Ninja Turtles Mutation Nation: The Green Pages

Originally published by: AJN Marketing (distributed via Playmates)

Originally packaged with: TMNT Mutation Nation Fanclub Kit

Publication date: 1997

Contents:

The Green Pages was a promotional item for the Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation TV series.

*The Ninja Turtles (character bios, 2 pages)

*Venus De Milo (character bio, 2 pages)

*Turtle Trivia (quiz, 2 pages)

*Back cover blurb from Kevin Eastman

Turtle Tips:

*The Mutation Nation fanclub kit also included a membership card, rub-on tattoos, a bandana, a banner, and the ultimate relic of the late ‘90s: a phone card (good for 5 free minutes).

*Prior to this, AJN/Playmates released a comic in the fanclub kit that promoted the 1987 TMNT line, the TMNT: Street Collector's Edition #1.

*Special thanks to Tokka and his thorough flickr account for sharing this booklet!

Review:

I think this is the first Next Mutation anything I’ve reviewed here at TMNT Entity.  And it may be the LAST Next Mutation anything I review here.  The notoriously bad series came and went in less than a year, so very little literature was ever published for the franchise.  No comics to speak of; just this dinky little guide book you could only get by joining the fanclub (and how many kids in ’97 did THAT?).

Considering it’s been a dog’s age since I last watched an episode of the show, I’m not sure if the bios include any info that didn’t make it to the screen.  They’re a bit bland, but at least they acknowledge how obnoxiously horny Michelangelo was in Next Mutation: “Now that Michelangelo is almost 18, he has matured in the follow ways: Almost none!  He does, however, crave babes as if the world was going to end tomorrow.  Michelangelo is often heard saying, ‘A warm-blooded honey needs a cold-blooded reptile!’”

Somehow, that catchphrase never caught on.

The background info makes the show sound considerably darker than it turned out, really hyping the fact that the Turtles are now “almost 18” and have grown up.  I guess something changed between when this booklet was written and the show was filmed, because Next Mutation was excruciatingly childish.  The booklet makes no mention of the gorilla mob boss or the neverending stream of circus clown sound effects that drowned out all other audio.

Being the new character to promote, Venus De Milo gets her own 2-page spread, detailing her origins and powers.  Again, prioritizing the supposedly darker tone of Next Mutation, the origin constantly refers to Chung I’s tragic death, never shying away from those troubling words “death” and “died” that American BS&P censors hate so much.  I mean, I know he died in the show and all, but the way it’s phrased makes this sound like something out of The Godfather.

There’s a weird notation in parenthesis, imbedded in the fifth paragraph that makes it clear under no uncertain terms that Venus is neither a sister nor cousin to the Turtles and is in no way a blood relative.  I have a feeling these bios might have been plucked from the actual production bible for the show, as the note is so awkwardly crammed in there, it seems like more of a heads-up for writers than an organic part of a bio meant for mass consumption.

The trivia game is, and I’m not shitting you, pretty hardcore TMNT geek stuff.  The questions are mostly themed around the original Mirage series, quizzing readers on what graphic comic book inspired the cover to TMNT #1 (Ronin), what superhero was cleverly worked into their origin (Daredevil) and what color their bandanas were (red).  It even asks you to name print runs down to the precise digit or even how many pages were in a certain issue.

It’s a pretty insane thing to quiz 7 year-olds on, which again makes me think these early Next Mutation promotions were geared at older kids or teens.  Man, I wonder how they reacted when they actually watched the show?

Lastly, the back cover includes probably the most embarrassing photograph of Kevin Eastman ever taken:

You’ll notice Laird is nowhere to be seen, probably because he condemned the production of the Next Mutation and wanted nothing to do with it.  But just to show I’m not picking exclusively on Eastman, here’s a ridiculous photo of Laird on a Segway in the mid-2000s:

The Next Mutation wound up being a catastrophic blunder, as we all know, and spelled the end of Kevin Eastman’s involvement with the brand for over a decade.  He’d sell his creative control to Laird shortly after this, and his entire stake in the franchise shortly after that.  Luckily, Eastman came back in 2011 to work on the IDW comic, and it’s really freakin’ good.  But for about 13 years, though, THIS was Eastman’s last word on the Ninja Turtles.  Yikes.

