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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 2, 2024 16:03:16 GMT -5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return to the Sewers Being born in 1986 I was the perfect age for Turtlemania, as a kid I watched the cartoon, had the action figures and playsets, wore the t-shirts, underwear and pajamas, ate the TMNT Cereal and snack pies and the 1990 live action film was the first movie I ever saw in theaters. With the characters being such a huge part of my formative years it's not surprising that I've been a fan my whole life and even enjoy the current comics and cartoons...what is probably surprising however is the fact that I haven't gone back and seriously read the comics that started it all for nearly twenty years. I've picked up an issue now and then, but even then the most recent was probably back in 2017 when Cei-U! assigned us the topic of Favorite Villain Designs for the Classic Comics Christmas...which seven years ago now! I don't know why it's taken me this long to make it a point to revisit these stories, maybe because the IDW series scratched my Turtles itch so I didn't feel the need to read more? Regardless, for some reason I feel the urge now and I invite you, gentle reader, to join me on this journey Back to the Sewers as I reread Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I don't want to set too lofty a goal so I'm not going to say I'm going to read and review every Turtles comic out there but as I've loved them right along I may visit some other iterations down the line but for now I'm starting with the original Mirage run. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 2, 2024 16:59:51 GMT -5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1Story and Art by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird  Mirage Comics, 1984 (Pictured above is the 2005 reissue celebrating the then 21 years of Turtles) Summary: After a successful battle with the Purple Dragons, the four Turtle Brothers, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello return to their home where their adoptive father, Splinter, congratulates them and reveals their secret origin to them. Learning of there genesis the Turtles head out to confront their ancestral for the Shredder and after a pitched battle they unite as one and dispatch their foe by throwing him off a building.
Review: First issues are notoriously tricky beasts that always pose a serious gamble for even experienced industry pros. Not only are the back issue bins at your local comic shop filled with "new" number ones that failed to stick their landings on release but there are also just as many that while popular when they were released none the less failed to stand the test of time(Aztek we hardly knew you) so it's incredibly surprising that two total comic newbies like Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird not only successfully launched a new comic on their own but managed to create one that totally dominated the market and has continued to be a presence even to this day forty years later. Reading this issue now though I think it's easy to see why it's had that kind of impact and staying power: the level of professionalism evident in these pages truly is that impressive and not just for an independent, black and white comic from the 80's. The figures, while occasionally slightly sketchy, are solidly done, the action is clear and the dialogue was quick and punchy making it a real joy to read.
Although I was a huge Turtles fan growing up most of my comics were of the Archie variety as the original guys were a lot different than the characters I was used to from the cartoon. But even when I started branching out and buying comics with my own money in middle school I just couldn't get my hands on the original series as the speculator boom of the 90's meant that my meager soccer referee salary wasn't nearly high enough to buy the Mirage comics and trades hadn't really become a thing yet so while I knew there was a more mature line that originated my childhood favorite I didn't actually get to experience them until five years later when there was a big push in the early 2000's to reprint older comics. When I first read the first issue I remember noticing the clear influence from Frank Millar in the Turtles but reading it now twenty years later what surprised me the most was just how much this book ape's Miller's style, not just in the way the action was laid out but in the interior monologues as well. When you read lines like " You're Dead Freaks, nobody trespasses on Purple Dragon turf and gets away with it. Especially when they're wearing stupid turtle costumes" --"He's wrong. We're not wearing costumes" it's impossible not to think it's Frank Miller on the page. The terse, punchy sentence structure following up the more colorful dialog just reeks of Miller's style and it only gets deeper as Eastman and Laird fill their pages with a similarly fluid style of action packed fight scenes. Sure it's meant as almost a parody, hence Splinter instead of Stick and the Foot instead of the Hand but it's taken deadly seriously so it stands well on its own unlike a simple gag.
The issue isn't with out its faults though, while I love the image of Splinter as a rat aping his master's fighting style from his cage, the whole reveal of the Turtle's origin and the cause of their blood feud with the Shredder is a real slog that really takes the pacing of the issue to a screeching halt after the high action of the opening. The issue is able to overcome that record scratch of a stop though and jump back into another fight, this time with the Shredder that is not only wonderfully done action wise but actually gets you some characterization for the Turtles themselves as each brother gets their moment to shine as they take on the Shredder one by one. And while I know they "killed" the Shredder at the end it still managed to surprise me and in experiencing this for the first time in so long it really made me wonder, " How do they follow this up?" and in fact my memories of issue #2 are surprisingly vague so I'm excited to see where it goes. Historically, the reason why it ends so abruptly is clear; they didn't know this was going to take off and never intended a follow up but it's none the less something I'm excited in seeing first hand once again when I manage to dig into the next issue.
