Set Description:
I was born in April of 1984...only a few weeks before the landmark Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 hit the market. That means I was in the target demographic during the height of Turtlemania in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I had the toys, the clothes, the video games, the snacks...anything TMNT related I could get my hands on, I had. I loved watching the cartoon and was sad to see it go. As I grew up, I merged my passion for TMNT with my passion for comic collecting. Now that I'm older, I've found it enjoyable to move from the kiddie-style cartoon Turtles to the grittier, more adult version from the comics. It's almost like my childhood obsession grew up with me.
In the descriptions, I’ve gone a bit further than the CGC label as far as the creative teams that worked on each issue. Most of the books in volume 1 had the same core artists and writers but their duties would change from issue to issue. For example, Kevin Eastman may do the pencils in one issue and let Eric Talbot do the inks and toning. A few issues later, Talbot would do the pencils and Eastman would do the inks. Mirage mixed up duties so often that a fan can really narrow down exactly where each creator shines.
I’ve also included a few notes about each book, the source of the book, and a synopsis. A lot of this is more for myself than anything else as the registry serves as a quick-reference guide for Volume 1. I tried to throw a shout-out to those who helped to assemble my collection, too. This has definitely been a team effort.
I was sure to include pictures of each book as well. Front covers in the slab are a must, but I decided to play around a little with the back cover slot. Many issues in this run have wraparound covers, oftentimes with important details for the scene occurring on the back (issue #17 springs to mind). It turns out that there’s no good wraparound cover gallery for these books on the internet, so I’ve started taking scans of the raw books and putting them together so the art can be seen in its full glory. I’ll continue doing this as the raw issues become available. Others just have some boring back covers, so I decided to showcase some Original Art featuring the TMNT. I own all of them with the exception of the #2 Original Cover Art, which was found on Peter Laird’s blog and was too cool not to post. Many of the pieces are commissions that I received directly from the artists of Mirage and I hope to someday get some art from the entire crew.
A few people have asked me why I named the set “Ninja kick the damn rabbit!” It’s one of my favorite lines from the original live-action movie. While watching a cartoon adaptation of the Tortoise and the Hare, Michelangelo gets frustrated at watching the hare run right by the tortoise. In a fit of playful anger, Mikey yells out “You believe this guy? Come on, Ninja kick the damn rabbit! Do something!” Still makes me laugh to this day.
Thanks for looking!
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