Déjà vu?

The Echidna Aficionado

brik@ozemail.com.au

Several years ago, Archie comics published a mini-series adapting the new animated series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The cartoon and its comic equivalent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures (the ‘Adventures’ added to differentiate it from the original, far darker book) were so well received an ongoing series was given the go ahead.

Originally the series was merely an adaptation of the show, but eventually became a separate series in its own right. It wasn’t like any other ‘kiddie’ comic. It wasn’t (dare I say it) as inane as the series that spawned it. It found a happy medium between the gritty and believable original, and the bright but rather silly animated version. It educated as well as entertained. Issues were dedicated to environmental concerns and cultural differences. It was one of the few books aimed at younger readers that could actually attract an older audience.

It was so successful that a second, quarterly series was given the go ahead (sound familiar?). In this larger, 48-page format, longer stories that occurred within, and completely separately to the monthly book’s continuity were showcased. And it wasn’t too much later that a third book, The Mighty Mutanimals, featuring the adventures of a group of characters introduced in the regular series, hit the stands (after first appearing as a mini-series).

The Mighty Mutanimals lasted only nine issues (makes Knuckles 32 issues sound a lot healthier doesn’t it?), but the other two, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures and the quarterly specials continued. New characters were introduced, plot lines developed and others were hinted at. Readers got hooked on the promise of upcoming storylines. And then…

They were gone.

No apology and no explanation.

Stories were left unseen and unended. Readers were left unhappy and unfulfilled.

And they say history never repeats…