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Tweak says, "Run, little thing, run!"

stretchdude (stretchdude) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-22 12:52:00

Entry tags:

char: april o'neil, char: shredder/oroku saki, group: teenage mutant ninja turtles, publisher: archie, title: mighty mutanimals, title: teenage mutant ninja turtles

The Origins of the Mighty Mutanimals!
Someone requested this after I posted the TMNT Adventures Hitler-punch scans. Over the course of the first 20 issues, the Turtles met a number of characters who eventually formed their own team (and short-lived spinoff book), the Mighty Mutanimals. As requested, here are their respective origin stories.

Man Ray: In TMNT Adventures #5, we meet marine biologist Jack Finney.

He spends most of the issue in the shadows, and thwarts Shredder's plot to destroy the Statue of Liberty (on the Fourth of July, no less!) before his big reveal:

Leatherhead: Everybody's favorite gator-man gets a vastly different origin this time around. TMNTA #6 introduces us to Jess Harley, a man from the bayou who steals a myserious crystal from swamp witch Mary Bones, then heads to New York to find a seller, only to drop the crystal down the sewer. He heads down to retrieve it...

Wingnut & Screwloose: In TMNTA #8, the Turtles return from competing in an intergalactic wrestling tournament to find a crazed bat-man and his mosquito sidekick smashing skylights across the city. They finally manage to capture them...

They're smashing skylights 'cause Wingnut thinks Krang's hiding under one of them, y'see.

Mondo Gecko: In TMNTA #18, the Turtles find a teenage metal band practicing in one of Shredder's old hideouts. Their playing causes a power surge that wakes up a bunch of souped-up Foot Soldiers, and the Turtles leap into the fray.

Jagwar & Dreadmon: These two are introduced in TMNTA #14 and #15, respectively, but they don't recount their origins until issue 2 of the "Mighty Mutanimals: Invasion From Space" miniseries:

And there you have it.

(Post a new comment)

	foxhack 2009-03-22 01:27 pm UTC (link)
	Um. What o_O (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lbd_nytetrayn 2009-03-22 06:56 pm UTC (link)
	What "what?" Which part? --LBD "Nytetrayn" (Reply to this) (Parent)

tsuki_the_geek
2009-03-22 02:04 pm UTC (link)

WOAH... having some CRAZY 1990s flashbacks over here! I had action figures of, like, all these guys. I adored the Mondo Gecko and his plastic skateboard especially. (Actually, did Man Ray have an action-figure? I know I had a book and a comic he was in-- he was awesome). Thanks for posting these fantabulous scans. Except, wow, TMNT had stupid costumes in the Wingnut scans. Ugh.

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	stretchdude 2009-03-22 02:09 pm UTC (link)
	Well, they ARE wrestling outfits. Three of the turtles ditched theirs at the end of issue 8, but Raph liked his all-black costume and kept it through issue 17. And yeah, Man Ray had an action figure under the name Ray Fillet. (They actually made a reference to that in his second appearance.) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tsuki_the_geek
2009-03-22 02:21 pm UTC (link)

Ah, indeed, found a picture:

http://www.nabemahobbies.com/images/products/original/447.jpg

And apparently there was one Man Fillet that could change colors in water. Nifty! I was so obsessed with TMNT action figures back in the day-- before you could order rare toys on the "interweb" I searched for MONTHS at every Toys R Us and Kay-bee within driving distance for a "Mona Lisa" action figure. She was awesome! ...and then her tail and arm broke. *cries* I still have most of them, er, somewhere. I think.

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stretchdude
2009-03-22 02:27 pm UTC (link)

Ah, the action figures. I LOVED collecting action figure packaging when I was a kid, especially TMNT figures. The toys I played with, but I loved looking at all the little tidbits on the back of the box. I actually still have a whole box of 'em somewhere.

I didn't even know there WAS a Mona Lisa figure. I knew there was a toyline based specifically on the cartoon, though; I had April's boss and a couple of the Neutrinos.

