During the 1990’s it was common to see our more prominent comic teams getting spin-offs that formed all new teams, or maybe certain characters ending up with solo series. Capitalizing on character popularity was really being pushed to an exhausting point, especially for collectors trying to keep up with them all. Marvel, for instance, had so many “X” books that come “X-Mas” time (see what I did there) I just asked for a subscription to Jim Lee’s X-men run from my Aunt. Well, when she got around to filling out the subscription form I think she just checked off everything with an “X” in it. I was having about 6 to 8 books coming in a month!
Marvel wasn’t the only group doing this either. We had a nice boom of new teams being made in all comic universe realms. These were also the years Archie Comics had the rights to writing and distributing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comic, and they too formed a spin-off series… The Mighty Mutanimals. If the Turtles were, lets say, Archie Comics’ equivalent of X-Men, I would call the Mutanimals series their X-Factor. It wasn’t a bad series, but it wasn’t entirely a breakout title for the publisher either.
Leading up to the first issue of The Mighty Mutanimals, Archie started introducing these new characters (only two of which were newly created for the series) in the pages of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures ongoing comic series. Almost every character has a generic tragedy as part of their origin story. Oddly enough, only two members of this team were even “born” from mutagen – a fact which has always left me a little bewildered why they labeled it “Mutanimals.” I’m guessing you’re all ready for a roll call then? Lets meet the team!*
*If these descriptions sound off to you , it’s because I’m going with what was provided in the comics.
MONDO GECKO
One day Mondo and his band, Merciless Slaughter, were playing in one of the Foot Clan’s old hideouts when they were suddenly attacked by Foot Soldiers. The Turtles arrived in time to be able to help and save the day, however in the middle of the fight Mondo was exposed to mutagen – fusing him with his pet gecko. He has the ability to climb and stick to walls and can use his tail in fights. On top of those abilities – and throw in the fact he’s on a pro level skateboarder – you have a pretty formidable character. Mondo first appeared in TMNTA #18.
LEATHERHEAD
Mr. Jess Harley was a good ‘ole country boy that grew up in the bayou, always looking to make a quick easy dollar. One day he got the bright idea to steal and sell an item called the “Turn Stone” from it’s owner, Mary Bones. Mary was able to catch up to him before selling it and used the stone to create the alligator character we all know him as, Leatherhead. He got mixed up with Shredder, whom told Leatherhead that the TMNT were an evil group of individuals. He was saved, however, by a giant alien cow head named Cowlick who took him to an asteroid that hosted an intergalactic wrestle federation. Leatherhead later returned to Earth when it was threatened by one of the main antagonists in the Mutanimals series, Maligna. I guess you can say this is where the Heel turned Face and joined the Mutanimals. Leatherhead is extremely powerful, can use his teeth and clawed like fingers and can crush stuff with his tail. He first appeared in TMNTA #6.
MAN RAY
Before becoming Man Ray, Jack Finney was a marine biologist at Burroughs Aquarium in New Jersey (aww… how awesome would a Man Ray and Toxie crossover have been?!) Jack went investigating in some sewers where he felt toxic contamination was coming into the ocean. What he found instead was mutagen that Shredder had been dumping there. Weeks later Man Ray went on to finally battle Shredder and in the process befriended an underwater race of creatures called the Glublub. He has the ability to empathize and share feelings with other sea life, possesses great strength and can breathe both on land and in water. He’s known to be the more hot-headed member of the team. He first appeared in TMNTA #5.
DREADMON
Born in South Africa, growing up it was extremely hard for Dreadmon. Having to move to Jamaica when he was very young due to the dangers of his fathers work, he took to stealing from tourist on the streets to survive. His stealing eventually led to his transformation when he landed his hands on a talisman known as The Wolf Totem. At first it felt as a blessing, granting him great speed, however that all changed during the first full moon of his puberty. Dreadmon was turned into a wolf-man creature and has never been able to change back since. Driven out by the locals and left to live in the Amazonian rain forest, he was found by future teammate Jagwar and the Ninja Turtles. He has the ability of super speed along with razor sharp claws and fangs. He first appeared in TMNTA #15.
