“Yesterday’s” Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #9

As mentioned previously, issue #8 was not up on Mirage’s old website, probably because it was a crossover with Dave Sim’s Cerebus and thus rights issues would have kept it off. It was the first time the Turtles would meet the time-travelling sorceress Renet, who we may get to see in a future story. If I ever get a hold of the issue I’ll reviewing but the Mirage postings was official until the purchase by Nickelodeon and thus I have no problem using that version versus going to one of…those sites, which I only use for research when I absolutely need to.

“Wow, if he acts like that with anchovies, how does he handle pineapple?”

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #9

Mirage Publications (September, 1986)

“The Passing”

WRITERS: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird

PENCILER: Michael Dooney

INKERS: Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Michael Dooney, Ryan Brown, & Jim Larson

LETTERER: Lavigne

A tale from the “pre-teenage” years, according to the internal title. Splinter, while meditating, makes contact with a dying man in Japan seeking to pass on his family’s samurai clan force to his grandson after his son decided to go into criminal enterprises in New York. Splinter agrees to swap bodies and charges the unaware Turtles (there’s no time to tell them) to help make contact with the young man just as members of the syndicate plot to take over. The assassins manage to kill the father but the Turtles arrive to help the grandson. As they guard the doors from further assassins “Splinter” convinces the young man to receive the samurai force just as another assassin drops in from the ceiling, which the man is now able to defeat with his ancestors’ spirits within him. Later, Splinter tells his students what happened as they head home.

What they got right: A story set before the battle with Shredder isn’t a bad premise. The idea isn’t will the Turtles survive but if they’ll succeed in protecting the grandson of the man they don’t know is borrowing Splinter’s body. Despite the numerous inkers there’s no major difference in the art style.

What they got wrong: The only thing suggesting the Turtles are not yet teens is that they were a full bandanna mask rather than the usual eye masks. Otherwise they appear to be the same size as usual.

What I think overall: I’m personally not a fan of the more mystical stories in the franchise due to my tastes. That said, it is a decently told story with some good fight sequences. Beyond that there isn’t a lot to the story but it’s still a decent read, just short due to the panel usage and fights.