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tsuki_the_geek
2009-03-22 03:05 pm UTC (link)

Yes, Mona Lisa was the pride and joy of my TMNT "collection"
http://www.toyarchive.com/STAForSale/NEW2001+/TMNT/MOC/MonaLisaMOSC1a.jpg

Ah, you were smarter/more patient than I was-- most toy boxes immediately got mangled and destroyed in my eagerness to get the toys out of them. Which is why 99.9% of my things are worth nothing now. ;P

Although there is some COOL package info out there-- Star Wars and Marvel Comics figures were always my favorite. When I was really young, I could buy any action figures I wanted but my parents were a little leery about me reading any 90s ultra-violent comic I wanted (yeah, probably rightly so) so I learned about canon storylines via the "stories" on the boxes. Sigh... good times.

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lbd_nytetrayn
2009-03-22 06:59 pm UTC (link)

Despised most of the figures, personally. Either stupid names or changing their looks, or both. The latter usually being guaranteed.

Right, like "Hothead" is better than "The Warrior Dragon."

Jagwar, Dreadmon, and Ninjara never got figures, sadly.

I think all versions of Man Ray could change color, but which was the hot and which was the cold was switched partway, I believe.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

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	darklorelei 2009-03-22 02:28 pm UTC (link)
	Man Ray. Man Ray, you guys. He was probably spinning like a top when this came out! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lbd_nytetrayn 2009-03-22 07:00 pm UTC (link)
	Not following... --LBD "Nytetrayn" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	darklorelei 2009-03-22 08:15 pm UTC (link)
	The artist? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	raattgift 2009-03-27 02:38 am UTC (link)
	An obvious sequel would involve time travel, mutagen, and Gene Ray. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	gwalla.livejournal.com 2009-03-22 02:29 pm UTC (link)
	...Man Ray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Ray)? Really? (Reply to this) (Thread)

freeman333
2009-03-26 12:48 am UTC (link)

I know. When I was a kid, I was a total Turtles-addict, and of course I read these comics and saw the character Man Ray. Years later, in college, I worked at a library and noticed a book of photographs by Man Ray, the artist, and thought, "You have to be kidding me". Sure enough, whoever wrote these comics must have known the name, and figured most kids wouldn't bother to look it up...but those who did, were in for a surprise...

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	dorksidefiker 2009-03-22 03:15 pm UTC (link)
	Oh Jagwar, how I miss you and your wicked awesome mom. I think my brother still has a copy of the issue where the two were reunited, and shall have to bug him about finding it. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	suzene 2009-03-22 03:55 pm UTC (link)
	Haha, yeah...Jagwar's mom was pretty kick-ass. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	tavella 2009-03-22 03:22 pm UTC (link)
	The art on the first page amuses me, because they draw him with such a villainous expression after he closes the door. You assume he's off to torture animals or rob a bank. Instead he plans to evilly... monitor toxic waste dumping! Also, bestiality in a kids book. Snork. (Reply to this)

	blake_reitz 2009-03-22 04:22 pm UTC (link)
	I like those giant foot soldiers that only speak in skull n' bones. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lbd_nytetrayn 2009-03-22 07:01 pm UTC (link)
	Foot Supersoldiers. :D Who had no figures. D: --LBD "Nytetrayn" (Reply to this) (Parent)

	tahngarth 2009-03-22 05:14 pm UTC (link)
	And then they kind of got killed off in one page during an ill-fated TMNT storyline and were never mentioned again. They really were burning their bridges at the tail end of the TMNT archie run. (Reply to this)

