Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 ★★★☆☆

 

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Title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
Authors: Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 53
Words: 3K

Synopsis:

The origin story of how the Turtles came to be and how Shredder became their nemesis. Parodying Daredevil, the turtles and an intelligent rat named Splinter get covered in green ooze and get bigger and more intelligent. Splinter's owner was a martial arts master who killed a man trying to kill his fiance. They fled to the US since the Foot was stupid. The dead man's younger brother comes up through the ranks and is given a chance to establish the Foot in New York and to kill Splinter's owner. He kills them. So when the turtles start growing, Splinter teaches them all he knows and they go after Splinter. He falls off a building with a thermite grenade in his hands. The turtles walk away, convinced the threat is gone.

There is a short story afterwards about Donatello trying to get a newspaper and his misadventures. He falls off a building into a garbage bin, which is then emptied into a full garbage truck. Once he gets out of that he slips on a banana peel, falls through a glass window in a chemical factory and falls into pink dye. Then he gets a bundle of papers thrown at his head. He finally makes it home, stinking of garbage, pink and with a whole bundle of papers. Wasn't his night.

My Thoughts:

Oooph, this was rough. I mean literally. It is black and white drawings that were around the 400x500px mark. I either had to squint or zoom in and make things slightly blurred to read it. I chose to zoom in. I'm hoping the future issues are of better quality. But even still, this was rough pencilled stuff, just like what you'd expect from someone trying to do something as quickly as possible who didn't have a lot of money.

The origins of the TMNT are pretty well known to most comic fans (and with the advent of the movies, all bad in my opinion AND the tv series in the 90's, to many non-comic fans) so this really wasn't a new experience.

Just like any mythology, it is always best to look at the original and start at the beginning instead of relying on other interpretations through other mediums. For example, go read the book of Exodus instead of relying on the movie The 10 Commandments. I am considering this an exploration of a cultural mythology and not just me reading some old comics. Sounds much more intellectual and hoity toity, just like me.

★★★☆☆