In 2014, IDW published 4 different versions of the TMNT 30th Anniversary Special anthology.
The Direct Market version is the standard, containing 5 stories as
well as bonus pin-ups from artists new and old and a brief introduction
summarizing the history of the franchise.
However, 3 alternate versions of the Special were
released as convention exclusives, each boasting different bonus content in
addition to all the material from the Direct Market edition.
Here, I’ll make an effort to catalog those differences
for posterity’s sake…
Capital City Comic Con Edition
Publication date: July 11 – 13, 2014
Cover: Paolo Pantalena (pencils), Nei Ruffino (colors)
Additional contents:
*Unique introduction by Kevin Eastman
*Reprint of “You Had To Be There”
*15 pages of artwork by Eastman (pin-ups, posters, but mostly just comic
pages)
Turtle Tips:
*There was also a blank cover variant for convention sketches.
*The reprint of “You Had To Be There” is listed as a “rare
story” on the inside cover. It’s
actually one of the most-reprinted of Eastman’s short TMNT comics.
*This run was limited to only 1000 copies.
Alamo City Comic Con Edition
Cover: Mike DeBalfo (pencils), Ula Mose’ (colors)
Additional contents:
*Unique introduction by Kevin Eastman
*20 pages of artwork by Eastman (mostly old sketches and
promo pin-ups, some IDW cover layouts)
Turtle Tips:
*There was also a blank cover variant for convention sketches.
*The inside cover credits Eastman for a “rare story”, but
there is no additional story in this version.
*This run was limited to only 500 copies.
New York City Comic Con Edition
Publication date: October 9 – 12, 2014
Cover: Mike DeBalfo (pencils), Juan Fernandez (colors),
Adelso Corona (inks)
Additional contents:
*Unique introduction by Kevin Eastman
*18 pages of artwork by Eastman (cover layouts, sketches,
comic pages, and lots of rare odds and ends)
Turtle Tips:
*There was also a blank cover variant for convention
sketches.
*The inside cover credits Eastman for a “rare story”, but
there is no additional story in this version.
*This run was limited to only 500 copies.
Review:
A special thanks to TMNT fan “Enscripture” for helping me
sort out all these different con exclusive editions of the Special. I actually attended the Alamo City Comic Con
as a vendor (working the Ninjaink booth), but I didn’t pick up a copy.
Looking over the contents of the con editions, some
seemed to get a better deal than others.
The credits for “rare story” appearing in each edition while only
Capital City got the actual “rare story” is a bit troubling. I’m guessing they used the same layout
template for the credits/intro page and didn’t properly adjust it to reflect
the actual unique contents of each edition.
“You Had To Be There” isn’t actually that rare, though, having been
reprinted at least 3 different times in the past, so it’s an easy find if you
missed out on it in your edition.
The bonus art galleries vary between them, but are mostly
made up of the same stock of stuff.
While Capital City got the actual bonus story, I think they received the
weakest assortment of bonus art. The
majority is just scans of pages from issues of the comic; nothing rarely seen
or surprising. Alamo City and New York
City have assortments consisting mostly of sketches and IDW cover layouts with
a few promo pin-ups thrown in for good measure.
I think New York got the coolest stuff out of them all; mostly cover
sketches but also some little odds and ends you don’t see too often.
All in all, if you own the Direct Market edition like I
do, then I wouldn’t really recommend you go out of your way to pick these
up. Most of the content can be found in
Eastman’s Artobiography and Heavy Metal’s TMNT 25th: A Quarter Century Celebration (both of which are currently in print via IDW). Eastman’s unique intros, too, don’t speak
specifically to each convention and are just rewordings of the same promotions
(“There’s a movie coming out!” “Watch
the Nick cartoon!” “I’m not married to
Julie Strain anymore!”).
Still, for collectors, these might be of some interest,
especially with their scarce print runs.
