Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1

"We are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... we strike hard and fade away... into the night!"

- Leonardo

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is the first issue of the American independent superhero comic book series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, published by Mirage Studios. This over-sized 40-page volume was written and illustrated by [Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It was released with a May, 1984 cover date.

Synopsis
Four thirteen-year-old mutant turtles, trained in the art of Ninjitsu fight up against fifteen members of the Purple Dragons gang in New York City, and soundly defeat them. They fade into the shadows, and return to their home in the sewers beneath the city. These turtles, Leonardo, Donatallo, Raphael, and Michelangelo report to their sensei, Master Splinter, of their victory. Splinter sits them down and tells them the tale of how they came to be.


 * Twenty years ago, Splinter was a normal rat, and the pet of a ninja warrior named Hamato Yoshi. Hamato Yoshi was a revered member of a clan known as The Foot. He lived in a cage in Yoshi's home in Japan. The rat would watch his master training, and learn to imitate his moves. Hamato Yoshi was in love with a young woman named Tang Shen, but Shen was also the subject of another's affection: Yoshi's fellow ninja, Oroku Nagi. It came to pass that Oroku's obsession for Tang Shen turned violent and he attacked her, demanding that she would love only him. Hamato Yoshi came home and flew into a rage, beating Oroku Nagi to death with his fists. Yoshi and Tang Shen decided to leave Japan, and fled to New York City, New York where they opened up a martial arts school.


 * Nagi's younger brother, Oroku Saki, swore vengeance against Hamato Yoshi and trained intensively. As luck would have it, his masters sent him to America to head up the New York branch of the Foot Clan. Donning a helmet and a suit of armor, he became known as the Shredder. The Foot created a cartel of drug dealing, weapons smuggling and assassinations, but it was revenge that Saki craved most. He broke into Yoshi's home one night, and slew him and Tang Shen. During the struggle, Splinter's cage fell and broke open, allowing the rat to escape.


 * Splinter ran into the streets, but as he moved, he witnessed a person shoving an old blind man out of the way of an oncoming truck. A canister fell off the back of the truck and began bouncing towards the sidewalk. It knocked into a young boy carrying four pet baby turtles, and he dropped them, whereupon they fell into a sewer drain. The canister cracked open, and a strange ooze dripped onto them. The rat was likewise covered in the ooze, and it caused both he and the four infant turtles to mutate. By the next morning, they had all increased in size and intellect.


 * As the turtles grew, Splinter began training them in the ways of ninjitsu, just as he had learned from Master Yoshi. Using an old book he had found in a sewer drain, he named the turtles after four famous Renaissance artists: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

As his story concludes, Splinter reveals that his students are now ready for their most important mission - to avenge the death of Splinter's master by killing the Shredder. Raphael is sent out to deliver a challenge to the Shredder. After tracking him to his complex, he takes down several of the Shredder's goons, then throws a sai through a window with a written challenge upon it.

The following night, the Ninja Turtles arrive on a rooftop at the prearranged meeting place. Shredder appears along with members of the Foot Clan. He sends his soldiers against the turtles who easily defeat them. When only Shredder remains, they each take a turn at him. Raphael leaps first, followed by Leonardo. The Shredder batters them down, but Leonardo's blade has cut deep into his armor. Still, the turtles also bear the marks of Shredder's claws. Changing their strategy, they begin attacking him as a group from a distance, using shuriken to keep him off-balance. They close in on him and Donatello shatters his helmet with his bo staff. As the Shredder reels about, Leonardo impales him with his katana. Shredder is defeated and Leonardo offers up his katana so that he may choose an honorable death. Shredder has no intention of dying without taking the turtles with him however, and has a thermite grenade on his person. Before he can detonate it, Donatello hurls his bo staff at him. The weapon strikes Shredder, knocking him off the roof of the building to his doom.

Satisfied that they have avenged their sensei's master. They descend from the rooftop and return home. One of them intones, "We are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... we strike hard and fade away... into the night!"

Appearances

 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
 * Leonardo
 * Donatello
 * Raphael
 * Michelangelo


 * Splinter


 * Shredder, Oroku Saki


 * Chester Manley
 * Cristo
 * Hamato Yoshi
 * McAdam
 * Oroku Nagi
 * Tang Shen


 * Foot Clan
 * Purple Dragons


 * Humans
 * Rats
 * Turtles


 * New York
 * New York City


 * Japan


 * Bo staff
 * Katana
 * Mutagen
 * Nunchaku
 * Sai
 * Shuriken


 * Superhuman agility

Reprints
This issue is reprinted in the following volumes:
 * Shell Shock
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Book I
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Collected Book 1
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Collected Book 6