Sunday, June 15, 2008

How Radical Was TMNT?

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a staple of the comics scene anymore, spawning several dozen different comics, cartoons, and movies. The comics -- the original black and white ones by Eastman and Laird -- were indeed well done and something of a radical departure from mainstream comics at that time. (Although I believe both Eastman and Laird freely admitted to ripping off Frank Miller, Will Eisner, and a number of other great comic creators in their early days.)

The comic, at first, seemed like something of a fad, with the quirky drawings and an even quirkier name. So, not surprisingly, it also spawned a number of rip-offs, which took only the most superficial of elements with them. My father recently dropped off some more of his comics collection for me, and he actually bought many of them. I thought I'd share some of the concepts...
And, yes, these are all REAL comic books.
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