“Yesterday’s” Comic> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Meet Archie

I think Raphael is putting the moves on Betty. Can’t say I blame him.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Meets Archie (or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures according to the indicia and credits page)

Archie Comics Publications (Spring, 1991)

COVER ART: Dan DeCarlo, Ryan Brown, & Barry Grossman

COLORIST: Barry Grossman

EDITOR: Scott Fulop

“Green Legs And Gams”

PLOT: Ryan Brown & Dean Clarrain

WRITER: Dean Clarrain

PENCILERS: Ken Mitchroney (Turtles) and Stan Goldberg (Archie)

INKERS: Ryan Brown (Turtles) & Rudy Lapick (Archies, and I would love to know how that process worked)

LETTERER: Mary Kelleher

“Red Sails In The Sunset”

WRITER: Dean Larrain

ARTIST/LETTERER: Donald Simpson

“Storm Drain Savers”

WRITER: Stephen Murphy

PENCILER: Jim Lawson

INKERS: Peter Laird, Dan Berger, Michael Dooney, Steve Lavigne, & Eric Talbot (why so many?)

“Origin Of The Species”

PLOT: Ryan Brown

WRITER: Doug Brammer

PENCILER: Dave Garcia

INKER: S.R. Bissette

LETTERER: Mary Kelleher

Okay, I don’t know this run of the Ninja Turtles comics, so forgive if I don’t know why the first story features our heroes riding in the mouth of a giant talking cow head named Cudley or why he brings them to the Archie universe. At least this crossover the Archie publishers had the licence for. It’s somehow still less weird that the Punisher or Harley Quinn. On a makeout date, Archie and Betty see them show up but nobody believes they saw space aliens. At a Josie & The Pussycats concert, Veronica is captured by fake IRS agents looking to get a ransom for her, so the Turtles help Archie, Betty, and Jughead rescue her. (Also the caption gag is wrong, because the last page shows Raph making time with Veronica…though given Betty and Veronica’s history who knows?)

This is a fun adventure, and a crossover that makes sense as Archie the comic company had the license. We’ll also be seeing Sonic The Hedgehog teaming with Sabrina The Teenaged Witch at some point. One disappointment is not being able to tell which Turtle was wearing which disguise.

At least we get a time frame of reference for the next story, set between issues #16 & #17 of the full series run, just a day after burying Bubbla the Glublub…you really do need to follow this comic to get some of these characters. Man-ray at least appeared in the show and had an action figure. An empty pirate ship arrives on the island April, Man-Ray, and the Turtles are marooned on, and Raph accidentally triggers a curse that brings the bones of the pirates to “life” until they can figure out a way to break the curse. It’s a fun story, but Raph being the treasure-hunting bonehead who opens the chest to let the ghosts out seems slightly out of character, and the art style for the Turtles is kind of ugly. Looks good for April, Man-Ray, the pirate skeletons, and the scenery though.

The next story is a four paged comic originally presented by the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project for the 1990 Earth Day outreach. The original was in black and white but it was colorized for this comic. As PSA comics go, especially environmental ones, it’s not that bad. The art style is the old comic style but with larger eyes and the colorist stuck with the different colors instead of Mirage’s “everyone wears a red mask” coloring.

The last story has great art, even if it doesn’t match the show this is supposed to be a tie-in to (something I’ve gotten used to but still find annoying), but the story? Shredder gets his hands on a frozen caveman and tries to mutate him, but the experiment gives him a mammoth form and a lot of rage from the pain he’s in. Breaking up to the surface (during winter, which is an odd choice for a spring comic), he runs into the Turtles, but Mikey can see he’s in pain. Then BeBop and Rocksteady show up and manage to terminate the experiment, meaning they kill the cave mammoth man. It’s not the story I would have chosen to end the comic on given the downer ending, as the Turtles never have a chance to stop them.

Overall this is was a decent comic. The first two stories are great, the PSA isn’t terrible, and even the final story isn’t a bad story even if it’s an odd one to end out on. It’s worth checking out, but it would be nice if they explained a few things to readers who were coming into this comic blind on the Archie version of the Ninja Turtles like I was when I first read it. Even now I don’t know who or what Cudley is.