The early issues of Mirage Studio's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book have been very collectible for a long time. Like many successful comic books, TMNT has had most of its early issues reprinted and made available regularly if not continuously since its debut in 1984. In this article I would like to discuss some issues regarding the reprinting of the various black and white comic books published by Mirage Studios during the 20th Century,
Mirage Studios began when Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird combined their talents to draw and publish comic books. They began publishing books with Gobbledygook #1 & #2, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. When TMNT #1 was a success, comic book publishing became their occupations. Mirage Studios mainly published black and white comic books and they published 62 issues of TMNT, later retroactively grouped as "Volume 1" between 1984 and 1993. Other early important TMNT comic books included the five one-shot Micro-Series (Raphael, Fugitoid, Michaelangelo, Donatello & Leonardo, 1985-86) and the seven issues of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-89).
Gobbledygook #1 & #2
Gobbledygook #1 & #2 were Mirage Studio's first "published" comic books. Both issues were released at the same time and in early 1984. They advertised the first issue of TMNT #1 on their back covers using a portion of the artwork that appears on TMNT #1.
Gobbledygook #1 contains chapters one and two of the Fugitoid story, and Gobbledygook #2 contains chapters three and four. Chapters five, six and seven were written later and published in the Fugitoid One-Shot, which included chapters one through four. Both Gobbledygook issues also included other, unrelated works from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird to get the page count to 24 for each issue.
A good amount of the extra (non-Fugitoid) material in Gobbledygook #1 and #2 can be found in the much, much more common Gobbledygook Volume 2, #1, including "Only a Loser", "Don't Sleep on Main Street" and some of "The Farout Art of Peter Laird."
When I wrote "published" in the first paragraph of this heading, I meant to convey that term in the loosest sense. Gobbledygook was photocopied onto regular 8.5 x 14 copy paper and folded and stapled together in the middle by Eastman and Laird themselves. Gobbledygook did not appear on many comic book racks or shelves, you had to order the issues directly from Mirage. Mirage would have placed advertisements in comic book journals and periodicals for these books. Some might have been given to friends and at conventions. About 50-150 copies of each issue were made. Due to the commonplace nature of the materials used and the handmade production, the books were easily counterfeited. Some counterfeits have yellow covers but the originals had black and white covers.
Authenticated copies of Gobbledygook #1 & #2 can sell for thousands of dollars. The yellow counterfeits can also go for high prices, but their prices are more volatile. Eastman has authenticated several copies of these books. CGC (Certified Guarantee Company) may only grade copies which have been authenticated by him. (PGX (Professional Grading eXperts) has graded copies in the past). He had access to the master proofs and made a small second printing in the 2000s but marked them with a red dot so they could be distinguished from 1984 copies.
TMNT #1 - How Many Printings?
TMNT #1 has been reprinted many, many times, more times than some editions of the Bible! The first three printings are nearly identical and were printed in an oversize format. Unlike Gobbledygook, TMNT was printed on newsprint using a web offset lithographic printing process. The cover was printed on glossy paper stock. Most copies of the first and second printings will be in CGC-graded boxes and will command thousands or even tens of thousands depending on several factors, including the grade (which ranges from 0.0 to 10.0) and the market demand at the time of the sale.
Part 1 - First, Second & Third Printings (1984-85)
First printing was published in May, 1984 but the inside front cover does not have printing information. The back cover has an ad for Gobbledygook #1 and #2. 3,275 copies were printed. Cover art and Lettering by Eastman. (All reprints use Eastman's lettering unless stated otherwise).
Second printing indicates "Second Printing / June 1984" on the inside front cover and replaced the Gobbledygook ad with an ad for T-Shirt Iron-Ons featuring the TMNT characters. It should be noted that the order form gives an post office box number for Sharon, Connecticut whereas the inside front cover for the first and second printings gives a post office box number for Dover, New Hampshire. 6,000 or 6,250 copies were printed.
Third printing indicates "Third Printing / February 1985" on the inside front cover and has the T-Shirt Iron-Ons ad seen in the second printing. The inside front cover of the third printing gives the post office box number for Sharon, Connecticut. A third printing has four distinct instances of red blood in the second "T" in "Turtles" whereas the first two printings only have a single spot of blood. 35,000 copies were printed.
It has been observed that the second printing uses a slightly lighter shade of red on the cover art than the first printing and that the third printing is lighter than the second. When put together side by side, third printing looks pink in the artwork than the first printing by comparison.
The first three printings of TMNT #1 were oversized. The printings vary a little in length and width, but are in the range of 10.9375-10.875"l x 7.5-7.375"w. Other than the covers, these printings contain nothing other than the forty pages of the main story.
Digression - TMNT #1 Counterfeits
TMNT #1 due to its notoriety and high prices has been counterfeited several times. Counterfeits fall into three general categories.