TMNT: Street Collector's Edition #1

Originally published by: AJN Marketing (distributed via Playmates)

Originally packaged with: TMNT Turtle Force Fanclub Kit

Publication date: 1988

Story and art: Unknown

Summary:

It’s Monday and the Turtles don’t have anything to do but loaf around the lair, reading their horoscopes in the paper.  However, they get the ominous feeling that something big is about to go down…

Nearby, the Purple Dragons have purloined a wrecking crane from a construction site and they’re playing “game show” with it.  Will they demolish Apartment #1 or Apartment #2?  Unfortunately, they choose Apartment #1, which just happens to be April’s place.  Knocking down the wall of her home, they immediately recognize her.  They demand she fork over her stereo and when she refuses, they send the wrecking ball careening her way.

Luckily, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello intervene, clobbering all the Purple Dragons.  Leonardo grabs the cable of the crane and cuts it with his sword.  Now off-target, the wrecking ball misses April, but takes the roof off her apartment.  Terrified, the Purple Dragons flee.

April tells the Turtles that she’s okay and the damage to her building looks worse than it is.  The only problem is the lack of a roof… a problem which is exacerbated when it begins to rain.  The Turtles tell her she can sleep in the sewers with them, nestled comfortably in a drainage valve.  April is overjoyed.

Turtle Tips:

*The Turtle Force Fanclub Kit was available as a promotion attached to Playmates action figures beginning in 1988.  The kit also included a sticker, membership card, certificate of authenticity, and a bandana.  You also received a 12-month subscription to The Chaos Chronicle newsletter.  The letter packaged with the kit welcoming new members was written by the fanclub president, “P.J. Van Egeren” (evidently a real person!).

*The author/artist for this comic was not credited.

*A similar fanclub kit would be released by AJN/Playmates in 1997, promoting the new Next Mutation line.  It featured a fact booklet instead of a comic: The Green Pages.

Review:

The Turtle Force Fanclub was something I never belonged to, though I would have sent away for a membership in a heartbeat.  Kids are suckers like that.  For a thorough rundown of the contents of the Fanclub Kit, check out this old X-Entertainment article.

The story features a rare appearance from the Purple Dragons, who premiered in TMNT (Vol. 1) #1 and promptly vanished until they were revived for the 4Kids TMNT cartoon.  This may be their only other appearance between 1984 and 2003, though I might be missing something.

At any rate, it shows that the author was familiar with the Mirage comics (Mirage is listed in the legal citations, but likely as the owners of the TMNT and not the creative force behind the comic).  As to who the author is… I haven’t a clue.  They aren’t credited.  But considering this was published through Playmates as a promotion for their toyline, it was probably one of their in-house artists.  Maybe even the person who did the comic strip origin recap on the action figure card backs:

They kind of look similar.  A little.

The story’s pretty “meh” and whoever wrote it can’t decide if the gang is called the “Purple Dragons” or the “Flaming Dragons” between pages.  The art is hard to decipher, too, especially considering how heavily inked the linework is (which wasn’t very coherent to begin with).  Still, this was a free incentive to join a TMNT fanclub in ’88 and I’m sure it thrilled its fair share of children.

Awesome Turtle Picture #35

In this installment of Awesome Turtle Pictures, I want to go back to one of my favorite wells: Playmates action figure production artwork!

But specifically, I want to highlight the amazing work of Errol McCarthy.  He's perhaps best known for his contributions to the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe line and his continuous work on the Star Wars line, but he shaped much of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures from the '80s.

Here are some of my faves.  Sorry for the watermarks, but I had to snag these pics from eBay (the first time I'd ever seen any of them made public).

First up are his designs for Ace Duck (alternatively named Smilin' Quack and Steve "Quackup" Quacken).  Ace Duck actually began as a concept from Peter Laird, but it looks like McCarthy fleshed him out.  Love the cigarette, even if it never stood a chance of making it to the toy sculpt.