	mullon 2009-03-22 05:37 pm UTC (link)
	Wait a minute...Man-Ray. I had that one, but it wasn't a comic book. It was something else, a picture book I think. Do you have the one of the guy with a magic rock on his pencil? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	stretchdude 2009-03-22 06:11 pm UTC (link)
	Nope. That was the Mirage comics. The Archie comic is the only one I collected. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	dejadrew 2009-03-22 08:54 pm UTC (link)
	That's from the original Mirage series (as Stretchdude said), which is gradually being archived online at the official Ninja Turtles website. That whole issue is up and ready to read here! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mullon 2009-03-22 11:12 pm UTC (link)
	The weird thing is that I read a children's picture book that used the same story, but with new art and the Saturday morning version of the Turtles. The Man-Ray book I also had actually used the same art from the Archie issue, so I thought there was a corresponding issue for the magic rock. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	street_kid 2009-03-23 05:55 pm UTC (link)
	I HAD THAT ONE. Too. The picture book, I mean. I knew Man-Ray lookd familiar! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	dejadrew 2009-03-22 08:48 pm UTC (link)
	I would do a great many unspeakable things for the privilege of owning these again in a decent collected format. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dorksidefiker 2009-03-23 01:41 pm UTC (link)
	You and me both. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	zegim 2009-03-22 09:06 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, man. I owned both Man Ray and Wingnut origin comics as a kid. In spanish, no less. (Reply to this)

	kamino_neko 2009-03-22 11:02 pm UTC (link)
	So...of the Mutanimals, only 2 of them are actually mutants? All the rest are mystically created? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	kamino_neko 2009-03-22 11:02 pm UTC (link)
	Except for the aliens, of course. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stretchdude 2009-03-23 04:13 pm UTC (link)
	And a few issues after #6, we find out that Mary Bones and the Turnstone ain't all that mystical... (Reply to this) (Parent)

deekblues
2009-03-22 11:40 pm UTC (link)

I loved these books. I was thinking of doing a post on this stuff myself. The archie turtles universe was so much fun, and I miss it. One of my favorite books as a kid was a read-along with the Leatherhead, Intergalactic Wrestling, and Wingnut issues done in cheesy radiodrama fashion.

Recently tracked down the Furrlough issues with the Murph/Allen Ninjara snippets in 'em. They're really not at all what I was expecting. Maybe I'll post a bit of 'em soon.

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	umpbumpfizz 2009-03-23 01:00 am UTC (link)
	Oh the flashbacks. I have the first... 4? Mutanimals and like, 20 or 30 TMNT Archie books. I forget exactly, they're in a box somewhere. I recall someone saying on Scans_daily I that all the Mutanimals were killed off???? Do you have the ending issues? Could you post some of that. I think the last one I had ended with them on some quest in the desert... (Reply to this)

psychop_rex
2009-03-23 01:51 am UTC (link)

I love how Mondo Gecko is all 'well, this sucks. I guess I'm a lizard-man now. Oh well, that's life! Anyway, I look cool!'
Also, Dreadmon has one too many elements in his origin. What was the point of the whole 'my Dad fought apartheid' thing? HE has no thematic connections to Africa - he looks Jamaican, sounds Jamaican, grew up in Jamaica and has a Jamaican accent. Why not just skip the whole African business and just have him be a Jamaican slum kid?
(In any case, the artist clearly knows nothing about what he's drawing. All the big riots over apartheid were in the slums of the big cities - Johannesburg and Capetown and places like that. Those buildings that the people are running from shouldn't be huts, they should be shanties made of sheet metal and plywood and stuff. And even if we accept that they're huts, they shouldn't be THOSE huts - you only get huts on legs like that in wet places with lots of river and rainfall and stuff. South Africa is mostly savannah and scrub country - their huts are on the ground, thank you very much.)

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bwmedia.wordpress.com
2009-03-23 03:52 pm UTC (link)

I don't remember a lot of the old cartoon, outside of the original mini and the CBS run (surprising, since usually I prefer the syndicated to the network versions), but I'm sure those origins were different from the show. I guess at some point the comic really deviated from the toon, despite the first few stories actually being adaptations of said toon, and otherwise spinning off from those stories. Kind of like The Adventures of Spider-Man.

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	stretchdude 2009-03-23 04:10 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, it was a direct adaptation of the cartoon for all of four issues, then ran off in its own direction and never looked back. (Reply to this) (Parent)