Overall, this was a solid read and really stands the test of time providing a reading experience that I truly think would be enjoyable even if you didn't have my nostalgia colored glasses.
Grade:8/10 |
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jtrw2024
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Post by jtrw2024 on Sept 2, 2024 17:18:51 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to your reviews. I only got around to reading the original comics fairly recently, within the last year. My introduction to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was through the 1980s cartoon series. I was aware that it was a comic book first, but otherwise knew nothing about it at the time. Most of what I knew came from the cartoons, movies and later adaptations. The only original comic I had actually read was the first issue which had a bunch of different reprints from IDW. I finally broke down and bought some TPB collections that IDW put out reprinting the original comics. They only reprinted stuff that Eastman and Laird were directly involved in though, so there's a lot of issues that were skipped over and they don't seem to be available in any affordable format for me to read, so I'll definitely be paying attention if you get around to those ones!
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 2, 2024 17:33:38 GMT -5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return to the SewersBeing born in 1986........ Aw, man; you're killing, me!  I first saw the Turtles in those First Comics reprint albums, from 1986. I mostly knew them in that form, until the cartoon series launched, which was skewed a little too young, for my tastes. I did go see the first movie, for the hell of it. It was decent. Less said about the sequel, the better. The Tick also parodied Frank Miller, with the introduction of Oedipus, in issue #3. It was a big riff on Elektra and the Hand, and the whole ninja fad, as the leader of the ninja had started a theme park and sold ninja courses, via mail order, and were seeking the sacred thorn (Hey, it looks like a piece of candy corn!) Art Adams returned the favor, in a Monkeyman and O'Brien story, in Dark Horse Presents #80.....  The turtle becomes a huge rampaging monster, but an other Evolvo Ray shot and his brain catches up and he ends up becoming Gamera, more or less. By the way, the kid, who is on a field trip to the O'Brien Sciene Laboratory, is named Peter Parkerson. |
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 2, 2024 17:48:53 GMT -5
I was born in '89 and grew up in the waning years of Turtle Mania right around the time when Power Rangers were starting to steal the spotlight from our favorite radioactive reptiles. I had some turtle comics growing up, but not many, mostly the Turtle Soup anthology series (which I loved) and the first issue of the Image Comics book. Didn't see the first movie until it aired on WGN's Movie Of The Week and watched the absolute crap out of (still think it holds up 30+ years later)
The toys were my jam though (same goes for the IDW comics, the Mirage originals never really caught my attention beyond the Turtles meeting the Utroms at TCRI) and love that they're releasing the older ones
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Post by driver1980 on Sept 2, 2024 18:30:49 GMT -5
I’ve probably read fewer than ten TMNT comics, so I will look forward to bookmarking this thread. (I recently saw some art by Hal Haney, which showed a rather extensive rogues gallery for the TMNT; outside Shredder and Krang, I don’t really know any other villains, so maybe I’ll learn something here)
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Sept 2, 2024 22:52:00 GMT -5
I was a little too old to get into "Turtle Mania" when it hit in 1989 or thereabouts, but I had enjoyed playing the TMNT role-playing game a few years earlier. I've never read a TMNT comic in my life and neither have I seen the live action movies, but I'll be interested to read your thoughts on at least the earliest comics, thwhtguardian.