What's the best Hardcover/TPB published by IDW that collects the 80s TMNT comic? I'm seeing a variety of them @_@
It's going to come down to what you want for the one line, which is the Ultimate Collection/The Works. Those collect the issues done by the original creators, and are generally the most worthwhile. The difference between them is that the Ultimate is the comics in their original black and white form, whereas The Works (which is coming out now) are where they've gone back and recolored them.
Then there's the Classics line, which is mostly all the rest of that run (though a handful of issues are still missing due to rights issues and whatnot). And I'd recommend skipping that honestly unless you really, really want more. Essentially TMNT in that era is super indie and disconnected so you don't really need any of these for "continuity", and they're a mixed bag. There was one volume I'd highly recommend and I can look up which one it was if you want, but like I said, not super essential stuff. Oh, and volumes 9 and 10 (the latest ones) are the "volume 2" run, a follow-up to the initial stuff that's decent but not super exceptional.
The thing I WOULD sort of recommend as it introduces some "important" characters and is solid, is the first two volumes of the Tales of the TMNT series. This can be confusing as there are later volumes, but they're something completely different, whereas the first two are like a side series to the original run.