ChrisFB

This is awesome. I have nearly all of these!

I believe the kaylab who posted it still does. He's a member here. I have the Silver but otherwise he has the Gold/White and Gobbledygooks from Tropic Comics. I would bet Archon Turtle or someone else in this thread would know better but as of my posting it was still in his possession so I gave him the back history on the collection via posts and PMs. totally random that I saw this, I've been absent from the site for quite some time and just happened to stop by tonight... Yup, I still have those Tropics Comics Turtles books, which I now know are in fact from Tropics thanks to the messages from ChrisFB. Hope you are well and glad you saw the recent discussion. I really do think your #1/10 Gold is a unique or "keystone" book having all 3 covers. No other gold has that. I'm not sure even Tropic realized that as it never came up in conversation. Actually I'm nearly positive they didn't as they'd have labeled it as such for sure. It's great how those were kept together over time with the original display bags (I kept mine too just because it was well done). Tropic used the mylock and backer with that labeling on just about all their books at that time. Was an amazing display during the independent boom. They had all the books people had heard of but could never get. It was so cool to see the rest of their Turtlemania collection together in those same bags after all those years. Plus the Gobbledygooks were amazing too.

I did want to toss in that while it isn't possible to document the exact number of hand colored books from DO - it's pretty obvious he didn't do many of these and likely if he said 100 total it's probably accurate as to how many he did over time. While it can't be verified...very few have ever been seen and most collectors - even very knowledgeable ones - know nothing about them so there can't be many out there. On general Turtlemania I'm not sure if anyone else realizes but these were not "hot" books back in the day. While everything TMNT was selling well these sat on South Florida comic racks for many months. The Golds went to connected shops/people and were never available but they tried to sell the Silvers as a limited edition (I think you could order them). Given the relative unpopularity of this item at the time, I'm not sure if they ever sold all the silvers and what may have happened with them. Honestly if it wasn't for E&L documenting these books on their site. I doubt there'd be any interest or awareness of these.

You know I saw this a while back and I didn't believe it would happen, then this cover was announced: I'm just concerned it's a last ditch effort to keep the name alive... ROM Spaceknight. Thought he was lost in the ether of the ages but with Guardians of the Galaxy success who knows what can happen.

The picture I linked to was from someone that sent me a pic of one they found at a flea market and were inquiring about the origin. At the time, I was unaware of the colored version of Turtlemania so I just assumed someone had taken the liberty of coloring on a copy and made up some print run numbers to try and add authentication. The sticker was on the book that way when they bought it. I asked Don about the print run of the colored edition since the picture showed 1,500 and this was his response: One hundred (100) issues were pulled out of 3,000 by the publisher to produce the HAND-COLORED Cover Edition, which was limited to 100 pieces only (NOT the 1500 that the guy you spoke to said was the Limited Issue #'d amount). I personally HAND-COLORED each and every color cover for this limited edition of 100, and copies are unsigned or only initialed "Don O" by me on some of the covers. They are not numbered. Interesting. Going off memory from the mid-1980s...and realize I haven't looked at the copy in 20+ years and had it out of the bag since the convention...he did offer to sign mine and I took him up on it. Pretty small local convention in S FL too. I already owned the Silver copy, which is how we got talking and I distinctly recall him providing the total number of colored ones and saying how it was less than the Silver. If I'm right and he wasn't just saying that for kicks - and I'd be surprised if I wasn't as I kind of remember stuff like that - he may have done more over time and increased the total and they aren't numbered "X/YYY" so impossible to know. Being skeptical one would choose not to number them like all the other rare Turtlemania editions if one wanted the ability to create/sell more if there was demand. If I'm not remembering correctly then who knows - and given time elapsed this is entirely possible - but I'd bet substantial money that the conversation went as I remember. Also I don't recall there ever being a "Colored Cover Edition". It's not in any of the formal advertisements nor on E&L site that I recall. He's the only one that ever mentioned it that I know of and that includes speaking with Tropic Comics who had #1/10 Gold and I'd guess was well connected into the distribution/production (they had so much cool stuff on their walls) as well as others who knew/collected that book. This was not formally endorsed by the publisher or at least not in their plans/marketing as it went to print, I would assume DO requested copies for himself to color and sell given the popularity of TMNT at that time. That's my best guess/conjecture from my memory and our combined experience. Pretty much everything I know on it. It's a cool book with cover color attached to the person who worked on it so of some significance but hard to authenticate without signature and #x/YYY or something.

