Artist Joao Pires has created a series of wrenching portraits of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles facing their final battle. In each illustration, one of the bruised and battered turtles mourns his fallen brothers.
This is a gorgeously depressing series. What gets me, however, is that many commenters seem to complain about the lack of the fun-loving personality that the cartoon had. They don’t seem to realize that this is also the very thing that is not present in the original comics. One person gets it right and points it out nicely:
Sadly,people forget how violent and gritty the original Eastman & Laird comic was. In the very first issue of the comic series, Splinter reveals why he’s been training the turtles for 13 years: to kill Shredder. Not “bring him to justice” or “stop the evil foot clan,” but specifically to murder this one man for Splinter’s personal revenge. They were single-purposed hit-turtles, trained in Ninjutsu by their insane master for over a decade just to take one life. The original comic doesn’t show much of that lovable father-son relationship that the turtles have with Splinter in the cartoon, either. They are not a loving family obliging their master’s wishes out of affection and duty; they’re just Splinter’s pre-programmed death machines.
Boom. And there it is. Yes, some of the comic was a bit goofy, but it was, for the most part, very dark and very violent. This fan-art series gets right to the heart of that, and takes it a step further. Depressing? Yes, but it’s also quite humbling and brilliant.
via Tumblr http://meshboats.tumblr.com/post/61781439991
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