Media critic Matt Goldberg returns as we temporarily pause our Spidey Super-Stories miniseries to discuss the unstoppable cultural phenomenon known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with a look at the book that started it all—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (and also #2) by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird!
Before the seven different movies (including the well-received new “Mutant Mayhem”), the animated series, the video games and the action figures, there was just a self-published black-and-white comic riffing on Frank Miller’s Daredevil run with a brilliant title.
How did this modest 40-page comic spawn a decades-spanning multimedia juggernaut? And does it have what it takes to enter that Forbidden Kingdom known as … The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
- The Turtles Generation
- The part of the Turtles’ origin that requires suspension of disbelief
- “What if Ultron was a chicken?”
- The 80s rash of Turtles “parodies”
- Usagi Yojimbo
- The Last Ronin
- Lynda Barry’s Poodle With a Mohawk
- The Police Story trilogy
- Batman: Failsafe Vol. 1
- Check out Matt’s Substack, Commentary Track
Join us in two weeks as we swing back into Spidey Super Stories with a Juggernaut two-parter from Amazing Spider-Man #229 and 230 and The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man from Amazing Spider-Man #248!
Until then:
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And as always, thanks for listening!