Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures is an American comic book series published by Archie Comics from 1988 to 1995. The series was aimed at a younger audience than other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics of the period, and ran for 72 issues, alongside annuals, specials, and miniseries.
Publication history Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures debuted in August 1988 as a three-part miniseries and was aimed at a younger audience than Mirage Studios' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series. It initially adapted episodes from the 1987 animated television series, but by issue #5, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird handed the comic over to Mirage artists Ryan Brown and Stephen Murphy. Under their guidance, the series moved to original storylines, often incorporating social and environmentalist themes, and introduced several new characters. The main series ran for 72 issues, ending in October 1995; in addition, there were numerous annuals, specials and, miniseries. An ongoing spinoff series, Mighty Mutanimals, features a team of supporting characters.
Major story arcs
Heroes in a Half Shell: Mini-series #1–3 This mini-series adapts the first five episodes of the 1987 TV series: "Turtle Tracks", "Enter the Shredder", "A Thing About Rats", "Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X", and "Shredder & Splintered". The Turtles team up with April O'Neil and confront Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady.
Issues #1–4 This issues adapt the second-season episodes of the animated series: "Return of the Shredder" and "The Incredible Shrinking Turtles". The Eye of Sarnath plot thread is developed in future issues, where it differs from the animated series.
Issues #5–11 Introduces fellow mutants, Man-Ray, Leatherhead, Wingnut and Screwloose (who later form the Mighty Mutanimals). This issues also introduce Cudley the Cowlick, Stump Asteroid and its intergalactic wrestling, the polluted Earth in the future. After returning from Stump Asteroid, the Turtles meet Wingnut and Screwloose who seek revenge on Krang for destroying their home planet Huanu, and later confront the Rat King. The Turtles battle the mutant villains, Wyrm and Scumbug, as well as the spy-turned-mutant, Chameleon. These issues offer different character origins and interpretations from those in the animated series.
Issues #12–13 The Turtles are recruited by Cherubae to battle the Malignoids, an alien, bug-like army sent out by Maligna. The battle is exploited by Stump Asteroid television. The Turtles are joined by Leatherhead, Wingnut and Screwloose, and other intergalactic wrestlers. Shredder, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady are connected with the alien threat, and Cherubae banishes them across the universe as punishment. Cherubae is revealed to be the sorceress who mutated Leatherhead. Then Leatherhead renounces his former role and becomes a wrestling idol on Stump Asteroid.
Issues #14–18 The Turtles return to Earth just rescue April O'Neil from poachers in the Amazon rainforest. They are aided in their tropical adventures by Jagwar, Dreadmon, and Man-Ray. Upon their return to New York City, Mondo Gecko is introduced and joins the Turtles after he mutation complicates his relationship with his girlfriend, Candy Fine.
Issues #19–20 Evil businessman, Null, sends his alien lackeys, Scul and Bean, to attack the Turtles. The Turtles, Splinter, April, and Mondo Gecko are rescued by rats which Splinter summons to chew through their ropes. Having beaten Scul and Bean to a standstill, the aliens escape (but not before Raphael and Mondo can sneak aboard their spacecraft). Together with Man-Ray, Jagwar, Dreadmon, Leatherhead, Wingnut and Screwloose (the newly formed Mighty Mutanimals), Raph and Mondo defeat the alien warlord, Maligna (this arc overlaps with the events of Mighty Mutanimals mini-series #1–3). While Raphael is away fighting with the Mighty Mutanimals, the remaining Turtles meet Chu Hsi, a firefighter in Chinatown, New York City who is empowered with an ancient Warrior Dragon (popularly known as "Hothead") spirit after an old man tries to help him by throwing some mystic East Asian substance into a burning house where the firefighter tries to help a child. Together with their new ally they defeat a giant Foot robot, which is later revealed to have been a ruse by Shredder to get the Turtles to show themselves. The Warrior Dragon defeats the giant Foot robot by throwing it on the Statue of Liberty.
Issues #21–25 April O'Neil is revealed to have obtained competence with the katana sword under Splinter's instruction, and together they aid the Turtles in their battles against Vid Vicious and Shredder. Raphael returns to help defeat Shredder and aid his friends in the final fight with Krang, who has allied with Bellybomb to take possession of Shredder's body. The alien turtle Slash battles the Turtles for the first time. The Turtles remove Krang from Shredder's body and remind Shredder he owes them.
Issues #26–27 This storyline explores environmental political issues. In The Keeper, an extraterrestrial spacecraft lands in Tibet, and out comes Boss Salvage who abducts rare animals from the Earth, among them the Yeti T'Pau who searches help by Splinter. Boss Salvage also abducts the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and a merman. The reason is that he sees no future for them on the Earth because of pollution, but the Yeti persuades Boss Salvage that there still is hope, referring to all who are engaged in environmental politics. In In the Dark, animals are mutated after illegal industrial pollution in Innsmouth, Massachusetts and April makes a report about illegal pollution. She calls the turtles, and they also get help from the local teenage girl Beth Ann. The mutants want revenge on humanity, and poison the food with substances that put humans in a zombie-like state.
