Appreciation post: the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic run that nobody talks about

Was digging through my long boxes over the weekend and counted out 31 issues of the original Mirage run I have, and realized how much darker that first arc is compared to the cartoon. I had no idea the Turtles actually fought the Shredder to what seemed like a straight up death in issue #1, and the tone is just brutal next to the Saturday morning version. How does everyone else feel about the gritty era of Eastman and Laird's work, and is there a specific issue that made you see the turtles differently?

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the_mary28d agoTop Commenter

The whole "gritty vs. cartoon" thing gets played up way too much. Yeah, they get sliced up and it's bloody, but it's still a comic about mutant ninja turtles. It's not exactly Frank Miller's Dark Knight. I read those early Mirage issues back in the day and honestly? A lot of it is just rough art and edgy pacing that feels like a 90s indie movie trying too hard. Issue #1's ending is dramatic, sure, but people act like it's some hidden masterpiece instead of just a darker take on a goofy premise. Enjoy it for what it is, but don't pretend it's some deep, serious work of art.