The first type is the "bleached" second or third print. These books have had the "Second Printing / June 1984" and "Third Printing / February 1985" bleached out from the inside front cover. They should be easy to spot because the ad on the rear cover will not be for Gobbledygook, which is exclusive to a true first print. As third printings tend to be passed off more often than second printings due to their higher print runs, their covers will show the extra blood.
The second type of counterfeit is a partial counterfeit. In this situation the glossy cover page sheet has been forged but the interior contents of the book, which use newsprint, are from a second or third printing. These are harder to spot but the red color on the cover should be much weaker than any real printing and the detail and color in the heavily cross-hatched areas of Eastman's artwork may be lost. A forged cover may also cut off a bit of the top right corner of Gobbledygook #2's cover on the rear interior page due to misalignment.
The third type of counterfeit is a completely pirated book. These have been around for a long time, Eastman and Laird were complaining about them in TMNT's Turtle Tracks column by 1987! Like any analog copying process the quality will not appear as good as an original printing and may have cropped panels, crooked layouts, fuzzy outlines, use higher quality paper and show other instances of obvious non-originality.
It is stating the obvious that if someone is going to spend the money on a first or second print, they should only be buying a graded copy from a reputable company like CGC. Graded CGC books are in doubly sealed clear plastic enclosures. In professional circles the thinner inner seal is called the well and the thicker other seal is called the slab. The two halves of the well and then the slab are fused together with a pressurized ultrasonic welding process. The slab can be cracked or heated and resealed with a real book swapped for a counterfeit one and then the slab would be resealed. Alternatively the grading label can be counterfeited. Look carefully at the edges of the enclosure, the posts in the bottom corners and the printing on the grading label. It is much harder to inspect a book enclosed in a plastic case, especially via photographs, than if you have the pages in your hands. Other prudent measures, such as researching whom you are buying from and being wary of a price that sounds too good to be true, should be taken. If in doubt do not buy it, these books always appear to be on the market.
Another scam which has hit the news recently which deserves attention is the abuse of the CGC reholdering process. Reholdering is a process where an owner would send a CGC graded and enclosed book into CGC because the outer enclosure became cracked or separated and needed to be resealed. Alternatively a book owner may request a reholdering because there was new information to add to the grading label about the book or to upgrade a slab. One unscrupulous comic book owner discovered a flaw in the system. He found that CGC would take the book out of the slab and put it into a new slab without reinspecting the book which remained inside its original well. So what he would do is he would take a graded copy of a book with a high grade, crack the enclosure just enough to let the book slip out and then slip in another copy of the same book with a lower grade, reseal it and ship it off to CGC. What he got back was his lower quality book enclosed with a label that gave the high grade value for the book he took out in the first place. A fraudulent sale could have followed. CGC identified 350 books which may have been affected, and there was one copy of TMNT #1 First Printing in its list and it appears to have been caught by CGC.
Earlier Mirage-era Reprintings (1985-92)
Returning from being sidetracked on the topic of counterfeiting, a sad commentary on humanity to be sure, let me return to legitimate reprints. This section and the next two sections cover single-issue reprints, collection reprints are covered in other sections below.
Fourth printing (and later printings except where noted) uses the standard comic-book size, 10.25"l x 6.25"w. It has a new, full-color cover. It also has five pages of the original concept artwork for the turtles, Splinter and Shredder. Cover art by Eastman and Laird. 60,000 copies were printed. Dated September, 1985.
Fifth printing has a new cover with the artwork sepia toned by Eastman and Laird. It also includes a backup story "Not One Word". The lettering was redone by Steve Lavigne. There were fewer copies of the fifth printing than the fourth printing. Dated November 1988.
TMNT #1 Special Deluxe Edition (a.k.a. sixth printing) used the original Eastman artwork (with extra blood from third printing) and lettering underneath the banner "Special Deluxe Edition". Has an introduction by Harlan Ellison, early sketches and ads and press releases for the comic. Interior artwork is sepia-toned. Dated August 1992.
Later Mirage-era Reprintings (2005-09)
PBBZ Comic Con reprint has a new cover and letters by Laird. Dated May 2005. The shading is very different from printings published in the 1980s. 3,000 copies were printed.
Gamestop Pre-order reprint used the original Eastman artwork and lettering underneath a "Vol. 1. Reprint Special TMNT The Video Game Limited Edition" banner. Dated 2007. Rear cover is dedicated to an ad for the TMNT 2007 video game. This TMNT video game was based off the animated movie which was released the same year.
Free Comic Book Day reprint used the original Eastman artwork and lettering underneath a "Free Comic Book Day" banner. Dated May 2009. It has a 25th Anniversary logo on the back cover and a barcode.
