I finally got Grunts and noticed

[Venom]

it apparently is the first mention in Mirage regarding the deal with Playmates to produce a toy line based on the Turtles, along with a two-page first look at the line, and the five-part MWS cartoon series that started the craze in December '87.

It was pretty cool, after all these years of wanting the book I finally got it for a buck and was thrilled to read through it and then at the end the stories are "interrupted for a special announcement" from Kevin and Peter to annouce the secret they had been forced to keep for quite a while.

It was a bit surreal, personally, almost like being transported back in time and feeling the excitement leap right off the page! It was also a bit...*sigh* bittersweet, for lack of a better term, because sitting in my lounger in 2010 I know how the events played out after that announcement: the wave of Turtle-mania, the ebbing of the franchise as our generation grew out of the Turtles and moved on to other properties, the growing divide between Kevin and Peter and the fallout leading to Kevin removing himself from the "monster" he co-created, all the way up to Peters resurrection of the cartoon and comic series and the eventual selling of the entire IP to Viacom.

I sat in silence for a moment, allowing myself to feel the wonder and amazement of a cartoon series about the four awesome Turtles I've read about and seeing how cool the toys looked, even then, then slowly letting myself return to the present.

I was somewhat sad, but at the same time happy that it all happened. For without the cartoon I may have never met the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Oh yeah, and Grunts is an all-around awesome book!! I really enjoyed Peter's Triceraton tale and Dooney's account of Fluffy losing a friend in battle.

[oldmanwinters]

Yeah, man, I feel that same way everytime I read one of the early Volume 1 comics up to about the Return to New York saga.

I've never read Grunts though. I love to see some scans of the announcement pages!

[Venom]

Here ya go :




I hope you can see it well, I didn't want to close the scanner top on my book so I placed it and scanned it in grayscale.

[oldmanwinters]

Awesome, man! Thanks a bunch!

[Venom]

Sure thing! If you can't read the announcement I'll reupload the pic at a larger scale. The original is HUUUGE!

[Powder]

I've never heard of 'Grunts' before. Do tell!

[DrSpengler]

Originally Posted by Powder

I've never heard of 'Grunts' before. Do tell!

Well, Here's my review.

It only has one TMNT-related story in it (a Triceraton-centric story), but most of the other stories in it (all about anthropomorphic animals) are pretty good.

The Fluffy story by Michael Dooney is the highlight, in my opinion, though I also really liked Eric Talbot's "Slaughter Dogs".

[Ninjinister]

I bought a copy of Grunts once.

The Triceraton story had been pulled out of the comic (which also snipped out parts of two other stories, including the Fluffy one).

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by The Ninjinister

I bought a copy of Grunts once.

The Triceraton story had been pulled out of the comic (which also snipped out parts of two other stories, including the Fluffy one).

That previous owner must have loved those stories too much to part with them when he sold it!