Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures "The Forever War" (partially found production material of cancelled story arc of comic series; 1995)
A promo for the story arc.
Status: Lost
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures was a comic book series published by Archie Comics from August 1988 to October 1995. The comic ended with issue 72 (as well as a 3-part miniseries called Year of the Turtle). The final two issues were a story about how the Turtles got their weapons.
However, this was not the plot originally intended by the creatos: what they were planning instead for issues 71-75 was an arc called "The Forever War". This was a story arc that featured the return of the "Future Turtles" and the final battle with Shredder. When the comic was canned, so was the story, despite attempts to release it.
Story
As stated above, this story arc would bring back the Future Turtles, who would team up with the present Turtles. This would also feature the defeat of the Shredder. The arc would also bring back several other characters from the comic's run including Golani, Ninjara, Scumbug, Rat King, and Wyrm.
Cancellation
The comic was known for having "darker" stories when compared to most forms of TMNT media at the time. This caused conflicts with Steve Murphy and editor-in-chief Victor Gorelick/publisher Michael Silberkleit, who thought that the adult themes were "going too far".
According to Murphy one of the reasons the story arc was cancelled was “Victor and Michael wanted to know where the book was going with issue 71, and when I told them we would be revisiting the future (the Greenhouse Earth future, another notion which freaked them out) for a 5-issue story arc featuring the return of the Shredder – a totalitarian Shredder (not the buffoon of the cartoon) – they popped their toupees. And said they wanted me off the book.”
Another factor was that for years Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Adventures had been the only TMNT comic printed in color. However, with Mirage Volume 2 also being printed in color, this left Archie Comics feeling threatened. After Murphy left, the comic continued for two more issues (and the Year of the Turtle miniseries) before the series was cancelled.
Only six pages of The Forever War were ever released to the public.
Later Attempt
In 2005 Murphy stated that the arc would be released by that year's end, but it never was.
When Murphy was asked again he changed the date to 2007. 2007 ended without the arc being released as well. Then, in 2009, the arc was finally set to be released for the 25th anniversary.
However, when Nickelodeon bought out the TMNT franchise, the release was cancelled.
Gallery
Issue 71.
Issue 72.
Issue 73.
Issue 74.
Issue 75.
Page 1 of 6.
Page 2 of 6.
Page 3 of 6.
Page 4 of 6.
Page 5 of 6.
Page 6 of 6.
A 2009 ad for the story arc.
A collection of all of the "Future Turtles" stories intended to be a primer for the arc.
A set of interlocking covers for the proposed 2009 release.
