Last month was the 30th anniversary of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film being released in theaters. And as it so happens, I still have a children’s storybook from Random House, based on that movie.
The book is primarily just a children’s-reading-level re-telling of the plot of the movie. Perfect for elementary school-aged kids between the theatrical and the home video releases of the flick.
However, in addition to photographic stills of the film (most of which ended up being used in the accompanying trading card set), there are also some spot illustrations used for the flashback sequences, as well as some pretty silly “Personality Profiles” for the 7 major characters in the movie — The four turtles, Splinter, Shredder, and April. Sorry, no personalities for Danny Pennington, Tatsu, Casey Jones. Or even Chief Sterns.
I’m pretty sure the artwork used on the turtles’ profiles is all from other Random House TMNT books of the era — I specifically remember owning one that featured that Raphael illustration. Sadly, that book has been lost to the sands of time.
The whole book is capped off with a trivia section, to help with your reading comprehension. My favorite is the very first question, where it suggests that The Foot has something to do with podiatrists. Because elementary school kids are all going to know that podiatrists are FOOT doctors.
Anyhow, click any of the below images to see a larger version.
Cowabunga!
