“Yesterday’s” Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4

Mikey wasn’t allowed back on eBay since that day.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4

Mirage Publishing (June, 1985)

This comic is retroactively been given the name “Rescuing Master Splinter”, the name of the story arc adaptation from the 2003 4Kids cartoon. Also of interest is that the second printing uses images later used for the first NES game’s box art, after a misprint using the then active Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. A few issues of the misprint did make it into the world. This is the original cover, though.

One final bit of trivia to pad out the homepage: This the first of three issues collected into an oversized and colorized trade back in the 1980s by First Publishing for Volume 2. This was my introduction to the Ninja Turtles comics after already becoming a fan of the show.

WRITERS/ARTISTS: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird

Raphael and Michelangelo suggest some rooftop exercise to clear their heads after all that’s happened. Unfortunately they’re attacked by Foot ninja seeking revenge for Shredder’s defeat. (Is this irony? Dang it, Alanis!) While the Turtles win Mikey’s arm is wounded and Raph accidentally interrupts a husband trying to have some private time with his wife and waking their kids. After the fight Raphael notices a building with TCRI on it, the logo matching the one on the canister that held the ooze that transformed them 15 years ago. After tending to their wounds and getting April up to date (unaware that they’re being watched from the building next door) they decide to visit the company, believing Splinter would understand their investigating their origins. What they find after breaking in is a very strange floor plan and it’s only near the bottom that they find something resembling a reception room on the third floor. Searching further they find Splinter in some kind of status tube before the guards come after them, looking to protect a device in the same area…which during the fight is accidentally activated and teleporting the Turtles away.

What they got right: Now that they’ve committed to the series it was only a matter of time before they actually tried to explain where the Turtles came from, which hadn’t mattered in the first issue. It was planned as a one-shot based on funny drawings they made. Now we get an origin, an idea what’s become of the Foot Clan, and an expanding universe (quite literally) with the strange creatures of TCRI. Donatello gets to show off his “does machines” thing, giving him something unique from his friends, and we also see him fight and win without the bo he loses in the fight. As he’s my favorite Turtle that makes me happy, but now we just need Leo’s personality beyond “leader” and Mikey’s personality since he’s not quite the “party dude” we know him as today.

What they got wrong: The fighting “choreography”, to use movie terms, is okay but the “cinematography” needs a bit of work, as some panels are just too close to see what’s happening.

What do I think overall: This is was a pretty cool start to the comic leaning into its science fiction side and setting up a great introduction to the Turtles. The next issue we’ll discuss is a tie-in comic that is part of the story.