First Appearance of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: TMNT #1

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, published in May 1984 by Mirage Studios, the self-publishing company of creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The book was paid for with a tax refund and a loan from Eastman's uncle, and debuted at a comic convention at a Sheraton hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Wikipedia).

It was an oversized, magazine-style black-and-white comic on cheap newsprint. Wikipedia's franchise article puts the first print run at 3,000 copies; its Mirage series article says 3,275. Within months, copies were trading at more than 50 times the cover price. The story mixed elements of Marvel's New Mutants and Daredevil with Cerebus and Ronin; the Turtles' radioactive origin mirrors Daredevil's accident.

TMNT #1 went back to press quickly, and later printings have the same cover. From Recalled Comics' printing guide:

• First printing (May 1984): no printing line on the inside page, and an ad for the Gobbledygook zines. About 3,000 copies.
• Second printing (June 1984): a printing identifier on the inside page; an estimated 6,000 or more copies.
• Third printing: about 35,000 copies; it also shows more blood in the T in the middle of "Turtles".

Two forgery warnings from the same guide:

• Some second and third printings have had the printing identifier bleached out to pass as firsts.
• Complete counterfeits exist, but they tend to be on white paper instead of the original cheap newsprint.

PriceCharting values for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (1984), retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $389.00
• CGC 4.0: $3,041.00 (about one sale a year)
• CGC 6.0: $3,801.55
• CGC 8.0: $12,500.00 (about four sales a year)
• CGC 9.2: $16,537.50
• CGC 9.8: $43,541.00 (about one sale a year)

PriceCharting notes that its data mixes printings, and that third printings sell for much less than firsts. The low ungraded figure probably reflects later printings. Confirm the printing with the checks above before you compare.

The original comic was darker and more violent than the versions most people know. The 1987 animated series, which ran for ten seasons until 1996, had a lighter tone with no swearing, less violence and less threatening villains (Wikipedia). The 1990 live-action film was the fourth-highest-grossing film of that year, earned over $200 million worldwide and set the record for an independent film. Leonardo is shown as the leader across versions.

Photograph the front cover straight on, then the indicia (the small print on the first page or inside cover with the title, issue number and date). ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover from the photo, matches the likely issue with a confidence indicator you can correct by hand, and shows a reference price range that moves with the grade you pick. For TMNT #1, also photograph the inside front cover and the inside back cover: the printing line and the Gobbledygook ad decide whether it is a first printing. There are free scans every day; the range is a reference estimate, not an appraisal or an offer.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market, and a grade that trades about once a year can move a lot on a single sale.