Hey 2023! Remember 1987?
An imprint by IDW Comics, based on 1980s cartoons - G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) and Dungeons & Dragons (1983).
Remember when action-adventure cartoons were shown on Saturday mornings, rather than being able to select them at will like we can in the age of streaming? After having made comics such as Ghostbusters (IDW Comics) in 2008, which is also themed after 80s nostalgia, in the 2020s, IDW aimed at even more nostalgia for the 1980s.
The result is not only the exact art styles (more or less, as there are alternate covers with alternate art styles) and characters of the old versions of these cartoons, but the same style of cartoony storytelling.
The success of the line has varied: the GI Joe comic ended when IDW lost the license, Dungeons and Dragons has to date received two minis and a few specials, while Ninja Turtles was successful enough to get a regular ongoing series and two specials.
This series contains examples of:
- Variant Cover: Some comics have two covers, one in the exact style of the original cartoon, and one in a completely different style.
Tropes in the GI Joe series include:
- Genie in a Bottle: Cobra Commander gets his hand on Aladdin's lamp and starts wishing up an army to defeat the Joes.
- Reset Button Ending: Shipwreck gets his hands on the lamp and wishes to undo everything that Cobra Commander wished for, erasing most of the events of the series.
Tropes in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series include:
- Adaptational Villainy: Mister Ogg, the reality-warping denizen of Dimension Z and a one-shot character from the original show. Whereas before he was simply content to play annoying pranks and eat porcelain, in the comic he returns with a very personal grudge against the Turtles for their constant and repeated jokes on the Fourth Wall, which he claims is something only he and other reality-warping imps are allowed to do. After an initial attempt to take them to Kangaroo Court over the matter ends with him getting tricked back to Dimension Z, Ogg returns and uses his powers to summon the Turtles' counterparts from other universes so that they can all fight each other for his own amusement.
- Aside Glance: In "Big Trouble in Master Splinter", Donatello, Raphael and April discuss ways to eliminate the Mousers inside Splinter's body (the former wants to shrink himself and his brothers, the latter two suggest using a laser beam), with Donatello having been inspired by a Termite Man issue he read. April insists that no good ideas are inspired by a superhero from the '60s. Then the three awkwardly stare at the reader.note
- Continuity Cavalcade: "VR in Deep Trouble" has the Turtles confront an impressive number of their Rogues Gallery from the first seven seasons of the '87 show, while they're trapped in a VR simulation game. This ranges from established mainstays like Shredder, Krang, Baxter Stockman, Bebop and Rocksteady, to minor recurring villains like Tempestra, Groundchuck and Dirtbag, to obscure one-shots like Smash, Alpha-One and Turtle Terminator.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: "Big Trouble in Master Splinter" issue is about microscopic Mousers being injected into Splinter's bloodstream, so the Turtles must shrink down and enter Splinter to fight them off.
- Intra-Franchise Crossover:
- TCRI, the infamous laboratory seen in multiple TMNT continuities, is incorporated into the comic's setting. Its experiments are often a source of problems for the Turtles, such as accidentally giving Casey Jones electricity powers or repairing Chrome Dome and having him run for Mayor of New York City.
- In issue 11 Shredder uses a magic sword to summon a surprise weapon from the future: the upgraded Technodrome from the Turtles Forever TV movie.
- June 2024 will see a six-way crossover with the 1987 Turtles and five of their other major incarnations; the Mirage comics, the 2003 cartoon, the 2012 cartoon, the IDW comic and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Loose Canon: The series is made entirely of episodic standalone adventures that can more or less take place at some random points of the '87 cartoon, given that its continuity is pretty loose anyway. Issue #1 is the easiest one to determine when, since villains from all the pre-Red Sky seasons are referenced there, but that's the extent of it.
- The ongoing comic seems to be set between seasons 7 and 8 (Shredder and Krang are stranded on Earth away from the Technodrome), and so far none of its ongoing plots conflict with the show's canon.
- Seeker White Blood Cells: Splinter's white blood cells in "Big Trouble in Master Splinter" take the form of albino anthro rats that chase down the turtles even after they have dealt with the threat.
- Self-Deprecation: "Big Trouble in Master Splinter" has Donatello suggests to April O'Neil about shrinking himself and the other Turtles to fight Mousers that are inside Splinter's body, an idea inspired by a Termite Man comic book. April then goes on to say that no good ideas are inspired by a superhero from the '60s.
- The Bus Came Back: The ongoing isn't afraid to bring back characters that, by the Red Sky era, have been phased out from the series, including Slash, the Punk Frogs, Leatherhead, Baxter Stockman, Creepy Eddie, Mister Ogg, Ace Duck, and Chrome Dome.
- Win to Exit: The "VR in Deep Trouble" issue has the Turtles trapped in a virtual reality game designed by Donatello after lightning fries the emergency kill switch, so they have to capture the flag guarded by their Rogues Gallery in order to leave before the game crashes. Ultimately, Michelangelo wins the game by figuring out that he didn't need to fight the villains, so he outmaneuvers them and grabs the flag.
Tropes in the Dungeons & Dragons series include:
- Adaptational Modesty: Diana wears a one piece outfit here as opposed to the Fur Bikini she wore in the cartoon.
