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TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, VOLUME 1. NOVEMBER 2012. FIRST PRINTING. 2012 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES and all related titles, logos
and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. 2012 Idea and Design Works, LLC. IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Editorial offices: 5080 Santa Fe St., San Diego, CA 92109.
The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this
publication may be reprinted without the permission of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Printed in Korea. IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork.
Originally published by Mirage Comics as TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Issues #14.
www.I DWPUBLI SHI NG.com
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Ted Adams, CEO & Publisher
Greg Goldstein, President & COO
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IDW founded by Ted Adams, Alex Garner, Kris Oprisko, and Robbie Robbins
ISBN: 9781623021788 DIGITAL
Special thanks to Joan Hilty, Linda Lee, and Kat van Dam for their invaluable assistance. Based on characters created by Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman
tISSUE #1- "A TALE OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES"
STORY BY KEVIN EASTMAN & PETER LAIRD
PENCI LS BY JIM LAWSON
I NKS BY RYAN BROWN
LETTERS BY STEVE LAVIGNE
ISSUE #2- "NOBODY' S FOOL!"
STORY BY KEVIN EASTMAN & PETER LAIRD
PENCI LS BY JIM LAWSON
I NKS BY RYAN BROWN
LETTERS BY STEVE LAVIGNE
ISSUE #3- "ALL HALLOWS THIEVES"
STORY BY KEVIN EASTMAN & PETER LAIRD
PENCI LS BY JIM LAWSON
I NKS BY RYAN BROWN
LETTERS BY STEVE LAVIGNE
ISSUE #4- "I, MONSTER"
STORY & PENCI LS BY JIM LAWSON
I NKS BY RYAN BROWN
LETTERS BY STEVE LAVIGNE
Cover by JIM LAWSON
Collecti on Edi ts by
JUSTIN EISINGER
AND ALONZO SIMON
Collecti on Desi gn by TOM B. LONG
These reprints of 1980s-era comics were intended for mature audiences, and
do not reflect todays values or those of Nickelodeon or I DW Publishing.
Except for the addition of color, the comics are presented here as originally published.
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one of my favorite things about doing the tales of the teenage mutant ninja turtles series
is that it came from the same warm and fuzzy place as the original seriesa deep-down
desire to tell the kinds of comic stories we would like to read. the tales experience,
however, was much cooler because not only did we create the characters, we got to
work with other artists whose talent we admired.
by the time 1987 rolled around, the tmntS were barely four years old, and
although we were chest-deep in conversations with toy companies and tv companies,
tales of the tmnt was still nothing more than a pipe dream. besides, peter laird and
i had the full-time job of running our publishing company, mirage studios, and were
still trying to pull off writing and drawing six issues per year of the original series.
everything was a challenge. we only had a few part-time employees (who knew as little
about publishing as we did), so we all wore lots of different hats and made the best
of it as we slogged our way through finishing, printing, and distributing each oversized
issue. mirage fans were used to seeing big stories for their $1.50; the first bunch of is-
sues averaged 36 to 40 pagestmnt issue #8 was 45 pages! but that was what we wanted
to dogive the readers stories they could sink their teeth into!
although we did our best, we were starting to get a lot of letters from fans
complaining about having to wait so long for the next chapter. after we got past the
shock of even having so many awesome fans waiting for the next chapter, peter and
i got the idea of harnessing the talents of new friends we'd made at comic conventions
to create a second tmnt series that would alternate with the original series. we would
stay heavily involved, but these stories could be one-shots, out of the regular
continuity, and we'd have a monthly schedule at last. woo! woo!
which brings me to my second favorite thing about creating the tales seriesworking
with the guys who brought it to life! guys like jim lawson, ryan brown, steve lavigne,
and dan berger were part of the first string team, and they brought it all
to the table. peter and i were already fans of their own comics, and the more wed
been talking with these guys about what we were doing in the tmnt universe, the more
each conversation would come around to: "if i did a tmnt story, i would do this"
so we gave it the thumbs up, and tales of the teenage mutant ninja turtles launched in
1987.
last but not at all least (not by a long shot!), my third favorite thing about the tales
series was the new characters we developed with the creative teams! some were cre-
ated solo, some as a group effort, but all of them are so cool. in this first
collection alone you'll see first appearances of classic tmnt universe anti-heroes like
"nobody" and "rat king"creations that also went well beyond the comic series to
television and the toy aisles.
to me, the launch of tales was very similar to the original series' beginnings,
a chaotic storm of: perfect timing, incredible fans, talented friends, and a whole lot
of fun! i sincerely hope you enjoy reading these againor for the very first time
in beautiful all-new color!
COWABUNGA indeed!
kevin eastman
london 2012
AN INTRODUCTION TO TALES OF THE TMNT
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