Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3. Cover art by Ryan Brown.
Publication information
Publisher	Mirage Studios
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	action/adventure/science fiction
Publication date(s)	1987-2010
No. of issues	77
Main character(s)	TMNT
Creative team
Created by	Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, called Tales of the TMNT in its later Volume 2 incarnation, is an anthology comic book series published by Mirage Studios, starting in May 1987, presenting additional stories featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their supporting cast as a companion book to the main Turtles comic series filling in the gaps of continuity in the TMNT universe. It was published in two distinct volumes.

The title's first run was from 1987–1989, released in alternating months with the regular Eastman & Laird book, with Ryan Brown and Jim Lawson handling the writing and artwork.

Although only seven issues of Volume 1 of Tales were published, it provided an opportunity to expand the TMNT character roster to include such characters as Nobody, Leatherhead, Rat King, Complete Carnage, and Radical - most of which went on to feature in the main title. Tales is also notable for borrowing a unique tradition that originated in Creepy magazine: an opening splash page would feature an introduction by a TMNT character and conclude with the ominous line, "Let me tell you a story." This page also served as a showcase of sorts for a variety of guest artists. The title ceased publication in 1989 when the TMNT became a licensed property. Jim Lawson moved to Mirage's ongoing TMNT series while Ryan Brown shifted toward art and design work for TMNT licensees, including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures title from Archie Comics.

Sixteen years later, under the direction of Stephen Murphy, a relaunch of the series began publication in January 2004. The new Tales of the TMNT (as the covers read) focused on events that occur throughout the Turtles' lives, including some of the "lost" thirteen years occurring between TMNT Volumes 2 and 4. Issue #25 featured the return of the original Tales creative team of Brown and Lawson. This revived title maintained the tradition of including a "Let me tell you a story" splash page at the beginning of every issue, in homage to its 1980s predecessor. In May 2010, the second volume ended its run with a total of 70 issues, ten times as many as its predecessor.