Here's one I don't care all that much for, but figured I'd include because it's such a bizarre deviation: McCarthy's rendition of Casey Jones.  Evidently Playmates didn't dig it much, either, as you can tell from the red inked note saying "go back to comic".  Playmates did so and went with the Eastman-designed action figure we all remember.

Here's Dump, likely a precursor to Muck Man:

and here are my favorites: McCarthy's early designs for the fly mutant who would become Baxter Stockman.  You'll notice he isn't identified as Baxter in any of the notes, but rather by the unimaginative name "Fly Guy".  As pointed out in an earlier ATP, the fly-mutant concept originated with Peter Laird as a separate character before getting fused with Baxter Stockman somewhere along the way.

I've got lots of other toy art from McCarthy, but this seems like a good selection.  I love it when pieces like these pop up online as I'm rather fascinated with the whole action figure production process that went on behind the scenes at Playmates.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Fox Box)

Publication date: 2002
Published by: Playmates Toys

Story and art: Michael Dooney

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”

Summary:

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made a wrong turn and found themselves cornered in an alley by the Purple Dragon gang. The Dragons make fun of the freaks in the turtle costumes, but of course, those aren’t costumes.



The Turtles spring into action and jovially take out the weapon-toting thugs one at a time. As the final thug flees in terror, Leonardo orders his brothers to disappear before the police arrive.



Escaping into the sewer, Leonardo remarks, “We strike hard and fast… and then fade away… out of sight!”


Turtle Tips:

*This 8-page pack-in minicomic was distributed at Toys ‘r’ Us locations in late 2002 as part of a “Fox Box” package; a box containing promotional materials for the then-new Fox Box Saturday Morning programming block (of which the 4Kids TMNT cartoon premiered on).

*This story is essentially a retelling of the opening scenes of the first episode of the 4Kids cartoon, “Things Change”… which also makes it essentially a retelling of the opening scenes from TMNT (Vol. 1) #1.


Review:

Special thanks to the guys at The Technodrome Forums for hooking me up with scans of this comic! As you can tell, despite the massive amount of the things printed and their tremendous availability… not a whole lot of them have survived the past nine years in very good condition. Such is the fate of most promotional material handed out to 6 year-olds, alas.

While one look at that story summary will leave you thinking that this is a pretty boring little footnote in Turtle pack-in comic history, it does have one inherent value in that it’s basically the first few pages of the TMNT (Vol. 1) #1 redrawn by Michael Dooney. And for anyone who is a Michael Dooney fan, that’s kind of cool.

Though while he recreates several of the classic pages (the Turtles cornered in the alley, the two-page spread of them leaping into action, etc.), he pads most of it out with goofy “comedy fighting” and a lot of stupid oneliners. “It’s Turtle Thrashin’ Time!” “Shell-Onimo!” “Eat wood, scum!” That last one might make you snicker when taken out of context.

A lot of lines from the original Mirage comic are ported over to this thing, even moreso than what was reused for the 4Kids episode “Things Change”, which this is ostensibly a remake of. They get a bit… manhandled in the transitioning process, particularly that last one about fading away “…out of sight”. Not that it’s a big deal if a promotional cartoon pack-in comic changes a few lines of dialogue from its source material, though I’m just curious what was wrong with “…into the night”?

Anyway, like most pack-in comics, this thing is “neat” and that’s about it. The lack of having an original story might put it low on the priority list of the five people on the planet who collect these things, but the Michael Dooney art should give it a nudge up the ladder for you.

Grade: N/A (as in, “Now that’s some variety in street gang weaponry. A shotgun AND a medieval mace!?”)

Warriors of the Forgotten Sewer

Published by: Playmates Toys
Publication date: 1994

Story and art: Dan Berger

“Warriors of the Forgotten Sewer”

Summary:

Down in the sewers, Leo, Don and Mike spot a magic sword. As Leo lifts the sword up, the three Turtles suddenly find themselves transported to another time and place; a mystical world of swords and sorcery! In the process, they have been transformed into Savage Leo, Dwarf Don and Knight Mike!



