La Nascita di un' amicizia, (The birth of a friendship), is the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic published by Rizzoli. It appeared in issue 50, 1990, of the Italian children's magazine "Corriere dei Piccoli".
Appearing in La Nascita di un' amicizia[]
Major characters[]
- April O'Neil (debut)
- Donatello (debut)
- Leonardo (debut)
- Michelangelo (debut)
- Raffaello (debut)
- Rocksteady (debut)
- Splinter (debut)
Minor characters[]
- Bebop (debut)
- Dumbo (debut)
- Oroku Saki (debut)
- Grunt (debut)
- Vernon Fenwick (debut)
Species[]
Objects and vehicles[]
Locations[]
Summary[]
In New York City, reporter April O'Neil broadcasts live for Canale 6 news on the thefts of scientific materials. She asks the chief engineer of a factory what items were stolen by the mysterious thieves. He names off several hi-tech gadgets and then she turns to interview the head of warehouse security. The guard tells her that marks left behind were from ninja swords and the ropes used to tie the guards were manufactured in Japan. April recaps that ninja, an ancient caste of Japanese warriors, were responsible for these thefts. She then wonders where they will strike next.
As she finishes up her broadcast, a group of armed thugs approach April and the newsvan. Rocksteady, one of the thugs, says that they have a message for April. Their boss advises her to dedicate herself to fashion reports and forget about the thefts. April throws the news camera into his stomach and shouts that she doesn’t take orders. As she runs, Rocksteady calls out to the other thugs to go after her.
April quickly jumps down into the manhole, believing the sewers tunnels are her only hope. Rocksteady and the gang follow her down. Thinking that she’s losing them, April looks back down the tunnel and immediately runs into a wall. Knocked onto her rump, April sits stunned and the gang catches up to her. Before Rocksteady can do her any harm, he receives a punch in the chest from a bō and its wielder tells him he needs to be nicer to ladies. Grunt then flashes his sword, but it is caught on a sai, stopping him. The gang finds themselves facing the Turtles and attack. The Turtles make short work of them, commenting on how funny they look. Then April sees the Turtles, realizes they aren’t human, and faints.
Shortly, April awakens inside the lair, believing she’s just had a nightmare. Then Splinter and his sons appear in front of her and Raffaello asks if she wants some tea. Leonardo rolls his eyes as she passes out once more. When she finally awakens again, she accepts tea from Splinter as she asks who they are.
Splinter begins the explanation. A few years ago, in Japan, there lived a man called Hamato Yoshi. He was a martial arts master in a ninja clan called the “Clan del Piede”. Yoshi was a quiet man who loved art and his work. However, one of his students, Oroku Saki, caused Yoshi to be chased out of Clan in disgrace. Yoshi moved to America, where he was forced to live in the sewers, with the rats as his only friends. One day, a young boy carrying a bowl containing four turtles, tripped and the turtles fell into a storm drain. They landed on Yoshi, who kept them as pets.
Not long after, Yoshi found his turtles crawling around in a mutagenic liquid. The liquid transformed anyone who touched it into the last animal they had been in contact with. The Turtles had last been in contact with Yoshi, and he had interacted with the mice. April quickly figures out that the large mutant rat is Hamato Yoshi and Raffaello sarcastically congratulates her for being so smart. From then, the Turtles called him Splinter and he named them after the renaissance artists he loved most. Donatello, the ace of the bō. Raffaello, the genius of sai. Leonardo, the master of the sword. Michelangelo, the nunchaku wizard. Splinter became their ninja master.
Upon hearing the word ninja, April accuses them of being thieves. Donatello asks her if she’s out of her shell, because they were the ones who saved her. Michelangelo adds that the thieves may be ninjas, but who told her they were also turtles? He says that in order to convince her, they need to help her discover the real thieves. In exchange, she helps them find out who spilled the mutagen so they can force him to restore their master to his human form. April agrees to this and Michelangelo says it’s pizza time, because there’s nothing better than pizza to celebrate a new friendship. The Turtles begin to chow down on toppings like blueberry and mayonnaise and mushrooms and chocolate, none of which April finds appealing, though she does think the Turtles are funny.