The Turtles Are 25 Years Old? Really!?!?!

 

Holy crap I'm old!

 

As a kid I used to go to the local comic book store all the time with my older brother Michiel, and I clearly remember when he started reading this strange new comic I'd never heard of before.  It was called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and it was like nothing I'd ever really seen before.  At first, I'll admit, I wasn't into it at all.  The comic was all black & white, it wasn't put out by Marvel Comics (which was pretty much all I read at that time) and the stories were a little strange.  These giant talking turtles were fighting some evil guy who had a funny looking helmet, and they were led by a giant rat. 

 

But it had ninjas in it, and swords and nunchuks and stuff.  Plus it came with my brother's recommendation, which typically meant that I would love it, so I gave it a try . . . . . and sure enough I fell in love with it.  The original storyline of the comics was amazing.  It really was like nothing I had read yet at that point (mind you I was six years old).  It was dark and violent and at the end of the first major story arc the main villain was killed.  This was something totally different from the typical Spider-man comics I was reading at the time. 

 

And of course, as you all know, the Turtles became hugely popular.  They got turned into a Saturday morning cartoon show that I loved, even though it was nothing like the comics.  Then they got a live action movie which, much to my suprise, was a fairly faithful adaptation of the first 10 or 12 issues of the comic.  By then the Turtles had become a phenomenon.  They were a merchandising empire that would produce multiple comic lines, TV shows and movies that have continued on in one form or another until today.  And all of this from one little self-published comic book that originally came out back in May of 1984.

 

Wow, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turn 25 years old this year.  Can you believe that? 

 

In honor of this anniversary, a new website has been launched for the Turtles called TMNT25.com.  On the site, you'll find information on everything Turtle based, including information on all of the big celebrations that are planned for this milestone year for the fab four amphibians.  These celebrations include a nationwide road trip with a stop off at the San Diego Comic Con, movie collections coming to DVD and Blu-ray, a new video game and much more.  To check it all out, be sure to wander around the site.  There's even a blog that's "written" by Michelangelo.

 

Damnit, writing this article got me to thinking about the first TMNT movie and now I can't get that damn T-U-R-T-L-E Power song from it out of my head.  Well if I have to suffer with this thing stuck in my head now for the rest of the day, I'll be damned if I'm doing it alone.  Here's the video so you can share in my pain.