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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 Goes Under The Hammer, Today

When you think of  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles going under the hammer, you would be forgiven for thinking of a CRUNCH sound effect followed by a big SPLAT and maybe some concern about all the turtle juice staining whatever it was said turtle was sitting upon. But no, this is a copy of the very first appearance of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, created as a parody of Frank Miller's work on Daredevil and Batman back in 1984, that spawned an empire of toys, cartoons, and movies. It was such an inauspicious start, but it is a true milestone of popular culture, and so it goes for quite a chunk of cash these days. A copy will be on the blocks at Heritage Auction in a few hours, as part of their current Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction 122132, and I am all of a flutter to see how high it will go. A CGC of 6.5 isn't bad for such a small press comic distributed in a rather haphazard fashion back in the eighties before people relied on these kinds of things to pay off their mortgages.

Originally promoted at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire comic show by creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, founders of Mirage Studios from their homes, the first print only had a print run of 3,000 and is not identified as such. Hence, people have to usually rely on the advert on the inside of the back cover for Gobbledygook zines. In 2016, a CGC 9.6 slabbed copy sold on eBay for $12,500; by the end of 2020, a CGC 8.0 copy sold for $16,000. This 6.5 copy is currently just over $10,000 on bids and will sell for whatever it will sell for today. Good luck, folks…

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 Goes Under The Hammer, Today

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (Mirage Studios, 1984) CGC FN+ 6.5 Cream to off-white pages. The origin and first appearances of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splinter, and Shredder. Wraparound cover by Kevin Eastman. Eastman and Peter Laird story and art. One of only 3,000 copies printed. Currently #1 on Overstreet's Top 25 Copper Age Comics list.

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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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