Mightnight Sun: Issues #28–30 Continued from the April O'Neil backup stories in issues #24–27, the Turtles, Splinter, and April travel to Japan (by stowing away aboard an airplane) to rescue Fu Sheng and Chu Hsi (Chu Hsi is the human alter ego of The Warrior Dragon from issue #20) since Chu Hsi is kidnapped by ninjas in Chinatown, New York City and sent to Hiroshima, Japan. They battle the samurai-masked villain Chien Khan (a fusion of the French word for 'dog' and the Turkish/Mongol term for 'great leader;' essentially "Dog King", since he is really an anthropomorphic dog) and his humanoid vixen warrior, Ninjara. Chien Khan forces Fu Sheng to summon the Warrior Dragon (if not he will use a knife to kill a young teenage girl, the street child Oyuki Mamisha who later becomes friend to April O' Neil) whom Chien Khan uses to brainwash with a witchcraft and destroy a nuclear power plant and set free an interdimensional demon. Chien Khan's recklessness regarding the nuclear plant enrages Ninjara, who decides to help the Turtles defeat him. Through meditation, Splinter is able to summon the ancient deities, Izanagi and Izanami, who defeat the demon and free the Warrior Dragon from Chien Khan's witchcraft. The Turtles and Ninjara defeat Chien Khan and his men before he escapes in the confusion. Ninjara has a change of heart. She decides to accompany the Turtles and leave her criminal life behind.
Issues #31–36 The heroes have further adventures in Japan, the Japanese culture and religion is studied, and gangsters who illegally make money on sumo wrestling are stopped. Raphael and Ninjara become close and April and Chu Hsi share a kiss. The Turtles, Splinter and Ninjara begin a long quest on land and sea heading west while the human characters fly back to New York City. In Tibet the heroes fight, with the help of a four armed anthropomorphic tiger named Katmandu, to protect the incarnation of a lama (who happens to be Charlie Llama, an anthropomorphic llama) from the evil Chinese wizard Mang-Thrasha who kidnapped Charlie Llama from his Crystal Palace. The Whirling Dervishes and skeleton versions of them are fought. When the group finally arrive, Charlie Llama dies while a young woman gives birth to a child. Journeying through the deserts in the Middle East, the group is attacked by Al'Falqa who believes they have stolen the Black Stone of Mecca. The sacred stone has actually been stolen by Shredder and a cat mutant, Verminator-X, from the future. The black stone is saved by the heroes before the villains disappear in a mysterious vortex-window. They also plan to kidnap Splinter, but give him back since Shredder owes the Turtles after they helped him escape from Krang.
Issue #37 Cudley the Cowlick appears in the Middle East desert before the gang and proposes to take them to Stump Asteroid for another wrestling competition. If the Turtles participate Cudley will then drop everyone back on Earth at any location they desire, including New York. The Turtles agree, compete against each other, and Donatello emerges victorious and also defeats Cryin' Houn', here known as "El Mysterio".
Issues #38–39 In a three issue crossover with the Mighty Mutanimals (one of the issues was a Mighty Mutanimals comic), the Turtles fight the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Null in Brazil.
Issues #40–41 In issue #40, as he and his brothers sail home, Donatello is taken by a spirit to 1492 where he and his brothers encounter Christopher Columbus (who reached the Americas that year). The Turtles must defend the natives from Columbus' raids, but it all turns out to be in vain as the natives are either captured as slaves or die of disease. In #41, Raphael, while on a date with Ninjara to show her around New York City, is reminded of the Turtles battle against a mammoth mutant. The parts of the story in the present are drawn by Chris Allan, while the flashbacks are drawn by Ken Mitchroney, who drew the earlier issues of the comic in the era the flashbacks take place in.
The Future Shark Trilogy: Issues #42–44 The Turtles, Splinter and Ninjara are taken to the future by the future versions of Raph and Don. Don explains how in the future, some time after Splinter's death because of old age, global warming has melted the polar ice caps and left most of New York City under water. The present-day Turtles have already seen this earlier, after a mistake by Cudley the Cowlick after their first visit to the Stump Asteroid, and said it was a possible future. This created a rat problem but Don invented robot traps to eliminate the rats, much to the Rat King's chagrin. His robots won Don fame and wealth, which he used to fund his company Turtleco, along with a talented young cat mutant named Manx. Manx began to enhance himself as a cyborg named Verminator-X, obsessed with becoming immortal. Soon he and Don were archenemies.