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Using a tax refund and a loan from Kevin Eastman's uncle Quentin, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird printed this book utilizing the publisher of their local TV schedule giveaway magazine, who ended up printing it at the same oversized 7 3/8” x 10 7/8” size as the magazine, instead of the size of a comic book (that's why there's all that extra black space in the bottom and right hand margins). To keep costs down, the interior pages were printed on cheap newsprint. This was their first professionally printed comic (Gobbledygook was hand-stapled and printed on a Xerox copier). My advice is to use extreme caution when buying this comic book on eBay, make sure the seller is completely reputable and make sure you're really buying what you think you are and not a different printing or a counterfeit. Demand to see the interior back cover of the book, because the first printing has an ad for Gobbledygook while the interior back cover of the second and third printings have an advertisement for T-shirt iron-ons and say "second printing" or "third printing" under the line thanking Quentin Eastman -- but copies are known to have been sold where that line has been bleached out and the copy claimed to be a first print. Even scarier, there are known forgeries that look the same as a true first printing to the untrained eye -- a sign you are looking at a counterfeit copy is if the interior pages are not cheap newsprint paper. A first print is distinguishable from a third print by looking at the front cover -- zero in on the 'T' in 'TURTLES' where you will see additional red ink in third print copies -- but as far as I am aware a first and second print is indistinguishable from one another just by looking at the front or back cover. This raises the possibility of grading company error, i.e. a label that erroneously reads first print when the copy sent in was really a second or third print. I am now aware of instances where this has been 'caught' happening with two different grading companies now, i.e. a labeling mistake where what was really a third print was given a first print label but because of that distinguishing difference in the 'T' collectors caught the mistake. But had this same mistake happened with a second print, would anyone have caught it? A disturbing question to ponder before shelling out a lot of cash on a graded copy. Good luck, this is considered one of the "holy grail" collectibles, so take your time and hunt patiently for the right copy. With only 3,000 printed, expect finding yours to require patience and effort. Other rare TMNT books you may also want in your collection as well: The NYCC "Laird's Photo" Variant edition of issue #3 (also oversized) where Eastman & Laird printed 500 copies to take with them to the 1985 New York Comic Con and when the full print run was later done the coloration was slightly different making the two batches distinguishable. Then in 1986 there was a misprint version of How To Draw TMNT, published by Solson, where a small batch of copies was accidentally printed without yellow ink. Then in 1987, Mirage accidentally published a batch of the second printing of TMNT #4 with the cover artwork from Tales of the TMNT, and later revealed to Overstreet that they had pulped all but 1,000 copies. In 2009, Mirage put out a special edition of TMNT #1 printing it in full color for the first time (the original was fully black and white other than the red in the cover) and a misprint batch of 1,000 copies was printed with hatch patterns on interior pages prompting a "recall & destroy" notice. There is also misprint version of TMNT volume #2 number #13 which was manufactured with the back cover artwork on the front and vice versa. These are just some more ideas for rare TMNT books to hunt :-) ... but if you had to choose just one TMNT book to own, absolutely positively make it a #1 first print of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, their origin and first appearance! :-)Read full review
I love it. Thank you!
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Wonderful story and characters.
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Wrapped up expertly and shipped in perfect order
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