“Yesterday’s” Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #17

The “First Ronin” draft didn’t go over as well as “The Last Ronin”.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #17

Mirage Publishing (November, 1988)

“Distractions”

WRITERS: Eric Talbot & Kevin Eastman

ARTIST: Eric Talbot

LETTERER: Steve Lavigne

Michaelangelo is in Feudal Japan looking for his brothers. A man and his two children come by and Mikey offers food and fire before they have to move on. Mikey hears horses and sees the family attacked, saving the father and son but the daughter is taken by the villains. They serve Daimyō Orkai, and the leader of the riders was his son, Tachi. The old man is actually the rightful ruler of the lands, Lord Toshiro, and the girl the Princess Tai, whom Orkai is forcing to marry Tachi to seize Toshiro’s lands. Michaelangelo heads to rescue Tai by sneaking into the fortress. He’s forced to battle a saurian thing and later finish off Tachi as Toshiro brings in an army to force Orkai into banishment. While there’s sparks between Michaelangelo and Tai he has to move on to continue searching for his brothers and return home.

I’d comment on why Mikey is fighting a dinosaur, why nobody cares that he’s a giant turtle, and how they got separated in the past but all of this is just a story he’s writing in his journal and telling to Krunk the kitty.

What they got right: I’m not going to critique Mikey’s story too much because those would be the only complaint and I don’t know how much was intended to show he’s relatively new at writing this kind of fiction. For the most part it’s actually a well told story. The artwork is for our benefit and it’s also quite good.

What they got wrong: The title comes from the Ninja Turtle wiki but that’s kind of the problem. This is a distraction from seeing the Turtles heal and prepare to return for a final showdown with the Shredder and the Foot. As it is this issue came out months later (welcome to self-publishing in the 1980s) and you have to wonder if they even have a plan at this point to return to New York or if they were even going to given Eastman and Laird were now living in Massachusetts.

What I think overall: A nice adventure but I really want them to get back to the main story already.