Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #34

This 1990 Mirage issue drops readers straight into chaos, with a grinning, bandana-clad mercenary type looming large over a field of rubble, belt-fed machine gun in hand and flames roaring behind him — while all four Turtles scramble across the wreckage below, each one caught mid-action in their signature colored masks. The cover pencils and inks by Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney give the scene a raw, kinetic energy that feels genuinely threatening for our shelled heroes. "Toitle Anxiety" sounds like it earns its title, and this issue is a fine snapshot of the grittier, indie-press era that made Mirage's TMNT so compelling.