Ninja Turtles fans, prepare to fall in love.
Insight Editions' "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History" is a staggeringly exhaustive account of the iconic green team's entire history. Writer Andrew Farago charts the Turtles' course from the early days when Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird dreamed up the Turtles as a semi-parody of superhero tropes, to the 2014 big-screen adaptation directed by Jonathan Liebesman. Somewhere between those two feats, the Ninja Turtles became cultural icons, and "The Ultimate Visual History" is a lavish celebration of exactly that.
It was 1984 when Eastman and Laird self-published their 40-page, black-and-white "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1" comic book. It featured an origin story heavily inspired by Marvel's "Daredevil," where four ordinary creatures (baby turtles, as opposed to a young Matt Murdock) are hit by a dangerous compound (a chemical ooze, instead of a radioactive substance), altered by it (mutated vs. blinded with other enhanced senses), and eventually trained by a martial arts master (Splinter in this case, Stick in Daredevil's).
All of the foundational ingredients of the Turtles went into that first issue, with the sole exception being the Turtles' best friend, April O'Neal. (She had to wait until the second issue, where she worked not as a reporter but as a lab assistant!) Fittingly for a property with such a seemingly ridiculous name, the designs of the Turtles were based on a doodle match Eastman and Laird got into one night, trying to one-up each other with increasingly outlandish drawings.
"The Ultimate Visual History" features interviews with Eastman and Laird, chronicling this initial inspiration and creation of the first issue. But then this massive, hardback volume takes things a step further by including a replica of issue #1, reproduced in exacting detail, down to the colorless pages and the ad on the last page for other Eastman/Laird comics. Such is the case with everything in "The Ultimate Visual History." It's not just a record, it's a living archive, filled with history, anecdotes, artifacts and so much more.
Doing its usual exquisite work on such a tome, Insight Editions has assembled an astonishing amount of material into these oversized, 192 pages. Stuffed throughout the book, you'll find replicas from Ninja Turtles history, such as early postcards and bookmarks made to promote the comic, script pages from the movies, single comic strips, character sketches, fan letters and a fold-out poster.
The poster is a special version of the artwork featured on the book's cover, which itself was drawn especially for the book and modeled after the artwork from the cover of "TMNT #1." The book is also lavishly illustrated with full color art and photos that recount every version of the Turtles ever made.
Speaking of which, it's important to remember that the history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a history of change, since constant evolution is the one constant of their 30-year lifespan. Again and again, the Turtles went through new iterations that added or changed aspects of the characters, their setting, their circumstances and even their history.
Many things that fans take for granted today, such as the identifying colors used for each Turtle's mask, were added in subsequent reinventions. The masks were, of course, all the same when the comics were in black-and-white, but even when they graduated to color, all four Turtles wore red masks at first. (Their differing weapons were used to distinguish them on the page.) The blue, orange and purple masks came along later.
It's par for the course when you're talking about a property that has survived four comic books, four manga, one ongoing daily comic strip, three animated TV series, one anime series, three live-action movies, one live-action TV show (raise your hand if you remember the female Ninja Turtle "Venus de Milo" introduced on this show), one all-CGI movie and one live-action/CGI hybrid movie. There have been countless Ninja Turtles toys and tie-in merchandise as well, like food snacks, clothing, books, video games and more.
It's a vast, sprawling empire that many times has played fast-and-loose with its own canon, thanks to various creators and rights holders taking the franchise's reigns over the years and putting their own spin on it. This book covers it all, leaving no stone unturned and no part of the mythology unexplored. In-depth interviews with creators and cast members reveal new insights, and you'll even find a conversation with "Ninja Rap" performer Vanilla Ice within these pages.
Lest you think the book sacrifices comprehensiveness for praise, consider that it takes the necessary time to talk about that godawful "Coming Out of their Shells Tour" that featured rock-n-roll Turtles singing and fighting live on stage. It was hastily put together in the wake of the 1990 live-action movie's gonzo success. (If it makes you feel any better, Eastman and Laird had nothing to do with the tour, the music or even the story.)
If you call yourself a true Ninja Turtles fan, you simply must own this book. It's the perfect gift for Turtles geeks, but Insight Editions' uncompromising attention to detail makes "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History" a handsome coffee table book as well.
