“Toitle Anxiety”
A thug named Joey is being roughed up by a mob. It seems that Joey was driving the gang’s delivery truck when he met the TMNT – and greeted the terrapins by firing shots at them. The Turtles knocked Joey out and took off in the truck – much to the dismay of the mob boss. Just as the kingpin is about to whack Joey for making up stories about turtles and losing the truck, the TMNT drive the vehicle through the wall of the warehouse. Upon seeing the ninja teens, the gigantic mobster boss drops dead of a heart attack, landing on top of Joey and pinning him to the ground. The Turtles mop up the rest of the gang and pull Joey to safety before an explosion burns the warehouse to the ground. The police arrive and send the babbling Joey to an asylum.
Unfortunately Joey has lost his mind, and everyone looks like a mutant Turtle to him now. All he can do is babble “Toitles… toitles… toitles…” as his demeanor grows increasingly violent. Joey quickly escapes the asylum and finds his way to a gun shop, where he steals a small arsenal of weapons and then hits the streets, going on a killing spree that is reported in gruesome detail on the “Tough Talk” television talk show.
Master Splinter and the TMNT are watching the program in their sewer abode. The Senesei declares that the Turtles must find the madman before more innocent blood is spilled, but before the lads can hit the road, Joey arrives by blowing a gigantic hole into the walls of the Turtles’ lair. The TMNT are caught by surprise and Joey manages to get a dazed Master Splinter into a headlock. As the crazed man prepares to kill Splinter, the Master uses a “ninja mind trick” to convince Joey that he himself is a turtle. When the lunatic looks into a mirror, he sees himself as a mutant turtle… which drives him further into madness and leads to the man committing suicide.
First Printing: September, 1990
Number of Story Pages: 32
Cover: Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney
Writers: Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney
Artists: Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney
Letters: Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney
