When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first hit the comics scene they were AWESOME. Brutal and edgy and laced with some good Frank Miller influence.

Then they became a super smash hit, and there were TOYS and VIDEO GAMES and MOVIES and CARTOONS and more.



I guess they could have been cool. There did seem to be some nifty villains and the toys seemed to look pretty awesome.

But they came too late. How are you supposed to enjoy awesome toys when you've gotten too old to enjoy awesome toys?

Answer: You can't.

Therefore the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles missed the boat. They failed. Instead of being cool and awesome and doused in a stinking cloud of nostalgia, they are weak, lame and for kids.

Go to hell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Go to hell and die.

I've never seen them. Were they from the 1990's?

Looks cool, though. I'll youtube them and see if they come up.

Apparently they have another cartoon on Saturdays, what is this their second?

I bet it's at least their third. Lil' Taft likes it. It puts them in the future.

Characters from 1984. The whole toy/cartoon franchise started in 1987 and probably peaked with the two movies of '90 & '91.

I agree with Taft on this one. I loved the comic so much that I ripped it off and made my own "Teenage Mutant Ninja Lizards" strip. A couple of years later the cartoon show came on. My mom is still convinced that they somehow ripped it off from me.

I was 7 or 8 when the cartoon came out, so I enjoyed them immensely.

Thanks, Arvid.

I like that the franchise has managed to reinvent itself several times. It's evergreen.

My son's first action figure was Michaelangelo dressed as a Superman type superhero.

He was just two years old, but he looked at it and screamed, "MIKEY!"

I thought they were rather fun. But I was too old to fully enjoy the kids' version, and saw relatively little of the original comics. I've got the first and third volumes of the early reprint trade series from First Comics.

I loved them.

I wasn't too old. They were awesome. Mondo Gecko, Shredder, Mecha-Turtle, the Rat-King, great toys, great characters. For me, at the time.
And the video games were good, too. After the first one.

They were kind of like The Monkees to Frank Miller's Beatles.

(I am just kidding. They were The Turtles! "So happy togetherrrrrrrr!!!")

Issues #1-12 avaliable free online: http://www.ninjaturtles.com/html/comic.htm

Awesome.

Skimming that first issue now, man, that book as SO COOL. The Turtles were seriously badass.

The art is TEH GRAET.

I thought that first issue looked awfully crude. So was the concept-killer ninjas out for revenge! And they're....turtles!

Within a few issues it got really interesting. And the art got much better.

I still remember the theme song

I may have actually been too young.

The cartoon was canceled about when I started getting into cartoons and stuff, I watched a season or two and had some toys, but was never really that into it, I never saw the movies until recently.

I did enjoy their short lasted live action series on Fox Kids, especially the Power Rangers cross over.

That was bitchin'.

Should be mentioned that the original comics trump everything that came after it.

Also if you like the early comics you will like the first movie to at least some extent.

Eric W.H. Taft. Lately, Sir Whine-a-lot.