Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection, Vol 1 By Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Edited by Justin Eisinger and Alonzo Simon

Aaah, a trip down Childhood lane ❤ I may just be dating myself with this but I don’t care. XD

Like most kids at the time, I grew up watching 4 Mutant Turtles (and one respectable Rat Sensei) practicing Martial Arts and beating up a talking brain in a weird radiation suit, an overly sharp human Ninja Master, a pair of 80’s techno minions in the form of a Rhino and a Warthog, along with hundreds of masked gang members in black and purple costumes! You all know you’re thinking about the theme-song right now, admit it. ;3

Leonardo Leads, Donatello does Machines, Raphael is cool but rude, Michelangelo is a party dude!

So when I found out my library still had this bind up of the ORIGINAL comics sitting around? You KNOW I had to check it out! Even though our pizza-loving ninjas have been revamped and remade dozens of times now, wandering down the road of generations (hey, my baby cousins can still watch TMNT!) I’ve never even really considered picking up the comic books before. I loved the Cartoon versions and wasn’t a big reader anyways at the time. I regret it, always.

 

That said, let’s jump into the comics!

TMNT #1, The Turtles’ Origin is Told – Aaah, the Classic Origins Story, how the 4 ninja brothers and their Master came to be. If you’ve seen ANY version of TMNT (or READ any version!) you should know most of the story by know! I always stuck to the toons/movies versions so I never knew Shredder wasn’t who he’s been made out to be! It was so weird reading the original story and noticing the differences!

TMNT #2, TMNT vs The Mousers – OH HEY! We know this girl, even though we’ve never met her before, it’s APRIL! Welcome to the Team, April! Hope you know what you’re getting into!

TMNT #3, the Great Chase – After the turtles find out about their master, they need some help, and guess who? it’s April again! Things just aren’t going their way though, and trouble keeps following them!

Micro-Issue #1, Raphael: Me, Myself, and I – You all know there’s another human companion to the TMNT, and this is his intro! Raphael gets a good look at some less-than-pleasant parts of his own personality, and gets to meet his new buddy CASEY JONES in the process! Hockey Mask and all!

TMNT #4, Rescuing Master Splinter – Splinter is still missing, but a twist provided by our favorite Ninja baddies (the Foot Clan), the TMNT find a clue that leads to More then what they expected!

TMNT #5, Teaming Up with Fugitoid – Whoa! So the Guys have been sent somewhere new and ALL CHAOS BREAKS LOSE!We get a new character as well, Honeycutt!

TMNT #6, The Triceraton Homeworld – Ooooh, so much going on in this issue! Honeycutt’s in trouble, and so are the guys!

TMNT #7, All is Revealed – Everything’s going nuts now! The Guys are back but they’re not out of trouble, Honeycuttstill has his own problems, and Splinter still needs his Sons! What a great story, though!

Fairest: Levana’s Story (The Lunar Chronicles 3.5) By Marissa Meyer

So this is Levana’s Story, how she became the cold-hearted, evil Queen she seemed like so far in the rest of the Series. Her story is part tragic, part idiotic, and part… I don’t even know what to call parts of her choices and history. It’ll make seeing how she acts moving forward interesting though, to see how the rest of her story will play out when it’s twisted in with Cinder’s Story.

The Lunar Chronicles: Cress By Marissa Meyer

AAAAAHHHHH!!

Cress Is… And then Scarlet..! And Poor Wolf! D: But but, Cinder! /Cinder!/

There’s just so much going on in this book, and it’s all so brilliant! There’s still lots to do though, for Cinder and the others. Lots and lots and oh man, sorry guys, I need the next story now! Eeee!!!

Ghosts of the Nile By Cheryl Harkness

Wow… okay… um…

This book is pretty short, and I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a fictional comic/story with real-world info, or just an info-dump? Props to the Author for trying, at least.

The Keepers #3: Path of Beasts By Lian Tanner

Whoa 😮

Seeing as this is the end of the series (NOOOOO!!!) Everything’s gotta get wrapped up, but Oh Boy do things start unraveling faster, first!

Goldie and her crew gotta get back to Jewel, first of all, and then there’s the small matter of the Fugleman and his schemes, along with about half a dozen other NEW problems!

There was one part that, even though I saw it coming, still totally blew me away. 😮 I wish there was another story in this world, I’d like to see what happens AFTER everything!

The Keepers #2: City of Lies By Lian Tanner

Ooooh Gods o.o Looks like the City of Jewel isn’t quite finished with it’s troubles yet!!

Goldie’s back in action, along with her friends at the Museum of Dunt, but it’s a whole new Terror this time that’s stirring up trouble. Even the Museum is acting up cause of it! Goldie’s got a Big Task ahead of her, if she’s to figure things out and save her friends from danger.

The Keepers #1: Museum of Thieves By Lian Tanner

I first found out about this book years ago, before I knew about Goodreads, through an online ‘spot the difference’ puzzle-game. The changing scenes from one stage to the next were intriguing, and when I found out the puzzle-game was based on a BOOK, well, I just had to read it!

And now I’ve returned to it! Goldie Roth lives in a city, where children are kept on ‘Guardchains’, tied to their parents or ‘Guardians’, and it’s her yearning for freedom that starts her on the path to a great, scary, wonderful adventure.

I can’t wait to read the rest of the series, I’d forgotten how awesome this story was, and I want to see just how Goldie and her friends handle the dangers still coming their way!

House of Many Ways (Howl’s Moving Castle #3) By Diana Wynne Jones

AAH!

I don’t see a 4th listed on Goodreads, but I wish there was!

Sophie, Howl, Calcifer, and even Morgan, are up to tricks and trouble once again, but again, they aren’t really the main characters! (They’re presence is still as powerful though! Never fear!)

This time it’s all about a young lady named Chairmain, and what happens while she’s looking after a Wizard’s house for him. Beyond that, it’s a lot of Howl-esque sorcery and Secrecy!

Castle in the Air (Howl’s Moving Castle #2) by Diana Wynne Jones

Magic takes a whole new twist in this story!

The Main Character is not the Wizard howl, or Sophie, or even Calcifer! Never fear though, they’re all here, but you’ll have to look rather closely to find them!

This struck me as a rather interesting spin for a retelling of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, but there were certainly twists only Howl and his friends could bring about! If you liked Howl’s Moving Castle, don’t pass up this sequel just because it’s not focused on Howl or Sophie, you’ll be missing out on quite a lot of magic if you do!

The Lunar Chronicles: Scarlet By Marissa Meyer

AAAH!!

Okay so, So! If you Read this story without reading ‘The Queen’s Army’ FIRST, it might be a little weird and wonky, but I didn’t go that path, I read Queen’s army, and then THIS beautiful book, and it ALL MAKES SENSE! 8o

And the overall Story keeps growing! Eeee!! More secrets revealed, more info gained, more hints hinted at! I wanna see what happens next right away! Specially more of Cinder! I also wanna see what happens with Wolf, and Scarlet. I wanna see how their part of the story unfolds.