If you were a kid any time during or after the 1980s you probably already know who
the teenage mutant ninja turtles are, but maybe it's just now that you're wondering
where can you start? WOOF WOOF! Hey guys, it's me Marcus aka the Maddogg and we're back with
another video! My first suggestion is probably the most obvious one because i've got the idw
series this has been ongoing now for about 10 or so years there's multiple spin-offs mini series
and one shots there's even a few free comic book day issues that are important to the overall story
which is funny because of the fact that if you didn't buy on free comic book day that's not going
to be free but the reason why i'm recommending this one first is because of the fact that i
think it's the most accessible regardless of your level of knowledge of tmnt but during the last
decade something weird started happening because properties that were popular for kids during the
80s and 90s stuff like he-man transformers and even of course power rangers all got comic series
that were meant for a more mature and older audience however the difference between those
in teenage mutant ninja turtles is the fact that the heroes in a half shell started off in a comic
series to begin with so it felt like the next progression and it was written by tom waltz and
kevin eastman the latter of which was one of the original creators of the series you can tell that
there's so much passion and love for this universe that goes into every single issue that they print
the art's great throughout and if you're somebody who hasn't really dealt with teenage mutant ninja
turtles since you were probably a kid and you watched one of the tv shows i believe this would
be the best option for you because you're going to get a great story that still respects the mythos
that you probably knew from when you were growing up next up in the first of many many crossovers
with other properties i've got batman tmnt this is one of those series that is just straight up
fun from start to finish and as well i remember when this got announced i thought it was just
going to be a quick cash grab and there wasn't really going to be any depth to it at all but
it's written by james tinian iv and as soon as you start reading it you realize that there's so much
in common between these two properties it's also just great seeing how easily those two universes
can cross over with each other so you've got stuff like bain also interacting with people like
shredder you've got crank you've got the joker you've got scarecrow and there's just so much
that goes into it it's hard not to enjoy this if you're at least a baseline fan of this property i
don't think based on was the right word there but this is relatively short if it is that you don't
want something that's as long as the idw series it might be the case that you're a massive fan of
batman because of the fact that nearly enough half of everything that dc publishes is about
the dark knight then i do think this would be something that you'd really enjoy and i definitely
recommend as a teenage mutant ninja turtles book that you should pick up i believe it had three
six issue series in total and there might have been a few specials and things like that but
it is all getting compiled into one convenient omnibus that's coming out later this year and you
can already pre-order it from the channel sponsor organic price books they've got great packaging
fast shipping and amazing customer services and if you use code woof woof you will get two dollars
off your order and keep this a secret between us but you can use that code as many times as you
like so why not treat yourself to this crossover series that really shouldn't have worked but it
somehow did another one that might seem a bit of an odd suggestion for new readers but then again
that's the video but it's tmnt the last ronin now what this effectively is is the equivalent of
something like old man logan or ragnarok that you take the character and put them at pretty much the
end of their journey it was something that eastman and led who were the original creators of the
series had in mind from the very beginning and so far this has been a really enjoyable read and i'm
not really sure if it would be the same for people that don't have the height before this came out
because even i had betting ons on which turtle it was likely to be that would end up being the last
ronin this has been a great journey so far i hope it sticks to landing and it hasn't really fallen
into that trope of being completely gimmicky it's telling a very mature story about loss and family
and about how the world that we once recognized will eventually disappear in front of us
so i do hope this finishes strong as well because i really don't want to have to come back and edit
this section of the video out if it is the end really badly but with the paces had so far i
can't really see that happening so i'd recommend this to people who maybe want a bit of a different
more post-apocalyptic story next up i've got teenage mutant ninja turtles urban legends
now i'll admit this is a bit of a weird pick because it's pretty much the equivalent to
marvel's what if or dc's else worlds so it's not entirely based in continuity even though i don't
really think that continuity is a set thing and you can pretty much make up whatever you want but
a few years ago when i was pretty much demolishing any teenage mutant ninja turtle story that i could
find this was one that i picked up the first trade paperback for and i remember really enjoying it
if you do want something that's not so wrapped up into the established timeline that's already
been set before you then this would be the one that i'd recommend for you next up we've got yet
another big one you know i had to recommend this to you guys because it's power rangers tmnt yes
