Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Saturday Morning Adventures Halloween Special One-Shot (Family Comic Friday)

Celebrate Halloween 2023 by taking a trip back in time to the late 1980s with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Saturday Morning Adventures Halloween Special. 

For the past couple of years now, IDW Publishing has been releasing a number of books based on kids cartoons from the 80s. While most of the cartoons in this series aired on weekdays after school and not Saturdays, I've been a big fan of these publications. 

There are 2 stories in this Halloween special. The first story has Master Splinter sending the Turtles out on patrol on a Halloween night where the heroes come face-to-face with their old nemesis, Creepy Eddie. A master of dreams, Creepy Eddie takes the turtles to his realm where Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael must make it to the end of the yellow brick road which leads to the exit by midnight or else they become slaves to Eddie! Then readers head over to Dimension X where Krang and Shredder are trying to unlock the secrets to a meteorite with mysterious properties. Shredder believes that if he can create a special sword with the space rock, he'll be able to create a powerful weapon that will make him and Krang the rulers of Earth. To do this, Shredder summons the spirit of an ancient master bladesmith who refuses to help Shredder because just doesn't like Oroku Saki's style. 

This special was so much fun. I don't really remember Creepy Eddie but then again, it's been over 35 years since I saw his single appearance on the original TMNT cartoon series. I thought the story was so funny and I loved how none of the characters took themselves too seriously. The Turtles made comments about how the retconning of Turtle history is just too confusing while Creepy Eddie was plagued by his lawyer to not be too similar to another certain dream master who also wears a striped sweater; least he violate copyright law.

The story starring the villains was also a lot of fun. Though I will admit at first I thought this was going to be a stinker. Then I remembered how funny Krang was. He thinks he's a big deal and yet he's like a toddler who thinks he's bigger and badder than he really is. As Shredder kept on yapping, I started to hear that iconic deep voice by late actor James Avery and I just didn't want this trip down memory lane to stop.

Turtles are huge this year. Thanks to a new animated movie, I saw a ton of kids dressed as their favorite Turtle during a recent trunk-or-treat event. Even though these Turtles look like they did when we 40-somethings were growing up (and that by the way, is the correct way that they should) kids will love it. Adults will love it because of the nostalgia. With tomorrow being the annual Trick-or-Read free comic giveaway at comic books stores nationwide, why not pick this one-shot special up while getting so free Halloween themed reads. It's a something the whole family enjoy- guaranteed!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

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.