Why it's Hot:
- Fifth printing, wraparound variant cover
- Back-up story featuring Donatello
- 1st team appearance and origin of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo
- 1st appearance of Splinter, the Turtles' mentor
- 1st appearance and death of the Shredder
- First printing: 3,000 copies
- Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird story, cover, and art
Synopsis:
The Turtles' Origin is Told : The Turtles are cornered by the Purple Dragon gang and a fight erupts. After the Turtles defeat the Purple Dragon gang they evade the police by entering the sewers.Master Splinter tells the Turtles for the first time their origins and asks the Turtles to kill the Shredder.Raphael breaks into the foots compound, takes out a few guards, and leaves a note for the Shredder. The note asks Shredder to meet Splinters four deciples and fight to the death. Potential clients saw the defeated guards and immediately left saying that anyone who could not protect their own compound was not worthy of protecting theirs.Later, Shredder meets the Turtles and brings foot soldiers. The Foot are defeated. One on one combat with the Shredder fails so they switch to team tactics. The Shredder is defeated. Leonardo hands Shredder one of his swords to kill himself with. Shredder then pulls a grenade. Donatello knocks him from the roof and he explodes in midair.
