Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures is an American comic book series that was published from August 1988 to October 1995 by Archie Comics. The series, which was aimed at a younger audience than other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics at the time, ran for 72 issues. In addition, there were numerous 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 Issues #1–4 Issues #5–11 Issues #12–13 Issues #14–18 Issues #19–20 Issues #21–25 Issues #26–27 Mightnight Sun: Issues #28–30 Issues #31–36 Issue #37 Issues #38–39 Issues #40–41 **The Future Shark Trilogy: Issues #42–44 ** Mutations: Issue #45 Issue #46 Issue #47 Black Hole Trilogy: Issues #48–50 The Sons of Silence abduct Donatello and communicate with him telepathically. Sarnath is found in the same limbo that they are in, technically located within the black hole. The Turnstone is present, which was thought to have been put out of existence (a reference back to issue #13). Donatello begins to communicate with the Turnstone. The Armada, which includes the Nova Posse, Cudley, and some more old friends, prepare to battle against Emperor Mazool, who wants to rule the rest of Dimension X. The Armada moves in and attacks as the black hole begins to double in size with no sign of stopping. Terracide: Issues #55–57 Early Years: Issue #58 Blind Sight: Issues #59–60 Issue #61 Cyber Samurai Mutant Ninja Turtles: Issues #62–66 Moon Eyes Saga: Issues #67–70 The Early Years: Issues #71–72

Spin-offs

Archie Comics also released several spin-offs of the main Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures title. Mighty Mutanimals featured a team made up of the Turtles' mutated animal allies. Other spin-offs included miniseries such as April O'Neil, which gave the Turtles' ally the lead role, and comics starring characters like Merdude and Leatherhead. One one-shot depicted the Turtles meeting Archie Andrews.

Characters

Main characters

Supporting characters

Collected editions

Archie reprinted the ongoing series in a digest format series titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Digest which they published quarterly from 1993-1994, lasting 7 issues, with every digest reprinting three issues each, collecting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures (Vol. 2) issues #5-#25. In celebration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' 25th Anniversary, Archie Comics released a 104-page, full-color trade paperback collection of the three issue mini-series (Vol. 1) #1–3 in 2009, which was the adaptation of the original animated show's miniseries "Heroes in a Half Shell". Mirage Studios also printed a trade for the 25th anniversary, titled Future Tense, reprinting Mighty Mutanimals #7 and TMNT Adventures #42–44 and #62–66 in July 2009 in black and white. Future Tense was released to coincide with a planned release of the storyline from Mirage entitled Forever War, but this eventually was canceled. In 2012 IDW Publishing started releasing the paperback collection of the TMNT Adventures (Vol. 2) series in 16 volumes collection. Despite including most of the run, IDW decided not to include issues #32-37 for the paperback collection due to being culturally offensive.