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 3, 2024 15:51:56 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to your reviews. I only got around to reading the original comics fairly recently, within the last year. My introduction to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was through the 1980s cartoon series. I was aware that it was a comic book first, but otherwise knew nothing about it at the time. Most of what I knew came from the cartoons, movies and later adaptations. The only original comic I had actually read was the first issue which had a bunch of different reprints from IDW. I finally broke down and bought some TPB collections that IDW put out reprinting the original comics. They only reprinted stuff that Eastman and Laird were directly involved in though, so there's a lot of issues that were skipped over and they don't seem to be available in any affordable format for me to read, so I'll definitely be paying attention if you get around to those ones! Yeah, the stories by Eastman and Laird are more easily accessible but there were a surprising number of early stories written by others. I don't have them all but I have collected a fair number and I'll review them as they come. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 3, 2024 15:54:42 GMT -5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return to the SewersBeing born in 1986........ Aw, man; you're killing, me! I first saw the Turtles in those First Comics reprint albums, from 1986. I mostly knew them in that form, until the cartoon series launched, which was skewed a little too young, for my tastes. I did go see the first movie, for the hell of it. It was decent. Less said about the sequel, the better. The Tick also parodied Frank Miller, with the introduction of Oedipus, in issue #3. It was a big riff on Elektra and the Hand, and the whole ninja fad, as the leader of the ninja had started a theme park and sold ninja courses, via mail order, and were seeking the sacred thorn (Hey, it looks like a piece of candy corn!) Art Adams returned the favor, in a Monkeyman and O'Brien story, in Dark Horse Presents #80..... The turtle becomes a huge rampaging monster, but an other Evolvo Ray shot and his brain catches up and he ends up becoming Gamera, more or less. By the way, the kid, who is on a field trip to the O'Brien Sciene Laboratory, is named Peter Parkerson. I love the Tick as well, and I've always wondered why it never got as big as the Turtles. I mean, I guess it did pretty well getting a cartoon and then a live action series but it never ruled the world like the Turtles did. I suppose it's pretty difficult to capture lightning in a bottle. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 3, 2024 15:56:44 GMT -5
I was a little too old to get into "Turtle Mania" when it hit in 1989 or thereabouts, but I had enjoyed playing the TMNT role-playing game a few years earlier. I've never read a TMNT comic in my life and neither have I seen the live action movies, but I'll be interested to read your thoughts on at least the earliest comics, thwhtguardian. Oh man, you're missing out by never having seen the first live action film. It's not just a fantastic super hero film but a fantastic film period. |
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Post by supercat on Sept 3, 2024 16:10:34 GMT -5
I don't know if it was because the original TMNT comics were being produced right next door in New Hampshire (I was living in Vermont at the time), but I certainly remember being aware of them early on.
The "lo-fi" nature of them was part of the charm since it was the era of Indies with all the comic book shops popping up, and it had this cool self-published vibe while being a nice obvious parody of the ever popular Daredevil at that point. Never expected things to take off the way they did, and before the popular media stuff later in the decade, it was the B&W boom that got a little crazy.
Suddenly you had stuff like Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters coming out in 1986 that was parodying the parody, but dealers were legit trying to push it like "get in on the next big book" since TMNT back issues had taken off. The Tick (which had some Megaton Man look to it in addition to the other references) was a little later in 1988 and of course had some success as well including the great cartoon in the 90's that creator Ben Edlund actually went off to work on (and then stuff like the live action series). Published by New England Comics too, go Northeast haha! Doesn't surprise me though, I did a lot of writing and drawing during those long cold winters as well as a kid.
But lo and behold when the TMNT cartoon came out and they hit the bigtime, couldn't believe it but it was awesome! Kind of like the Tick cartoon was actually better than a lot of the source material, the TMNT cartoon really became my favorite and yeah, agreed on the live action movie that followed. Not to mention video games, toys, etc.! Great franchise with humble origins that was NOT a corporate product initially, two guys just doing some funny cartooning. Ain't it great?
