemed like Mirage had stopped producing trades for the new issues altogether.
That would be the end of the story BUT in 2018, IDW announced that they were re-releasing the original series, now in color, under the name “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends” and that they would be officially completing the series with the original team, bringing the total issue count to 26 when it was all said and done.
While I personally do not like Volume 3/Urban Legends, it’s a bit of a hot mess, I’m happy it got to see its conclusion. Whether the original run could have gone on much longer or if 26 was approximately the end in mind is irrelevant. But what about the lists, you say?
Much like with Volume 2, I’m keeping it simple, though I am going to do 2 lists: Trades Only and RADICAL Completionist. The farther into the 90s and 2000s we get, the fewer split formats and doubled-up collections there are. The same amount of “some are collected, some are not” remains. Since things are more straightforward and I basically went through it all just above, there will be few, if any, notes.
Continued belowI’ve also opted to refer to the series by its current name rather than “TMNT” (Vol. 3) mostly because that original version has never been collected, only the colored re-release/completion. While technically two different series, seeing as how they actually had 26 individual issues of “Urban Legends,” for my purposes they are functionally the same.
Trades Only
“Savage Dragon,” Vol. 2: A Force To Be Reckoned With OR “Savage Dragon” The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 OR “Savage Dragon Archives” Vol. 1 – “Savage Dragon” (Ongoing) #2 & “Savage Dragon” (Ongoing) #1, 3-6
“Savage Dragon,” Vol. 6: Gang War OR “Savage Dragon Archives” Vol. 2 – “Savage Dragon” (Ongoing) #22 & “Savage Dragon” (Ongoing) #23-26
(Since it has no bearing on the rest of the reading order, I’m only listing the other issues for the original trades. Also it’s in the original color instead of the archives’ B&W reprints. The Ultimate Collections, which are very recent, are once again in color, though they’ve been retouched/remastered since apparently many of the original color files for those early issues were lost or corrupted.)
”Bodycount” – “Bodycount” #1-4
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends,” Vol. 1 – “Urban Legends” #1-13
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends,” Vol. 2 – “Urban Legends” #14-26
RADICAL Completionist
“Savage Dragon” (Ongoing) #2 – “Savage Dragon” Vol. 2: A Force to Be Reckoned With OR “Savage Dragon: The Ultimate Collection” Vol. 1 OR “Savage Dragon Archives” Vol. 1
“The Savage Dragon/TMNT” #1 – Single issue only
“TMNT/The Savage Dragon” #1 – Single issue only
“Savage Dragon” (Ongoing) #22 – “Savage Dragon” Vol. 6: Gang War OR “Savage Dragon: The Ultimate Collection” Vol. 3 OR “Savage Dragon Archives” Vol. 2
(Eagle eyed readers may notice I doubled up on “Savage Dragon” here and in the “TMNT” (Vol. 2) list. That’s because the events of the first crossover are actually referenced in issue #3 of Volume 2! The second crossover is firmly in the transitional period between the companies, however, and it felt weird to have it on one list but not the other. With it on both, anyone who just wants the Image era can read that stuff and those who only want the relevant issues to Volume 2 can as well.
One other note. I’m guessing on “Savage Dragon” (Ongoing) #22 being in the “Ultimate Collection” Vol. 3. I’ve yet to see a solicitation but the original announcement makes it clear that these will collect every main-line issue and Vol. 2 ended with #21. It’s not so much of a stretch to think it will be there.)
“Bodycount” #1-4 – “Bodycount”
(I’ve opted to have all of “Bodycount” together instead of having the final issue sandwiched between “TMNT” (Vol. 3) #1 and #2 as it originally came out. It’s cleaner that way and is a function of scheduling rather than narrative intent. If you really want to bop around, you can.)
“CreeD/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” #1 – Single issue only
(CreeD’s another, another indie character from the era that got a strange crossover, this time published by Lightning Comics. It’s also never been collected, apparently not even in the giant “Creed Omnichronos” book IDW put out in 2011. This is one I have not verified so if someone owns a copy of “Omnichronos” and it IS in there, let me know and I’ll amend this. There’s a digital version that supposedly has this issue in it but I’d rather not spend any more air, or any money, on a property that recently got a revival courtesy of EVS and Comicsgate.)
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends” #1-8- “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends,” Vol. 1
‘My Name is — Galahad’ – Single issues only – “Big Bang Comics” #10
(Gary Carlson, writer of “TMNT” (Vol. 3,) did a short crossover with another character he created for his “Big Bang Comics” venture. Apparently it ties into the events of issue #9 in some way. That’s literally all I know about this story and it’s never been collected.)
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends” #9-13 – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends,” Vol. 1
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends” #14-23 – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends,” Vol. 2
Continued below
‘Rest in Pieces’ – Single issue only – “TMNT 30th Anniversary Special”
(I need to double check that this story did not actually make it into the trades but don’t have easy access to them at the moment. It’s possible it got integrated into one of the single issues of “Urban Legends” and that’s why it’s not credited in the copyright page. The story was published in 2014 and we didn’t get the first issue of the re-release until 2018. Hence its position in between the new issues and the old.)
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends” #24-26 – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends,” Vol. 2
Next time, the turtles go back to their roots, ignore the recent past, and have a very, very strange go of it.