this is finally the crossover between these two teams that we deserve not that absolute debacle
that we got during power rangers in space i said during batman tmnt that i felt like that was a
crossover that maybe must have been just a gimmick and it wouldn't actually work but power rangers
tmnt was the one that as soon as i heard that it was announced i knew this had to be good and you
know what it is power rangers single-handedly got me interested in superheroes which then eventually
led me into comics so i pretty much owe everything to them so much so that i've already done where
to start on power rangers and admittedly i did that when the channel was really young and a lot
of people didn't watch it and that video could do with some love but this was a really fun enjoyable
story from start to finish it's so creative it's got so much passion and energy in every issue
and it's now led to hasbro actually creating toys for the morphed up version of the tales
as good as i thought this series was gonna be it somehow managed to go a step beyond and if
it wasn't for the mainline boom studio series i'd probably say that this is the best power rangers
content that we've had in the last couple of years that is unless boom studios finally
gives me the opportunity to write the gold ranger mini series that i've been asking for for months
so if anybody's got an inside connection to boom studios help your boy out and yes i will continue
mentioning this in every single video that i can until i actually get that series now i'm
going to be recommending to you one that when i explain it will sound like a book that i've
already had on this list but it's tales of the teenage mutant ninja tales this was a series
that went on for quite a number of issues and has recently been reprinted into trade paperbacks i've
read quite a few of these and they're all pretty much one-shot stories that can just enhance your
experience of these characters from the couple of trade paperbacks that i've read there are some hit
and miss stories but the ones that are good are really good so with this pick it's definitely
for people who do want to be able to jump in and out of the series and don't need to read it all in
one setting this would be ideal for you if it is that you're just looking to quickly scratch that
itch that you might have for this series going in a slightly different direction now i've got
tmnt the secret history of the [ __ ] clan you may very well be somebody who doesn't like the
main story that's going on but you want to know about the details that surround the universe
the secret history of the [ __ ] clan was a mini series that wanted to build on the mythos of these
often overlooked characters you get to learn about the history the secrets the of the the but even
though there wouldn't be too many people that i think would fall into this bracket that are also
watching this video but it could be the case that you're a little bit burned out with the turtles
themselves or maybe the personalities have just grated on you a little bit and you want to slowly
work your way back into that then this would be the one that i'd recommend for you but even
more so than that if it does sound like you're interested in learning more about the villains
than the heroes there was a tmnt villains mini series actually it's called a micro series because
of the fact that each issue was pretty much a one shot about a different character but you may
already very well know who your favorite character is and it could be somebody like crank it could be
somebody like shreddy it might even be somebody like baxter stockman what this series will do is
give you a little story about each one of these characters there's even lesser known villains
that are brought into it towards the end of it so you can really expand your knowledge whilst
also getting a story that might interest you more than something that would just follow the hero as
well this was written by josh williamson who did the flash during the rebirth theory and he
also wrote nailbite a title that i really enjoyed when i reviewed it for last halloween and it just
shows that he has got that experience following the bad guys of the story he really knows how to
make them the star of the book without ever really taking the limelight away from the main characters
so the benefit of this is that you could read all eight or so of the issues and get eight separate
stories or you could even just pick up one that you think might interest you and see if that's
the book that you like on a similar note my next recommendation is going to be the mini series for
each individual character yes this is something that tmnt has pretty much been doing since the
very beginning with eastman and lead it started off with a raphael one shot and then you got one
for each of the individual turtles splinter got a book and even during the idw series this is
a tradition that's carried on so like i was just saying with the villain series if it is that you
already know who your favorite character is but maybe you don't want to jump into a full team
book because you know sometimes you don't want the dynamics of them all working together and you just
want to see that one person go at it on their own but by person i probably meant turtle but why not
have a little bit of a look into it and see if they've already done a story centered around the
character that you really enjoy and see how that works out for you my personal favorite is rafael
there's just something that i can relate to about a guy that's just always angry at pretty much
everything but i know there's a lot of people who love michelangelo leonardo donatello then this is
the entry route that i'd recommend for you now if you've ever watched one of my videos before
where i do some kind of list you know that i am pretty much famous for cheating but with where to
start i always want to make sure that i don't leave any stone unturned and i can't deny the
