Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Encyclopedia
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...
and their supporting cast as a companion book to the main Turtles series
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage Studios)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American comic book published by Mirage Studios from 1984 to 2009. Originally conceived by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird as a one-off parody, the comic's popularity has gone on to inspire a major pop culture franchise, including three television series, four...
filling in the gaps of continuity in the TMNT universe. It was published in two distinct volumes.
Volume 1
The title's first run was from 1987–1989, released in alternating months with the regular Eastman & Laird book, with Ryan BrownRyan Brown (comics)
Ryan Brown is a comic book artist best known for his work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.-Career:Brown began inking the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1985 and continued until 1988, when he and partner Steve Lavigne began producing artwork for licensed TMNT products...
and Jim Lawson
Jim Lawson
Jim Lawson is an American comic book artist best known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Lawson created the Rat King and also co-created the series Planet Racers with Peter Laird. He is also the writer/artist of the black-and white-comic series Paleo: Tales of the Late...
handling the writing and artwork.
Although only seven issues of Volume 1 of Tales were published, it provided an opportunity to expand the TMNT character roster to include such characters as Nobody, Leatherhead
Leatherhead (TMNT)
Leatherhead is a fictional character in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. He was created in 1987 by Mirage Studios artist Ryan Brown, who also went on to create the Saturday morning cartoon series Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa for the ABC television network...
, Rat King
Rat King
The Rat King is a fictional character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles multimedia franchise. The character was created by Jim Lawson and first appeared in the comic Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 written by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird and has made various appearances since, in...
, Complete Carnage, and Radical - most of which went on to feature in the main title. Tales is also notable for borrowing a unique tradition that originated in Creepy
Creepy
Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. The anthology magazine was initially published quarterly but...
magazine: an opening splash page would feature an introduction by a TMNT character and conclude with the ominous line, "Let me tell you a story." This page also served as a showcase of sorts for a variety of guest artists. The title ceased publication in 1989 when the TMNT became a licensed property. Jim Lawson moved to Mirage's ongoing TMNT series while Ryan Brown shifted toward art and design work for TMNT licensees, including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures was a comic book series published from August 1988 to October 1995 by Archie Comics. It is mainly based on the stories of the mutant turtles Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael, and their rat sensei Splinter...
title from Archie Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
.
Volume 2
Sixteen years later, under the direction of Stephen Murphy, a relaunch of the series began publication in January 2004. The new Tales of the TMNT (as the covers read) focused on events that occur throughout the Turtles' lives, including some of the "lost" fifteen years occurring between TMNT Volumes 2 and 4. Issue #25 featured the return of the original Tales creative team of Brown and Lawson. This revived title maintained the tradition of including a "Let me tell you a story" splash page at the beginning of every issue, in homage to its 1980s predecessor. In May of 2010, the second volume ended its run with a total of 70 issues, ten times as many as its predecessor.Collected books
The original series' entire run has been collected twice as trade paperbacks, first in 1989 and again in 2007. Each version of the trade features new story contents, with the 1989 edition featuring a new 10 page back-up story at the end written & drawn by Jim Lawson. The 2007 edition features a new 27-page story by Lawson titled "Spinal Tapped" with this story taking place after issue #7 and a 4-page epilogue by Murphy & Lawson (this new trade does NOT collect the new back-up story from the 1989 edition). Plus, the 2007 edition also features new opening splash page of the opening introduction by a TMNT character "Let me tell you a story", omitting the original opening splash pages from the original issues completely. This edition also didn't feature the comics' original covers.Five volumes of the Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 series have been collected, selecting random issues, or based on linked themes/characters.
Volume 1:
- The Collected Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1 (Dec. 1989)
- Tales of the TMNT: Original Vol. 1 Series Treasury Edition (ISBN 0-9787029-9-9) (Nov. 2007)
Volume 2:
- Tales of the TMNT Collected Books Vol. I -reprints Tales of the TMNT Volume II #1, 10, 16, 18 & 26 (Oct. 2006)
- Tales of the TMNT Collected Books Vol. II -reprints Tales of the TMNT Volume II #5 and all four issues of "Tales of Leonardo: Blind Sight" (Jan. 2007)
- Tales of the TMNT Collected Books Vol. III -reprints Tales of the TMNT Volume II #6, 20, 24, 27 and 28 (June, 2007)
- Tales of the TMNT Collected Books Vol. IV -reprints Tales of the TMNT Volume II #3, 4, 13, 14 and 33 (Sept. 2007)
- Tales of the TMNT Collected Books Volume V -reprints Tales of the TMNT Volume II #2, 9, 15, 17 and 25 (Feb. 2008)