Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, Volume 1

 This IDW Publishing collection reprints the first four issues of Eastman & Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures (Volume 2) series published by Archie Comics in the early 90s. Now you might be thinking 'what in the heck is a gritty series like the Turtles being published by a goody-goody publisher like Archie?' Well, the answer is quite simple- this series is based on the kids cartoon series of the same name.

    While at this time Mirage issued a series that was gritty and more for adults, Archie released titles based on the cartoon series that ran from 1987-1996. In 1988, Archie put out a 3-issue miniseries based on the first five episodes of the show, which were packaged as a self-contained miniseries, much like GI Joe did years earlier. Playmates, the company that owned the rights to produce action figures based on the property, were hesitant to go through with a large production run unless it could be proven that the Turtles could carry an animated series. With the show an instant success, Playmates green lit a complete run of figures, playsets, and, of course, a full series of cartoons. (This also explains why the first figures of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo looked more like the original Eastman & Laird designs as opposed to their Murakami-Wolf-Swenson counterparts.)

     When Archie began a full series they were in quite a rush to meet production and public demands. So, the first four issues of the second volume were adaptations of the first two episodes of season 2 (The Return of the Shredder and The Incredible Shrinking Turtles.) I can't really recall if writers Dave Garcia and Beth & Ken Mitchroney were faithful to the storylines. It's been years since I have seen these episodes. But the artwork by Garcia and Mitchroney were pretty faithful to the main characters. April's assistant Irma and rival reporter Vernon however, look nothing like they did on TV. 

     I found this book at my local library and I am glad I did. I've been dabbling in whether or not to collect this series or not. I didn't want to spend a lot of time and money on a series only to find that it was childish, or corny, or even worse- LAME. But I liked what I read and I am more than willing to officially put the Archie incarnations on my wish list. With IDW releasing these books in collected form, I might even save a little money if I decide to go the collected treasury route (and I may have to as some of the later issues are very pricey.)
  
    A tubular trip back to the early days of the kid-friendly Ninjas Turtles.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.