First off, is that set of Turtlemanias (Tropic Comics) still together? Do you own it? If not, who owns the set? Thanks for any info. you can provide. On a related note, I've actually been looking for the hand-colored version of the Turtlemania that Don Oropallo did ever since he contacted me about it over 2 years ago. He was the artist that did the color overlay on the cover but they apparently misspelled his name in the book. Anyway, he sent me a message via my website asking if I was interested in buying his remaining copy of it. I said I was interested but he wanted $1,000 for it. Given that it was really just a Regular Turtlemania he hand-colored I offered him 1/4 of that...and I never heard back from him. Guess I offended him...but at the time I still wasn't totally convinced of its authenticity. Anyone can color on the book and call it "hand-colored"... I believe the kaylab who posted it still does. He's a member here. I have the Silver but otherwise he has the Gold/White and Gobbledygooks from Tropic Comics. I would bet Archon Turtle or someone else in this thread would know better but as of my posting it was still in his possession so I gave him the back history on the collection via posts and PMs. On the hand colored I met Don at a convention in S. Florida. He had a bunch of the hand colored but it was either 20/25/30/50 or something like that but substantially less than silver covers as that was his selling point. I bought one from him as well as a Fantastic Four B&W commemorative poster he did along with the #1 of a hand colored version of said poster. Never seen him again and know of only 1 other hand colored Turtlemanias that someone here used to own. EDIT - just looked at your link, seems to say 1500 hand colored. Can't be right as he said it was less than silver and even if he jacked up the numbers later to sell more he'd have needed 50% of all whites produced and they were distributed at that point so not possible. Granted he could probably have done more but not that many. Just to be clear - I grew up in S. Florida and that's where these books originated. I was young at the time and an avid collector during the independent/bronze wave so I know a decent amount about these books but no special inside knowledge. I always wondered what happened to the Tropic books and that #1 of 10 gold so it was awesome to see the collection again.

Not really an active collector at this point (of anything in life) but I'd be interested in what you have. No chance of me buying an entire lot but maybe a piece. It's funny - you/I connected years ago when you were first getting some of the early Turtlemanias. Not sure if you ever saw this post of mine but the collection (Tropic Comics) from which my Silver came is apparently still intact with the original bags etc...This was the store collection I told you about ages ago but it's all there in pictures. My theory is that maybe that Gold #1 of 10 was unique and contained all 3 covers. I never examined it in the store and know one seems to know but that kind of and limited editions was big back then (although I guess it never went away). http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7332117&fpart=413 There was also a guy involved in the Turtlemania production - Don Oropalo or something who did something like 50 or 20 hand colored covers and signed them. This was not official and done only on his own using white cover copies. I was messaging with someone else here who had one but no idea of the origin. Mine is still in storage in FL but hopefully I can retrieve it soon. Since you are something of a historian I thought I'd share. Amazing how these books languished for years and finally got some attention.

Looking at that copy I'd bet the defect is spine split - I thnk you can see it in the auction picture. Silver copies are notorious for that. Mine has it despite being in the original bag for years and hardly ever touched. At least one other I've seen has it (possibly this one). From memory I've only seen one copy that didn't have it. Pretty steep asking price for a Silver but they don't come up for sale very often so...could fill a nice vacancy in someone's collection. Odd that it didn't get the green Qualified label since these are pre-signed and numbered...one of my copies got the green Qualified label. What I need is a Gold.

No problem at all and my pleasure. That store had a fabulous collection and I always wondered what happened to that gold copy (should have bought that too!). It was great to see them all still together and people even kept the original mylars and boards just like I did! I actually touched base via email with Archon-Turtle (?) years ago when people started looking for these books. If I remember right no one had found a gold at that point and I let him know they absolutely existed and were likely in older collectors hands as I had seen one (your copy) and got my silver from that shop. Today I wonder what happened to the silvers as the Golds were never available to circulate but even on CGC there are very few silvers for 100 books. Maybe they trashed them as unsaleable or something. Hard to imagine but demand for these was nowhere until E&L added the info to their site. Anyway, I've been meaning to post this for months and finally got to it the other day. I have some travel and work this week but I free up nicely after that. Happy to connect and share whatever info I have. This was a great collection and I actually even showed your picture to my mother as I was still a decently young kid and she's the only reason I got the Silver copy but she remembered the shop and everything. As an aside there was a guy who was involved in some way with the book (Don Orpalo or something). He did a hand colored cover on a white copy for me and signed it. I can't remember and that book is back in Florida. Probably worth no more than a white but he did a number at a convention and I've never seen those show up either.

FYI - I have the silver copy that belongs to this set (same locking mylar, blue/white backer, and labeling) and know the origin. These books came from Topic Comics in Ft. Lauderdale back in the 1980s. They were all on display. I bought my Silver from the collection #63/100 and now that I look at it they peeled off the "For Display Only" sticker above the others as there is still some residue. I think the store was off Sunrise. They had a great display collection at the height of the independent comics book with everything displayed and labeled on the walls. I can't speak to the Turtlemania event but from what I gather Golds went to people who knew what they were doing and it's not a stretch to think the #1 was unique among the 10 copies as the "limited prints" were a big deal with collectors back then. White copies were frequently seen on sale (stacks of them) at South Florida stores. A store in West Palm Beach had them for 6 months just sitting there from what I recall. BTW - my book has hardly ever been out of the mylar since I bought it from Topic's shelves. That said the spine split a bit over time which I've seen on at least one other silver copy. I imagine this has to do with the paper stock and I guess the silver paper has issues. None of my whites have had this nor any others I've seen. First attempt at posting and sharing a photo. Fingers crossed.