Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #5
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeTMNT Adventures #5 is the creative turning point of the entire Archie series: it marks the first issue plotted and scripted by Mirage Studios staffers Dean Clarrain (Stephen Murphy) and Ryan Brown, who immediately steered the title away from pure cartoon adaptation and toward original stories with environmentalist underpinnings — a direction the book would sustain for the rest of its 72-issue run. Most concretely, the issue contains the first appearance of Man Ray (Jack Finney), an original comics-only character who became a founding member of the Mighty Mutanimals and whose anti-pollution origin gave the new creative team an immediate thematic statement about where Adventures was headed. The issue thus represents both a clean editorial handoff and the birth of the Archie TMNT universe's own expanding mythology, distinct from both the Mirage comics and the animated series.
In "Something Fishy Goes Down," the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles face a bizarre threat when the aquarium director is turned into a manta ray by Warlord Krang's mutagen, leading to a 4th of July showdown to stop a sabotage plot targeting the Statue of Liberty. Written by Dean Clarrain and Ryan Brown, with art by Ken Mitchroney and inks by Dave Garcia, this 1989 adventure blends aquatic chaos with patriotic stakes. The cover by Ken Mitchroney and Dave Garcia captures the fishy frenzy in bold, dynamic style.
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The first four issues of the ongoing Adventures series adapted episodes of the 1987 Saban/DiC animated series; beginning with issue #5 (cover-dated October 1989), Archie and Mirage agreed to hand scripting duties to Ryan Brown and Stephen Murphy (who wrote under the pen name Dean Clarrain), both Mirage Studios employees. Murphy had already co-created the acclaimed independent comic The Puma Blues and brought a similar interest in environmental themes to the TMNT universe. The issue's story — titled 'Something Fishy Goes Down' — was plotted by Clarrain and Brown, penciled by Ken Mitchroney, and inked by Dave Garcia, with Victor Gorelick serving as editor; a cover was provided by Ryan Brown and Steve Lavigne. An 8-page prologue bridging the earlier issues into this new story was later added for the Tundra Publishing collected edition.
Trivia · 9 facts
- First appearance of Man Ray (civilian identity: Jack Finney), a marine biologist who works at the Burroughs Aquarium in New Jersey and is transformed into a mutant manta ray by Krang's mutagen accidentally dumped into the sewer by Bebop and Rocksteady.
- Jack Finney's name does not appear in the issue itself; his civilian identity was first disclosed in the Mutant Universe Sourcebook #1.
- This is the first issue written by Dean Clarrain (pen name for Stephen Murphy) and plotted by Clarrain and Ryan Brown — the creative team that would define the series' independent direction for years.
- The story marks the first time the Adventures ongoing series departs from adapting 1987 animated episodes, instead telling a wholly original story; previous issues #1–4 adapted the 'Return of the Shredder' cartoon episode.
- Issue credits: plot by Dean Clarrain & Ryan Brown; script by Dean Clarrain; pencils by Ken Mitchroney; inks by Dave Garcia; letters by Gary Fields; colors by Barry Grossman; edited by Victor Gorelick.
- Man Ray's origin is rooted in anti-pollution themes — he mutates while investigating what he suspects is illegal corporate dumping via a sewer outflow pipe — establishing the environmentalist tone Clarrain and Brown would carry through the series.
- Man Ray later became a founding member of the Mighty Mutanimals and was eventually killed in TMNT Adventures #54 (March 1994), making his debut here the start of one of the Archie universe's most arc-significant character journeys.
- Issues #5–#25 were reprinted in Archie's digest-format Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Classics Digest (published quarterly, 1993–1994); the issue was also collected in IDW Publishing's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 2 (2012) and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Compendium Vol. 1.
- A Man Ray/Ray Fillet action figure was released by Playmates in 1990, though the toy was marketed under the name 'Ray Fillet' rather than Man Ray.
Cast · 11 characters
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Reprinted in Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles Adventures #8 (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (1991), The Collected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #1 (1991), Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles #5/1991 (1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classics Digest #1 (1993), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #2 (2012)
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