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Post by thwhtguardian on Sept 3, 2024 16:19:01 GMT -5
I don't know if it was because the original TMNT comics were being produced right next door in New Hampshire (I was living in Vermont at the time), but I certainly remember being aware of them early on. The "lo-fi" nature of them was part of the charm since it was the era of Indies with all the comic book shops popping up, and it had this cool self-published vibe while being a nice obvious parody of the ever popular Daredevil at that point. Never expected things to take off the way they did, and before the popular media stuff later in the decade, it was the B&W boom that got a little crazy. Suddenly you had stuff like Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters coming out in 1986 that was parodying the parody, but dealers were legit trying to push it like "get in on the next big book" since TMNT back issues had taken off. The Tick (which had some Megaton Man look to it in addition to the other references) was a little later in 1988 and of course had some success as well including the great cartoon in the 90's that creator Ben Edlund actually went off to work on (and then stuff like the live action series). Published by New England Comics too, go Northeast haha! Doesn't surprise me though, I did a lot of writing and drawing during those long cold winters as well as a kid. But lo and behold when the TMNT cartoon came out and they hit the bigtime, couldn't believe it but it was awesome! Kind of like the Tick cartoon was actually better than a lot of the source material, the TMNT cartoon really became my favorite and yeah, agreed on the live action movie that followed. Not to mention video games, toys, etc.! Great franchise with humble origins that was NOT a corporate product initially, two guys just doing some funny cartooning. Ain't it great? The home grown New England talent is a pretty cool element. There's even a plaque commemorating the creation of the turtles:  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 3, 2024 20:32:46 GMT -5
Aw, man; you're killing, me! I first saw the Turtles in those First Comics reprint albums, from 1986. I mostly knew them in that form, until the cartoon series launched, which was skewed a little too young, for my tastes. I did go see the first movie, for the hell of it. It was decent. Less said about the sequel, the better. The Tick also parodied Frank Miller, with the introduction of Oedipus, in issue #3. It was a big riff on Elektra and the Hand, and the whole ninja fad, as the leader of the ninja had started a theme park and sold ninja courses, via mail order, and were seeking the sacred thorn (Hey, it looks like a piece of candy corn!) Art Adams returned the favor, in a Monkeyman and O'Brien story, in Dark Horse Presents #80..... The turtle becomes a huge rampaging monster, but an other Evolvo Ray shot and his brain catches up and he ends up becoming Gamera, more or less. By the way, the kid, who is on a field trip to the O'Brien Sciene Laboratory, is named Peter Parkerson. I love the Tick as well, and I've always wondered why it never got as big as the Turtles. I mean, I guess it did pretty well getting a cartoon and then a live action series but it never ruled the world like the Turtles did. I suppose it's pretty difficult to capture lightning in a bottle. I think the problem was that it being Saturday morning cartoons, rather than syndicated, like GI JOE and the TMNT, it had less chance to be seen daily and be reinforced. Plus, they were a bit late with toys. The failure of the live action series didn't help. I liked it, but Fox just didn't give it a chance. The cartoon was just awesome, on so many levels. The comic got a little erratic, especially once Ben Edlund was talking to Hollywood, which didn't help its profile there. I first came across it when I got a Tick poster, after ordering some books from New England, after graduating from college. There was then an article in comic scene and I saw issue 3 in a local shop. Had to pick up the first two, after the fact. I enjoyed the fact that the tie-in humor book, for the cartoon, was written by Greg Hyland, who was producing the comic Lethargic Lad. |
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Post by supercat on Sept 3, 2024 21:29:35 GMT -5
I love the Tick as well, and I've always wondered why it never got as big as the Turtles. I mean, I guess it did pretty well getting a cartoon and then a live action series but it never ruled the world like the Turtles did. I suppose it's pretty difficult to capture lightning in a bottle. I think the problem was that it being Saturday morning cartoons, rather than syndicated, like GI JOE and the TMNT, it had less chance to be seen daily and be reinforced. Plus, they were a bit late with toys. The failure of the live action series didn't help. I liked it, but Fox just didn't give it a chance. The cartoon was just awesome, on so many levels. The comic got a little erratic, especially once Ben Edlund was talking to Hollywood, which didn't help its profile there. I first came across it when I got a Tick poster, after ordering some books from New England, after graduating from college. There was then an article in comic scene and I saw issue 3 in a local shop. Had to pick up the first two, after the fact. I enjoyed the fact that the tie-in humor book, for the cartoon, was written by Greg Hyland, who was producing the comic Lethargic Lad. Plus Mikey was more marketable to all ages than Sewer Urchin  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 3, 2024 22:39:36 GMT -5
I think the problem was that it being Saturday morning cartoons, rather than syndicated, like GI JOE and the TMNT, it had less chance to be seen daily and be reinforced. Plus, they were a bit late with toys. The failure of the live action series didn't help. I liked it, but Fox just didn't give it a chance. The cartoon was just awesome, on so many levels. The comic got a little erratic, especially once Ben Edlund was talking to Hollywood, which didn't help its profile there. I first came across it when I got a Tick poster, after ordering some books from New England, after graduating from college. There was then an article in comic scene and I saw issue 3 in a local shop. Had to pick up the first two, after the fact. I enjoyed the fact that the tie-in humor book, for the cartoon, was written by Greg Hyland, who was producing the comic Lethargic Lad. Plus Mikey was more marketable to all ages than Sewer Urchin Hey, Sewer Urchin is the apotheosis of cool! |
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