Issue: #1
Release: December 2012
Writers: Mateus Santolouco & Erik Burnham
Artist: Mateus Santolouco
Store: Earth Prime Comics (Burlington, Vermont)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are well-entrenched in pop culture at this point. Mainstream popularity was first attained with a television cartoon in the late '80s but I would imagine few of that show's devotees knew the characters originated in an indy comic book. I remember a junior high friend of mine completely absorbed in one of the comics over lunch, unperturbed by his snickering pals at the table. Little did any of us know how big they were about to become!
The Turtles, I must confess, never held much interest for me personally. I wasn't into comics at that age and the TV show came out when I was 14 - a bit older than the target demographic. This issue was my first time delving into the comics myself.
Much of the story for this issue takes place in feudal Japan. When the story reverts to modern day, the Turtles and their teen-speak seem misplaced. I would have been happier if the tale had remind there without the Turtles involvement at all - another instance of the annoying fusion tendency I've found to be prevalent in the current comics industry.
Any interest in joining a bloggers' book club? Please visit my link here.
My scavenger hunt was pretty straight-forward: find comic books off the rack with titles starting from A-Z. Go check out the rest of the participants in this year's A-Z challenge. The official site is here.
My kids love TMNT. Me--a little less.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has yet to discover them. I'm happy to keep it that way.
DeleteI wonder if the writers initially left out the snippet of modern-day turtles, but the publishers insisted on there being a touchstone with the more familiar characters. Marketing! :-)
ReplyDeleteI initially thought the person on the cover was gazing at a conch shell, but it's a mask! :-)
I bet you're right. I feel better blaming it on the publishers rather than the artists, too.
DeleteI had no idea the TMNT were still so popular, until I was accosted by a five year old wearing a red mask and a turtle shell, outside of the grocery store just the other day. He was so cute- and quite obviously, a die-hard TMNT fan.
ReplyDeleteThey don't seem to be going away anytime soon. A new movie is set for release in 2014.
DeleteLittle vintage Susan factoid. When I was hard-core thrifting and reselling in the early winter, spring and summer of 2010, I bought a container that I was going to list and, inside, there were a ton of old stickers that I didn't discover until after the fact. I listed some TMNT scratch and sniffs -- which I'd gotten gratis, in the end -- and sold them to a collector in Australia for $15 a strip. (I had three strips.) They smelled like pizza.
ReplyDeleteT Day seems to be a big one for the collectors. Elise Fallson (at the top of this comment thread) posted about stamp collecting today. A quick Google search just now indicated that Germany has, in fact, used scratch and sniff postage stamps.
DeleteI never liked the TMNT cartoon. However, the early comic was really good. Well, except for the size.
ReplyDeleteAnd quite the ground-breaker for indy comics as well.
DeleteThe size?
Yeah, the original comics were over-sized, so they were difficult to store. I actually don't own the first couple or few issues because of that. I couldn't figure out where I was going to keep them, so I didn't buy them. Of course, who knew what they would become?
DeleteStorage - the bane of any and all collections.
Deleteyes, it is...
DeleteYou want to buy some comics?
heh
I'm all set for the moment. My buddy Mock on the other hand... Though I think his storage system is bursting at the seams, too.
DeleteGa! You've gone mainstream with one of your picks!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. It won't happen again.
DeleteI could not believe the success of TMNT. Really crazy.
ReplyDeleteRight idea at the right moment, I guess.
DeleteNope, I'm pretty sure I didn't know they originated in a comic. I was a big fan of the 80s cartoon, but loved the movies even more (haven't seen the recent one, don't really want to).
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the movies, either. Apart from unavoidable, tangential exposure, this was really my maiden voyage with TMNT.
DeleteStopping by to say hi on the A-Z Challenge!
ReplyDeleteHi, Bob! Happy T Day!
DeleteYeah, Ninja Turtles was never really my thing- they tried to hard to be cool, with all their slang and pop culture... (believe it or not, I am NOT 90 years old!) The artwork on this looks cool though. Never read comics as a kid, but now I'm hooked on manga and manhwa... cause, yeah...I'm an adult ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy Blogging!
Kaye Draper at Write Me
Which manga do you like? We like Drops of God a lot at our house. I don't know manhwa at all. Any titles to recommend?
DeleteMy cousins had the original TMNT comics, as they had access to comic shops where I did not. I never understood the appeal.
ReplyDeleteI think you and I were a little too old - at least for the TV show, can't judge for the comics. Your cousins are a little younger and were therefore closer to the target audience.
Delete