JAGWAR
Jagwar came into being through a combination of the bond he shared with his mother and the essence of the Jaguar Spirit. He was born and raised in the Amazonian rainforest, but sadly Jagwar was left to fend for himself when his mother left to continue on her path of spiritual enlightenment. He wasn’t completely alone though, the natives of the rainforest would look out for him and give him food in exchange for his help. Jagwar met and traveled with the Turtles for a while after assisting them in rescuing of April O’Neil. He and the Turtles continued freeing Amazonian tribesmen from slavers until he joined with the Mutanimals. Jagwar is very in tune with the Spirit World, he has great agility and posseses all the same traits as a jaguar. He first appeared in TMNTA #14.
WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE
Wingnut is part an alien race of bat people while Screwloose is from the same planet, but they’re like a humanoid mosquito race. The duo shares a strange, symbiotic relationship… Screwloose needs Wingnut’s blood to survive and Wingnut has to receive his bite in order to sleep. When their planet was invaded and destroyed by Krang, the pair were forced to flee and eventually ended up on Earth. Wingnut was also born with defective wings which aren’t strong enough give him flight so he has to use ones that were constructed. They both first appeared in TMNTA #8.
SLASH
I’m only listing Slash because, honestly, he felt like a reserve member in the series. He was never in the main lineup, but he was there for his friends when they needed him. According to his comic origin, Slash was a breed of snapper turtle-like alien that hailed from a tropical planet. Just like Wingnuts planet, Slash’s home world was destroyed by invading aliens. At one point he struck a deal with Krang to assist him back on earth and obtain a new body… Shredder’s Body. He’s later subdued and captured by South American forces and the Mutanimals, mistaking him for one of the Turtles, team up to rescue him. Slash packs the same abilities that the Turtles have along with a berserker-type strength and feral attitude. He made his first appearance in TMNTA #23.
The Mighty Mutanimals debuted in 1991 and had a very breif run, likely due to poor sales. However, they did thrive in the back of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures in a small, ongoing backup story for awhile. Raphael even joined the team for a short time, helping the Mutanimals prevent an alien invasion at the hands of Maligna and Mr. Null, but quit to rejoin the rest of the Ninja Turtles. One of the most memorable story arcs of the series was called MEGADETH, which crossed over into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures and it’s notable because at the end of the arc the Mutanimals were killed off… forever. They never came back… at all.
The end of the Mutanimals series was extremely harsh, and by harsh I’m talking flat out brutal. In this story, which concluded in of TMNTA #55, Mr. Null hires a high tech gang to ambush our heroes and they just gun down the entire Mutanimals team. AND THAT’S NOT THE WORST PART! The last few panels show Mondo Gecko’s girlfriend, Candy Fine, at the Mutanimals grave site and she sees what she believes is Mondo. She embraces him and says how she knows he couldn’t be dead. Turns out, this is another trick deployed by Null… what Candy sees isn’t Mondo at all and he lets her know she’s about to die as well. She sees a reflection in Evil Mondo’s eyes. The very last panel zooms in to reveal an image of the Mutanimals BURNING IN HELL!!!
This was never retconned… to my knowledge the Mutanimals really died. I always figured with it being part of a time travel story (TMNTA tie-in) that maybe it would have been fixed and everything would go back to normal but, sadly, no. The Mutanimals were literally just left to burn in hell. Until this tragic ending, the series was fun. Nothing amazing, but I think I enjoyed it as much as I did because it gave a story to a handful of characters who, until this point, had simply been nothing more than action figures or bit players on the animated series. These issues don’t go for a whole lot, there are only about 12 f the actual Mutanimals-titled books total including they’re three part miniseries where it all got started, so they’re worth seeking out if you’re a big TMNT fan.
Continue to check back often this month to get more awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle goodness delivered to you fresh and hot like one of Mikey’s butterscotch, onion, and anchovies pizzas.