Color Special #1 reprint has a new, full-cover color by Laird and Lavigne. Interior Colors by Lavigne, original lettering by Eastman. Dated November 2009.
IDW & Nickeleodon/Viacom Authorized Printings (2012-present)
TMNT Color Classics #1 uses colorized version of Eastman's original cover art. Colors by Tom Smith's Scorpion Studios. Dated May 2012.
Insight Editions "mini-comic" looks almost identical to a First or Second Printing but it is not only smaller in length and width than those oversize books, it is smaller than a standard comic book. It measures about 9"l x 6"w. It was included in a pouch with the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History" from July 2014.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Artisan Edition reproduces the layout sketches and inks of the first issue as well as the final version, released August 2017.
Kickstarter Exclusive Edition uses original Eastman artwork on front cover, ad for City Fall board game on back, released 2018.
Loot Crate Edition uses the original Eastman artwork but has IDW and "LOOTCRATE" on the front cover.
Shattered Comics reprint uses an altered version of Eastman's original artwork and is printed in an oversize format. Released in summer of 2020 in two variants, red and black and white.
Lenticular Cover is a 2023 reprint from Bottleneck Gallery which sports a lenticular cover for Eastman's original artwork.
Vol. 1 40 Anniversary Exclusive was issued by KevinEastmanstudios.com in 2024 and has three cover variants with a new cover, a red one and a black and white one by Eastman and Laird, and a sepia tone with blue outlines by Eastman. The books are printed in an oversize format using as many of the original materials and production methods as possible.
Second (and Third) Printings of Note of Later Issues
Mirage reissued most of their older comics at some point in the late 1980s with new cover art and often new extras outside the main story. TMNT #2 had three printings, the third printing is the updated one. TMNT #3 had an early print run for the 1985 NY Comic Con which goes for extra money ("Laird" on the front cover is much more white than the blue of the commonly available color.) TMNT #3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Raphael #1 and Michaelangelo #1 were all given a second printing where the extra content is not identical to the first. These printings are also valuable because they contain new Turtle Tracks, the Eastman/Laird editorial column. Lavigne's lettering is used for TMNT#3 - #4 & Raphael #1 on reprints and collections instead of Eastman's. TMNT #2 3rd printing still uses Eastman's lettering but later reprints will use Lavigne's.
TMNT #18 and #32 had second printings, in color, from Mirage. Their original printings are in B&W.
IDW reprinted colorized versions of TMNT #1-7. #9-11, Raphael #1, Michaelangelo #1, Donatello #1 and Leonardo #1 as single issues in their Color Classics series.
Mirage-published Collections
TMNT The Collected Book Volume One includes TMNT 1-11 and, Raphael #1, Michaelangelo #1, Donatello #1 and Leonardo #1. It had four distinct versions. First printing had B&W Cover Art by Eastman and Laird, released 1988 in softcover. Also was released in 1988 in hardcover with color artwork dustjacket by Eastman, limited to 1000 copies. Second printing had Color Cover Art by A.C. Farley, released May 1990. Third printing added Fugitoid #1 and uses artwork from TMNT #1, page 34 for its cover, released July 2009.
There were seven volumes of the collected book in total published by Mirage. Volumes Two through Seven each reprint three issues each and are much thinner volumes as a result.
Soul's Winter reprinted TMNT #31, 35 & 36 in February 2007.
Shell Shock from December 1989 reprints 19 short stories previously published and includes 7 new ones.
TMNT 25th: A Quarter Century Celebration reprints several issues, Raphael #1 (colorized), TMNT #14, #18 & #33, and four short stories.
Book II colorizes TMNT #4-6, published June, 1987
Book III colorizes TMNT #7-9, published December, 1987
Book IV colorizes Leonardo #1, TMNT #10 & #11, published November, 1988
TMNT #1 in Book 1 was colored by Eastman and all three issues had replacement lettering by Lavigne. TMNT #2 & #3 were colored by Ken Feduniewicz and Janice Cohen. Book I does not print all of TMNT #3, the Epilogue from that issue was shifted to Book II. It had a pair of new short stories added to fill out the page count, "New Comic Day" & "Night Life". Book III also had a new short story, "49th Street Stompers". These books went through several printings. All four books have cover art by Eastman. Books II-IV were colored by Lavigne.
IDW & Nickeleodon/Viacom Published Collections
Since acquiring the license from Nickeleodon in 2012, IDW has published a very large number of TMNT comics, trade paperbacks and hardcover collections. The company has issued several reprint volumes of Mirage-era TMNT stories with confusing names and contents:
The Ultimate Collection
IDW has also published a seven-volume collection series of Mirage Studios TMNT comics as "TMNT: The Ultimate Collection" from 2017-23. These comics are in B&W.
these books was done in-house, but some of its books had artwork from Eastman and/or Laird:
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