They’ve little time to ponder their predicament, as they hear the sound of battle. Not far away, Warrior Bebop and Gate Keeper Rocksteady are attacking a feeble old wizard. The Turtles rush to his rescue and send the villains into retreat.



The Sorcerer turns out to be Wizard Splinter (who knows nothing of this “Master Splinter” they mistake him for), guardian of one of the four Golden Turtle Statues. If the four statues are ever united, their magical power could destroy the world (or they could be used to return the Turtles home; whichever). Giving the Turtles a steed in the form of the ferocious Sewer Warcat, Wizard Splinter charges the TMNT with collecting the remaining three statues before an Evil Knight and his minions do (wonder who that might be).

The Golden Turtle in their possession tells the TMNT to head south to the Dragon’s Crag to find the second statue. After many days of travel, they reach the cave atop the crag. Inside they are greeted by the dragon who agrees to surrender his Golden Turtle so long as they use its power wisely. Leaving, Dwarf Don remarks how simple their quest is to a paranoid Knight Mike. Savage Leo warns them he fears that the worst is yet to come…


Turtle Tips:

*This comic came packaged with the four action figures released as part of Playmates’ Warriors of the Forgotten Sewers line. Though they appear in this comic, Knight Mike, Wizard Splinter and Sewer Warcat never received toys. Presumably, they along with a Raphael toy and a Shredder toy would have been released in a follow-up to this line (Sewer Warcat and a variant of Savage Leo were promoted in the accompanying catalogue but never released), but nothing ever materialized.

*Obviously, a second comic was never produced.


Review:

Thanks to all the Turtle fans out there with scanners and patience (particularly those at The Technodrome Forums), I’ve managed to read a lot of these old pack-in comics. While some are pretty lousy, the best of the bunch rank as a “neat” which is the most you can expect from a toy pack-in strip.

Coming out in 1994 as the TMNT line from Playmates was spiraling into its death-throws, "Warriors of the Forgotten Sewer" was a rather… incomplete sub-line. Not even all the characters in this comic got figures and some didn’t even warrant an appearance at all! I guess Raph had better things to do.

While not all these comics had easily identifiable artists (and as is still the practice with this sort of thing, writers and artists are not credited), this one is clearly the work of Dan Berger, whose style is a cinch to spot. I’m quite a sucker for his work and I always wished he’d had a chance to do some issues of Archie’s TMNT Adventures title. His work on Mirage’s Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) was always a treat, but his style seemed very suited for the lighter Fred Wolf and Playmates universe of the Turtles. So seeing him take a whack at that universe, even if only in a 10-page minicomic, elevates the thing for me.

I feel kind of stupid critiquing the “story” to this thing, since as a rule toy pack-in literature exists only to give kids a general idea of the kinds of adventures they could have with their new action figures. I generally didn’t care for any of the “goofy” versions of the Turtles from Playmates, even as a kid. I mean, what kid would possibly want something as insipid as “Birthday Party Leo” or “Circus Clown Michelangelo”? What the Hell could they possibly do with a toy like that (except maybe follow a storyline that sees Mike possessed by the ghost of John Wayne Gacy)? On the other hand, "Warriors of the Forgotten Sewer" grants us all the opportunity to see the Turtles with hair. I hope you all enjoyed that.

Grade: N/A (as in, “Now I realize we completely missed our opportunity for a Tavern Wench April. Darn”.)

The Savage Dragon (Playmates toy pack-in comic)

Originally packaged with: Playmates The Savage Dragon and Jim Lee’s TMNT toylines
Publication date: 1995

Script and thumbnails: Erik Larsen
Art: Michael Dooney
Inks: John Cleary
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Colors: Reuben Rude

Summary:

Cruising the streets of Chicago in his experimental pursuit bike, Officer Dragon’s joyride is interrupted by a call from dispatch telling him to break up a freak-fight at 5th and Madison. Dragon turns around and heads for the fight.

