Volume 4: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2001) #1-32, “Tales of the TMNT” (2004) #1-70, “Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight” #1-4, “Raphael: Bad Moon Rising” #1-4, “Michelangelo: The Third Kind” #1-4, “Donatello: The Brain Thief” #1-4
Age rating: T for teens. Basically, if you were good to read the first volume of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” you’re probably good to read these. Probably. I can really only vouch for some of the “Tales” series first hand.
Start here if: you’re looking to see a more mature (i.e. older) set of turtles than the originals from co-creator Laird and long, long time Turtles creators Lawson & Talbot. Again, it feels weird to start here but it’s more of a clean break than Volume 2.
By all accounts, this is the run that most modern Turtles readers will end up skipping outright, not because it’s bad but because it is the least available. Mirage was already spotty on its trade publishing for its flagship series by this point and despite publishing throughout the early 2000s, the issues are probably harder to come by owing to a reduced publishing run. Now, that last part is speculation on my part but seeing as how sales had been flagging for the last two volumes and only the first couple issues of volume 4 had a second printing, these aren’t exactly common issues, especially not #29-32.
Volume 4 also has the unfortunate honor of sitting in this weird space with regards to the Viacom buy-out deal. The gist is, Mirage/Laird was allowed to keep publishing Turtles comics in the Volume 4 continuity, and he did so. This meant that, presumably, IDW does not have reprint rights for the Volume 4 issues. However, who has the reprint rights for any collections, at least as of 2017, is entirely unknown.
This is my best guess from crawling through 5 years of Laird’s Blogger comments – a blog which I am endlessly thankful for, seeing as how easy it is to lose this information on social media pages. I could be totally off base with that but it would explain why we’ve yet to get anything in the way of a re-release like “Urban Legends.”
Whatever the case, Volume 4 picks up after Volume 2 and ignores the entire Image era so if you decided that it was too grim and gritty for you, this is the place to keep going. As I said above, it ran for 32 issues but the final 4 were sporadic, with 3 coming out after the sale to Viacom. In Laird’s own words, his heart just wasn’t in it anymore so it’s technically an incomplete story.
As for the major series of this era, you may have seen it briefly pop up in the Volume 1 list or in a full-on chronological reading order. “Tales from the TMNT” is the second volume of this series, once again telling short stories from across the turtles universe. It, unlike its predecessor, IS officially titled with the abbreviation “Tales from the TMNT” however. I’lll still be calling it “Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) for ease of differentiation. Also unlike the original, these tales are not as intimately tied to the main volume. In fact, they bop around all over the place in adventures set before “TMNT” (Vol. 1) #1, well after the final issues of Volume 4, and with unrelated characters like the Fuigtoid or Dr. Obligado of Planet Utrom.
This presents a bit of a conundrum for these lists. Do I interlink them like I did the first series? Do I bunch them up and keep them simple and separate? Or do I try my best to slot things in where they fit most narratively? In the end, I decided to do a bit of a hybrid approach. I’ll explain more at the top of the related list.
OK! On with the reading orders. I’ve got two again, though the first is wildly incomplete: Trades Only and Mirage Completionist.
Trades Only
This list is about as bare bones as you can get. There’s only a smattering of “Tales” (Vol. 2) issues and one of the minis. Because of this, and because there’s not as much overlap as you’d think, I will be including both the IDW trades and the Mirage trades that exist for when there is no IDW trade. The former are all in black & white as far as I can tell and the latter are in color. Maybe we’ll get a “Tales” (Vol. 2) compendium one day to make this whole thing moot. I also won’t be listing the uncollected issues because, again, the vast majority are in single issue only.
Continued below“Tales of the TMNT Omnibus,” Vol. 1 OR “Tales of the TMNT,” Vol. 3 & 4: “Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #1-8 & Omnibus also includes “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (Vol. 1) #1-7
“Tales of the TMNT,” Vol. 5: “Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #9-12
“Tales of the TMNT,” Vol. 6: “Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #13-16
“Tales of the TMNT,” Vol. 7:“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #17-20
“Tales of the TMNT,” Vol. 8:“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #22-25
“Tales of the TMNT: The Collected Books,” Vol. 2 (Mirage): “Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight” #1-4 & “Tales” (Vol. 2) #5
“Tales of the TMNT: The Collected Books,” Vol. 1 (Mirage): “Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #26 & “Tales” (Vol. 2) #1, 10, 16, 18
“Tales of the TMNT: The Collected Books,” Vol. 3 (Mirage): “Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #27 & “Tales” (Vol. 2) #6, 20, 24
“Tales of the TMNT: The Collected Books,” Vol. 4 (Mirage): “Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #33 & “Tales” (Vol. 2) #4, 13-14
Mirage Completionist
As I said earlier, “Tales” (Vol. 2) has stories that occur throughout the “TMNT” timeline. A more continuity-based read would make adjustments for that. I’ve opted to keep “Tales” (Vol. 2) wholly separate from “TMNT” (Vol. 1,) obviously, and list them in approximate publication order. Trying to slot them into their narrative positions would’ve introduced way more headaches than I already had with that reading order.
