TMNT Unseats 300 - Irony Ensues

This weekend Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bested 300 at the box office. Inside, I'm chortling just a bit.

As a comic, TMNT began life as an absurdist tongue-in-cheek parody of Frank Miller's work, particularly Ronin. It was a loving kind of parody though, work that cut so close to the source that it was hard to tell at times you weren't supposed to take it completely seriously. And then you realize you're reading about a talking rat.

Now that parody has gone up against a serious rendition of Miller's work. Course, TMNT is no longer a comic directed at readers used to Miller's adult orientated work. In many ways, TMNT is now more of a parody of itself than of anything Miller has ever produced. Since the Archie takeover, the turtles spend more time making bad puns, talking like adolescents and eating pizza.

Even though for its original audience, echoing the stern bleakness of Miller's work would be smarter and funnier, the franchise can't resist aiming for the lucrative kiddie market.

Well, I still have the original series. So they can have them, I suppose.