Happy 35th Anniversary to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the 1st printing of TMNT #1!!

On this day (May 5) in 1984, Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird (a.k.a., Mirage Studios) released TMNT #1, forever changing the course of their lives as well as the comic book landscape. To honor this incredible milestone, I wanted to share another recent addition to TMNT…A Collection. It’s a TMNT artifact just as old as TMNT #1 – an original press release / article from United Press International that details the upcoming TMNT #1 comic book from “Laird and Eastman.” This little artifact came with a nice letter detailing its provenance and history. The entire press release / article is contained on one long strip of continuous paper but I’ve provided smaller images of the entire thing so it can be read in full (four separate parts). Enjoy!

Happy 35th Anniversary TMNT !!

Here are more details about this amazing piece of TMNT #1 history (taken directly from the provenance letter):

A note about the UPI printout:

This particular printout came from the United Press International bureau in Concord, N.H., where I worked as a newsman for 14 months beginning in July 1984. Andy Dabilis, who wrote the story, was UPI’s Boston-based New England regional editor at the time and actually was the person who ultimately approved my hiring.

Although some of the coding at the top of the printout was automatically generated by UPI’s transmission system, other parts of it are meaningful. The HFR5-4 in the very first line translates into “hold for release on May 4.” BC-NE-MONOGRAPH is the story name or slug, with BC indicating “both cycles,” meaning there would not be separate stories for morning and afternoon papers. SKED means the story was listed on the schedule of stories UPI previously announced would be coming. The next line shows UPI was sending the story in advance for use on Friday, May 4, 1984, or thereafter. The 725 is the approximate word length, and “picture” means a photo was being sent separately on the photo wire. The coding at the bottom indicates it finished printing at 1:02 p.m. EDT on May 2, 1984.

The printout most likely came from the New Hampshire state wire machine. In those days, the Concord bureau was required to retain a printed copy of every story transmitted on the state wire for a period of time — possibly three months — after which the printouts could be discarded. After my arrival at the bureau in July, I managed to salvage this printout from the May copies before they were tossed into the trash.