fact that the tv shows are a great introduction for anybody who's looking to start with tmnt
so you've got the most famous 80s series which admittedly i went back and watched and passed
the first couple of episodes it's pretty much just nostalgia you've got the 2003 series which i think
is very underrated and often overlooked and it's still enjoyable when i went back and watched it
a few years ago you've got ninja turtles the next mutation which i honestly would not recommend at
all but you've also got the 2012 cgi series which a lot of people wrote off because of the design of
it and this is a great show that i think a lot of people would enjoy if they gave it a proper chance
and it's got a bizarrely catchy theme song that's got this rap part in the middle that
you will pretty much find yourself going through at random parts of your day you'll be folding your
washing and you'll remind yourself that leonardo is the leader in blue who does anything it takes
to get his ninjas through yeah that's been my life for the last couple of years now so yeah
the 2012 and the 2003 animated series are ones that i definitely recommend if maybe is that
you've never read a comic before next up i've got tmnt ghostbusters and tmnt usagu jimbo i'm pretty
much lumping these into the same category because i feel like they do a similar job but it could
very well be the case that you only like reading independent comics and maybe you sagu jimbo or
ghostbusters is something that you've read before you might like something that's based more on
samurai culture or you might want something that's featuring a more sci-fi premise either
one of these picks i do think would work best for you and it might be the case that you haven't even
read the ghostbusters comics yet because of the fact that the books have gone really ridiculously
out of print and yeah i'm still disappointed about that one but you might even not know who
usagu jimbo is but with these crossover teams what they often do is a good way of introducing
the characters so if you're coming from just one fan base or the other you will know who the other
team is by the end of it but what i am saying is that these crossover series don't have a lot of
time to really give you the origin story of these so they just tell you the most important parts
i don't think that made sense but i'm still gonna keep it on the list we're coming into my last two
picks now and i've got a complete curveball but hear me out before you heavily dislike this video
or leave me some kind of all capital letter comment down below but i've got daredevil yes
i know what you're thinking if you've ever watched one of me videos before is it possible for you to
just do a video without recommending daredevil all the time the answer to that is no but i've
actually got a valid reason with this one because teenage mutant ninja turtles was originally
created as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek parody of daredevil that's why where matt madok has
the hand the ninja turtles have the [ __ ] clan and during the 80s dead was going through this
transitional phase where he's becoming a mature darker character for an older audience and it's
all pretty much thanks to frank millet and that's the series that i'd recommend jumping on if this
is the way that you do eventually want to start reading teenage mutant ninja turtles like i said
this is a complete curveball and if there's one person that would probably want to start reading
these characters as a result of daredevil i'd be surprised but in my effort to leave no stone
unturned i have to recommend the inspiration that got this team started in the first place
and if you are interested in reading daredevil i've already done a where to start on it but this
last pick should be an obvious one to anybody who knows a little bit about the ninja turtles because
i'm going to recommend the original series by eastman and laird i've referenced this
countless times already throughout this video but i absolutely love this series this is one of the
only teams one of the only comic book characters where i would actually recommend hand on heart
the original series that started it off because it's not silver age storytelling i've read this
a few years ago and it still reads like quite a modern run it's pretty mad and whether you go for
the black and white originals or you go for the color editions you are still going to have a great
experience with this series it's so ridiculously dark and over the top violent and it just tells a
really enjoyable story it's clear that they were still trying to figure out these characters and
at points it does feel like each turtle doesn't have their own personality but you also get to see
how they developed into being individuals and i think that's what makes this series great
shred is a complete badass you've got the introduction of pretty much all the villains that
you've come to know and love now the art style is phenomenal and it's something that i really
enjoy and i just like that this is something that we still have access to now like i said
i'm not even telling you to buy the full thing but if you can just find the first issue to read
then see exactly what i'm talking about and ask yourself if it hooks you but you're always saying
where to start no matter what series it is as long as it manages to find a way to get you reading
more comics then that is the book that you should be starting with these are just my picks that i'd
recommend and i'm sure there's going to be others in the comment section below if you could do me a
massive favor share this video where you can so that we can hopefully get more people invested
in comics and also because i'm trying to get this channel back on its feet and that would greatly
help but guess that's the video so stay safe and stay mad all you dogs woof roof see the next video