How had I never read this?  I often say that I didn’t get into comics until my mid 20s.  That is mostly true.  However, there was a space of a couple years, back in the late 80s, where I was something of a comic reader.  I never much went in for spandex heroes.  I tried reading X-Men and thought it was terrible.  I didn’t especially like the 1989 Batman movie, nor did I care for the Chrisopher Reeve Superman films.  What did I like?  G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (specifically the Archie Comics version).  Though I branched out a little into a few other titles, mostly those were the only two series I gave the time of day.  I loved the cartoons and that love of the cartoons ported over into the comics.  At that time, the original Eastman & Laird comics were, to my young mind, little more than a rumor or a bit of trivia.  The TMNT I loved was based on a more adult, black & white comic that either wasn’t around anymore, or not sold in any shops I knew of.

Fast forward a long, long way and I was working for a major, national book store chain and was several years into an addiction to comics collected in trades (I never much cared for floppys, even when I was reading them as a kid).  A big hardcover collection of the now highly collectable original TMNT comics came out of a box and I took the plunge.  I would finally read them.  That’s what I said to myself back in 2011.  Well, it’s 2023 and I finally have.  And you know what?  Totally worth the wait.  I had an absolute blast reading this.

I’ve dipped my toes in the independent, self-published comics world, and I can say with confidence that few come out of the gates as strong as this one does.  Right from the start, it’s got a style and a flow.  Sure, the art is a bit heavy and rough, but that’s not really a detriment.  The dialog works, without getting in the way, making it a step up from a lot of what Marvel was putting out.  And it rips along, moving with the pace of an excited child.

It’s also super weird.  Sure, there’s the obvious.  It’s a story about four mutant turtles and their mutant rat surrogate father and martial arts instructor.  They all live in the sewers of New York City and practice ninjutsu.  That’s pretty weird and was definitely a part of its appeal when the toys and cartoon swept the nation.  But I mean the series gets really, really weird, really really fast.  By issue 3, we’ve gotten our first taste of what will become some cosmic adventures.  I remember as a kid liking that once the comic left the shadow of retelling the first season of the cartoon, it took things into some wacky, way over the top directions.  I didn’t realize they were following the lead of the original.

I remember hearing that the comic was much more “adult” than the cartoon.  Truth be told, it’s still fairly mild.  It’s violent but not gory.  There is some mild, coarse language.  That’s really about it.  As I’m writing this review, I can’t help but think about the Catwoman comic I read last night, which was from the late 1980s and featured much, much stronger and upsetting content.  So, is it more adult than the cartoon?  Sure.  But it’s not the grim, ultraviolence that some had implied.

It’s an exceedingly fun comic and worth giving a read, for sure.  It’s wild and exciting, and it goes into some unexpected territories.  

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