TMNT Flashback: Limited Edition Button Sets

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From the Official TMNT Treasury:

In late 1984, Eastman and Laird met entrepreneur and fan Jeff Rudolph from Hartford, Connecticut. They struck a deal with him to issue a limited edition—of a thousand sets each—of four TMNT buttons. "They were pretty straightforward buttons, in black and white," remembers Laird. "I don't know if he ever sold them all—I know it took a long time for him to sell just half of them."

Eastman nods his head in agreement. "I don't think at the time they went over that famously. We put a couple ads in the early issues saying that we were selling them, and it was months and months and months before we sold the last couple sets. The guy had a button-making system at home, where he just got the artwork photocopied and then he hand-colored them with markers, and then numbered them himself." Eastman grins at how primitive it now sounds. "One of those early deals ... that was just a little ahead of its time."

Pictured below is the ad selling these buttons; these are the buttons themselves.

TMNT Flashback: Dark Horse Minis Ad

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The Dark Horse mini metal figurines were the first TMNT licensed product. Below is an early advertisement. This ad appeared in a handful of the Eastman and Laird comics - this particular scan comes from the second printing of TMNT #2.

NinjaTurtles.com Updates

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Dan (the Man) updated NinjaTurtles.com today with an avalanche of information.

Here are some highlights:

13 new episodes of the TMNT cartoon are now in production for broadcast in the fall of 2008! After months of back-n-forth, all partners agreed on a new direction and the Turtles toon is back on the hot track! We can't reveal any specifics yet, but everyone's favorite Gang Green will be returning to present-day NYC and battling the baddies with their buddies Casey Jones and April O'Neil! This next phase of the show will feature new art direction that will tie the 2003 toon designs into the animated movie style by Imagi!

You can read a little more information on this development at The 5th Turtle.

This holiday season, Hot Topic will unveil boutiques dedicated to the TMNT retro merchandise and apparel. Hot Topic will have some exclusive items that feature artwork of Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady and will be an ideal place to find the retro merch!

Visit HotTopic.com to see what TMNT gear they have currently available.

Kurt Adler will be producing Christmas ornaments that will be available at Wal-Mart this holiday season!

Cowabunga!

Visit NinjaTurtles.com to get the full scoop on these and other news items.

TMNT Flashback: Albedo #3 Ad

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One of the most sought-after (and expensive) independent comics around is Albedo #2, because it features the first ever appearance of Usagi Yojimbo. Imagine flipping through a box of $.10 comics at a convention and finding Albedo #3 and #4, hoping that maybe, just maybe, there's a #2 stuck somewhere in the box, too. I never did find a #2 in there, but I purchased #s 3 & 4 with the hope that maybe their value would be a decent fraction of #2. Unfortunately, they're really not. But it worked out because I still got some cool Usagi content and, big bonus, an old ad for the original Eastman and Laird comics. Not too shabby for $.10.

TMNT Flashback: New Age Comics #1 Ad

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This is a new feature of the blog: TMNT Flashback. Hopefully on a semi-regular basis I will be posting scans of TMNT items of old, with the expectation that there are a lot of people who may not have seen these before and those who have might not have seen them in a long while.

This first submission is from New Age Comics #1 (1985) and is an ad for the original Eastman and Laird comic books.

New Comic Book Day

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Tales of the TMNT #39, featuring art by Andy Tong and a story by Dan Berger, is now available in comic shops and directly from Mirage Studios at NinjaTurtles.com.

Bigfoot Promo Figure Now Shipping

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Playmates Toys' Bigfoot promo figure has been arriving at homes for about the last week.

If you haven't yet sent away for yours, be sure to visit PlaymatesToys.com for the details.