Furthermore, I’m alternating “Tales” and Volume 4 issues by when they came out, as there are some volume 4 adventures scattered throughout “Tales” and that is keeping in the spirit of my other lists. You could read Volume 4 and “Tales” completely separately if you truly wanted. As for all the mini-series that came out near the end of Mirage’s tenure, I’ve lumped them together rather than intercutting them like Volume 4. They are, however, located in the order based on the publication date of the first issue of each mini and slotted between those issues of “Tales.”
Oh and heads up, you’re going to see a lot of “Single issue only.”
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #1-6 – Single issue only
‘A Few Small Repairs’ – Single issue only – “TMNT” (Vol. 4) #6
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #7-13 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #1 – “Tales of the TMNT Omnibus” Vol. 1 OR “Tales” Vol. 3
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #14 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #2 – “Tales of the TMNT Omnibus” Vol. 1 OR “Tales” Vol. 3
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #15 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #3 – “Tales of the TMNT Omnibus” Vol. 1 OR “Tales” Vol. 3
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #16 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #4 – “Tales of the TMNT Omnibus” Vol. 1 OR “Tales” Vol. 3
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #17 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #5 – “Tales of the TMNT Omnibus” Vol. 1 OR “Tales” Vol. 4
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #18 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #6 – “Tales of the TMNT Omnibus” Vol. 1 OR “Tales” Vol. 4
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #19 – Single issue only
(After this point, “Tales” (Vol. 2) went monthly while “TMNT” (Vol. 4) stayed bi-monthly.)
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #7 – “Tales of the TMNT Omnibus” Vol. 1 OR “Tales” Vol. 4
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #8 – “Tales of the TMNT Omnibus” Vol. 1 OR “Tales” Vol. 4
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #20 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #9 – “Tales” Vol. 5
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #10 – “Tales” Vol. 5
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #21 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #11 – “Tales” Vol. 5
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #12 – “Tales” Vol. 5
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #22 – Single issue only
‘Digital Webbing Presents TMNT’ – Single issue only – “Digital Webbing Presents” #24
(While this is technically a “TMNT” (Vol. 1) story, I chose to keep it in publication order. I figure, I’m already doing it for the “Tales” (Vol. 2) issues, why move this one story? It’s from a now ended anthology for a venture by Ed Dukeshire, best known now as an Eisner and Harvey nominated letterer. Seems fitting to keep it here. Also originally in color!)
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #13 – “Tales” Vol. 6
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #14 – “Tales” Vol. 6
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #23 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #15 – “Tales” Vol. 6
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #16 – “Tales” Vol. 6
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #24 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #17 – “Tales” Vol. 7
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #18 – “Tales” Vol. 7
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #25 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #19 – “Tales” Vol. 7
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #20 – “Tales” Vol. 7
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #26 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #21 – Single issue only
(Sadly, issue #21, the first crossover with the “Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa” did not get collected by IDW with the rest of this batch. And also sadly, those C.O.W.-Boys are not a spin-off but their own thing courtesy of long-time “TMNT Adventures” scribe Ryan Brown.)
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #22 – “Tales” Vol. 8
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #27 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #23 – “Tales” Vol. 8
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #28 – Single issue only
(This is the final issue of Volume 4 that came out regularly. Because of this, and because there’s a mini-series that started the same month, I broke the pattern to place it ahead of the June 2006 “Tales” issue.)
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #24 – “Tales” Vol. 8
“Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight” #1-4 – Mirage trade only – “Tales: Collected Books,” Vol. 2
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #25 – “Tales” Vol. 8
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #26 – Mirage trade only – “Tales: Collected Books,” Vol. 1
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #27 – Mirage trade only – “Tales: Collected Books,” Vol. 3
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #28-32 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #33 – Mirage trade only – “Tales: Collected Books,” Vol. 4
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #34-36 – Single issue only
“Raphael: Bad Moon Rising” #1-4 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #37-45 – Single issue only
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #29 – Single issue only BUT apparently the online version still exists via direct link, just not visitable through the main Mirage homepage.
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #46-50 – Single issue only
“Michelangelo: The Third Kind” #1-4 – Single issue only
‘Life on Earth’ – Single issue only – “The Third Kind” #4
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #51-58 – Single issue only
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #30 – Available free online!
(You’ve read that right. Issue #30 is available free on Peter Laird’s blog. So are 31 & 32 later on. While #31 and #32 didn’t really have a proper print run, or anything more than a couple special printings, #30 was the second of the limited mail-in order print run and the first published post-Viacom buy-out.
From what I can tell, these are the reasons all three of these issues are up on his site but none of the others, though #29’s limited run makes it a contender too. Laird made mention of not being able to find the files for #29 on his laptop back in 2014 so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s one reason it never made it up – no easy transfer.)
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #59-62 – Single issue only
Continued below
“Donatello: The Brain Thief” #1-4 – Single issue only
“Tales of the TMNT” (Vol. 2) #63-70 – Single issue only
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #31 – Available free online!
“TMNT” (Vol. 4) #32 – Available free online!
‘Night of the Ninja Girl’ – Single issue only – “30th Anniversary Special”
Next time, we fall back in time for the four-color versions of everyone’s favorite Saturday morning cartoon.