At 5th and Madison, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are doing battle with Officer Dragon’s buddies, Barbaric and the She-Dragon. Barbaric and She-Dragon mistakenly think they’ll make short work of the Turtles, but Don is quick to point out their folly, as their lifetime of ninja training coupled with their recent cyborg enhancements have made them a formidable force. To demonstrate Don’s point, Leo chops She-Dragon’s flowing blonde locks into a sassy mohawk.

Officer Dragon arrives on the scene, but before he can break things up, a building is knocked over on his head. Now “battle damaged”, Dragon bursts through the rubble and tells everyone to cool it. He reveals that he knows both teams and he knows that both are upstanding citizens. Barbaric and She-Dragon admit that they mistook the Turtles for members of the Vicious Circle. The Turtles, as it happens, explain that they actually came to Chicago from New York to team-up with Dragon and fight the Vicious Circle, as the villains had kidnapped a friend of theirs.

With no more time to waste, Officer Dragon rallies his team to go take the Vicious Circle head-on.


Turtle Tips:

*This comic was packaged with the seven different toys featured across both of Playmates’ The Savage Dragon and Jim Lee’s TMNT toylines.

*There were 7 different covers to this comic, each one unique depending on which toy it was packaged with. The contents of the comic are the same across all versions.  Cover artists were: Erik Larsen (Dragon toy), Erik Larsen & Simon Bisley (Battle-Damage Dragon toy), Dave Johnson (She-Dragon toy), Victor Bridges (Barbaric toy), Michael Dooney (Donatello toy), John Cleary (Michelangelo toy), and "Kirby & Friend" (Raphael toy).

*Although I wouldn’t qualify this pack-in comic as canon with either the TMNT or Savage Dragon comic series, Dragon mentions that he’d met the Turtles before, and he did so several times, beginning with The Savage Dragon #2.

*It is never stated who exactly the Vicious Circle has kidnapped (ten bucks on April). The descriptions on the backs of the toy cards don’t divulge much additional story info, only that the Shredder (who is oddly referred to as a “mutant”) has teamed up with Overlord (leader of the Vicious Circle) and his scheming has brought the Turtles to Chicago.


Review:

Well, this was predictably terrible, but toy pack-in comics usually are. I think the key difference here is that it was a terrible comic packed-in with a terrible toyline.

Jim Lee’s TMNT were pretty garishly designed and completely logically bonkers by even Playmates standards, and they're the company who burdened the toy aisles with “Magician Raphael” and “Birthday Party Clown Michelangelo”. So to say these things were ugly and stupid should give you a pretty solid idea of how harshly I condemn them.

Infamously among collectors, Leonardo never got a figure released in the toyline. But, once you see how Jim Lee designed him, in that inexplicably red spandex bodysuit with those ridiculously dorky metal “ear wings”, perhaps it was an act of mercy on the part of Playmates. A prototype of the toy WAS produced and displayed at the 1995 Toy Fair, however:



Larsen manages to work all the toys from the line-up into this comic, including the two versions of Officer Dragon (uniform and “battle damage”). It’s all contrived and stupid, but par for the course with toy pack-in material, to be fair. Artwise, well, he and Dooney had to try and draw Jim Lee’s TMNT and make them look cool, so they were predestined to fail the moment they sharpened their pencils.

The catalogue section in the back of the comic features two pages: one describing the Savage Dragon line (created to tie-in with the short-lived USA cartoon series) and one describing the Jim Lee’s TMNT line. I found the rationalization for the TMNT line to be pretty flimsy, as it’s a paragraph claiming that at very long last the Turtles have “rediscovered their comic book roots”. So, despite the fact that between 1984 and 1995 the Turtles had had at least one comic book in continuous publication at all times, it took Jim Lee and his generic '90s superhero template to reunite the characters with their “comic book roots”?

Don’t make me gag.

Jesus, I shouldn’t even be dignifying this thing with a review. But I’ve already eaten dinner and put on my sweat pants, so shit, I’ve got nothing else going on tonight.

Grade: F (as in, “For real, the only thing worse than this comic or this toyline is USA’s Savage Dragon cartoon. That thing was almost lethally awful”.)